In the Greek Euchologion a great part of the Song is embodied, with other Scripture odes, in what is styled "the Canon at Great Matins in the All Night Vigil" (Euchology, translated by G.V. Shann, Kidderminster, 1891, p. 34).
Later English Use.
Burbidge (Liturgies and Offices of the Church, 1885, p. 268), gives a number of instances of the use of Benedicite in foreign service books, and says, "In other churches Benedicite has been held in higher esteem than amongst ourselves." Esteem for it has never been entirely lacking, however, as its prominence in the P.B. shews.
In a Prymer of circ. 1400, as given by Maskell (Mon. rit. 1882, Vol. III. p. 21), Benedicite occurs in Matins, beginning "Alle werkis of the Lord, bless ye to the Lord: herie ye and overhize ye him in all time." On the same page, note 49, he gives a quotation from Gemma animae, II. 53, "canticum trium puerorum est festivius et ideo in omnibus festis dicitur." Also in his Append, to Prymer, p. 243, another version is given, from Bodl. Douce MS. 275, fol. 9b: "Alle werkes of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise and overheie ye him in to the worldes." There was an authorized translation into Welsh early in the 14th century, according to H. Zimmer (Urtext und Uebersetz, Leipzig, 1897, p. 172), together with Magnificat, Benedictus, and several Psalms, evidently for liturgical purposes.
In the P.B. of 1549 the use of the Benedicite as a substitute for the Te Deum was confined to Lent "all the which time" its recital was obligatory. It has been suggested by W.G. Wyon (Letter to "Guardian," May 14, 1902) that mediæval devotion read into it an allegoric meaning of deliverance from temptations and dangers of this naughty world, and this made the Song suitable for Lent. He also suggests that the 'Oratio' of the Roman Missal in the 'Gratiarum actio' after Mass, which contains it, shews us its suitability for penitential seasons indirectly, "Deus qui tribus," etc. No doubt hope of deliverance from fierce spiritual perils may be in Lent a proper frame of mind; but this attempt to prove the Benedicites special appropriateness to that season is more ingenious than satisfying. It is strained and far-fetched. Compare what is said above (p. 88), where M'Swiney is cited as shewing in similar style its special appropriateness to Sunday. The tone of the canticle is unmistakeably joyful, and the 1549 rubric disappeared in 1552, leaving Benedicite as a simple alternative to the Te Deum, at any time according to the taste of the officiant. And so it still remains, though often preferred to the Te Dewm during Lent. Septuagesima and Trinity XXI. are, on account of their first lessons, fitting Sundays for its use; nor is it by any means unsuitable for a harvest festival. An entirely different kind of reason for its Lenten suitability is provided by H.P. Cornish (Notes on P.B., Evans, Redditch, n.d., p. 17). Lent, he says, is the time "when all nature begins to wake from its Lenten sleep": hence its appropriateness in spring. It is questionable, however, whether mediæval liturgical authorities paid much attention to the natural seasons of the year; and the variety of 'reasons' proves the difficulty of discovering a really conclusive one. The idea that the Benedicite is consonant with Lenten feelings is singularly out of accord with the opinion expressed as to its character as being 'festivius' in the Gemma animae, given above, p. 90. Indeed it can hardly be disputed that its tone is joyful. But though its special aptness for a fasting-time is not easy to make out clearly, few unprejudiced people will dissent from the opinion of Freeman as to its scope when he writes, that "though wanting in the grand structure of the Te Deum, in point of range it is in no way inferior" (Divine Service, Lond. 1855, I. 356).
In the scheme for the revision of the Prayer-Book in William III.'s reign it was actually arranged to expunge Benedicite, and to substitute Ps. cxlviii. It would have been extruded in good company however, as Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were to be replaced by psalms in a similar way. Happily the deplorable proposals of 1689 came to nothing. But strange to say, previously to this, in the Laudian Scottish Prayer-Book, Psalm xxiii. had been substituted for Benedicite. In England, however, in 1662, the Church, taught by the persecution of the Commonwealth, declined "to appoint some psalm or scripture hymn instead of the apocryphal Benedicite", as demanded by the Puritans at the Savoy Conference (Procter, P.B., 1872, p. 119).
At a rather earlier period, Dean Boys of Canterbury, in his quaint Prayer-Book Notes (1615?) says: "I finde this hymne less martyred than the rest, and therefore dismisse it, as Christ did the woman (John viii.), 'Where be thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? No more doe I; goe thy way.'"
At least three English metrical renderings of Benedicite exist, one of the 18th and two of the 19th century, by J. Merrick, J.S. Blackie, and Richard Wilton respectively. The first of these writers, who expands freely, concludes with a stanza designed to put the Song unmistakeably into the mouths of the Three:
Let us, who now impassive stand,
Plac'd by the Tyrant's stern Command
Amid the fiery Blaze,
(While thus we triumph in the Flame)
Rise, and our Maker's Love proclaim
In hymns of endless praise.
The objection that in using this hymn we pray to angels and heavens, to ice and snow, etc., shews how hard it is to find reasonable cause of complaint against its use. (See p. 62).