The Gospel canticles and the Te deum : an exposition of the hymns of the incarnation

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FROM-THE- LIBRARY-OF
TR1NITYCOLLEGETORDNTO

ft.

TRINITY UNI

LIBRARY,
8.N.. ..£,«,. No...

Canticles

AND THE

?Demn,

AN EXPOSITION

OF THE

HYMNS OF THE INCARNATION,

BY

A. C. A. HALL, M.A.,

MISSION PRIEST OF THE SOCIETY OF 8T. JOHN THE EVANGELIST.

Neto Yorfet
JAMES POTT & CO., 14 AND 16 ASTOR PLACE.

.99
C5H3.4

TO PAST AND PRESENT
MEMBERS OF THE CHOIR

OF THE

S&ission ©Ijiircf) of St. Jtoini tf)e

BOSTON,

WITH GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THEIR SERVICES

AND THE EARNEST PRAYER THAT ALL MAY

HAVE A SHARE IN THE NEW

SONG BEFORE THE
THRONE.

PREFACE.

THE Exposition of the Gospel Canticles contained
in this little book is based on Lectures given in the
Mission Church of St. John the Evangelist, Boston,
during Advent, 1886, when by the action of the Gen
eral Convention the inspired hymns of the Blessed
Virgin, of Symeon, and of Zacharias (in an unmu-
tilated form) were restored to their proper place in
the Daily Service.

It is hoped that in print the notes may be helpful
to many who would sing these great traditional
hymns of Christendom both with the spirit and with
the understanding.

It will be seen that free use has been made of the
words of other writers and of larger works in pre
paring this little commentary for general use.

Particular acknowledgment should be made of
valuable help as to Liturgical references derived
from a pamphlet published at Davenport, Iowa,
before the last General Convention as a plea for
the restoration of these Hymns to the Prayer Book,
and entitled The Evangelical Canticles in the Services
of the Church, by a Priest of the Anglican Branch of
the Holy Catholic Church.

MISSION HOUSE OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGRLIST,
TEMPLE ST., BOSTON, September, 1887.

Canticles,

THIS title is given to Mary's Magnificat, to Zacha-
rias' Benedictus, and to Symeon's Nunc dimittis as
being the only sacred songs of the Gospel narrative,
and as having for their subject the central theme of
the Evangelists, the Incarnation, "God manifest in
the flesh." All three are contained in the first two
chapters of St. Luke's Gospel.

" Thou hast an ear for Angels' songs,
* A breath the Gospel trump to fill,
And taught by thee the Church prolongs
Her hymns of high thanksgiving still."*

These Evangelical Hymns have ever held a posi
tion of pre-eminent honor and dignity in the worship
of the Catholic Church. We cannot indeed trace
them by name beyond the sixth century, but their
use at this time in the stated services of the Church
was probably a continuance of a still earlier custom.
What more probable than that they should have been
among the " Hymns and Spiritual Songs " in which
along with "Psalms" St. Paul bade the Ephesians
rejoice ?f The very word ooSai ("Songs') used
by the Apostle is the term employed by the Greek
Church for such Canticles. Doubtless they were
among the " Hymns sung to Christ as God," of
which Pliny the Roman Governor speaks in his
report to the Emperor Trajan concerning the customs
and worship of Christians at the beginning of the
second century. Chrysostom says of the Benedicite,
the Song of the Three Children, " It is sung in all the

* The Christian Year for St. Luke's Day.
fEph. v., 19.

2 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

world."* It may safely be assumed that the Gospel
Hymns were at least as well known as the Benedicite
for when first they are mentioned they are in undis
puted possession of the place of honor in the daily
services which they now hold throughout the Catholic
Church. In the writings of Simeon, Archbishop of
Fhessalonica (A. 0.510), we have the first diiect
reference to the use of the Evangelical Canticles
The Ninth Ode " he says " is that of Zacharias
prophesying of his son, who, according to his voca
tion, was the forerunner of grace ; and with this,
and before this, and above all, the song of the most
chaste and revered Mother of Christ, which song is
at once a theological and sacred prophecy, and
supremely blessed, in that it is uttered concerning
that miraculous conception, whereby God, clothed
m flesh from her womb, received us to be the new
Israel, as it had been promised to Abraham. "f

Apparently the ordinary form of morning and
evening service, distinct from the Eucharist, was in
the earliest times very much as it is now in our
Prayer Book. One or more Psalms were recited, one
or more Lessons read, interspersed with Canticles,
and these were followed by Prayers. Generally
apparently, in the East both the Magnificat and the
Bfmdictus, were sung in the morning service ; but
in the West the Magnificat was reserved for evening
use. The Benedictus, the Song of the Herald, tell
ing of the Day-spring visiting us to lighten and
cheer our path, is of course a morning Canticle. In
the Day Hours it is the centre of the Office of Lauds,
the office which should properly be s.iid at day
break. The Magnificat is the central feature of the
Vesper service. "When the fulness of time was

*Bingham, Ecclesiastical Antiquities, p. 691.
•fQuoted in The Evangelical Canticles, p. 9.

THE GOSPEL CANTICLES. 3

come God sent forth His Son made of a woman

. . that we might receive the adoption

of sons."* As the Advent Vesper Hymn puts it:

" Thou cam'st the Bridegroom of the Bride
As drew the world to evening-tide,
Proceeding from a Virgin shrine,
The spotless Victim all Divine."

The Nunc dimittis belongs naturally to Compline, or
a closing evening service. It tells of the old passing
into the new, the sinking down to rest in faith and
hope and love.

Hooker's masterly reply to the uninstructed Puri
tan prejudice, which in his day attempted the
exclusion of the Gospel Hymns from the English
Prayer Book, must be quoted. The Puritans object
ed also to the constant recitation of the Psalter,
and, after having given reasons for the conveniency
and use of reading the Psalms oftener than the other
Scriptures, Hooker continues : " Of reading or
singing likewise Magnificat, Benedictust and Nunc
dimitiis oftener than the rest of the Psalms, the
causes are no whit less reasonable, so that if the one
may very well monthly, the other may as well even
daily be iterated. They are songs which concern
us so much more than the songs of David as the
Gospel toucheth us more than the Law, the New
Testament than the Old. And if the Psalms for the
excellency of their use deserve to be oftener repeat
ed than they are, but that the multitude of them
permitteth not any oftener repetition; what disorder
is it if these few Evangelical Hymns which are in no
respect less worthy, and may by reason of their
paucity be imprinted with much more ease in all
men's memories, be for that cause every day re
hearsed ? "

*Gal. iv., 4, 5.

4 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

Then he speaks of them as being " the first gratu-
lations wherewith our Lord and Saviour was joyfully
received at His entrance into the world by such as
in their hearts, arms, and very bowels embraced Him ;
being prophetical discoveries of Christ already pres
ent, Whose future coming the other Psalms did but
foresignify, they are against the obstinate incredulity
of the Jews the most luculent testimonies that the
Christian Religion hath ; yea the only sacred hymns
they are that Christianity hath peculiar unto itself,
the other being songs too of praise and thanksgiving,
but songs wherewith as we serve God so the Jew
likewise."*

The use of the Gospel Canticles points to aprinc'ple.
It is not only in obedience to a traditional sentiment
that the Church clings to them, but by a true spir
itual instinct. They are the Hymns of the Incarnation.
And the Incarnation lasts on. The mystery is con
tinually re-enacted, as its virtue is applied. When
we repeat these words we do not simply throw our
selves back in memory eighteen centuries and asso
ciate ourselves in imagination with their original
authors, but we are ourselves in circumstances
analogous to those of Zacharias, and Symeon,
and the Blessed Virgin. Christ is born in our
hearts, and all the mysteries of the Incarnation
are to have their counterpart in our spiritual
life. This is the principle, the spiritual truth, that
underlies so many of our Prayer Book Collects.
Those, for instance, for Christmas Day, for the Fes
tivals of the Purification and the Annunciation, for
Easter Eve and Ascension Day. He who was born
for us is born in us, that we may be re-born in
Him ; with Him we are crucified ; we share His

*Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity, V., xl.

THE GOSPEL CANTICLES. 5

death, that in Him we may rise to newness of life,
and with Him in heart and mind ascend.

We say our Gospel Canticles therefore both as a
commemoration of the great mystery of the Incarna
tion in the past as an historical event, and as rejoicing
in those spiritual experiences wherein its virtue and
grace are made ours.

THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

Bene&fctugf,

THE SONG OF ZACHARIAS.

St. Luke i., 68-78.

We should remember the primary and historical
setting of the Hymn. Any personal and spiritual
applications are based on, developed from this.

Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, we are told,
were both righteous before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blame
less. They had no child. It was the great longing
of every Jewish woman that she might be, if not the
actual mother of the expected Messiah, at least in
the line of His maternal ancestry. Although know
ing not the true dignity of the Messiah, the promised
Seed of the Woman, yet she hoped to share in the
blessing of Eve (Gen. iii., 15). Barrenness was a
sign to her of God's displeasure. Moreover the
Jews knew that the time was now accomplished
when the Deliverer should come. Great was there
fore the expectation of faithful souls like Zacharias
and Elizabeth ; sad their disappointment at their
lot (St. Luke i., 5-7).

Then came the opportunity for Zacharias. " While
he executed the priest's office before God in the
order of his course, according to the custom of
the priest's office, his lot was to enter into the
Temple of the Lord and burn incense." For the
first and only time in his life probably this honor
able function was assigned to him. So high a priv
ilege was this ministration esteemed that until every
member of the course had executed it in his turn
it was not assigned to any one for a second time.

BENEDICTUS. 7

Zacharias was now an old man; he would soon be
retired from active ministration on a pension; and
we may well "believe that this duty when it fell to him
by lot was eagerly welcomed, that as he entered the
Holy Place, and offered the incense on the golden
altar, he gathered up all the prayers of a lifetime
in one intense petition — for the speedy manifestation
of the Messiah and that he might have a share in
the joy of His advent. As he offers the incense,
the symbol of Christ's prevailing merits, the Angel
Gabriel appears to him and announces that his
prayer is heard. " Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear
thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And
thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall
rejoice at his birth. He shall be great in the sight
of the Lord. . . . and he shall go before His
face in the spirit and power of Elijah ... to
make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him."
Zacharias staggers at the Angel's word in un
belief. How often we do likewise! We pray, and
when the answer comes, instead of recognizing it
with glad thanksgiving, we do not believe it is the
answer to our prayer, but suppose the blessing has
come about in some other way. Just this kind of
doubt was that of Zacharias. And he was punished.
He receives not the Word of God : he cannot pro
claim that Word to the people. He is struck with
dumbness. Not until at the circumcision of the
child when he acts in faith, and, setting aside his
natural inclination and the wishes of his kinsfolk
that the son should bear his own name, names
the child according to the word of the Angel, is his
speech restored. Then he bursts forth in this in-,
spired Song of Thanksgiving, the result of those
nine months' silent meditation. " This song which
was composed in the priest's mind during the time

8 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

of his silence broke solemnly from his lips the mo
ment speech was restored to him, as the metal flows
from the crucible in which it has been melted the
moment that an outlet is made for it."*

We should regard the song as " an inspired burst
of praise for the accomplished fact of the Incarna
tion, viewed, as was natural to a Priest of the Temple,
especially as the fulfilment of the covenant promises
of God to His ancient people, but reaching out into
a wider and more distinctly Evangelical scope in the
last three verses. "f

It is divided into three main sections, which Godet
thus sums up :

I. vv. 68-75. The Theocratic sentiment breaks
forth first. Zacharias gives thanks for the arrival of
the times of the Messiah.

II. vv. 76, 77. Then his paternal feeling comes
out, as it were, in a parenthesis : the father expresses
his joy at the glorious part assigned to his son in this
great work.

III. vv. 78, 79. Lastly, thanksgiving for the
Messianic Salvation overflows and closes the song.

be tfir ?Lor& <Boti of Israel: for l)e fjatf) btsitelr
anfr refceemea ?i)ts people;

&nir fiatij ratsrO up a mtgf)ti> salbatton for us: hi tfir fjouse
of |t)is sernant DabtU.

Separate the titles, as in the Revised Version, " The
LORD, the God of Israel." Jehovah the Self-Existent
One, who is the God of Israel. See Ex. iii., 14-18;
and Gen. xxii., 18 (in Israel all nations were to be
blessed).

He hath visited — in the Incarnation — and re
deemed— -by the Passion of His well-beloved Son —

* Godet, Commentary on St. Luke's Gospel.
f The Evangelical Canticles, p. 31.

BENEDICTUS. 9

His people, not the ancient literal Israel alone (St.
John, x., 16; 'xi., 51, 52), but all whom He would
gather into a better covenant as the true Israel of
God (Gal. vi., 16; Rev. vii., 4 sq.)

We need not suppose that Zacharias understood
fully the meaning of the words he uttered. Like
the words of the prophets they had a higher and
richer significance than was perceived by those
who first spake them (i St. Pet. i., 10-12; 2 St.
Pet i., 21).

The declaration of God in Ex. iii., 7, 8, receives a
grander fulfilment. God has seen mankind groaning
under the tyranny of sin, under the cruel bondage of
Satan, and He has come down to deliver man. " With
His own Right Hand and with His Holy Arm: hath
He gotten Himself the victory " (Ps. xcviii., 2).

In prophetic spirit Zacharias speaks of that as
already accomplished of which the initial stages are
now being executed. The Incarnation had taken
place some three months previous. (St. Luke i., 36.)
" The Word was made flesh."

ft mtgfitg calbatton — Literally " a horn of salva
tion." The horn was an emblem of strength de
rived from the lower animals whose most powerful
weapon it is. The term is equivalent to " a tower of
strength." (Comp. Ps. cxxxii., 18.)

In tlie %>ougc of JBabttr — See the promises to David's
Seed in 2 Sam. vii., 12 sq.; Isa. xi., i, 10; Jer. xxiii.,
5, sg. All of which, whether or not they had any
earlier realization, receive their fulfilment in Christ
" Who was born of the seed of David according to the
flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrec
tion from the dead " (Rom. i., 3, 4),

IO THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

as H|r spake br> tfie moutf) of ffits ftohj propftets: tof)tclj
tjaur been since tfjr luorla began.

We should trace the gradual unfolding of the
promise concerning the Seed of the Woman (Gen.
iii., 15) given immediately upon man's fall; the Seed
of Abraham in whom all nations should be blessed
(Gen. xxi., 17); Shiloh to whom should the gather
ing of the people be (Gen. xlix., 10); the Star that
should arise out of Jacob (Num. xxiv., 17).

By later prophets the promise was continually de
veloped until the whole work and character of the
Messiah, His Person, the family and place and time
of His birth were all sketched out, and it only re
mained for Him to appear and fulfil all that was
written concerning Him in the Law and the Prophets
and the Psalms. (St. Luke xxiv., 27, 46; Rev. xix.,
10.) " The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy."

Cftat toe sIjoulU fie eabelr from our enemies: antr from tfjr
fiaiios of all tliat fiate us;

Co perform tfje mercj) promised to our forefathers; anU
to remember ?£ts tool? cobenant.

Co perform tfte oatft toljtcfi ffie stoare to our forefather
afirafjam: tfiat |^c tooultr gtbe us;

Cfmt toe being Helibereli out of tfir fjanU of our enemies:
migfyt serbe ?i)im toitfiout fear;

£n fioliness anti righteousness before 21) im: all tt)r trass
of our life.

// is a spiritual deliverance from spiritual foes that
Zacharias sings, of which Israel's temporal deliver
ance — from Egypt or from Babylon — was a type and
pledge. (Comp. Isa. xl., i-io; Heb. iv., 8, 9.)

Doubtles.s the first thought in Zacharias' mind was
of deliverance from the galling yoke of the Roman
conqueror, that God's people " being delivered out
of the hand of their enemies might serve Him with-

BENEDICTUS. II

out fear " of their own blood being mingled with
their sacrifices, or of their holy places being defiled
by contemptuous heathen governors. Think of the
purpose of our deliverance from those spiritual foes
who are typified by Israel's temporal oppressors

— that being set at liberty from the bondage of
sin we should serve God without fear. Here in
a poor, imperfect way we struggle on year after
year to present ourselves, our souls and bodies, a
sacrifice to Him (Rorn. xii., i; Ps. cxix., 32). We
look forward to our perfected deliverance to be
enabled to serve Him perfectly, "in holiness and
righteousness," without let or hindrance (Rev.
xxii., 3). The end of our redemption is not mere
acquittal, to be let off the punishment of our sins,
but perfect service. Comp. Ps. cv., 41-44, "That
they might keep His statutes: and observe His laws."
This is the promise contained in the Holy Name.
" His Name shall be called JESUS, for He shall save
His people from their sins " ( St. Matt., i., 21).

go perform tfle mercg [promises] to out forefathers.

— There is no word corresponding with " promised "
in the original; it is better omitted, as in the Revised
Version, " To show mercy towards our fathers,"
to them along with us, for they without us are not
made perfect (Heb. xi., 40). They too are ad
mitted to a higher blessedness by the coming of
Christ. The Church of God is built on the founda
tion of Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ being
the chief Corner-Stone, binding all in one (Eph. ii.,
20).

Cfte oatfi toflicf) l%e stoare to our forefather

— See Gen. xxii., 16 ; Heb. vi., 13, sq. ; and the plead
ing of God's covenant in Ps. Ixxxix. " Which prom
ise He for His part will most surely keep and per-

12 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES

form." The meaning of the name Zacharias is " God
hath remembered."

forefather gftraflam — Christ is the Seed of
Abraham, in Whom the promises are fulfilled. (See
Gal. Hi., 7, 9.) We inherit in Christ. We must
shew ourselves Abraham's seed as sharing his faith.
(Rom. iv. , 11-17; St. John, viii., 39.)

®ur enemies — Both Satan and his angels our
personal spiritual foes (Eph. vi., 12), and sin re
garded impersonally (Rom. viii., 34). Bishop An-
drewes in his Devotions treats the seven Canaanitish
nations as types of the Seven Capital Sins.

From the power of all we are set free by Christ.
(I. St. Pet. i., 18, 19; Tit. ii., 11-14; Col. ii., 15.)

Xn floliness an& rtsBteousness. — His service is per
fect freedom. (St. John viii., 36.) Holiness is
negative, the absence of all stain; Righteousness, the
more positive description, the presence of all those
religious and moral virtues which render worship
acceptable to God.

&ntr tljott, rfjtliJ, sfjalt fcc callcU HK propfjet of tjjr
?i>igijcst: for tijou sfjalt QO before tfje Mrr of Jfjr 2Lortr to
prepare ®ts toans ;

So gibe fmotoleftge of salbatton unto JQis people : for
Jfjr rrmisston of tljrtv sins,

" From the height to which he has just attained
Zacharias allows his glance to fall upon the little
child at rest before him, and he assigns him his part
in the work which has begun." *

John the Baptist occupies a position of special
honor in the Church of God. It was his part to put
the finishing stroke to the work of the goodly fellow-
* Godet.

BENEDICTUS. 13

ship of the Prophets, whose last representative he
was (St. Matt, xi., 9 sq.). He appears as the actual
herald of the King, the outrider before His chariot.
It is his privilege to point Him out as having come
Whom a long line of predecessors had foretold
as about to come (St. John, i., 26, 36). John Bap
tist himself was the subject of prophecy to two of
his predecessors (Isa. xl.; Mai. iii., iv.). Notice
the doctrinal lesson in the expression " Thou shall
go before the face of the LORD." Christ is "the
LORD " before Whose face John goes to prepare His
way, as the Prophet of the Highest.

go prepare 3%is toags— For six months before
our Lord entered on His public ministry John Bap
tist was preaching, saying, " Repent ye, for the
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." His was the last
utterance of the Law which was to convince man of
sin that so they might be ready to welcome the
Deliverer from its guilt and power.

In our individual experience this ministry of John
the Baptist, as the Preacher of Repentance, must
ever go before the revelation of Jesus. Hindrances
must be cleared away, the mountains of pride must
be levelled, valleys of neglected duties filled up, the
crooked ways of self-deceit made straight, and the
roughness of our uneven tempers smoothed — that
His way may be made ready. " The pure in heart
shall see God."

" On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King of kings.

" Then cleans'd be every breast from sin,
Make straight the way of God within,
Prepare we in our hearts a home,
Where such a mighty Guest may come."

14 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

go gibg fenotolettge of salbation. — He was to pre
pare the way of the Lord by giving knowledge.
" Why was the ministry of the Messiah preceded by
that of another Divine messenger? Because the
very notion of salvation was falsified in Israel, and
had to be corrected before salvation could be real
ized. A carnal and malignant patriotism had taken
possession of the people and their rulers, and the
idea of a political deliverance had been substituted
for that of a moral salvation. There was needed
then another person Divinely authorized to remind
the people that perdition consisted not in subjection
to the Romans but in Divine condemnation, and
that salvation therefore was not temporal emanci
pation but the forgiveness of sins."*

gn tfle remission of tfletr sins. — Salvation consists
in this (St. Matt, i., 21; St. John i., 29).

t&e tender trims of our @fotr: tojjerefcw tlje
from on f)tsf) fjatf) bfsttctr us;
fitbe liojt to tijem tfjat sit in Oarfuuss, antr in tfje
of toeatf): antr to suitre our feet into tfjc toa» of
peace.

Dar&ness is the emblem of alienation from God,
and of the spiritual ignorance that accompanies it.
This darkness is a shadow of death because it leads
to perdition, just as the darkening of sight in the
dying is a prelude to the night of death. The term
sit denotes a state of exhaustion and despair, like
that of belated and benighted travellers.*

The light of God — in the face of Jesus Christ —
has dawned upon the world in its sluggishness and
alienation (See 2 Cor. iv., 3-6) to guide our feet into
the way of peace. Peace can only be found in recon-

* Godet.

BENEDICTUS. 15

ciliation to God, and when all the faculties of our
nature are brought into obedience to His law.
Christ as the Word of God is the light of all men.
Illuminating the conscience He gives light to every^
man that cometh into the world (St. John i., t)).
Clothing Himself in our nature He brings light to
a world that in turning from God had become in
volved in darkness, intellectual and moral (Rom.
i., 8-32.) "The people that walked in darkness have
seen a great light, they that dwelt in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined " (Isa. ix., 2). " I am the Light of the
World," He proclaims; "he that followeth Me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life." (St. John viii., 12; Comp. xii., 46, and i St.
John v., 18-20.)

As tfte J®H8*S>V*in& from on frigf) we welcome His
advent. " The Sun of Righteousness arises with
healing in His wings" (Mai. iv., 2). The light
which He gives us here is but the dawn of that per
fect day in which the blessed shall rejoice in His
unveiled Presence (Rev. xxi., 23-25). To His light
we must expose ourselves that He may heal and
quicken our darkened sickly souls and may guide
our feet into the way of peace. " Awake, thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
shine upon thee " (Eph. v., 14).

Morning by morning as we lift up our hearts in
thankfulness for His life-giving visitation let us pray
(as in the collect for St. John the Evangelist's Day)
that He would more and more cast the bright beams
of light upon us and all His people, and grant us so
to walk in the light of His truth, that we may at
length attain to the light of everlasting life.

l6 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

THE SONG OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

St. Luke i., 46-55.

It is indeed surprising that this Hymn commem
orating the central fact of our Religion, the Incarna
tion of the Eternal Son of God, should ever have
been excluded from our Service Book.

It is easy to see the prejudice and suspicion which
led to its exclusion. But how shallow and contrary
to true reason ! To sing Mary's song, with her to
magnify the Lord and rejoice in God her Saviour
and ours, could hardly lead to Mariolatry. Indeed it
puts her at once in her proper place as the represen
tative of the Church, the first among the Saints, the
leader of the Church's worship of Almighty God.
With her we sin^, not to her.

A second objection of the Puritans to this and the
other Evangelical Canticles was that they were too
personal.* Apart from the fact that the Psalms if
regarded in the same narrow spirit would for the
most part come under the same objection, this was
to lose sight of the representative and typical char
acter of their authors as prominent actors in the
mystery of the Incarnation. Mary is the representa
tive not only of the collective Church which is ever
bringing forth Christ to the world (Rev. xii.), but
also of every individual soul among the faithful, of
whom and in whom Christ is to be born by the opera
tion of the Holy Ghost. In one sense Mary's pre
rogative is unique, chosen out of all the daughters
of men to be the Mother of the Incarnate Son of

* For Hooker's fuller consideration of this objection see on
the Nunc Dimitlis, p. 28.

MAGNIFICAT. 1 7

God, that when the Word was made flesh He willed
to take from her substance by the power of the Holy
Ghost that Body in which He lived and died and
now reigns at God's Right Hand in glory. But in
another sense she is the pattern and representative
of all the faithful. When on one occasion during
our Lord's ministry a woman out of the multitude
which was hanging on H?s words exclaimed, "Blessed
is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which
Thou hast sucked," He replied, " Yea rather, blessed
are they that hear the Word of God and keep it."
(St. Luke xi., 27, 28.) He denied not His mother's
blessedness ; but He pointed to its true and highest
cause. More blessed was she in that she heard and
kept His Word and thus -was fitted for her high voca
tion than in the mere bringing Him forth according
to the flesh.

" Joy to be Mother of the Lord,

And thine the truer bliss,
In every thought and deed and word

To be forever His."

And in this her higher blessedness we too
may share. For on another occasion her Son de
clared, " My mother and My brethren are these
which hear the Word of God and do it " (St. Luke
viii., 21). " One is the Mother of Christ according to
the flesh," says St. Ambrose, "but according to the
spirit the fruit that all bear is Christ." Christ is to
be formed in us, in ever fresh developments of His
all-perfect likeness, by the grace of the Holy Ghost.
(Gal. i., 16 ; iv., 79 ; Eph. Hi., 17.)

" Blessed is the womb that bare Him — blessed
The bosom where His lips were pressed;

But rather blessed are they
Who hear His Word and keep it well,
The living homes where Christ shall dwell

And never pass away." *
* Christian Year, for the Annunciation.

l8 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

The Magnificat then is to be sung by us along
with Blessed Mary both in praise for the mystery of
the Incarnation of which she was the chosen and
highly favored instrument, and likewise in glad
thanksgiving for all those spiritual gifts and experi
ences by which the grace of that central mystery of
the Faith is wrought out 141 ourselves individually.
As the author of the older version of " Jerusalem
my happy Home " quaintly expresses himself in his
description of the Heavenly City, —

" Our Lady sings Magnificat
In tones surpassing sweet,
And all the Virgins bear their part
Sitting about her feet."

Concerning the historical setting, the environment,
so to speak, of the Magnificat and its relation to
Hannah's Song (given in i. Sam. ii.) the words of
Dr. Liddon may be quoted :*

" The Magnificat is tacitly recognized, by the
judgment and by the heart of Christendom, as the
noblest of Christian hymns. The occasion of its
utterance was unique in Jewish or rather in human
history; it was such as to place Mary's Hymn in a
higher category than those other Evangelical Can
ticles which together with it, and with a view to illus
trate St. Paul's teaching, are preserved by St. Luke.
When Mary sang, she had received Gabriel's mes
sage, and she knew that her expected Child, con
ceived under circumstances altogether preternatural,
would be greater than any of the sons of men. Her
hymn in fact is presented to us in Scripture as the
Hymn of the Divine Incarnation ; and its contents,
alike in their explicitness and in their reserve, are in

* University Sermons, 2nd series, " The Prophecy of the
Magnificat" p. 203, sq.

MAGNIFICAT. 19

keeping with its historical origin. It has indeed been
suggested (by Strauss, in his Leben Jesii) that Mary
in visiting her cousin, would scarcely have broken
out into a long Canticle instead of engaging in the
conversation which would be natural between rela
tions after a period of separation. But it may be
replied, first, that the Evangelist does not profess to
report all that passed at the Visitation ; and, secondly,
that, even within the sphere of purely natural experi
ence, there are moments when human feeling alto
gether refuses to submit to the ordinary restraints of
homely intercourse, and when, under the stress of
great joy or sorrow, we must either be silent, or ex
press ourselves in a strain which to cool observers at
the time, and to ourselves at other times, would ap
pear to be unnatural. If, then, we reflect what,
according to the Evangelist, the recent experience of
the Virgin Mother had actually been, we must feel
the impossibility of interpreting this utterance by the
rules which govern our feelings and conversation in
daily life. And, indeed, it is not difficult to imagine
how our critic would himself have treated the report
of a business-like discussion on family matters, in
terspersed with some pious reflections, if St. Luke
could have bequeathed one. Nor is it possible to
agree in the forced expression of surprise that a hymn
emanating immediately from so high a source of inspi
ration ' should not be more striking for its originality.'
" Certainly the modern feeling of anxiety to owe
nothing to a literary predecessor finds no place in the
sacred writers ; prophets continually repeat, with
new freshness and authority, the language of older
men of God; and, to omit other examples, the
holiest of all prayers is largely based on Rabbinical
petitions which were in use when it was first pre
scribed. Yet in all such cases new combinations, new

2O THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

associations, a new and all-inspiring purpose do secure
a true element of originality ; for originality may be
achieved not less perfectly by the effective use of old
ideas and language than by the production of new
material.

" Unquestionably Mary in her hymn does speak
almost entirely in the sacred language of the past ;
two Books of the Law, a late Psalmist, two Prophets,
and the work of the Son of Sirach are laid under
contribution ; above all, the Song of Hannah, to
whose memory in her new circumstances Mary would
not unnaturally have turned, supplied a large propor
tion, both of its language and its form, to the Hymn
of the Visitation. And yet who would seriously com
pare the earlier with the later poem ? ' Throughout
the Magnificat? exclaims a living foreign Protestant
Divine,* ' there reigns a truly royal majesty ; Mary
passes from pouring forth the thankful joy of her
heart to point with reverent awe at the Divine fact
which was its provoking cause ; and then, as if
gazing from a lofty eminence, in the fulness of the
prophetic spirit, she describes the consequences of
this fact in human nature and history ; and the last
strophe of her song dies away, as she owns in it
not simply a personal honor done to herself, but the
supreme token of God's faithfulness and compassion
towards the people of His choice.' "

|«M 0oul &otlj majjntfw tfje 2Lor& t anlr ms sjJirtt fjatjj
rejoiced in CSoO ma? Sabtour,

God is to be worshipped, Mary to be honored.
She is not the object, but the leader of our worship.

*' Highly favored " indeed she is, and "filled with
grace" — as a chosen receptacle, not "full of grace"—
as a source.

*Godet in his Commentary on St. Luke.

MAGNIFICAT. 21

Elizabeth had excitedly, " with a loud voice,"
exclaimed, "Whence is this to me, that the Mother
of my Lord should come to me ?" Mary in
reply calmly refers all the glory to Him Who has so
highly honored her. She denies not the great things
done to her, but she refers them all to the true
Source and Giver.

jfor ?IJe fjcitfj refiar&elr: tfje lotoltness of 5^ts &an&=
tmii&rn.

Literally, the lou> estate. She is not praisin g he
humility, but telling of His condescension. She
was indeed a princess of the house of David, the
lineal representative and heiress of David's throne ;
but betrothed to a village carpenter, residing in a
provincial town of evil repute ; the family of David
had sunk into so great obscurity that when she came
to Bethlehem, her own royal city, no room was found
for her in the inn. This low estate of His hand
maiden God regarded. It was an illustration, the
first great instance, of the law of the New Kingdom
noted by St. Paul : "Behold your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called, but God chose
the foolish things of the world, that He might put
to shame them that are wise ; and God chose the
weak things of the world, that He might put to
shame the things that are strong ; and the base
things of the world, and the things that are despised,
did God choose, yea and the things that are not,
that He might bring to nought the things that are."
(i Cor. i., 26-28.)

jFor foeljoltr, from fjntcefortf) : all ffnterattons 0fiall call
me filrssrtt.

Hear the words of Bishop Pearson : " It was her

22 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

own prediction, from henceforth all generations shall
call me blessed ; but the obligation is ours to call
her, to esteem her so. If Elizabeth cried out with
so loud a voice, Blessed art thou among women, when
Christ was but newly conceived, in her womb, what
expressions of honor and admiration can we think
sufficient now that Christ is in Heaven and that
Mother with Him ? Far be it from any Christian to
derogate from that special privilege granted her,
which is incommunicable to any other. We cannot
bear too reverend a regard unto the Mother of our
Lord, so long as we give her not that worship which
is due unto the Lord Himself. Let us keep the
language of the primitive Church : Let her be
honored and esteemed, let Him be worshipped and
adored."*

ffov 74 e tijat is mi&Dt£ Jati) majjtttffelr mej ana Jjolg is
Name.

Think how we should thus sing along with Blessed
Mary. It is true of our regeneration in Holy Bap
tism, and of all the gifts of grace that flow therefrom.
We have been made " partakers of the Divine
Nature" (2 St. Pet. i., 4), members of Christ, chil-
dran of God, heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Indeed He hath done to us great things. Probably
Mary did not understand the full significance of her
words. Who can tell how much she knew of the
mystery of the Incarnation ? Much she must have
learned aj to the meaning of that which had been
accomplished in her as time went on, from her Son
Himself, and after the Day of Pentecost, and through
the teaching of St. John. She knew at least that she
was to be the Mother of the Messiah, and that by

*Bishop Pearson, on the Creed. Art. iii, ch. III.

MAGNIFICAT. 23

an altogether preternatural conception. The angel
had told her, "The Holy Ghost shall call upon thee,
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee :
wherefore also that which is to be born shall be
called holy, the Son of God." (St. Luke i., 35.)

" We must measure the meaning of her words not
by the ignorance which we in our ignorance impute
to her, but by what the Spirit of God, Who inspired
her, has since revealed to us." *

How little do we realize the greatness of the things
God has done to us, even when in words we tell of
them. Indeed they surpass our comprehension.
(See i Cor. ii., 6-16; St. John i., 12, 13; i St. John
iii., i, 2.)

1%is meres is on tfjem tljat fear Jfyimt r&roufii)=
out all (jenerations.

Mary, after acknowledging what God has done to
her, goes on to speak of the way in which His mercy
has been shewn in the past on His people. She re
members Abraham, and David, and the restoration
of Israel after the Captivity. God had watched over
His covenant people and led them on until this cul
mination and fulfilment of all His promises.

Looking forward from the utterance of Mary's
song we behold her words continually fulfilled.

Jfyt fjat& sfjetoelr strenjjtf) tottfj %ts arm: ®e Jjatfi
scatteretf) tfjc jjroutt in tfjc imagination of tfjeir fjearts.

The proud in thought, who exalt themselves in
their thoughts and imaginations. Man fell through
Pride: he is restored through Humility.

Dr. Liddon in the Sermon already quoted traces
out the historical sequence:

*Sadler, Commentary on St. Luke.

24 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

" Mary has already referred in tender, solemn,
and reserved language to the great things which God
has done to her. And now she is, as it were, look
ing out across the centuries at the mighty religious
revolution which would date from the appearance of
her Divine Son on the scene of human history. God,
she exclaims, hath shewed strength with His arm; He
hath scattered the proud; He hath put down the
mighty; He hath exalted the humble; He hath filled
the hungry; He hath sent the rich empty away. It
is true that these are past tenses, and they might
thus be referred to the triumphs and fortunes of
Israel in by-gone days: to that ancient discomfiture
of the Egyptian power, which was scarcely ever ab
sent from the memory and heart of Hebrew Saints
and patriots; to the dethronement of the Canaanite,
the Amorite, the Amalekite kings who vainly en
deavored to arrest the advancing destinies of Israel;
to the abasement of the pride of Moab, and of the
might of Babylon; to the restoration in splendor and
in power of the chosen race, when it had been fast
bound by merciless conquerors in misery and iron.
Mary has been understood to mean that Israel, as a
people, did, on the whole, even in its worst moments,
hunger and thirst after righteousness, and was re
warded by a long line of teachers of spiritual truth,
culminating in the Greatest Teacher of all; while
other peoples, rich indeed in natural endowments,
but sated with the conceits of misdirected specula
tion, or with the cumbrous splendors of a mere ma
terial civilization, were sent empty away from the
spiritual feast. But it seems that Mary is thinking
less of the past than of the present, and of the future
which lies in the womb of the present. So, after the
manner of prophets, she does not anticipate that
which is yet to come; she sings of what she sees intui-

MAGNIFICAT. 25

lively, as if it were already history. He hath scat
tered the proud; He hath put down the mighty; He
hath exalted the humble; H-Qhath filled the hungry;
He hath dismissed the rich. God's work is for Mary
as if it were present or past, while speaking histor
ically, although on the point of beginning, it was
still, in its richest and truest sense, altogether future.
In her great hymn Mary stands no doubt between
two dispensations. They present many points of
resemblance to each other, and she can hardly
prophesy without describing, or describe without
prophesying. But upon the whole she is looking
forward rather than backward; she is prophetess
rather than historian; and her language is to be in
terpreted less by the history of Israel after the flesh
than by that of the New Kingdom of her Son."

put ttotou tfje mtsfjtg fr.m tfjetr seat : antor
tiatf) ejraltelr tjje ijumfile antt meefc.

Better in the Revised Version, " Princes from their
thrones."

" All praise to Him at whose sublime decree

The last are first, the first become the last ;
By whom the suppliant prisoner is set free,

By whom proud first-borns are cast down ;
Who raises Mary to be Queen of Heaven,
While Lucifer is left condemned and unforgiven." *

It is the great law of God's dealings laid down
again and again in the Gospel. See St. Luke xviii.,
14; and contrast the overthrow of Babylon, the
great World City, with the description of the New
Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven all
aglow with the glory of God, in Rev. xviii. and xxi.

* The Angels' Song in The Dream of Gerontius.

26 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

?i)r fiat!) ftllrtr tf)r f)tiiiQr» tuttfj gootr tfjurgs: and tijc
rut) ?$e flat!) sent emptg atoag.

This, as St. Augustine points out, in commenting
on the word St. James iv., 6, " God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace to the humble," is by
no arbitrary decree. As the rain falls equally on
the mountain and on the valley, but the hill-tops
remain parched and arid, while the moistened
valleys laugh and sing with verdure and crops,
because the former cannot receive or retain the
water, even so does Pride incapacitate man from
receiving the gifts of God, which the Humble
obtain. We must come before God in the acknowl
edgment of our need. They that are whole have no
need of a physician, but they that are sick. Christ
comes not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. (St. Matt, x., 12, 13.) Compare Isa.
Ixvi., i, 2, how applicable to the Magnificat, the
song of the humble to whom Christ reveals Himself!
" Thus saith the Lord, the Heaven is My throne, and
the earth is My footstool ; what manner of house
will ye build unto Me ? And what place shall be
My rest ? For all these things hath Mine hand
made, and so all these things came to be, saith the
Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that
is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth
at My word."

5^c rememfiertrtp; 2£ts meres fjatf) fjotyen 3^ts serbant
fisrael: as i£e promises to our forefathers,
anli f)is seett for eber.

The verse is better translated : —

" He hath holpen Israel His servant,
That He might remember mercy
(As He spake unto our fathers)
Toward Abraham and his seed for ever."

MAGNIFICAT. 27

Mary recognizes the fulfilment of God's promise
to Abraham, that in his seed all nations of the earth
should be blessed. (Gen. xxii., 18; Gal. Hi., 16.)
See how fitly the Magnificat serves to connect the
First Lesson from the Old ^Testament, which it fol
lows, with the Second Lesson from the New Testa
ment. It looks back to the original promise to
Abraham ; and it declares that in the coming Saviour
that promise will have its realization.

We may note the force of the names here intro
duced.

It is the Israel of God (Gal. vi., 16), not "Israel
after the flesh," which is really in view, the true
covenant people of God (Rev. vii.), who, like their
spiritual ancestor, strive with God in prayer and win
His blessing. (Gen. xxxii., 24-28 ; Hos. xii., 3, 4.)
Although the fulfilment of God's promises may seem
to tarry, the faithful, like Mary and Symeon and
Anna, are looking for redemption, knowing that His
promise will not really fail.

The covenant is with Abraham, "the father of
the faithful." If we are to share in the blessing of
Blessed Mary, we must like her prove ourselves true
children of Abraham, shewing his faith in our lives,
and then claiming the promises as we fulfil our part
of the covenant. (Rom. iv., n, 12.) Think of
Mary's transcendent faith when she accepted the
Angel's message, simply surrendering herself to
God's good pleasure: "Behold the handmaid of the
Lord : be it unto me according to Thy word." (St.
Luke i., 38.) This was, indeed, the word of a
daughter of Abraham, who, " when he was called,
by faith obeyed . . . and he went out, not
knowing whither he went." (Heb. xi., 8.)

28 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

EDfmfttte,

THE SONG OF SYMEON.

St. Luke ii., 29-32.

Hooker* quotes the Puritan objection to the use of
these Hymns as being too personal and peculiar to
their authors. "They sing (the Puritans objected)
Benedictus, Nunc Dimtttis, and Magnificat we know
not to what purpose except some of them were ready
to die, or except they would celebrate the memory
of the Virgin and John the Baptist," etc. Hooker
replies " By this your reason we may not use any of
the Psalms, until we be in like case as David was,
or other, when they were first made." He continues,
" And whereas they tell us these Songs were fit for
their purpose when Symeon and Zachary and the
Blessed Virgin uttered them, but cannot so be to us
which have not received like benefit ; should they
not remember how expressly Ezechias among other
good things is commended for this also, that the
praises of God were through his appointment daily
set forth by using in public Divine Service the songs
of David and Asaph unto that very end ? Either
there wanted wise men to give Ezechias advice and
to inform him of that which in his care was as true
as it is ours, namely, that without some inconvenience
and disorder he could not appoint those Psalms to
be used as ordinary prayer-, seeing that although
they were songs of thanksgiving such as David and
Asaph had special occasion to use, yet not so the whole

* Ecclesiastical Polity, Bk. V., xl., 2, 3.

NUNC DIMITTIS. 29

Church and people afterwards whom like occasions
did not befall : or else Ezechias was persuaded as we
are that the praises of God in the mouths of His
Saints are not so restrained to their own particular,but
that others may both conveniently and faithfully use
them : first, because the mystical communion of all
faithful men is such as maketh every one to be inter
ested in those precious blessings which any one of
them receive at God's hands : secondly, because
when anything is spoken to extol the goodness of God
Whose mercy endureth forever, albeit the very par
ticular occasion whereupon it riseth do come no
more, yet the fountain continuing the same, and
yielding other new effects which are but only in some
sort proportionable, a small resemblance between
the benefits which we and others have received may
serve to make the same words of praise and thanks
giving fit, though not equally in all circumstances
fit for both; a clear demonstration whereof we
have in all the ancient Fathers' commentaries and
meditations upon the Psalms: last of all, because
even when there is not as much as the show of any
resemblance, nevertheless by often using their words
in such manner, our minds are daily more and more
inured in their affections."

Symeon of course in this Song stands forth in a
very marked and special sense as a typical and repre
sentative person. He is a type of God's people in
all ages, rejoicing in the fulfilment of His promises,
and in a special sense representative of the ancient
Jewish Church welcoming the realization of the
promise long expected and prayed for. As an old
English Divine neatly puts it, " Symeon only was the
Precentor, he began the Song, which is to continue to
the end of the world. And though Symeon be
departed, according to his wish, yet has the Church

30 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

taken up his Hymn, and sings it continually, as a
perpetual memorial of this day's benediction."*

In like manner an older writer, Venerable Bede,
in the ninth century, says, " The aged and righteous
Symeon, the good old man of the Law, received into
his arms the Child Jesus presented in the Temple,
and signified his desire to depart, and thus represents
to us the Law, now worn out with age, ready to
embrace the Gospel and so depart in peace."

In another place Bede puts the same thought in a
different way: " The old man received the Infant
Christ to convey thereby that this World, now worn
out as it were with old age, should return to the
child-like innocence of Christian life."

Symeon then we regard as the representative

1. Of Fallen Humanity, waiting for the promised
Deliverer, in Whom it should find its regeneration,
and then rejoicing at His manifestation:

2. Of the Jewish Church, waiting for Him in
Whom all its hopes centred, in Whom all its rites and
ordinances should find their true solution and
significance:

3. Of all the Faithful in the Christian Dispensation,
rejoicing in ever fresh revelations of Christ's fulness:

4. Of the whole Church of the Redeemed at the
last, when God's purposes are accomplished, and the
Blessed behold Him in his unveiled glory.

Accordingly the custom of the Church has been
to use this Canticle for two special purposes.

I. The Nunc dimittis is the central feature of the
Compline Office, the closing service of the day. As
the Benedictus is naturally the morning hymn of the
Church, welcoming the rising of the Sun of Right-

*Frank, Sermon on the Purification, in his Works published
in the Anglo-Catholic Library, p. 342.

NUNC DIMITTIS. 31

eousness, and as at Vespers the Magnificat commem
orates the Incarnation in the fulness of time,
" As drew the world to evening- tide,"

so in the closing service for the day the Church
teaches her children to recite the Song of Symeon
in daily preparation for the closing of our earthly
life and the lying down in the sleep of death.

For the Compline Office there are said along with
the Nunc dimittis certain fixed Psalms : Ps. iv. which
ends with the verse " I will lay me down in peace and
take my rest : for it is Thou, Lord, only that maketh
me dwell in safety "; part of Ps. xxxi. ending with
our Lord's own dying prayer, " Into Thy hands I
commend my spirit"; Ps. xci. which more than
any other Psalm tells of God's continual watchful
care over His people, and which ends with His
promise to the faithful servant, " with long life will I
satisfy him (when this short troubled life is ended):
and shew him My salvation "; and Ps. cxxxiv.
which maybe thought of as calling upon the Angels
and the Blessed, who need not the rest of sleep to
refresh their energies, to carry on the worship of God
while we seek rest after toil ; " Behold now, praise
the Lord: all ye servants of the Lord; Ye that by
night stand in the house of the Lord: even in the
courts of the house of our God."

Then follows the Nunc Dimittis, expressive of the
soul's attitude of humble, trustful hope towards God.

" As Christ upon the Cross

His head inclined,
And to His Father's hands
His parting soul resigned,

So now herself my soul

Would wholly give
Into His sacred charge,

In whom all spirits live.

32 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

One Sacred Trinity!

One Lord Divine !
May I be ever His,

And He forever mine." •

Our Service Book combines in the Order for
Evening Prayer the leading features of the older
Vesper and Compline Offices. Recited after the New
Testament Lesson at Evensong the Nunc Dimittis
has its special force as an expression of grateful
trust based on the revelation of the full salvation
given to us in Christ, Who is made unto us Wisdom,
and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemp
tion (i Cor. i., 30).

2. The Nunc Dimittis has also by a true instinct
of the Church been employed as a Thanksgiving
after Holy Communion. In the old service books
it was a part of the Office which the Priest was
directed to say after celebrating the Holy Eucharist.
Its appropriateness for such use is at once obvious.
Hooker's words before quoted concerning the Evan
gelical Canticles in general have their special appli
cation to this Hymn and to its use in connection
with that Blessed Sacrament in which the promises
of God are in a special manner sealed to us: " They
are the first gratulations wherewith our Lord and
Saviour was joyfully received at His entrance into the
world by such as in their hearts, arms and very
bowels embraced Him."

As we join in Symeon's Song we may well think of
his character as given us in a few touches by St.
Luke (St. Luke ii., 25). As the representative of
all who should take this hymn on their lips he was
"just and devout: :" just, in his relation to man, de
vout, pious and God fearing. And " he was waiting
for the consolation of Israel:" — for the first coming

NUNC DIMITTIS. 33

of Christ in the Flesh, as we for His final coming in
Glory, and meanwhile for His continual manifesta
tion in Grace. "The Holy Ghost was upon him: "
he was taught by the Spirit as was St. John Baptist
in the wilderness (St. John i., 33). There was a wide
spread belief at this time that God was about to re
store again the kingdom to Israel. The sceptre
was on the point of vanishing from Judah,but Jacob
had declared this should not be until Shiloh came
(Gen. xlix., 10). Daniel and Jeremiah had given the
number of years to Messiah's advent, and these were
now fulfilled. While the Jews in general were in ex
pectation of a temporal deliverance, an earthly Mes
siah who should raise their nation again to a great
place among the kingdoms of the world, a few faith
ful earnest souls, like Symeon and Anna, and the
Blessed Virgin, and later those whom John the Bap
tist instructed, were looking for higher spiritual
blessings, for freedom from the bondage of sin, for a
fuller knowledge and love of God. Symeon we may
believe had pored over the Old Testament Scriptures
longing to know more of their true meaning and of
the character and work of the Messiah whose coming
they foretold. " It was revealed to him by the Holy
Spirit, that he should not see death before he had
seen the Lord's Christ."

On the occasion when Mary and Joseph brought
the Child to present Him to the Lord, Symeon was
irresistibly led by the Spirit to visit the Temple, at
some hour apparently when he was not usually wor
shipping. It has been thought by some that Sym
eon was himself the officiating Priest, and that it was
when he took the Child in his arms in the execution
of his ministerial office that his eyes were enlight
ened, and through all the poverty and meanness he
beheld Who it was Whom he held. What a though};

34 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

for those often engaged in or attending upon Holy
Mysteries — Baptism and the Eucharist ! how our
hearts should be lifted up to the contemplation of
the heavenly realities therein signified and wrought !
Whether we regard him as Priest or not, we may
see in him and in Anna the example and the reward
of faithful and diligent attendance on God's Worship
and in God's House. What would they have missed
had they not been there ! Amid whatever perfunc-
toriness or unspirituality of ministration let us " not
forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the
custom of some is, but exhort one another; and so
much more as ye see the day drawing nigh " (Heb. x.,

25)-

JLortr, noto Irttrst CD on Ol> scrbant depart in peace:
cording to &f)B tuor&.

It is not a prayer, but a thanksgiving. The em
phasis is on the word Peace. " Now, whenever my
call comes, I can depart in peace."

Think of the Peace in which we are called to
rejoice, peace in believing, peace in Jesus, the Prince
of Peace (St. Matt, xi., 25-30):

Peace for the Mind in the knowledge of the Truth,
as it is revealed to us by the Incarnate Word of
God (Heb. i., i, 2 ; St. John i., 20). We are not
looking for "a Christ to come," for "a Church of
the future " ; the revelation given in Jesus Christ is
for this world final. There can be no further or
fuller revelation than that given by and in the Word
made flesh. (St. John i., 14; 2 Cor. iv., 4-6; St.
Luke x., 21—24.)

Peace for the Heart in the presentation and pos
session of a satisfying object for our affections. If
Christ were anything short of God, we should
always be looking forward to some more perfect

NUNC DIMITT1S. 35

object. " The heart of man was made for Thee, O
God, and nought but Thou canst fill it. It is ever
restless until it find its rest in Thee " (St. Augus
tine). In Christ's absolute claims (St. John xiv.,
15, 21 ; St. Luke ix., 59) He implicitly asserts His
Godhead. In entire surrender to Him the heart
finds its true peace.

Peace for the Conscience in the forgiveness of sins
and reconciliation with God (Rom. v., i-n ; St.
John xx., 21-23).

Peace for the Will in its enfranchisement from the
tyranny of evil, the thraldom of passion and self-
love (Ps. cxix., 32, 45).

"Their Symeon-like joy and exultation at the dis
covery — rather say at the revelation of the Truth,
the early Christians expressed with great beauty in
one of their symbolic representations which adorned
the Catacombs where they worshipped and had their
burial places. It depicts a scene in the history of
the ancient Israel, the Rock smitten by Moses, sud
denly opening and sending forth a stream of pure
water which pours over the desert sands. The
painting is rude, but there is an indescribable beauty
in the expression of the Israelites rushing to the
fountain. Every feature bespeaks holy eagerness,
unutterable joy, and they drink in long draughts of
that which is indeed to them the water of life.
The symbol is easy of interpretation ; the first
Christians sought thus to set forth the joy unspeak
able of having seen the fountain of Divine Life
opened in a desert a thousand times more arid than
that crossed by the Israelites. At this they slaked
their thirst, according to His promise Who said, ' If
any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink '
(St. John vii., 37), 'Whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst : but

36 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water springing up into everlasting life' (St
John iv., 14). "*

As we say the Nunc Dimittis we ought to ask our
selves, Have I a share in Symeon's song ? Am I
simply repeating his words with my lips, or have
they an echo in my heart ? Symeon only saw Christ
at the beginning of His work, while we see Him
having finished His work.

Through life, amid its sorrows an d disappointments
its pains and temptations, are we cherishing the
peace which the world can neither give nor take
away, the peace of God which passeth all under
standing (Phil, iv., 27) ?

In the hour of death can we look forward to a de
parture m peace like Symeon's, with a song on the
lips, Christ in the arms, Heaven in view ?
• That same old English writer who was quoted be
fore says,f ' This is a point which may comfort us
when all worldly comforts are past us. When like old
Barzillai we have neither pleasure nor taste in our
meat or drink, we may find sweetness in Christ's
Body and Blood. When ' the grasshopper is a bur
den, this Child is none; when 'the keepers of the
house tremble,' our hands may yet hold Him fast-
when they that look out of the windows be dark
ened/we may steadfastly behold Him; 'when the
grinders <Cease,' we may yet eat this Bread of Life-
he that rises at the voice of the bird ' may sleep
soundly with this Child in his arms; when ' all desire
shall fail ', this ' Desire of all nations ' will not leave
him; when he is 'going to his long home,' this Child
will accompany and conduct him to his rest."

How, we may ask, can we attain to this ? By re-
*Pressense, Early Ye.irs of Christianity, p. n.
t Frank, Sermons, p. 361.

NUNC DIMITTIS. 37

sembling Symeon in the four points marked out in
Holy Scripture:

1. By obedience, as he " was led by the Spirit." In
obedience to the Spirit's inspirations, following His
leading.

"Them that are meek shall He guide in judg
ment " (Ps. xxv., 8).

" If thou with Symeon would touch Jesus and
grasp Him with thy hands, strive with all thy might
to have the Holy Spirit for thy Sanctifier and Guide,
and come into the Temple of God where thou mayest
find Him " (Origen).

2. By a holy life, as he was "just and devout."
Careful and faithful in the performance of all duties
towards God and towards man.

" To him that ordereth his conversation right will
I shew the salvation of God " (Ps. ]., 23).

3. By a diligent use of the means of grace, as he
was "in the Temple."

" We wait for Thy loving kindness, O God, in the
midst of Thy Temple " (Ps. xlviii., 8).

4. By a patient prayerful waiting for the fulfilment
of the promise.

" Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely
come, it will not delay " (Hab. ii., 3).

Embrace Him with a lively faith;
Embrace Him with a faithful love;
Embrace Him and be embraced by Him
In His Sacraments of grace.

St. Ambrose.

Hettegt Cfrp gerbant trepgrt. The Greek word com
bines the two ideas of relieving a sentinel on duty
and delivering from the burden of life. " Symeon
represents himself under the image of a sentinel
whom his master has placed in an elevated position,
and charged to look for the appearance of a star, and

38 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

then announce it to the world. He sees this long-
desired star ; he proclaims its rising, and asks to be
relieved of the post he has occupied so long."*

flccorfrtng to Cf)i? tootfr. The Nunc Dimitis is the con
tinual Song of Redeemed Humanity in the Christian
Church rejoicing in the fulfilment of God's promises
concerning the Seed of the Woman (Gen. iii., 15),
the Seed of Abraham (Gen. xxii., 18), the Prophet
like unto Moses (Deut. xviii., 15-18), the Shoot
from David's stock (Isa. xi., i), the Priest upon
His throne (Zech. vi., 13).

The promise to Symeon had been that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ
(St. Luke ii., 26). Having embraced Christ, to de
part will not be death. " He that believeth in Me
shall never die " (St. John xi., 26). Death will be
no longer a descent into the prison house of Hades;
it will be but a falling asleep (Acts vii., 60 ; i
Thess. iv., 13, 14) in the assurance of a joyful res
urrection.

" Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell ; neither
shall Thou suffer Thy holy one to see corruption.
Thou shalt shew me the path of life ; in Thy pres
ence is the fulness of joy : and at Thy right hand
there is pleasure for evermore " (Ps. xvi., n, 12).

jFor fHtitf njrs fjabr Been : Oii> salbatton.

There must be a personal beholding. See Job
xix., 27, the sentence which in our Burial Service
follows immediately upon our Lord's promise, "I
am the Resurrection and the Life ; he that believeth
on Me, though he die, yet shall he live : and whoso
ever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die"
(St. John xi., 25, 26).

*Godet.

NUNC DIMITTIS. 39

In the words of Job we are taught to appropriate
the promise: "I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth.

And though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : Whom
I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and
not another."

There must be the personal laying holding of
God's promises, the appropriation of His mercy to
each individually. This is what is effected by Sacra
ments and the ministry of the Church. To empha
size this the Church is careful to order that Sacra
ments shall be administered to each recipient sever
ally, however great may be the number. " I baptize
thee." "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which
was given for thee " . . . " The Blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve
thy body and soul unto everlasting life."

3 Wf)tr!) Cfiou fiast prrparrtr : brforr tf)c face of all proplr.

That all may reap the benefit. Perhaps the
expression is connected with the fact that this scene
took place in the Court of the Gentiles. That is
where the Woman would come for her Purification.

The Jews were trustees of God's preparatory
promises for all mankind. When the promises be
came gifts, and the Seed of the Woman appeared,
the covenant was enlarged to embrace all mankind.
" Go ye into all the world, and make disciples of all
nations," was the Lord's command (St. Matt,
xxviii., 19; St. Mark xvi., 15). How can we
rejoice in His gifts of grace and truth, if we are not
seeking by all means in our power — by alms, by
prayer, by personal influence and labor — to spread

40 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

these blessings to others, in a spirit of earnest mis
sionary zeal ?

5To fce a Itgfjt to lujfjten tjje ©fenttles : anlr to 6e tije
» of ffifj» people fisrael.

A light to lighten the Gentiles. Compare the prom
ises in the Evangelical Prophet :

" It is too light a thing that Thou shouldest be
My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to
restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give Thee
for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My
salvation unto the ends of the earth" (Isa. xlix., 6).

" The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings
to the brightness of Thy rising " (Isa. lx., 3).

Cfte glory of &ljg people Esrael. The word used is a
technical one, signifying the Shechinah, the Bright
Cloud between the Cherubim over the Mercy Seat of
the Ark which was the token of God's covenant
Presence among His chosen people.

This Presence was in the innermost sanctuary of
the Temple, within the Most Holy Place. The idea
here is that that radiance is illuminating the whole
world while its beauty is most fully seen and enjoyed
by those who bask in its immediate Presence.

We may interpret the words likewise of the Chris
tian Church, admitted into a higher covenant, a closer
union with God, than was vouchsafed to the Jews.
By His gifts of sanctifying grace Christ is the in
dwelling glory of His faithful people (Col. ii. 27).
But His light streams out far beyond the actual
boundaries of His Church. Many who would not
call themselves Christian believers are living upon
Christian truths and sustained by motives that
are really derived from Christianity, although they
acknowledge not the source from which these bless-

NUNC DIMITTIS. 41

ings are derived. Were the Christian elements to
be abstracted from the moral atmosphere, what would
become of the Non-Theistic Ethics to which men
sometimes point as a substitute for the religion of
Jesus Christ ? Our modern civilization and culture
are largely based upon ideas which were borrowed
from and introduced by the Church of Christ. The
great charitable institutions to which we point with
pride, our hospitals, homes and provision for the
poor and sick and friendless, these are the result of
Christianity. They existed not before Christ came.
They are not found now apart from the influence ot'
Christianity. In this sense also then we may take
the words " a light to lighten the Gentiles: and the
glory of Thy people Israel."

And again we may apply them to the Church
Militant and the Church Triumphant. Here amidst
the darkness of earth Christ is our Light, the Light
of the world which whoso followeth shall not walk in
darkness but shall have the Light of Life (St. John
viii., 12). Of the Heavenly City it is written, "The
throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and
His servants shall do Him service ; and they shall see
His Face; and His Name shall be on their foreheads.
And there shall be night no more; and they need no
light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God
shall give them light and they shall reign for ever
and ever " (Rev. xxii., 5).

Then indeed shall Christ be the glory of His
people the true Israel (Rev. vii., 4), who have striven
with God and with men, and have prevailed (Gen.
xxxii., 28)

St. Buonaventura calls attention to the four titles
given to Christ our Lord in this Hymn:

" Christus laudatur in hoc cantico ut Pax, ut Salus, ut Lu%,

42 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

ut Gloria: Pax est quia Mediator, Salus quia Redemptor, Lux
quia Doctor, Gloria quia Praemiator."

May He indeed be our Shield in this world, and
our exceeding great Reward throughout eternity
(Gen. xv., i).

TE DEUM. 43

2Deum.

This great Hymn of the Church we may well con
sider along with the Gospel Canticles, not only on
account of its use with them in our Service, but also
as being so closely allied with them in its contents
and spirit.

Formerly it was very commonly called " The Song
of Ambrose," or "of Ambrose and Augustine." It
stood under this title in the Latin office-books of the
English Church before the Reformation The name
is derived from the legend, of considerable antiquity,
which told of the Te Deum being composed and
sung in alternate verses at the Baptism of Augustine
by Ambrose. For this story however there Is no
real foundation. The Hymn is considerably older
than the date (A.D. 386) to which this legend would
assign its origin. St. Ambrose probably introduced
its use into Italy, and St. Augustine, taught by
Ambrose, into Africa.

There is a passage in St. Augustine's Confessions*
which may be well understood as including a refer
ence to the Te Deum. Speaking of his Baptism at
Milan he says:

" We were Baptized, and anxiety for our past life
vanished from us. Nor was I sated in those days
with the wondrous sweetness of considering the
depths of Thy counsels concerning the salvation of
mankind. How did I weep, in Thy Hymns and
Canticles, touched to the quick by the voices of Thy
sweet-attuned Church ! The voices flowed into
mine ears, and the Truth distilled into my heart,

* Confessions, Bk. IX., vi., 14.

44 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

whence the affections of my devotion overflowed,
and tears ran down, and happy was I therein."

In connection with this passage it will be well to re
member that in another place St. Augustine speaks of
the care which he felt it necessary to take lest the
beauty of the music to which the Church Canticles
were sung should distract his thoughts from the
spiritual sense of what was sung.*

In its present form the Te Deum is probably of
Gallican origin. It has been ascribed to both the
Hilaries, St. Hilary of Poictiers, A.D. 355, and St.
Hilary of Aries, A.D. 440. Parts of the hymn are
much more ancient and are to be found in writings
of St. Cyprian, A.D. 252. At the end of the Psalter in
the Alexandrine MS. of the Bible, which belongs to
the fifth century, and which is preserved in the
British Museum, there is a Morning Hymn, still used
in the daily service of the Greek Church, which is a
combination of the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te
Deum.

Concerning the combination of different existing
formularies in this great Hymn it has been beautifully
said,f " Ancient as the Te Deum is in the form in
which we now have it, there is no doubt that its
materials are older still, and that the stately tree
sends its roots far down into the ritual stores of the
sacred East. It is a touching thought that in our
grand Te Deum we combine full many a hymn and
anthem of untold antiquity, the offspring of the
rapt devotion of the early Eastern mind, all welded
into one majestic whole by the genius of the Western
Church ; and that since its first composition there
never has been a time in the history of the Western

*Confessions, Book X., xxxiii., 50.

f The late Canon A. R. Ash well, in the Monthly Packet, for
1867, Second Article on the Cant cles.

TE DEUM. 45

Service Books when it has not formed part of the
Matin-Song."

Concerning the date of the Te Deum the same
writer says, " Whatever mists envelop its origin,
there can be no doubt that in its present form,
and in its present completeness, it belongs to some
date in the fifty or sixty years next following the
Nicene Council, A. D. 325. Not until the Chris
tian Doctrine was fully vindicated was the Te Deum
completed ; not until the great victory over heresy
was won did the Church add her Canticle to the
great series which the elder Covenant had com
menced. Viewed in this light the Te Deum comes
before us with a surpassing claim on our interest and
our affections. It is the one sole Canticle in the
whole series which is not a direct extract from Holy
Writ. And yet the Church has ever placed it side by
side with forms derived from Scripture itself; — nay,
even more, it is the very central point towards which
they all converge, it is as the capital of the column, it
is as the keystone of the arch. We may not claim a
direct inspiration for any human formulary, but we
may say that whatever gift of illumination resides in
Holy Church would seem to have been in this one
sole Christian Canticle. In it the Church and not
any individual would seem to speak. From the
East — s > it would seem — arise many of the elements
of which it is composed ; then a scrap which looks
like part of it turns up in the West in a treatise of St.
Cyprian's ; and then, unknown like Melchizedek in its
parentage, it has started into complete life in the
Western Church sometime after the middle of the
fourth century. And the whole Church welcomes
it everywhere. As in its scattered portions it seems
to have been the utterance of the scattered members
of the Church, so in its completeness it is accepted

46 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

universally, as the fitting voice of the Church Uni
versal, giving thanks to God for the fulness of the
Christian Faith."

In the Rule of St. Benedict (at the beginning of
ihe sixth century) and in that of Csesarius of Aries
(about the same date) the Te Deum is ordered to be
sung at Sunday Matins ; and this has been its ordi
nary use ever since, either on Sundays and Festivals,
or in other rites Daily except on Fast Days, follow
ing the Lessons read in the early morning or mid-
niglit service. With reference to the position of the
Te Deum in the service, Canon Ashwell may again
be quoted :

'' It sums up the revelation of God as contained in
Holy Scripture. If our Scripture Lessons begin
with the Old Testament revelation of the Father,
and then go on through the New Testament revela
tions of God the Son and God the Holy Ghost,
down to the Second Advent and the final Judgment
of mankind ; — so does the great Te Deum. It begins
with 'We praise Thee, O God'; it travels onward
down the Gospel History to the ' We believe that
Thou shalt come to be our Judge ' ; and thus it
embraces the full-orbed round of Scriptural teaching.
That it has always been regarded as a thanksgiving
for, or a commemoration of, the revelation of God
in Holy Scripture is obvious from the way in which
it has always been used in every Service Book ever
known of. Its place has always been after the Matin
Lections, not before them."

In the first Post-Reformation Prayer Book of the
English Church (1549), the Benedidievfas ordered to
be used in Advent and Lent instead of Te Deum.
The Song of the Three Children had its place in the
older Office Books as the Sunday Canticle in the

TE DEUM. 47

Office of Lauds. When therefore our present Morn
ing Service was formed by grouping together what had
formerly been three separate services (Matins, Lauds,
and Prime), the compilers found place for the Bene-
tlicite by making it an alternative for ihe Te Deum.
The idea of its use in Advent and Lent seems to
be not that the Benedicite is more suited for peniten
tial reasons, but that the Te Deum is less appropri
ate. We drop down from the full joyousness and
exultation arising from the contemplation of the
great mysteries of Grace, in the worship of God our
Redeemer, to the praise of God as Creator, cele
brating His work in Nature.

Besides its place in the Matin Office, it has been
the use of the Catholic Church generally to sing
the Te Deum by itself as a solemn act of Thanks
giving for any special mercy, much as in America we
have been accustomed to sing the Gloria in. Excelsis.
A trace of this use is found in both the English and
American Prayer Books of the present day, in the
Service to be used at Sea, where in the Thanksgiving
for Victory over Enemies the Te Deum is appointed
to be sung. In the same way it is used at the Coro
nation of Sovereigns and on like occasions of solemn
thanksgiving.

It is interesting to note that the most ancient Chris
tian music known has come down to us in connection
with this Canticle — that known as " the Ambrosian
Te Deum." It is found in a work on music, written by
one Boethius, a Roman Consul, A.D. 487, and is
thought to be, like the other ancient Church Tones,
an adaptation of the Temple Psalmody.

The Te Deum is as valuable for private devotion
as for public use. Its structure suggests certain

48 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES

great laws of prayer and of spiritual life. Begging
of our Lord to

" Teach us this and every day
To live more nearly as we pray," *

we should seek to keep ourselves continually in that
spiritual attitude towards Almighty God in which we
consciously place ourselves in times of prayer.
We may notice then in the Te Deum

1. How Hope and Petition are based on Faith;

2. How our Faith rests on the testimony of the
Church ;

3. That the Worship of Almighty God comes
before Petition for the supply of our needs.

1. The Creed is the back-bone of all. The Te
Deum is a cord of three strands, each interwoven
with the other, so that you can scarcely disconnect
them — our Creed, Praise and Prayer. Our prayer
must be based on our faith. Every article of the
Creed affords some motive for a holy life, some
restraint in the time of temptation.

2. The Te Deum begins in the plural, " We praise
Thee " ; it ends in the singular, " In Thee have /
trusted; let me never be confounded." Our belief is
first of all based upon the testimony of the Church.
But then the truth must become a matter of indi
vidual conviction.

3. The Te Deum begins with Worship and then
goes on to Supplication. We are so apt to reverse
this order, and to begin with our own personal joys
and sorrows: too often these fill up our thoughts and
shut out the contemplation and praise of God's
Attributes. The Te Deum on the contrary teaches
us to begin with simple Worship and then in the

* Christian Year, Morning Hymn.

TE DEUM. 49

strength of this Worship to bring our needs before
Almighty God and to trust ourselves to His Power,
His Wisdom, His Love, Whom we have learned
really to know as the Thrice- Holy.

As one has said, '' The Te Deum is a creed set
hymn-wise." It is also a kind ot rhythmical para
phrase of the Lord's Prayer. In both this same order
and relation of Worship and Petition is set before us.
We may thus analyse the Canticle:

I. Verses i and 2 strike the keynote of praise and
adoration.

In those which follow the adoration of Angels and
of Saints is offered to the Lord Jehovah directly, to
God the Father as the Representative Person of the
Blessed Trinity.

Vv. 3-6. All the various ranks of the Heavenly
Intelligences join in the Seraphic Hymn.

7, 8. The adoration of the Saints in bliss.

II. Then we descend in vv. 10-13 to the adora
tion of the Church Militant on earth, offered to the
Holy Trinity through Christ mediately :

Vv. 14—18 continue to commemorate Christ's re
deeming work.

III. 19—28. Then follows the Supplication of the
Church Militant addressed to Christ as Redeemer,
that He will ultimately save His people.

The petition of the last verse each worshipper
offers for his own individual soul.

" Nothing," says Canon Ashwell, " can be more
touching than the way in which this grand Canticle
comes gradually down from the elevated strain of its
majestic opening to the almost saddened tone of its
pathetic close. At first all is grand and noble and
jubilant, for it begins with. God and not with men,
with Heaver and not with earth. It is God in His

50 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

illimitable majesty Whom we contemplate: we are
fi led with His glory, and all our words and thoughts
are laden with exultation. We think of those who
stand next to Him in adoration: the Heavenly host
who have never sinned, Angels and Cherubim and
Seraphim: the Redeemed who have fought their
fight, Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs : and all our
thoughts are joyous.

" Then we come down to earth, to the Church yet
Militant, and our words are soberer, but still partake
of the 'same general character of jubilation — for is
She not the Bride of Christ, although for the present
She abides in the wilderness ? Holy in her collec
tive capacity, the Temple of the Holy Ghost. But
yet our praise is now of moderated tone. The
Angels 'cry aloud'; the Apostles ' praise Thee ';
of the Church we say, ' the Holy Church . . .
doth acknowledge Thee.' Mark the change of word
— acknowledge. It is a word of lesser exultation,
but still it is decisive in its character. There is no
indecision about it; and we observe too that it is
the precise description of what the Church Militant
is placed on earth to do. She is God's witness upon
earth: it is her business to acknowledge Him below,
even as the Redeemed praise Him above. And this
she never fails to do even in the worst of times. God
is» never without the witness of 'the Holy Church
throughout the world.' And accordingly we go on
next with howihe Church acknowledges Him, t'.e., in
the maintenance of the Apostolic Testimony in the
Apostles' Creed, the substance of which is next re
cited in vv. 11-19. So the Church acknowledges
Him throughout the whole world.

" After this we come down a step lower still from
the Church to its constituent parts; to ourselves now
worshipping, and to the Supplication which forms the

TE DEUM. 51

third part of the Canticle. The Church below is
militant, yet sure to be triumphant in the end; but
how as to each several member of her body ? How
about ourselves ? Are we sure of our crown ? Are
we sure that we acknowledge Him ? A pathetic
minor now begins to cross the harmony, and from
praise we turn to praying. We want 'help'; and
where are we to get it ? The answer can only come
out of the Creed which the Holy Church has just
acknowledged. What is the Creed but the revelation
of our help ? Hence the Supplication takes its start
from the Acknowledgment: we start off from the
Creed when we begin to pray; and we go on to call
upon the Redeemer to ' save ' us, to ' govern us,'
to 'lift us up.' We conjure Him by the memory of
His Redemption, which we have just been acknowl
edging, not to leave us without His help. Thrice we
call upon Him to have mercy upon us. Once we
pray that during the coming day we may be kept
from sin, for we are not sure of ourselves for an
hour.

" Then comes the last verse, narrowing the ground
still more. In verse 10 it was the whole Church
Militant throughout all the earth which spoke.
After that (19-28) we come to ourselves,/'.^., the
actual congregation now uttering these words ; but
in the last verse the thought is brought home to our
own separate soul. It is no longer, how about our-
selves, but how about wyself ? What is my own
case? But for the help of God I know that I can
never acknowledge Him ; I can never even keep
clear of sin ; I can never hope to be numbered with
the Saints in Glory Everlasting. So the Te Deum
ends with what sounds almost like the cry of Peter
upon the waves — a cry for individual help — ' Lord
save me,' — not for the whole Church Militant, not

52 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

for the congregation now gathered in God's House,
but for myself; and for the first time in our Matin
Service we cease to speak of 'our' and 'we'; it is
*I ' and 'me.' The last voice of all is that of indi
vidual appeal from each soul to God —

' O Lord, in Thee have I trusted :
Let me never be confounded.' "

2Bc praCsr JTfjer, © CKolrj toe ncfenoiuIrUgc 2Cfjcr to fie
tfjc Horir.

&U tjje eartfj irotfj toorsfjtp STfjcc: tfjc .tfatfjer cbrr=
lastinfl.

3138*. There is a grandeur in this beginning, asso
ciating ourselves with, losing ourselves in, the whole
Body of the Church throughout all ages.

At the end we claim each one his own personal
share in the faith attested by all. The Faith we
must remember does not depend upon our accept
ance of it. Certain facts are objectively true,
whether we believe them or not. We must have our
eyes opened that we may behold them.

gfte Hurt. The Supreme Ruler (Rev. xix., 6, 16);
equivalent, as in the New Testament, to Jehovah,
the Self-existent Being (Ex. iii., 14), as distinguished
from all false gods ar>d from any created object.

By some these verses are understood as addressed
to our Lord Jesus Christ, as a confession of His true
Godhead. In that case the title "the Father Ever
lasting " would be used as in Isa. ix., 6, where it is
applied to Christ our Lord, the Divine Child, as the
Father of a new race, who derive eternal life from
Him.

The whole hymn would then be directed to our
Lord Jesus Christ, expanding in verses 5 and 10-13
into an acknowledgment of the Blessed Trinity.

But this seems forced. And it is better to take

TE DEUM 53

the whole of the first thirteen verses as addressed to
the Holy Trinity, or to the Eternal Father as the
Representative Person of the Godhead, and then the
remainder from v. 14 as addressed to the Incarnate
Son. The Hymn will then be parallel to the vision
of the Heavenly Worship in Rev. iv. and v., where
adoration is first paid to the Thrice-Holy, and then
to the glorified Lamb.

flll tfte fartfi, /. e., all persons therein, speaking
generally. Even among the Heathen nations who
have not the true faith there is hardly any tribe so
degraded as to have no belief in the Supreme Being,
He whom they ignorantly worship has been declared
unto us (Acts xvii., 23).

<To (Tl)cr nil .Clugcls cry aloutr: tije j^tabrns, an& all
tfje 4£otoers tljrmit,

JEoSEfjee (Efjcrubtm antr Srrajjljim: conttuuaHn &o cru,
?A>o!i), ?i>oli?, 71) oli,»: Horn (Soft of Safiaotf);
?Ucal>en anti eartf) are full of tfje J&ajestn: of

We rise from earth to Heaven, to join in worship
with the spiritual intelligences, the angel host, the
first-born sons of light, around the throne of God.

" O praise the Lord, ye angels of His, ye that excel in
strength : ye that fulfil His commandment, and hearken unto
the voice of His words.

O praise the Lord, all ye His hosts : ye servants of His that
do His pleasure" (Ps. ciii., 2o, 21).

The Angels are represented as first of all worship
ping spirits, joining continually in the Celestial Lit
urgy around our Lord the great High Priest, and
then sent forth also to active ministry on behalf of
those who shall be heirs of salvation. This is the
force of the two words employed in Heb. i., 14, un
fortunately rendered by the one word " minister " in
our ordinary translation.

54 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

Think of the worship paid by the heavenly host
with their vast powers of intelligence. Shall we
refuse our homage, or suppose that mysteries which
pass our finite understanding are therefore to be
regarded as incredible ? We do but proclaim our
folly.

Mention is made in Holy Scripture of different
ranks of the Heavenly Host (Col. i., 16 ; Eph. i.,
21 ; i St. Pet. iii , 22; Rev. iv., v., xii.; Isa. vi)
By Theologians they are commonly enumerated as
in a nine-fold hierarchy, each rank having its own
peculiar place and office.

" Seraphim His praises sing,
Cherubim on four-fold wing,
Thrones, Dominions, Princes, Powers,
Marshalled Might that never cowers.

" Speeds the Archangel from His Face,
Bearing messages of grace ;
Angel liosts His words fulfil,
Ruling nature by His will."

, 3%olB« ffiolg. Derived from the Seraphic
Hymn in Isa. vi., repeated in Rev. iv.

Let us remember that it is the contemplation of
God's Holiness which most of all calls forth our wor
ship. His almighty Power is exercised according to
infinite Wisdom and in perfect Love. Thus do we
with the host of Heaven worship Him as the Thrice
Holy.

llor& (Soft of ^aftaotf). i.e., of Hosts. The name is
significant of God's great power and resistless might,
and was specially assumed when speaking of Himself
to His down-trodden people. It tells of Him under
the figure of a military Leader, whose will must
ultimately be obeyed. Comp. St. Matt, xxvi., 53 ;
xxv., 31.

TE DEUM. 55

If He be for us, who can be against us ?
But more than to have Him on our side, our aim
must be ourselves to be found on His side.

Cfje glorious company of 1f)e flpostlcg, going forth into
all the world to win all nations to the obedience
of the Faith (Rom. i., 5 ; ix., 18).

" For they the Church's princes are,
Triumphant leaders in the war,
In Heavenly courts a warrior band,
True lights to lighten every land."

Cfte gooftlt? feUotosfrtp of tftc ^ropnetg. who prepared
the way for Christ, and spake of Him before (Rev.
xix., 10; i St. Pet. i., 10, n ; St. Luke i., 70), in
every age witnessing for God (Heb. xi., 32, sq).

Cfie notle armp of fftartprg. The adjective should
be " White-robed" candidatus. The reference is to
Rev. vi., 1 1 ; vii., 9, 4.

" The white host " is the old English rendering.

<Tfir 1joli> (Tfntrrf) tfirougfiout all UK toorlo : tint ft arfenotol-

STtirr;

)f .iFatfier i of an infinite majesty;
aftoratle. true : ana onlp «on ;
2Uso tfir 7i>ohj iTifiost : tfte Comforter.

The translation " Adorable " in the American
Prayer Book is a distinct improvement on the
" Honorable " of the English version. Venerandum
is the Latin word. " Honorable " of course was used
in the same sense, but is capable of a lower interpre
tation, whereas "Adorable" is absolutely unques
tionable in its significance.

The word '''Comforter" as applied to the Holy
Ghost fails in modern English to give the full force
of the original title Paraclete, which might be best
translated " Helper." Literally the Greek word

56 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

means "one who is called to our side," and so is
used of the Holy Ghost, Who comes

1. as the Spirit of Truth to teach us in ou rigno-
rance (St. John xvi., 13) ;

2. as the Spirit of Counsel to guide us in perplexity
(Isa. xxx., 21);

3. as the Spirit of Might to strengthen us against
our foes (St. Luke iv., i);

4- as the Spirit of Grace and Supplication to aid
us in our prayers, as our Advocate (Rom. viii., 26, 27);

5. not only as the Spirit of Peace and Love, to
console us in sorrow (Rom. v., 5 ; Gal. v., 22).

ffifjou art tfie Bins of CSflorw ; © @fjrist.
Eftott art tfje fbtrlastiug Sou : of tfje ffatfjcr
J»jen £fjou toofeest unou erfj«r to fcelibtr man.-
ijumfcle 5TD»scIf to 6r torn of a

.

wben Sfjou fja&st obcrocme tfje sfjarpness o irrath :
5T(jiou HtDBt open tj&emtiTQ&om of 7Urabeu to all ficltrbrrs.

Stjott stttcst at tfje Kiflfjt 2i}auO of e5o6: in tfje <5lora?
of tlje

eberlasting &on. The titl, points t

technically called " The Eternal or perpetual Gen
eration " of the Son of God.

The Arians argued in denial of our Lord's abso
lute Godhead that the title ''Son" necessarily
implied that He came into existence later in time
than His Father. Not so, replied the Catholics.
The essence of the filial relationship consists in the
derivation of the very same nature" from father to
son. That a son should be younger than his
father is a mere accident of the relationship as it is
found among us creatures of time. For God time is
not. His Being is spiritual and infinite. The Son of
God then must be of One Nature, Essence, Being,
with His Father. He too must be Infinite and
Eternal and Uncreated. It is in this sense that He

TE DRUM. 57

is spoken of as the Only-begotten Son of God,
His Word and Wisdom. (St. John, i., 1-18.)

The Generation of the Son is not a past event,
occurring millions of ages ago. It and the Procession
of the Spirit are eternal laws of the Life of God.
God is ever begetting His Son, the express image of
His own being (Heb. i., 2, 3), the utterance of His
Mind ; the Holy Ghost, the Personal Love of God, is
ever proceeding from the Father and the Son (St.
John xv., 26; Rev. xxii., i). This is " the glory of
the Eternal Trinity" which by the confession of a
true faith we are called to acknowledge.

gggflcn gTj)ou toofecst upon gTijce, ttc This verse fails
to give the full sense of the original. The transla
tion should run:

" When Thou tookest man's nature upon Thee to
deliver it: Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's
womb." The Eternal Son when in order to restore
it to holiness He assumed our nature, took hold of
the seed of Abraham (Heb. ii., 16, and see the whole
chapter), might have come into the world, had He so
willed, like the first Adam with fully developed pow
ers of manhood. But He chose when He assumed
a created nature to take it in its weakest form, in the
helplessness and lowliness of childhood, to sanctify
by His experience every stage of human existence
from the very earliest. This was an added con
descension. »

ggf flen gEflou flattst obmonte » • . to all tettebtrg.
Compare the message to the Angel of the Church
in Smyrna (Rev. ii., 8-u):

"These things saith the First and the Last, Which
became dead and lived again . . . Fear
not the things which thou art about to suffer .
Be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee

58 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

the crown of life ... He that overcometh shall
not be hurt of the second death." (Compare also
2. Tim. ii., 11-13.)

gTflou sittest, etc. Enthroned in His Sacred Hu
manity at the highest place both of honor and of
might. The Manhood of Jesus is now the instru
ment through which God carries out His will. (St.
Matt, xxviii., 18 ; St. John xvii., i, 2 ; i St. Pet.
iii., 22.) Thus He was beheld by St. Stephen (Acts
vii., 55, 56), and by St. John (Rev. i., 13 ; v., 6).

fieliebe tfjat 2Tf)ou sfjalt come: to fie
therefore prai> STfjer, fjrlii £fjn serbants: tofjom
STijou fjast reaeentclr toitf) <Ef)j> precious ISIoolr.

fttafee tftem to fie numfieretr tuttfj £lji> Saints: in
ory eberlastinoj.

© Horlr sabe 2Tfi» people: anlr filess STfjtnefleritase.
ffiobern tfiem : antr lift tjjem up for eber.

•

gflou sj>alt come,. etc. All judgment is committed
unto the Son of Man (St. John v., 27 ; St. Matt.
xxv., 31), both —

i. As a pledge of justice. He Who was unjustly
arraigned and condemned will then summon all
before Him. In that day will all wrongs be righted
and God's justice vindicated before all (i Cor. iv.,
5 ; Rom. ii., 5, 16).

%. As a pledge of mercy. We shall be judged by
Him Who wears our nature and Who has been in all
points like as we are (Heb. ii., 17, 18).

3. As a standard of perfection. He is the Pattern
Man, the first-born among many brethren, to Whose
likeness by the operation of His Spirit we are to be
conformed (2 Cor. iii., 18 ; i St. John iii, 1-3).

TK DEUM. 59

gg?e tijerctore prag gfree ;

" Behold the Lamb of God !
O Thou for sinners slain,
Let it not be in vain

That Thou hast died :
Thee for my Saviour let me take,
My only refuge let me make
Thy pierced side.

" Behold the Lamb of God !
Into the sacred flood
Of Thy most Precious Blood

My soul I cast :

Wash me and make me clean within,
And keep me pure from every sin,

Till life be past."

jgafee tflent to tie numfterett. Rather " Make them
to be rewarded with Thy Saints in endless bliss," as
previous to 1497 all Latin MSS. would have been
translated. The alteration arose from a confusion
between MVNERARI and NVMERARI.

The word " numbered " may remind us that we
must throw in our lot with the Sajnts here if we are
to be reckoned among their company hereafter. See
Rom. viii., 28-30.

tflent. How ? Not merely by external
rule and protection, but by the internal inspiration
of the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier. Thus //// them
up to high and heavenly desires (See Heb. x., 16).

i»> Ban : toe ntasnifw

toe toorsftip £f)» Name: eber toorltr toitfjottt nta.
Vouchsafe. © Horlf: to fceep us tjjts Daw tottJjout sin.
© 3Lortt, fjabe mercw upon its: ijabe mercj? upon us.
© Horlr let ffifin merci? fie ttpju us : as our trust is in

.

3Lortt, in Sfjee Jjafae * trustett : let me neber lie con=
fountrelr.

Our petition follows on our praise. We plead

60 THE GOSPEL CANTICLES.

with Him Whom we have worshipped as the Thrice-
Holy that He will keep us by and in His Name (St.
John xvii., 6) ; that His Name which is called upon
us may be hallowed in us ; that we, relying only
upon His mercy, may never be ashamed or disap
pointed of our hope (Rom. v., 1-5).

The Hymn ends with the first verse of Ps. xxxi.,
from which our Lord chose His own dying com
mendation :

" In Thee, O Lord, have I put my trust : let me
never be put to confusion, deliver me in Thy right
eousness."

" Into Thy Hands I commend my spirit : for Thou
hast redeemed me, O Lord, Thou God of truth."
(Ps. xxxi., i, 6.)

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

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