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2. O ye Angels of the Lord, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

3. O ye Heavens, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

4. O ye Waters, that be above the Firmament, blefs ye the Lord praise him, and magnify him for ever.

5. O all ye Powers of the Lord, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

6. O ye Sun, and Moon, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

7. O ye Stars of Heaven, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

8. O ye Showers, and Dew, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

9. O ye winds of God, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

10. Ŏ ye Fire, and Heat, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

11. O ye Winter, and Summer, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

PARAPHRASE.

1. O all things, animate and inanimate, join to bless the Lord: praise him, and exalt his name for ever.

2. O ye beings of an higher order, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and extol his name for ever.

3. O ye heavens, blefs the name of the Almighty: beftow your praises upon his name, and magnify him to all eternity.

4. O ye waters that occupy the fpaces above the firmament, bless ye the most High: praife him and magnify him for ever.

5. O all ye powers fubordinate to the Almighty, blefs ye the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever.

6. O ye fun and moon, glorious luminaries that rule the day and the night, blefs ye the Lord, praife him and magnify his name for ever.

7. Oye ftars of heaven, whofe rays difpel the darkness of the night, Blefs ye the Lord, praife him and magnify his name for ever.

8. O ye fhowers and dew, to which the earth owes its fertility, blefs she all-bounteous Author of nature, praise him and extol his name for ever. 9. O ye winds of heaven that purify the air, blefs ye the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever.

10. O

ye

fire and heat, which are productive of fo many bleffings to mankind, blefs ye our benevolent Creator, praife him and magnify his name for ever.

11. O ye

12. O ye Dews, and Frofts, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Froft, and Cold, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Ice, and Snow, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

13. O ye Nights, and Days, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

14. O ye Light, and Darknefs, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

15. O ye Lightnings, and Clouds, blefs ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.

16. O let the Earth blefs the Lord: yea, let it praise him, and magnify him for ever.

17. O ye Mountains, and Hills, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

18. O all ye green Things upon the Earth, blefs ye the Lord praise him, and magnify him for ever.

19. O ye Wells, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

PARAPHRASE.

11. O ye winter and fummer, who, by alternate heat and cold do good to the earth, blefs ye the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever.

12. O ye dews and frosts so beneficial to the earth, praise the Lord and magnify his name for ever.

15. O ye nights and days, who, by alternately fucceeding each other, afford to men a proper feafon both for labour and repofe, blefs ye the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever.

14. O light who doft conftitute the day, and darkness who doft conftitute the night, blefs ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever, 15. O ye lightnings and clouds, whereby both the omnipotence and goodness of God are equally difplayed, blefs ye his name, praise him and magnify him for ever.

16. O let the earth, made for the use of man, blefs the Lord, nay more, let it raise the glory of God, let it extol and magnify his name for ever. 17. O ye mountains and hills, by which the furface of the globe is diverfified, blefs ye the Lord, praife him and magnify his name for ever. 18. O all ye various herbs which are of fuch high utility to mankind, blefs the Lord, praife him and magnify his name for ever.

19. Oye wells, which fupply mankind with falubrious draughts, praise the all-bounteous Being, unto whom we owe you, extol and magnify his name for ever.

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20. O ye Seas, and Floods, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

21. O ye Whales, and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

22. O all ye Fowls of the Air, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

23. O all ye Beafts and Cattle, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

24. O ye children of Men, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

25. Ŏ let Ifrael blefs the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

26. O ye priests of the Lord, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

27. O ye Servants of the Lord, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

28. O ye Spirits and Souls of the righteous, blefs Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

PARAPHRASE.

ye the

20. O ye feas, whom his Almighty Power heaves at pleasure; O ye floods, blefs the Lord, praise him and magnify his name for ever.

21. O ye whales, who in magnitude furpass all creatures that swim in the ocean, join with all that move therein, to bless the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever.

22. O all ye birds, that wing your way thro' the air, bless ye the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever.

23. O all ye beafts of the earth, to whom the Lord affords food fit for you, jointly bless the bounteous Creator, praise him and magnify his name for ever.

24. O human beings, whom the Almighty has endowed with the gift of reason, and on whom he has poured his choiceft bleffings, praise your Benefactor and magnify his name for ever.

25. Let Ifrael, the peculiar people of the Lord, blefs his name, praise and extol him for ever.

26. O ye minifters of God, chofen to ferve at his altar, as you are in duty bound, zealously blefs the name of the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever.

27. O all you, who owe allegiance to the Lord, bless his name, praise him and magnify him for ever.

28. O ye fpirits and fouls of juft men made perfect, blefs ye the Lord, praife him and glorify his name for ever.

29. O you,

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

30. O Ananias, Azarias, and Mifael, bless ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

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

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

Then fhall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Teftament: And after that, the Hymn following; except when that fall bappen to be read in the Chapter for the Day; or for the Gospel on St. John Baptift's Day.

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Benedictus. St. Luke 1. 68.

LESSED be the Lord God of Ifrael: for he hath

B vifited, and redeemed his people;

2. And hath raised up a mighty falvation for us: in the house of his fervant David;

3. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets: which have been fince the world began;

4. That we fhould be faved from our enemies: and from the hands of all that hate us;

PARA PHRA S E.

29. O you, who are endued with true virtue and humility, bless the Lord, praife and extol him for ever.

30. O Ananias, Azarias, and Mifael, blefs ye the Lord, exert yourfelves to the utmost to praise him and glorify his name.

1. Bleffed and praised be the Almighty Sovereign of the world, who is in a more peculiar manner the God of the people of Ifrael, the rest of mankind remaining in ignorance and idolatry, (Pfal. lxxii. 18. and cvi. 43.) who has vifited, (this expreffion, according to the Hebrew idiom implies, kindly come to the affittance of his people. Exod. iii. 16.) and redeemed them from the flavery of fin.

2. And has raifed up fuch a falutiferous horn, i. e. a royal power, Dan. vii. 24. Zach. i. 18.) as will not fail to procure us falvation, and bis out of the family of holy David, from whofe race the Meffiah is to come. 3. Which coming of the Mefiah's was foretold by a chain of prophe. cies from the beginning of the world; when it was declared by the Almighty, that the woman's feed fhould bruife the ferpent's head. Gen. iii. 15. 4. The end of whose coming is to refcue us from our most inveterate Demies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

5. That

5. To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers: and to remember his holy covenant;

6. To perform the oath which he fware to our forefather Abraham that he would give us ;

7. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might ferve him without fear;

8. In holiness and righteoufnefs before him: all the days of our life.

9. And thou, Child, fhalt be called the Prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

10. To give knowledge of falvation unto his people: for the remiffion of their fins,

11. Through the tender mercy of our God: whereby the Day-fpring from on high hath vifited us;

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

PARAPHRASE.

5. That the merciful promifes made by God to our forefathers the patriarchs, to whom he declared what favours he would confer upon their pofterity, might be accomplished. Gen. xii. 3. and xxxv. 2. Exod. xx. 6.

6. And that he might fulfil the oath, (Gen. xii. 16.) by which he ratified the covenant that he had made with Abraham, that he would confer upon us the following bleffings.

7. That being freed by the Meffiah from our grand enemy, the devil, we might worship God with greater confidence and fatisfaction, and be lefs afraid of his wrath, than under the Mofaical ordinances.

8. Not fo much by adhering to legal inftitutions, as by piety and juftice, and whatever elfe belongs to a fpiritual worship.

9. And thou, O my little child here prefent, thall be the prophet fpoken of by Ifaiah, and the forerunner of the Meffiah, who is to prepare the way of the Lord.

10. And to declare to the world, particularly to the Jewish nation, that falvation was now coming to them, and that they might shortly expect the remiffion.

11. Which pardon of fins, and other favours of the Meffiah, were the effects of the tender mercy of the divine Nature, which would not fuffer the human race to perish without a Redeemer; and therefore fent that day-fpring, the Mefliah, to fhine upon us.

12. And as the fun difpels the darkness, after a long winter's night, to give a comfortable light to thofe who have paffed fo many hours in the fhadow

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