THE STORY OF THE HYMNS AND THEIR WRITERS 495
Virgin Mary. The hymn of praise for the redemption of Israel from Babylon becomes, in the mouth of the Christian Church, a hymn of praise for the redemption of the world. The psalm has so many resemblances to the Magnificat that it seems as though the mother of our Lord must have had it in her mind when she offered her Song of Praise.
988. Lord, now lettest Tliou Thy servant depart in peace.
The NUNC DIMITTIS, or Song of Simeon (Luke ii. 29-32), was used in Compline. F>om The Great Bible. This is the greeting of the Old Dispensation to the New. Simeon re presents himself under the image of a sentinel whom his master has placed in an exalted position, and charged to look for the appearance of a star, and 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. In the same way, at the opening of Aeschylus s Agamemnon, when the sentinel, set to watch for the appearing of the fire that is to announce the taking of Troy, beholds at last the signal so impatiently expected, he sings at once both the victory of Greece and his own release.
989. God be merciful unto us, and bless us.
DEUS MISEREATUR (Psalm Ixvii.) was introduced into the Prayer-book in 1552, as an alternative to the Nunc Dimittis. From The Great Bible. It has been called the Pater Noster of the Ancient Church. It was written for some Temple Festival after a year of exceptional increase, and echoes the priestly blessing of Num. vi. 24 in its opening words. It is a prayer for the spread of God s kingdom, and rests its hope on those mercies of God which are sent to open human eyes to His goodness.
990. The Ten Commandments.
From The Great Bible. The reading of the Decalogue in the Communion Service is peculiar to the English Church, and was adopted from the Strasburg Litany of Pullain, 1551. The response is commonly called The Kyrie," from the Greek for Lord. And the final response resembles that which follows the Decalogue in Pullain s Litany.
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