A companion to the temple and closet, or, A help to publick and private devotion in an essay upon the daily offices of the church.

The second Hymn after the First Lesson at Morning Prayer.

§. 5. WE shall briefly pass over this Hymn; because it is seldom used, and sufficiently plain: it being an invitation of all Creatures to praise God. And though it be not in the Canon of Scripture, yet it is an excel∣lent Paraphrase on the 148 Psalm; and comes so near it in words and sense, that we must reproach that, if we despise this. And we have the practice of the Primitive Church to justifie our use of it, wherein it was not sung only four times in the year (as in the present Roman Church) but on all solemn occasions in the assemblies of the faithful, from the beginning, as Ruffinus and St. Augustine(d) 1.1 assure us. And the duty which it invites us to ought to recommend it, which is to praise God for all his works. 'Tis true they are so excellent, that they do of t••emselves declare the Power and Wisdom of their great Creator(e) 1.2. And yet since we

have benefit by them, and understanding to observe, and speech to express his glory who made them, God calls on us to lend them a tongue to glorifie him with, and by so doing we may fill our souls with reverence and noble thoughts of the Lord of all things. Our aptness to be forgetful of the rare contrivance, and unthankful for the usefulness of his works, makes this Hymn often needful: but it is alwayes proper to be used after the History of the Creation, or the relati∣on of those miracles wherein God useth the Creatures as Instruments of his Justice or Mercy. And then we may in this Form learn the order of Gods works, for the method is exact, and beginning with the Hea∣vens and the hosts thereof descends to the air, the Earth and Sea reckoning up all the furniture of them; and concluding with a particular exhortation to the Sons of Men, who are concerned in them all to give praise to the Lord their maker, the Order will inform our understanding, the exactness quicken our memory, and the comprehensive and devout manner of address, will enlarge our affections, if we attend it, and de∣sire to profit by it, and then it will need no other recommendations.

Notes

• (d) 1.1

  In omni solem∣nitate, in sac••is fide∣lium decantatur, Ruffinus l. 2. adv. Hieron. ap. Six••. Senens. Biblioth. & Aug. Serm. 47. temp.
• (e) 1.2

  Psal. 19.1. Bona enim ex s••ipsis v••ce ••••emittunt, neque enim Sol vel Luna interprete ege••••; 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ipsa lux palam testatur quod totum mundum illustrant. Philo.