Easter Eve Setting Of Magnificat

[Transcriber's note: In the following section, in the original book,

the material in the right-hand column was italicized. In standard

Project Gutenberg practice, such text is (usually) surrounded by

underscores (""), but for clarity, that underscoring has been omitted

here.]





Now on the evening of the

Sabbath, as it began to dawn My soul doth magnify the

toward the irst day of the Lord:

week, came Mary Magdalene

and the other Mary to see the

Sepulchre.



And behold, there was a And my spirit hath rejoiced

great earthquake. in God my Saviour.



For the angel of the Lord For he hath regarded the

descended from heaven, and lowliness of his handmaiden:

came and rolled back the stone for behold, from henceforth all

from the door, and sat upon it. generations shall call me blessed.



His countenance was like For he that is mighty hath

lightning, and his raiment magnified me, and holy is his

white as snow. name.



And for fear of him the And his mercy is on them

keepers did shake, and that fear him, throughout all

became as dead men. generations.



And the angel answered He hath shewed strength

and said unto the women, Fear with his arm; he hath scattered

not ye; for I know that ye the fraud in the imagination

seek Jesus, which was crucified. of their hearts.

He is not here: for he is risen,

as he said.



Come, see the place where He hath put down the

the Lord lay. mighty from their seat, and

hath exalted the humble and

meek.



And go quickly, and tell He hath filled the hungry

his disciples, that he is risen with good things, and the rich

from the dead. he hath sent empty away.



In Galilee shall ye see him: He remembering his mercy

lo, I have told you. hath holpen his servant Israel.



Fear not ye; for he is risen As he promised to our forefathers,

as he said. Abraham and his seed

for ever.



And very early in the first Glory be to the Father, and

day of the week, they came to the Son, and to the Holy

unto the sepulchre at the rising Ghost:

of the sun.



And they said among themselves, As it was in the beginning,

Who shall roll us away is now, and ever shall be,

the stone, and when they looked, world without end. Amen.

they saw that it was rolled

away.





We have now given examples of Anthems, which show that they have their

name from the responding of two choirs to one another[1]. But Anthems

were not of necessity hymns of Praise. The place provided at Morning

and Evening Prayer, for the singing of an Anthem, is singularly

ill-suited to the singing of a Praise-Anthem: for it is the place also

of the Litany. It is sometimes pleaded that people grow tired of

prayer, by the end of the 3rd Collect, and need a change: hence, after

praying for three or four minutes, they rise up and sing praise for ten

minutes, before kneeling again for seven or eight minutes. If we have

grasped the reverent orderliness of the Services, we shall not easily

be persuaded that this was the design of the order at this place. We

have elsewhere shown that an Anthem here unites the Collects which

precede it, to those which follow.



We must believe that there was an intention to provide an Anthem Book.

Until this is done by authority, it would be well to distinguish, in

Hymn Books, between those Hymns which are suitable in the midst of the

Prayers, and those which are appropriate as Hymns of Praise. The same

might also be done in the Anthem Books, so that a Praise-Anthem, or

Hymn, might be sung at the close of the whole Service. A

Prayer-Anthem, or Hymn, or one upon the Redeemer's Love, and His Work

as Mediator, suits well as a modulation to the Prayers after the 3rd

Collect. And it might be sung Antiphonally.