Benedictus (1928 BCP)

Benedictus (1928 BCP) is the Gospel canticle beginning "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel" appointed after the Second Lesson in Morning Prayer in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. It is the song of Zacharias from Luke 1:68-79, placed between the New Testament lesson and the Apostles' Creed, so that the office moves from Scripture read aloud to evangelical praise, then to catholic confession and prayer.

The title comes from the Latin opening, Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." In the 1928 office, Benedictus is not merely an optional hymn after a reading. It gathers the themes of covenant mercy, Davidic salvation, prophecy, remission of sins, light, and peace into the Church's daily morning praise.

Place in Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer appoints Benedictus after the Second Lesson, following the First Lesson canticles and the New Testament reading:

And after that shall be sung or said the Hymn following.

The placement matters. The congregation has already heard a lesson from the Old Testament, answered with a canticle such as the Te Deum or Benedicite, and then heard the Second Lesson from the New Testament. Benedictus answers that Gospel-shaped hearing of Scripture by blessing God for the fulfillment of his promises in Christ.

The 1928 text also allows a seasonal shortening:

But Note, That, save on the Sundays in Advent, the latter portion thereof may be omitted.

That Advent exception is fitting because Benedictus is full of preparation, visitation, prophecy, and the coming light. It is especially apt when the Church is waiting for the Lord's advent and hearing again the ministry of John the Baptist.

The office also connects Benedictus to the Gloria Patri:

at the end of the Venite, Benedictus es, Benedictus, Jubilate, may be, and at the end of the whole Portion, or Selection from the Psalter, shall be, sung or said the Gloria Patri:

The Gloria Patri does not erase the canticle's setting in Luke. It places the Gospel song within the Church's Trinitarian worship, preparing the congregation to confess the Creed immediately afterward.

Prayer Book Text

The 1928 BCP prints Benedictus with the biblical source named at the heading:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; * for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, * in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, * which have been since the world began;
That we should be saved from our enemies, * and from the hand of all that hate us.
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, * and to remember his holy covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, * that he would give us;
That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies * might serve him without fear;
In holiness and righteousness before him, * all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: * for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people * for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; * whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The local Justus 1928 source has an apparent punctuation artifact in "go. before"; this article corrects it to "go before" because that is the sense of Luke 1:76 and the intended Prayer Book reading.

Covenant and Davidic Salvation

Benedictus begins by blessing God for visitation and redemption:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

The canticle is therefore not general religious optimism. It is praise for God's saving action. "Visited" in this context is mercy in motion: God has come to his people, not merely remembered them from afar.

The next line identifies that redemption with the house of David:

And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

The 1928 Prayer Book renders the same thought in office language as "a mighty salvation." The biblical "horn" is the image of royal strength and deliverance; the Prayer Book's phrase makes the meaning plain for common prayer. The promised salvation is not detached from Israel's history. It comes through the Davidic promise and reaches the Church through Christ, David's Son and Lord.

Prophecy, Abraham, and Fearless Service

Zacharias interprets the birth of John within the long memory of Israel:

To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

Benedictus therefore teaches Morning Prayer to hear the two lessons as one divine economy. The Old Testament is not discarded once the New Testament lesson is read. The Gospel is the fulfillment of God's covenant mercy, spoken by the prophets and sworn to Abraham.

The oath to Abraham leads to a moral and liturgical purpose:

That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,

Deliverance is ordered toward worship and holiness. Morning Prayer has already confessed sin and received absolution; Benedictus now names the goal of redemption as fearless service "in holiness and righteousness." Anglican use of the canticle therefore holds together grace and obedience. The people are saved in order to serve God.

John the Baptist and Advent

The second half of Benedictus turns from God's fulfilled promise to the child who will prepare the Lord's way:

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

This explains the 1928 note about Advent. The canticle is always a Gospel canticle, but Advent gives special prominence to the ministry of preparation. John is not praised as an independent redeemer. He is "prophet of the Highest" because his vocation is to go before the Lord.

St. Luke immediately connects John's mission with repentance and forgiveness:

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

This phrase fits the penitential beginning of Morning Prayer. The office has not treated confession as a vague exercise in self-examination. Benedictus names salvation by remission of sins, grounding the people's praise in the mercy declared by God.

Light and Peace

The canticle's final movement is one of the strongest biblical images in Morning Prayer:

Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

"Dayspring" gives the morning office a natural and theological resonance. As daylight comes, the Church praises the mercy by which God gives light in Christ. The canticle is therefore especially suited to morning: it is not only said at that hour, but speaks theologically of the dawn of salvation.

The purpose of that light is pastoral and eschatological:

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

The line reaches beyond private consolation. It speaks to those under death's shadow and asks that their feet be guided into peace. In the daily office, this becomes a repeated formation in hope: the congregation begins the day under the mercy that gives light, direction, and peace.

Anglican Interpretation

Nineteenth-century Anglican commentary on Matins and Evensong treated the canticles as integral to the office's response to Scripture. Directorium Anglicanum, edited by John Purchas, describes the office's praise in these terms:

The office of praise begins with the Gloria Patri, and includes the Psalms (furnishing topics of praise as well as Divine instruction); Lessons, Canticles (a descant of praise on the lessons and on the whole economy of redemption).

That interpretation is directly relevant to Benedictus. The canticle is a "descant of praise" on the lessons because it receives the Second Lesson into the story of redemption: covenant, David, prophecy, remission of sins, light, and peace.

The same source comments specifically on Benedictus and Jubilate:

The Benedictus, if the rigour of the rubric is preserved, is sung at Matins every day, except when it shall happen to be read in the Lesson for the Day, or in the Gospel for the Feast of S. John Baptist.

The 1928 American book does not reproduce every older English rubric exactly, but the principle remains illuminating. Benedictus is the normal Gospel canticle after the Second Lesson, while Jubilate Deo provides an alternative. The alternative is not a demotion of Benedictus; it is a way of keeping the office from needless repetition when the same passage has just been read.

John Henry Blunt's annotated Prayer Book gives the broader historical setting for this stable daily-office pattern:

The next step towards condensation was the adoption of a less variable system in the daily services, so that the Collect of the day, the Lessons, and the Psalms should be almost the only portions of Mattins and Evensong which needed to be changed from day to day, or week to week.

Benedictus belongs to that stable structure. The appointed lessons change; the Gospel canticle gives a steady response. This is one reason the Daily Office can teach doctrine by repetition without becoming mere repetition. The Church hears many passages of Scripture and repeatedly answers them with the praise of fulfilled redemption.

Use in Worship and Teaching

In parish worship, Benedictus should be said or sung as the Gospel answer to the Second Lesson. Its movement is clear: blessing of God, visitation and redemption, Davidic salvation, prophetic promise, Abrahamic covenant, fearless service, John's preparatory ministry, remission of sins, the dayspring from on high, and the way of peace.

In catechesis, the canticle can be taught through four questions. Who acts? The Lord God of Israel visits and redeems. What has he done? He has raised up salvation in David's house and remembered his covenant. How is salvation known? Through remission of sins prepared by John's prophetic ministry and fulfilled in Christ. What does redemption produce? Fearless service, holiness, righteousness, light, and peace.

For classical Anglican and Reformed Episcopal readers, Benedictus shows how the Prayer Book prays the Gospel without separating it from covenant history or moral renewal. For High Church and catholic Anglican readers, it also displays the ancient office pattern of answering Scripture with a received biblical canticle. In both readings, the article's center is not a party interpretation but the canticle itself: the mercy of God in Christ, praised every morning by the Church.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Daily Office (1928 BCP)
• Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)
• Jubilate Deo (1928 BCP)
• Apostles' Creed in Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)
• Te Deum Laudamus (1928 BCP)
• Benedicite Omnia Opera Domini (1928 BCP)
• Scripture in the 1928 BCP

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Directorium Anglicanum: Matins and Evensong
• John Henry Blunt, The Annotated Book of Common Prayer