'Sung by the Jewish church': the Jubilate at Matins

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we turn to the Jubilate, the alternative to the Benedictus after the second lesson. Locating this psalm in the Temple liturgy, Shepherd points us to how use of the Jubilate is a sign that the Church "wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree":

It is said to have been composed by David upon occasion of a public thanksgiving, and was sung by the Jewish church at the oblation of the peace offering, as the priest was entering into the temple.

The appropriateness of the Jubilate following the reading of the New Testament lesson, particularly from the Gospels, is noted. Significantly, this also emphasises the unity of the covenants, that the God of Israel is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:

And immediately after hearing the Gospel of peace, it is a form of praise perfectly suitable to every Christian assembly. For the divine attributes here celebrated, gracious goodness, everlasting mercy, never-failing truth, and parental care, are in the Gospel most fully displayed.

There is, in other words, a theological richness to the use of the Jubilate at Matins. It is by no means a poor alternative to the Benedictus, for the Jubilate embodies and celebrates the truth that, in Christ, we "are no more strangers and foreigners", that we "walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham".

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