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Cantate DominoPassing now to the corresponding Canticle at Evensong, we find Cantate Domino, the 98th Psalm, which, though much briefer, and nearly free from elaborate detail, makes the same acknowledgement of the Almighty Maker, and calls upon His creatures to praise Him in their various orders in very similar fashion. Here however the climax is reversed. Beginning with human beings and God's mercy to them, and notably to Israel, we pass on to the sea, the world, the floods, the hills and all the inhabitants, returning at the end to the people and God's justice and judgment. In both these Canticles, the thought is present that those, who do what God designs that they should do, are thereby praising Him. Hills, and valleys, and seas, are thought of as if they were human beings: they rejoice, and sing, and clap their hands, when ungrudgingly and with all the beauty and generosity of their best nature they carry out the Will of God. When man does the like, of his own will and in his {82} own place, he also sings, and makes great the praise of God. v. 2. With his own right hand, and with his holy arm. Several passages in Isaiah (li. 9, lii. 10, lix. 16, lxiii. 5) use this figure to represent God's invincible might. Other phrases of Isaiah (lii. 7-10) are to be traced in this Psalm. The Lord the King, "Thy God reigneth": declared his salvation, "publisheth salvation": all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God, "all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." O sing unto the Lord . . . let the hills be joyful, "Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places." Next: Canticles Which Follow The Second Lesson Previous: Benedicite
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