and from the servitude of sin THis saith our Lord Tell ye the Daughters of Sion Behold thy Saviour cometh behold his reward is with him and his work before him Who is this that cometh from Edom with died garments from Bosra this beautiful one in his Robe going in the multitude of his strength I that speak justice and am a desender to save Why then is thy clothing red and thy garments as theirs that tread in the Wine-press I have trodden the Press alone and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me I have trodden them in my fury and have trodden them down in my wrath and their bloud is sprinkled on my garments and I have stained all my raiment For the day of revenge is in my heart the year of my redemption is come I looked about and there was no helper I sought and there was none to aid and my arm hath saved and my indignation it self hath helped me And I have trodden down the people in my fury and have inebriated them in my indignation and have drawn their strength down to ground I will remember the mercies of our Lord the praise of our Lord for all things that our Lord hath rendred to us The GRADUAL out of the 68th Psalm The Church having represented our Saviour in the precedent Lesson triumphing over his enemies in his glorious Resurrection presents him unto us in this Gradual in the extremity of his Passion begging of his Father to be delivered from it To instruct us that he prays not for himself to be delivered from his pains and from death for how should he beg for himself to be freed from this hour wherein he should die for us since he came voluntarily upon Earth to that end being able by his own strength to rescue himself and give up his Soul to God and take it again But his Prayer was on our behalf to teach us in afflictions to have recourse to God to deliver us if it be his will or to give us strength to bear them patiently Likewise Jesus did not pray to be freed from his pains and death because he had a will to suffer but he askt to be delivered from the corruption of the Sepulchre by a speedy and glorious Resurrection To teach us by his Passion what we ought to contemn in the course of this life and by his resurrection what we ought to hope and pray for TUrn not away thy face from thy Servant Because I am in tribulation hear me speedily V. Save me O God because waters of affliction are entred into my Soul I stuck fast in the mire of the depth and there is no sure standing Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us pray The faithful beseech God that by the merits of his Son's Passion they may partake in the glory of his Resurrection O God who wert pleased that thy Son should suffer death for us upon the Cross that so the power of the enemy of mankind might be abated grant unto us thy servants that we may partake of his glorious Resurrection Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Ecclesiae tuae c. as before pag. 84. Or for the Pope Deus omnium c. as before pag. 85. The Lesson out of the Prophet Isay ch 63. The Church teacheth us that the mystery of Gods Incarnation is so full of astonishment his Sufferings so outrageous and his Death so ignominious that the Prophet Isay durst not publish them lest men should not believe them After this Prophet hath foretold many of the torments to be endured by this man of God he teacheth us first that our sins were the cause of his sufferings by which he was to satisfie for us to his Fathers justice Secondly that he offered himself to these pains as a voluntary Victim for our salvation and would suffer death thereby to purchase life for us Thirdly that in compensation of this his humility and sufferings he is raised above all Creatures in Heaven sitting on the right hand of God his Father Fourthly that God his Father hath bestowed upon him all those for his children who are predestinated to glory as the precious off-spring of his bloud which he so freely shed that even he was pleased to wash those in it that put him to death according to the Prayer as he made even when he was nailed on the Cross between the two Thieves IN those days said Isaias Who hath believed our hearing and the arm of our Lord to whom is it revealed And he shall come up as a young Spring before him and as a Root from a thirsty ground There is no beauty in him nor comliness and we have seen him and there was no sightliness and we were desirous of him Despised and most abject of men a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity and his look as it were hid and despised whereupon neither have we esteemed him He surely hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried and we thought him as it were a Leper and strucken of God and humbled But he was wounded for our iniquities he was broken for our sins the discipline of our peace was upon him and with the wait of his stripes we are healed All we have strayed as Sheep every one hath declined into his own way and our Lord hath put upon him the iniquity of all us He was offered because himself would and opened not his mouth As a Sheep to slaughter was he led and as a Lamb before his Shearer he shall be dumb and shall not open his mouth From distress and from judgment he was taken up Who shall declare his Generation because he is cut out of the Land of the living For the wickedness of my people have I strucken him And he shall give the impious for his burial and the rich for his death Because he hath not done iniquity neither was their guile in his mouth And our Lord would break him in infirmity If he shall put away his Soul for sin he shall see seed of long age and the will of our Lord shall be directed in his hand for that his Soul hath laboured he shall see and be filled In his knowledge the same my just servant shall justifie many and he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I distribute unto him very many and he shall divide the spoils of the strong for that he hath delivered his Soul unto death and was reputed with the wicked and he hath born the sin of many and hath prayed for the transgressiors The TRACT taken out of the 101st Psalm The Church tells us that Jesus Christ in the time of his Passion offered to God his Father most fervent Prayers with tears and groans beseeching him not to leave him under the power of death which he suffered onely for his love and for the salvation of the faithful signified by Sion His dignity his innocence this very act of
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
comforted me For I also will confess to thee in the instruments of Psalm thy truth O God I will sing to thee on the Harp holy One of Israel My Lips shall rejoyce when I shall sing to thee and my soul which thou hast redeemed Yea and my tongue all the day shall meditate thy justice when they shall be confounded and ashamed that seek evils to me Ant. My God deliver me out of the hand of the sinner V. Let them be turned away backward and blush for shame that will me evils Pater noster c. THE BEGINNING OF THE LAMENTATIONS OF THE PROPHET JEREMY Jube Domine c. is omitted nor is the Blessing given before the reading of these Lamentations to shew that the Author of all Blessing is dead Under the Figure of the Sufferances of the Prophet Jeremy of the Ruine of Jerusalem and of the Captivity of the Israelites in Babylon for their Sins the Church represents us the Sufferings of Jesus Christ and the Evils the Jews drew on themselves by putting to death this Divine Saviour I. LESSON taken out of the First Chapter ALEPH. These Hebrew Letters of the Alphabet shew the beginning of each Verse the first Word beginning with one of these Letters And the Church proposes it to signifie unto us that these Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremy are the Alphabet of penitent Souls wherein they ought to learn how to meditate on the Sufferances of Jesus Christ and on those Pains which through their Sins they deserve HOw doth the city full of people sit solitary how is the lady of the Gentiles become as a widow the princess of provinces is made tributary BETH Weeping she hath wept in the night and her tears are on her cheeks there is none to comfort her of all her dear ones all her friends have despised her and are become her enemies GHIMEL Judas is gone into transmigration because of affliction and the multitude of bondage she hath dwelt among the Gentiles neither hath she found rest all her persecutors have apprehended her within the straits DALETH The ways of Sion mourn because there are none that come to the solemnity all her gates are destroyed her priests sighing her virgins loathsom and her self is oppressed with bitterness HE. Her adversaries are made in the head her enemies are enriched because our Lord hath spoken upon her for the multitude of her iniquities her little ones are led into captivity before the face of the afflicter Tu autem Domine c. is omitted to shew that the Jews through their own presumption are very far from the way of truth and that their cruel obstinacy has debarred them the way of Mercy because they killed him by whom Mankind was to obtain it but the following words are said By which the Church represents unto us That the Obstinacy of the Jews and their perseverance in Wickedness was the cause of those Evils which afterwards befel them And under the name of Jerusalem she exhorts us to convert our selves to God with our whole Heart lest we fall into the like Reprobation with the Jews Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God The Church having represented unto us the Complaints the Prophet Jeremy uttered from the very bottom of his Heart in the bitterness of his Grief she proposes unto us that Prayer Jesus Christ made unto God his Father in the heighth of his Affliction being charged with the Infirmities of Humane Nature and the Counsel he gave to his Disciples when the Hour of his Passion drew nigh to teach us first That if in the Traverses of this Life we find that we do not obtain the Effect of our Prayer and that any thing should happen contrary to what we beg of God however we ought to bear it patiently and give God thanks for all things and we must no ways doubt but that Gods Will is more for our Benefit than our own Desires Secondly That if our Life be so full of Tentation it self may well be termed a Tentation we then always watch with great care and pray continually with great fervor and assiduity to protect us from falling into Tentations ON mount Olivet Jesus prayed unto his Father saying Father if it may be let this Chalice pass from me for the spirit is quick but the flesh infirm Thy Will be done V. Watch ye and pray that you enter not into tentation The spirit indeed is prompt but the flesh is weak Thy Will be done II. LESSON VAU ANd from the daughter of Sion all her beauty is departed her princes are become rams not finding pastures and they are gone without strength before the face of the pursuer ZAIN Jerusalem hath remembred the days of her affliction and prevarication of all her things worthy to be desired which she had from the days of old when her people fell in the enemies hand and there was no helper the enemies have seen her and have scorned her sabbaths HECH Jerusalem hath sinned a sin therefore is she made unstable all that did glorifie her have despised her because they have seen her ignominy but she sighing is turned backward TETH Her filthiness is on her feet neither hath she remembred her end she is pulled down exceedingly not having a comforter See O Lord mine affliction because the enemy is exalted Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God The Church having declared unto us the Despair and Blindness of the Jews in their Afflictions She also proposes unto us the Counsel Jesus Christ gave to his Disciples when he grieved at the approaching of the Hour of his Passion to wit To watch and pray with him shewing us That it was not for him but for themselves that he commanded them to watch and pray She also teacheth us That if the Apostles shewed so much fear whilst our Saviour suffered how far greater reason have we to fear since we our selves are the cause of his Sufferings R. My soul is sorrowful even unto death stay here and watch with me ye shall now behold a multitude that will environ me Ye shall fly and I will go to be immolated for you V. Behold the hour approacheth and the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of sinners Ye shall fly away and I will go to be immolated for ye III. LESSON JOD THe enemy hath thrust his hand to all her things worthy to be desired because she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church CAPH All her people sighing and seeking bread they have given all precious things for meat to refresh the soul See O Lord and consider because I am become vile LAMED O all ye that pass by the way attend and see if there be sorrow like to my sorrow because he hath made vintage of me as our Lord hath spoken in the day of the wrath of his fury MEM. From on high he hath cast a sire into my bones
As the dream of them that rise O Lord in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing Because my heart is inflamed and my reins are changed And I am brought to nothing and know not As a beast am I become with thee and I always with thee Thou hast held my right hand and in thy will thou hast conducted me and with glory thou hast received me For what is to me in heaven and besides thee what would I upon earth My flesh hath fainted and my heart God of my heart and God my portion for ever For behold they that make themselves far from thee shall perish thou hast destroyed all that fornicate from thee But it is good for me to cleave to God to put my hope in our Lord God That I may shew forth all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion Ant. The wicked have thought and have spoken wickedness they have spoken iniquity on high PSALM 73. The Church represents unto us That as the Prophet David foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Evils that were like to be fal the Jews and considering the Love God had heretofore for the Israelites and the Wonders he had done in their favour She demands their Conversion of his Divine Majesty thereby to preserve the rest from that imminent Danger they are in of being Shipwreck'd And that the Infidels might not rejoyce at the Miseries of that People on whom God had once heaped so many Blessings and that they might acknowledge that 't is a Chastisement wherewith God punisheth their Infidelity and Sins Ant. Arise O Lord and judge my cause WHy hast thou O God repelled for ever is thy fury wrath upon the sheep of thy pasture Be mindful of thy congregation which thou hast possessed from the beginning Thou hast redeemed the rod of thine inheritance mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt List up thy hands upon their prides for ever how great things hath the enemy done malignantly in the holy place And they that hate thee have gloried in the midst of their solemnity They have set their signs for signs and have not known as in the issue on high As in a wood of trees they have with axes cut out the gates thereof together in hatchet and chip-ax they have cast it down They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire they have polluted the tabernacle of thy name in the earth Their kindred together have said in their heart Let us make all the festival days of God to cease from the earth Our signs we have not seen there is now no prophet and he will know us no more How long O God shall the enemy upbraid the adversary provoke thy name for ever Why dost thou turn away thy hand and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever But God our king before the worlds he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth Thou in thy strength hast confirmed the sea thou hast crushed the head of dragons in the waters Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon thou hast given him for meat to the people of the Ethiopians Thou hast broken up fountains and torrents thou hast dried the rivers of Ethan The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast made the morning and the sun Thou hast made all the coasts of the earth the summer and the spring thou hast formed them Be mindful of this the enemy hath upbraided our Lord and a foolish people hath provoked thy name Deliver not to beasts the souls that confess to thee and the souls of thy poor forget not for ever Have respect unto thy testament because they that are obscure of the earth are filled with houses of iniquities Let not the humble be turned away being confounded the poor and needy shall praise thy name Arise God judge thy cause be mindful of those thy reproaches that are from the foolish man all the day Forget not the voices of thy enemies the pride of them that hate thee hath ascended always Ant. Arise Lord and judge my cause V. My God deliver me from the hand of the sinner R. And from the hand of the wicked doing against thy law IV. LESSON Taken out of St. Augustin on the Fifty fourth Psalm Wherein the Church shews us what we must consider on in the Treason of Judas figured unto us in the Prophecy expressed in the Fifty fourth Psalm under the Figure of Achitophel's Treason and reiterating in this Lesson the Question St. Augustin proposes on this Subject to wit Why God permits the Wicked to be And then again it shews us by that great Saints Answer That God suffers them to live either to give them time to repent and be converted or thereby to exercise the Vertues of the Just HEar my Prayer O God despise not my Petition Attend to me and hear me These are the words of one in tribulation who asks in the height of his Sufferings to be freed from Evil. Let us hear the Evil he complains of and when he shall have told it let us acknowledge our selves in the same Affliction that partaking of his Sufferings we may also joyn with him in Prayer I am made sorrowful in my exercise and am troubled Wherein was he troubled wherein was he made sorrowful In my Exercises saith he speaking of the Mischiefs the Wicked did him and calling them his Exercises Do not think the Wicked inhabit the earth to no purpose or that God works not some Good by them for he permits them to live either to amend their Lives or to exercise the Vertues of the Good The Church proposes unto us how Judas by his Treason tried our Saviour's Patience and how instead of making good use of the time God granted him to repent in he contrariwise hurried on by his Despair hung himself ending his Life as Achitophel finished his after he had betrayed David R. My friend betrayed me with the sign of a Kiss saying Whomsoever I shall kiss the same is he hold him fast he did this wicked Sign to compleat a Murder with a Kiss This unhappy returned the Price of Blood and in the end hanged himself V. It had been good for him if that Man had never been born This unhappy returned the Price of Blood and in the end hanged himself V. LESSON By St. Augustin the Church teacheth us That there are some Kvils which we may suffer and that we must not hate the Authors of our Misery but we ought to love them and to pray incessantly to God for them nor ever despair of their Conversion and Repentance WOuld to God those who now tried our Patience were converted and that with us theirs might be exercised yet as long as they do exercise us let us not hate them for we know not whether they 'l persevere in their Wickedness to the end And it often happens that when thou thinkest thou hatest thine Enemy thou hatest thy Brother tho' thou knowest it not 'T is only
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
to the Precepts of his Gospel with the fidelity of a sincere Heart and consider that that Infinite Wisdom cannot be deceived which penetrates the most hidden Secrets of our Soul LEt us hasten therefore to enter into that rest that no man fall into the same example of incredulity For the word of God is lively and forcible and more piercing than any two-edged sword reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit of the joynts also and the marrows and a discerner of the cogitations and intents of the heart And there is no creature invisible in his sight but all things are naked and open to his eyes To whom our speech is Having therefore a great high-priest that hath entred the heaven Jesus the Son of God let us hold the confession For we have not a high-priest that cannot have compassion on our infirmities but tempted in all things by similitude except sin RESP. The Church represents unto us That this Sovereign Priest felt the Temptations and Infirmities of Humane Nature by offering himself unto God for us as a Sacrifice and Victim R. They have delivered me into the hands of the wicked and have cast me among the impious and have not spared my soul The strong are gathered together against me and like giants have stood against me V. Strangers have rose up against me and the strong have sought my soul And like giants c. VIII LESSON The Church describes to us a holy Bishop in general and a Pattern of one very particularly in JESUS CHRIST LEt us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid For every high-priest taken from among men is appointed for men in those things that pertain to God that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins that can have compassion on them that be ignorant and do err because himself also is compassed with infirmity and therefore he ought as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins RESP. The Church in the precedent Lesson having proposed unto us the Description of a Holy Bishop in this she presents us in the Person of Caiphas with a Wicked one R. The wicked delivered Jesus to the chief princes of the priests and to the elders of the people But Peter followed him afar off that he might see the end V. But they led him to Caiphas the prince of the priests where the Scribes and Pharisees were met together But Peter followed c. IX LESSON The Apostle teacheth us That as in the Old Law none could intrude himself to exercise the Function of Priesthood without a successive Vocation so JESUS CHRIST intruded not himself into the Pontifical Dignity but received it from God his Father Then he treats of the Prayers accompanied with the Sighs and Tears JESUS CHRIST offered on the Cross and which God accepted in regard of his Dignity and the Love he bare towards him as his Son 2. The Apostle declares unto us the Excellency of CHRIST's Priesthood above that of Aaron's 1. Because being Immortal he was an Eternal Priest 2. Because he was the Son of God and one and the same God with his Father 3. In being the Beginning of our Salvation 4. In that he offered up himself 5. Because he needed not to have been offered up a Sacrifice for his own Sins he having none nor being able to commit any because he was the Source and Fountain of all Goodness NEither doth any man take the honor to himself but he that is called of God as Aaron So Christ also did not glorifie himself that he might be made a high priest But he that spake to him My Son art thou I this day have begotten thee As also in another place he saith Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedeck Who in the days of his flesh with a strong cry and tears offering prayers and supplications to him that could save him from death was heard for his reverence And truly whereas he was the Son he learned by those things which he suffered obedience And being consummate was made to all that obey him cause of eternal salvation called of God a high-priest according to the order of Melchisedeck RESP. The Church presents unto us the extremity of Christs sufferings and that by his Passion he has given us an example of perfect Patience and Obedience R. My eyes are darkned with my tears for he is far from me that did comfort me See all people if there be any sorrow like to my grief V. O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like to my grief My eyes are darkned with my tears because he is far from me who did comfort me See all ye people if there be any grief like mine AT LAUDS Ant. GOod spared not his own Son but delivered him for us Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 65. PSALM 142. The Church shews us that in all our afflictions we must have recourse to Gods Mercy with an humble confidence and faithful submission to his Will and we must acknowledge that our Sins brought on us our Miseries and we must pray his Divine Majesty to conduct us with his Holy Spirit lest the extremity of our sufferings transport us to do unlawful Actions Ant. My spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled LOrd hear my prayer with thine ears receive my petition in thy truth hear me in thy justice And enter not into judgment with thy servant because no man living shall be justified in thy sight Because the enemy hath persecuted my soul he hath humbled my life in the earth He hath set me in obscure places as the dead of the world and my spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled I was mindful of old days I have meditated in all thy works in the facts of thy hands did I meditate I have stretched forth my hands to thee my soul is as earth without water unto thee Hear me quickly O Lord my spirit hath fainted Turn not away thy face from me and I shall be like to them that descend into the lake Make me hear thy mercy in the morning because I have hoped in thee Make the way known to me wherein I may walk because I have lifted up my soul to thee Deliver me from mine enemies O Lord to thee I have fled teach me to do thy will because thou art my God Thy good spirit will conduct me into the right way for thy name sake O Lord thou wilt quicken me in thine equity Thou wilt bring forth my soul out of tribulation and in thy mercy thou wilt destroy mine enemies And thou wilt destroy all that afflict my soul because I am thy servant Ant. My spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled ANOTHER ANTHYMN The Church shews us the difference 'twixt Christ's and our Sufferings Ours