praise come from our tongue Amen And when they are come to the place provided for the blessed Sacrament the Deacon upon his knees receives it from the Priests and puts it upon the Altar The Priest being upon his knees incenseth and placeth it in the Tabernacle and returning saith Evensong in the Quire The original of this Custome comes from the ancient reserving some part of the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ for the next day's Communion no Consecration being then made as St. Gregory teacheth in his Book of the Sacrament ON THURSDAY IN Holy Week At EVEN-SONG Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM CXV The Church presents unto us the confidence we must have in God in Afflictions and Persecutions patiently bearing what he shall please to lay upon us beseeching his Majesty that we may die the death of the just that death which is precious in his eyes that death which may secure us from a second death that death which renders the dead happy because they died in our Lord. And if he shall please to deliver us from evil and dangers the Church proposes some sentiments of gratitude and fidelity we ought to conceive in our hearts and the obligation which nevertheless we have not to be less careful and sollicitous that we be not oppressed by God's benefits in not making a right use of them as we are by our sins in not quitting and leaving them as we are bound to do Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I Believed for which I spake but I was humbled exceedingly I said in my excess every man is a lier What shall I render to our Lord for all things that he hath rendred to me I will take the chalice of salvation and will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord before all people precious in the fight of our Lord is the death of his saints O Lord because I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Thou hast broken my bonds I will sacrifice to thee the host of praise and I will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord in the sight of all his people in the courts of the house of our Lord in the midst of thee O Jerusalem Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of our Lord. PSALM CXIX The Church exhorts the Faithful to consider how insupportable the labours are we suffer in this life and how horrible the troubles are which accompany that repose wherewith the world would have us contented to the end that we may acknowledge true content to be found onely in God the sole centre of repose and reaâ— good and that we likewise stir up in our selves a fervent desire to enjoy him speedily bewailing our so long detention in the pilgrimage of this life Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I speak to them they impugned me without cause WHen I was in tribulation I cried to our Lord and he heard me Our Lord deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue What may be given thee or what may be added unto thee to a deceitful tongue The sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of desolation Wo is to me that my sojourning is prolonged I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar My soul hath been long a sojourner With them that hated peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause PSALM CXXXIX The Royal Prophets shews us how to have recourse to God in Afflictions and Persecutions by considering his Justice and Mercy neither permitting any sin to pass unpunishable nor good works unrewarded that he can either divert sweeten give strength to support or absolutely free from the burden of the miseries of this liâ—â— and that after this he can raise men to the fruition of that bliss where no ill can interrupt nor the sovereign good be lost Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men DEliver me our Lord from the evil man from the unjust man rescue me Which have devised iniquity in their heart all the day they did appoint battles They have whet their tongues as that of a serpent the venome of asps is under their lips Keep me O Lord from the hand of the sinner and from unjust men deliver me Who have devised to supplant my steps the proud have had a snare for me And they have stretched out ropes for a snare they have laid a stumbling block for me near the way Our Lord Lord the strength of my salvation thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle Yield me not our Lord from my desire to the sinner they have devised against me forsake me not lest they perhaps be proud The head of their compass the labour of their lips shall cover them Coals shall fall upon them thou shalt cast them down into fire the miseries they shall not stand up A man full of tongue shall not be directed in the earth evils shall take the unjust man into destruction I have known that the Lord will do the judgments of the needy and the revenge of the poor But as for the just they shall confess unto thy Name and the righteous shall dwell with thy countenance Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men PSALM CXL In this Psalm the Holy Prophet teacheth us to acknowledge and confess our sins sincerely that so we may obtain the comforts and blessings of God in the traverses of this life we must examine and put a bridle upon our tongue we must order our words with prudence and discretion we must be sincere in our hearts and discourse hating the vain praises and compliances of flatterers and sinners and taking in good part the meek reprehensions of the just in short we must stir up in our souls an aversion and horror against sin practising patience in afflictions and putting our trust in God Ant. Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of those that work iniquity LOrd I have cried to thee hear me attend to my voice when I shall cry to thee Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight the elevation of my hands as evening sacrifice Set our Lord a watch to my mouth and a door round about my lips Decline not my heart into words of malice to make excuse in sins With men that work iniquity and I will not communicate with the chief of them The just shall rebuke me in mercy and shall reprehend me but let not the oyl of a sinner fat my head Because yet also my prayer is in their good pleasures their judges are swallowed up joyned to the rock They shall hear my words because they have prevailed as the grosness of the
the temple on the right side Praise to God And all who were sprinkled with this water were saved and they shall say Praise to God praise to God The Priest begs of God that the Angel of his great Council our Saviour Jesus Christ who descends from Heaven by the Consecration of these Divine Mysteries will assist all those of his Church with his healing Grace that being purified they may worthily present themselves before his Majesty V. O Lord shew unto us thy mercy Praise be to God R. And give us thy salvation R. O Lord hear my Prayer And let my cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray VOuchsafe O Lord Holy Father Almighty and Everlasting God to hear us and send us from Heaven thy Holy Angel to defend sustain protect visit and guard us all that here inhabit Through Christ c. Amen ON EASTER-DAY At MASS The station in the Church of St. Mary Major At Rome the Station is this day at our Ladies Church to represent unto us that no Creature had so great a share in the Glory of our Saviour's Resurrection as the Blessed Virgin because the Body of this adorable Saviour risen again was formed in her Womb and as by her Faith she merited to be the Mother of our Saviour in his Incarnation so by the same Faith she merited to receive all those advantages due unto her as a Mother in the glorious Resurrection of her Son The INTROIT taken out of the 138th Psalm The Church teaches us that Christs Humanity was not separated from his Divinity neither in his Death nor Resurrection and that nothing happened in the marvellous work of our Redemption but by order of the Divine Providence whose Judgments are incomprehensible 'T was Gods will that his only Son should become Man suffer Death and rise again to the end that having by his death expiated the sins of Men which subjected them to death he gave them hopes of Resurrection by his own and of following him their Head and Leader into Glory whither he went before to establish them there with him I Am risen and yet I am with thee Praise God Thou hast put thy hand upon me Praise God Thy knowledge is wonderful Praise God praise God PSALM CXXXVIII In this Psalm the Church instructs us that there is not any Man so Holy who can represent himself before God at the Resurrection without trembling and dread of his Judgments That Christ was the only Person not apprehensive of them being absolutely assured that he was free from all that could be offensive to the Divine Eye that only knows perfectly all that is in Man LOrd thou hast proved me and hast known me thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up Kyrie eleison c. as before pag. 36. And as our Saviours Glorious Resurrection crowns the Mystery of his Incarnation The Faithful testifying their joy and acknowledgments by singing that Canticle which the Angels used when the Divine Word became Man to the end to praise God for this great work which gave to his Majesty a perfect Adorer and to Men a Sovereign Mediator who reconciles them by his Divine Grace unto him and settles Peace between Heaven and Earth which Sin had broken Gloria in Excelsis Deo c. as before pag. 167. The COLLECT The Faithful beg of God that as Christs Humanity being united to his Divine Person by an Hypostatick Union was never separated from his Divinity so that being united to Jesus Christ as to their Head by the Union of his Grace may never be divided from his Majesty but being freed from Death and Sin conquered by Christ they may follow him as their Guide into the state of Glory whither he is gone before them to establish them there with him Let us Pray O God who this day hast opened to us by thy only begotten Son the entrance to Eternity through his victory over death vouchsafe by thy mercy to grant those Petitions which thy preventing grace inspires Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ who with thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God for ever and ever Amen The Lesson out of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians and Fifth Chapter The Church instructs us that we are to dye unto sin that so we may be capable of the benefit of Jesus Christs Resurrection That is to say that as Jesus Christ dyed and by dying destroyed that flesh which in appearance was Criminal and as he extinguished that sin which was not in him but because he would take it upon him to satisfie the Divine Justice so we must put off the Old Man which truly is a sinner and putting on the New destroy sin which is truly ours to live the life of Grace which the life of Glory will follow if we be united as perfectly with Jesus Christ as the condition of our Mortality permits To entertain us in this new life of Grace given us by the Merits of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ This Divine Saviour was pleased by an excess of love to give himself unto us for our Spiritual Nourishment figured by the Paschal Lamb. This Lamb immolated in the Ancient Law was the Jewish Pasch and Jesus immolated on the Cross is our Pasch The Jews were not to eat the Paschal Lamb but with unleavened Bread yet since it was but a figure of Jesus Christ who gives himself in the new Banquet whereunto he calls us far more excellent than their Pasch we ought to purifie our hearts from the old leaven that is from our former sins and instead of Malice and Iniquity we there must lodge Innocence and Truth being obliged to be as new Paste without Leven that is without sin BRethren purge the old leven that you may be a new paste as you are azyms for our Pasch Christ is immolated therefore let us feast not in old leven nor in the leven of malice and wickedness but in the azym of sincerity and truth The GRADUAL taken out of the 117th Psalm The Church representing unto us how Jesus Christ hath by his Death freed us from the Tyranny of the Devil and Servitude of Sin and how by his Resurrection hath given us here a new Life and Glory hereafter expressed her resentments and joy in the same words which the Royal Prophet used in expectation of this day revealed unto him by God according to St. Chrysostome in his Homily upon this day THis is the day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it V. Confess ye unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth for ever Alleluia Alleluia V. Jesus Christ who was our Pasch hath been immolated The Church by the following Prose tells us that our sins and the Devil being vanquished by Jesus Christ we have cause to sing Songs of Praise with more joy than the Israelites when they had passed
c. AT LAUDS PSALM 50. Ant. Be justified O Lord in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged The Church represents unto us in the Person of David the Pattern of a true Penitent and also shews us First That Sinners must never despair of Gods Mercy but always acknowledge that though their Sins are never so great yet that his Mercy is far greater David received the Sacraments of the Law and Circumcision whereby the Sins wherein he was conceived were taken away he also received Holy Unction and God promised unto him that from his Loins the Messias should be born and that he and his Son should build his Temple And in the mean time David becomes an Adulterer and Murderer but being touched afterwards with a true Penitence and Compunction of Heart he cried for Mercy unto God and obtained it Secondly The Church shews us That all Sinners must follow the Example of David and put their whole confidence in the Mercy of God that they must always acknowledge their Sins and ever have them before their Eyes For will not God vouchsafe to forgive those Sins which Man will not acknowledge They must consider that God esteems those Injuries done to their Neighbors as if done to himself and therefore we ought to render an Account only to him They must look upon themselves as Lepers and People rejected and separated from other Men as impure Men as Strangers and Profane They ought to have a pure and sincere Heart They must shake off the Old Man to be renewed in God that is they must contemn all Pleasures of the Flesh all Voluptuousness and all Popular Praise and settle their whole Love on things invisible and entirely Divine And it is not sufficient only to correct their Lives and sin no more but they must also satisfie unto God for their past Sins and Offences by a true Compunction by humble Sighs by offering up a contrite Heart and by Alms which must accompany all the Exercises of Penance They must suffer all things with Patience and invincible Courage accepting and receiving their Punishments as just Pains for their Crimes And in demanding any Favours or Graces from God they ought not to think they merit them but only propose to themselves to honor his Magnisicence and Bounty that he may be acknowledged faithful to his Promises in hearing the truly Penitents and irreproachable in his Judgment by chastising Sinners Lastly They must edifie their Neighbor by the Example of their good Lives and endeavor the Conversion of the Wicked They must beg of God that their Sins may not be the Cause that others should be deprived of the Goods God would have granted unto them by their Intercession if they had not rendred themselves unworthy of that Ministry as we see that David ask'd of God that the Promises he had made to him to employ him in the building of his Temple should not be without effect although himself was unworthy that Grace yet that he would please to grant his Son the favour of finishing that great Work Deal favourably O Lord in thy good will with Sion and let the walls of Jerusalem be built up Then shalt thou accept sacrifice of justice oblations and holocausts then shall they lay calves upon thy altar HAve mercy on me O God according to thy great mercy And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out mine iniquity Wash me henceforth from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Because I know my iniquity and my sin is always against me To thee only have I sinned and have done evil before thee that thou maist be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged For behold I was conceived in iniquities and my mother conceived me in sins For behold thou hast loved truth the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness and the bones humbled shall rejoyce Turn away thy face from my sins and blot out my iniquities Create a clean heart in me O God and renew a right spirit in my bowels Cast me not away from thy face and thy holy Spirit take not from me Render unto me the joy of thy salvation and confirm with a principal spirit I will teach the unjust thy ways and the impious shall be converted to thee Deliver me from blood O God the God of my salvation and my tongue shall exalt thy justice Lord thou wilt open my lips and my mouth shall declare thy praise Because if thou wouldst have had sacrifice I had verily given it with whole burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit a contrite and humble heart O God thou wilt not despise Deal favourably O Lord in thy good will with Sion and let the walls of Jerusalem be built up Then thou shalt accept sacrifice of justice oblations and holocausts then shall they lay calves upon thy altar Ant. Be justified O Lord in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged PSALM 89. The Church represents unto us First That God alone is only Eternal and that he is our sole and sovereign Good She likewise shews us Secondly The Inconstancy Frailty and Miseries of Mans Life whereinto they have put themselves through their â—â—ns Thirdly She offers unto us the Means which God preâ—â—nts us to be delivered and to get us Eternal Life which consist in patiently bearing the Punishments wherewith he inflicts â—s to make us return unto him Fourthly She prays unto God to have mercy on us and to conduct us by the continual assistance of his Grace ANTHYMN The Church shews us by the Example of our Saviour Jesus Christ with what Patience we must undergo the Evils of this life which we deserve for Sins Ant. Our Lord was led like an innocent lamb to the slaughter and he opened not his mouth LOrd thou art made a refuge for us from generation unto generation Before the mountains were made or the earth and the world formed from everlasting even unto everlasting thou art God Turn not away man into humiliation thou saidst Be converted ye children of men Because a thousand years before thy eyes are as yesterday that is past And as a watch in the night things that are counted nothing shall their years be In the morning as an herb he shall pass in the morning he shall flourish and pass in the evening he shall fall be hardned and withered Because we have fainted in thy wrath and in thy fury we are troubled Thou hast put our iniquities in thy sight our age in the light of thy countenance Because all our days have failed and in thy wrath we have failed Our years shall be considered as a spider the days of our years in them are seventy years And if in strong ones eighty