both of Soul and Body WE beseech thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty and Everlasting God to bless and sanctifie this Olive thy creature which thou hast commanded to spring from Wood and which the Dove brought in his mouth returning to the Ark that whoever shall take of it may receive protection both for Soul and Body thou O Lord making it a Remedy for Health and a Sacrament of thy Grace Through our Lord c. Amen Let us Pray The Faithful considering that those blest Palms represent our Union with Christ being delivered from the Tyranny of the Devil and the intercession of the Church which is applied unto us by this Blessing joyn in Prayer with the Church and beg God's protection O God who gatherest together such things as are disperst and preservest what is so gathered together who didst bless the People going forth with Boughs to meet Jesus bless also these Palms and Olive-branches which thy People take in honour of thy Name that where-ever they shall be brought the Inhabitants may be sensible of thy Blessing and freed from all Adversity and thy Right-hand protect those whom Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord redeemed Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen Let us Pray As by the sin of Adam the Devil hath usurpt an empire over creatures which he makes use of to the prejudice of men so is he deprived thereof through the Merits of Jesus Christ who sanctifies them for our benefit And therefore the Faithful considering that by these Branches which the Church blesseth and distributeth this day she represents the Victory which Christ gained over the Devil and our Divine Redeemer's triumph in his glorious Resurrection beseech God to make them able to vanquish the Devil and overcome all Obstacles of their Salvation through the Merits and Grace of our Redeemer with whom we are incorporated so that at last we may partake of his glory O God who through the wonderful order of thy Providence art pleased to make use of insensible creatures to instruct us in the way of our salvation Grant we beseech thee that the devout hearts of thy Faithful may healthfully understand what is mystically designed in the action of this day in which the multitude of Jews being illustrated with a heavenly light went to meet our Redeemer with Boughs of Palms and Olives which they cast under his feet The Palm-branches put us in mind of the Victory he gained over the Prince of Death and the Olive-boughs do in a sort proclaim that the Spiritual Unction is come to us For all that blessed Company understood that Ceremony to signifie that our Redeemer taking compassion of man's misery was to encounter the Prince of Death for the Life of the World and that he was to triumph by dying Therefore he fulfilling the Will of God performed all those things that we might thereby arrive to the knowledge of his Triumphs and unctuous plenitude of Mercy We also firmly believe Lord Holy Father Omnipotent and Eternal God that all hath been fulfilled that was signified And therefore most humbly beseech thee through the same our Lord Jesus Christ that in and by him we whom thou hast vouchsafed to become his members having obtained the victory over Death may also partake in his glorious Resurrection Who liveth and reigneth c. Let us Pray The Faithful beseech God that these hallowed Boughs representing the Happy Reconciliation obtained for us by Jesus Christ with his Divine Majesty may induce them to dispose themselves as worthily to receive the wholsome effects O God who by an Olive-branch didst command a Dove to publish Peace to the Earth vouchsafe we beseech thee to sanctifie with thy Celestial Benediction the salvation of all Through Christ our Lord c. Let us Pray The Faithful considering that by these Palm-boughs the Church represents the conquest we ought to endeavour to obtain over the Devil and by the Olive-branches the Works of Charity we are obliged to practice demand of God his Grace to accomplish what the Church teaches by this Ceremony BLess we beseech thee O Lord these Boughs of Palms or Olives and grant that thy People may testifie the zeal of their Piety by a pious performance of what this day they outwardly profess and triumphing over their Enemies may apply themselves zealously to the Works of Mercy Through our Lord c. Then the Priest sprinkles the Boughs with Holy Water to teach us that we ought to purisie our selves in receiving a Blessing from God and to practice what the Church designs by these Boughs Thou shalt sprinkle me with Hyssop and I shall be cleansed thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow The Priest then incenseth the Boughs to instruct us that all the Blessing comes from God and that we ought to beg that our Prayers may ascend as Incense towards him The PRAYER Whereby we ask God's Grace to prepare our Ways to our Saviour by a lively Faith and good Works V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us pray O God who for our salvation didst send into this World thy only begotten Son that he humbling himself for us might regain us unto thee before whom at his entry into Jerusalem that the Scriptures might be fulfilled a multitude of People spread their Garments with a pious zeal and cast Palms in the way Grant we beseech thee that we may so prepare the way of Faith to him that the stone of offence and rock of scandal being removed our good works may flourish as the branches of a beautiful tree and therein imitate him Who with thee liveth and reigneth c. The Priest gives Palms to the Clergy and People whilst the Quire sing the following Antiphons and Canticle sung by the Children at Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem ANTIPHON THE Hebrew Children spread their Garments in the way and cryed out saying Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord. ANOTHER THE Hebrew Children spread their Garments in the way and cryed out saying Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord. The Antiphons are repeated till all the Palms are distributed then the Priest in the name of the Faithful beseeches God for his grace that in this Commemoration of his Son JESUS CHRIST'S triumphant entry into Jerusalem they may arrive to the Innocence and Piety of those who pay him all due honour V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray ALmighty Everlasting God who wast pleased that our Lord Jesus Christ should sit upon an Asses Colt and directedst the multitude to spread their Garments and Boughs in the way singing Hosanna in his honour Grant us the grace to imitate their Innocence and to partake of their Merit Through the same our Lord c. Then they go in Procession to represent JESUS CHRIST'S triumphant entry
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
Arch-angel the blessed S. John Baptist the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul all the Saints and you my Brethren to Pray to God for me R. ALmighty God have mercy upon thee and forgive thy sins and bring thee to life everlasting P. Amen I Confess unto Almighty God to the blessed Virgin S. Mary to the blessed S. Michael the Arch-angel to S. John Baptist to the Apostles Peter and Paul to all the Saints and to thee my Father that I have very much sinned in Thought Word and Deed through my Fault through my Fault through my most grievous Fault Therefore I beseech thee blessed Virgin S. Mary the blessed S. Michael the Arch-angel the blessed S. John Baptist Peter and Paul all the Saints and thee my Father to Pray to God for me P. ALmighty God have mercy on you forgive you your sins and bring you to life everlasting R. Amen P. ALmighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon absolution and remission of all our sins Amen This Confession being made the Priest and the Faithful encourage each other in the acknowledgement of God's mercy P. Thou being turned shalt quicken us O Lord. R. And thy people shall rejoyce in thee P. Shew us O Lord thy Mercy R. And give us thy Salvation P. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my cry come unto thee P. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit In this confidence the Priest ascends unto the Altar and says TAke away O Lord our Iniquities that so with a pure heart we may enter into the Holy of Holies Through Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest being at the Altar kisseth it in testimony of reconciliation with Christ and the Church triumphant for the Altar represents Christ crucified and the Reliques upon the Altar the Saints of the Church triumphant incorporated with Christ and says WE pray thee O Lord through the Merits of thy Saints whose Reliques are here and of all Saints that thou wilt please to pardon all my sins Amen After this preparation the Priest begins the Introit of the Mass THE MASS FOR Palm-Sunday The station in the Church of S. John Lateran As in the Old Law it was the custome to bring the Paschal Lamb into Jerusalem four days before the Feast so Jesus Christ of whom the Paschal Lamb was a figure was pleased to come into Jerusalem four days before the celebration of the Festival And therefore the Church representing this Mystery makes to day the station at Rome in the Church consecrated to God in honour of S. John Baptist because he declared unto us that our Saviour was the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the World The Introit taken out of the 21st Psalm As this Day 's Solemnity is a figure of the Victory which Christ gained over the World and the Devil by his Passion and Triumphant Resurrection the Church represents those Mysteries in the Introit of this Mass to teach us that the Resurrection of Christ in as much as it relates to his flesh was not delayed as that of other men but that he was exempted from corruption in the grave triumphing over death and the fury of his persecutors whom the Scriptures compare to Lions in respect of their cruelty to Dogs for their fury and to Unicorns for their pride For every proud and ambitious spirit would command all others as much as in him lies The wicked Jews thought they had done a grand work in that they were able to kill his Body yet had they not power to hurt his Soul they were able to take away a Mortal Life but could not prejudice his Eternal Life which is the onely and true Life and though as the Son of God he were worthy to be heard without Tears or Plaints yet to teach us our Duty by his example he would offer to God his Father most fervent Prayers with Tears and Crys beseeching him not to leave him dead in his grave The Dignity of his Condition the Reverence which he bore his Father whose Honour he repaired by his Death the incomparable Love wherewith his Father cherished him easily prevail for a concession of so just a Request O Lord prolong not thy help from me look towards my defence Save me out of the Lions mouth and my humility from horns of Unicorns PSALM XXI The Church represents unto us the Humility and Obedience wherewith Christ by a transport worthy his love would perfectly fulfil his Father's Will intimating unto us that the sins of men which he took upon him did require that he should be abandoned by his Father to all imaginable pains whereby to make rigorous satisfaction to his Justice yet that these words My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he speaks not in his own person but as in the unhappy infirmity of our flesh which he hath taken upon him and on the behalf of the members of his mystical body whose Groans and Prayers to his Father and himself he foresaw through a propension of humane nature desirous to be freed from Suffering and Death for who can believe our Saviour should desire to avoid Death and Sufferings since he came into the World to that end Or who can imagine he spake in such sort as if that which happened had been against his will who had power to give up his Soul to God and take it again though no man had power to bereave him of it These words then of this 21st Psalm are a figure of such Prayers as shall be addrest to God by men in their afflictions begging to be freed of them GOd my God have respect unto me why hast thou forsaken me far from my salvation are words of my sins O Lord prolong not thy help from me c. Gloria Patri c. is not now said because it is a publick Confession of Faith which the Church omits at this time when she represents the extreme impiety and infidelity of the Jews And Gloria in excelsis is for the same reason forborn The Priest in the name of the Faithful acknowledges the need we all have of the Grace of our Redeemer and repeats thrice the following words addrest to each Person of the Holy Trinity to express the great necessity we have of his assistance Lord have mercy on us R. Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us R. Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us The Priest turns towards the Faithful and beseeches God that he will be pleased to make them worthy of his presence and mercy V. Our Lord be with you The Faithful joyning Prayer with the Priest beg the like Grace for him R. And with thy Spirit The Collect. The Faithful beg of God Grace to imitate the Humility Obedience and Patience of Jesus Christ in all his Sufferings in this life that so they may partake with him in glory of his Resurrection
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
together at that sight and saw the things that were done returned knocking their breasts And all his acquaintance stood afar off and the women that had followed him from Galilee seeing these things ANd behold a man named Joseph who was a Senator a good man and a just he had not consented to their council and doings of Arimathea a city of Jewry who also himself expected the Kingdom of God This man came to Pilate and asked the body of Jesus And taking it down wrapped it in sindon and laid him in a monument hewed of stone wherein never yet any man had been laid The OFFERTORY taken out of the 101st Psalm The Church represents unto us how our Saviour in his Passion became a figure of his Martyrs who desiring to be freed from death by humane instinct and as it were forsaken by him for a time in that he granted not that unto them whilst they suffered which they might seem to desire by their natural inclinations might repeat from the bottom of their hearts those words full of love and piety which our Saviour as an example of these generous champions spoke himself Father if it be possible let this cup of sufferings pass from me that I taste it not but let thy will be done not mine O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come unto thee turn not thy face from me c. SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER till the Secret as before pag. 56 57 58. The SECRET The Faithful meditating upon our Saviour's Passion beseech God to grant them desires and resentments of love and duty and to excite us the rather we must confess our own sms and reflect that they were the cause of our Saviour's Crucifying Secondly We must consider the eternal torments which we have merited that so we may with consent undergo any torments in life Thirdly Let us contemplate that we shall have an eternal recompence whereunto we aspire by the grace of Jesus Christ and confess that all the afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared to the future Glory Fourthly We must call to mind all the pains our Saviour indured for us having frequently in our thoughts how much his Divine Majesty suffered for us his unprofitable servants should not without confusion to our selves be unwilling to suffer but readily and cheerfully for our benefits undergo these temporal light pains ACcept O Lord we beseech thee this Offering and grant that we may receive with pious affections and resentments that which we celebrate in memory of the Passion of our Lord thy Son Through the same Jesus Christ c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Protege nos c. as before pag. 90. Or for the Pope Oblatus c. as before pag. 90. The Preface Canon c. till the Communion as before from 60 to 70. The COMMUNION out of the 101st Psalm The Church tells us that in receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which represents to us his Passion and as it were incorporates us with him we ought to imprint in our hearts a lively apprehension of this adorable Saviour who being presented upon the Cross with Gall and Vinegar to drink besought God his Father with abundance of tears and loud crys to grant us life everlasting in participation of his Sufferings and Resurrection I Mingled my drink with tears because lifting me up thou hast thrown me down and I withered away like grass but thou O Lord endurest for ever Thou rising up shalt have mercy on Sion because it is time to have mercy on it The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful beseech God to withdraw their irregular affections from these worldly fading goods and to make them apprehend how as they are Christians their happiness is not to be placed in this temporal life wherein God oftentimes delivers them up unto persecutions even unto death But that they are to regard Eternity to which the Name of Christian entitles them Therefore they are to consider that he whose Name they bear was so treated before them to teach them by his example to contemn this world and to aspire Celestial Blessings which he by the Merits of his Death and Passion hath opened unto them GRant O Almighty God we beseech thee that we may with a holy confidence believe that thou hast opened a passage for us to Eternal Life by the Temporal Death of thy Son represented in these Adorable Mysteries Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Against the Persecutors of the Church Quaesumus Domine c. as before pag. 91. Or for the Pope Haec nos quaesumus as before pag. 91. Let us Pray Humble your selves and bow down your heads to God LOok down O Lord we beseech thee upon this thy Family for which our Lord Jesus Christ doubted not to be betrayed into the hands of the wicked and so undergo the torments of the Cross Who liveth and reigneth with thee c. All the rest as before pag. 79. 〈◊〉 Hollar focit UPON THURSDAY IN Holy Week AT PRIME Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Credo c. Deus in adjutorium is not here said to mind us that Jesus Christ was abandoned by God the Father to sufferings and death Nor is any Hymn used to instruct us that the Jews had dishonoured God by putting his Son to death PSALM LIII In this Psalm the Church proposeth unto us a certain model of perfect Prayer First We ought to beg of God what may conduce to our salvation Secondly We ought to ask it in the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ for there is no other Name given to men by which they can be saved Thirdly We must have a firm faith in God's omnipotence Fourthly We are to look upon God as our Judge who gives to every man according to his works and therefore the confidence wherewith we pray is grounded upon the testimony of our conscience that it is not guilty of any thing which may render us unworthy to present our selves before his Divine Majesty Fifthly We must place all our confidence in God's mercy in the verity of his promises and not in our merits Sixthly We are to beg the grace to love justice so that no persecution whatever may cause us to swerve from it Seventhly We must not desire punishment upon the wicked out of hatred or revenge but out of charity for their correction as long as there is hopes of their amendment and to the end that others by their chastisements may fear to imitate them and that the empire of sin being overcome God alone may reign in this world Eightly We ought to beg that the adversities and misfortunes of this life may not deject us nor prosperity charm our senses and affections but that we may rely upon God and glorifie him Ninthly And to glorifie God as we ought we must offer up our selves to him in the spirit of sacrifice and annihilation that is of Pennance Tenthly The service and duty we offer up to God must
earth is broken out upon the earth Our bones are dissipated near to hell for to thee our Lord Lord are mine eyes in thee have I hoped take not away my soul Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of them that work iniquity Sinners fall in his net I am alone until I pass Ant. Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of them than work iniquity PSALM CXLI In this Psalm the Prophet teacheth us to pray incessantly to God that if he will not please absolutely to grant our Petitions at least to give us sufficient assistance for our conservation that we may have an assured foundation of hopes to enjoy blessings prepared for us hereafter Ant. I looked towards the right hand and saw and there was none that knew me WIth my voice I have cried to our Lord with my voice I have prayed to our Lord. I pour out my prayer in his sight and I pronounce my tribulation before him When my spirit faileth of my self and thou hast known my paths In this way which I walked they hid a snare for me I looked towards the right hand and saw and there was none that would know me Flight hath failed me and there is none to require my soul I have cried to thee O Lord I have said thou art my hope my portion in the land of the living Attend to my petition because I am humbled exceedingly Deliver me from them that persecute me because they are made strong over me Bring forth my soul out of prison to confess unto thy Name the just expect me till thou rewardest me Ant. I looked toward the right hand and saw and there was none that would know me During these three days no Hymn is sung as we observed before pag. 131. Nor is any Chapter read to tell us that the Jews reaped no benefit by the instructions from the Prophets The Antiphon before Magnificat The Church teacheth us that Jesus Christ was not onely pleased by his example to shew us how we are to suffer persecutions and afflictions in this life but also to incorporate us with him to strengthen us with his presence And thereupon when he was to pass out of this world to God his Father after he had celebrated the Passover with his Disciples he instituted the venerable Sacrament of his Body and Bloud as a perpetual monument of his Passion as an accomplishment of the figure of the Old Law and as the greatest of Miracles Ant. And Jesus after he had supt with his Disciples took bread and blessed it and breaking it gave it to his Disciples The Song of the blessed Virgin Which is an Abridgment of the Promises and Mysteries of our Salvation shewing us further that as the Son of God became man to repair by his humility what man had lost by his pride he was pleased to chuse the blessed Virgin for his Mother in respect of her humility to compleat this great work MY soul doth magnifie our Lord. And my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is his Name And his mercy from generation unto generations to them that fear him He hath shewed might in his arm he hath dispersed the proud in the conceit of their heart He hath deposed the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble The hungry he hath filled with good things and the rich he hath sent away empty He hath received Israel his child being mindful of his mercy As he spake to our fathers to Abraham and his seed for ever Ant. And Jesus after he had supt with his Disciples took bread and blessed it and breaking it gave it to his Disciples V. Christ was made for us obedient even unto death Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before pag. 6. The PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag. 130. At the Vncloathing of the Altars The Priest and his Ministers uncover the Altars and take away the Ornaments to represent Christ bereft by the Souldiers of his Garments which they divided among themselves according to the Prophecy of the Twenty one Psalm and thereupon the Church recites this Psalm and this Antiphon out of which it is taken Ant. And they divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots This Psalm out of which our blessed Saviour when nailed to the Cross repeated the first words containeth the Prophecy of his Passion where after the Royal Prophet hath represented Pains and Sufferings of the Son of God after he hath spoken of his Glory and of the grandeur of his Empire and related the benefits accuring to the Faithful for which they ought to be thankful this Divine Saviour who was himself impeccable putting himself in our stead and taking our obligations upon him making our debts his own satisfying for our crimes teacheth us in this Psalm that the sins of mankind which he took upon himself did merit that his Father should abandon him to all imaginable torments whereby to make rigorous satisfaction to his justice and that in these words when he saith My God my God why hast thou forsaken me speaks not in his own person but as in the unhappy infirmity of our flesh which he hath taken upon him and on the behalf of the members of his mystical body whose groans and prayers to his Father and Himself he foresaw through a propension of humane nature desirous to be freed from sufferings and death For who can believe our Saviour should desire to avoid death and sufferings since he came into the world for that end Or who can imagine he spake in such sort as if that which happened had been against his will who had power to give up his soul to God and to take it again though no man had power to bereave him of it These words then of this One and twentieth Psalm are a figure of such Prayers as shall be addrest to God by men in their afflictions begging to be freed of them Consequently the Son of God shewing us that his Eternal Father hath not delivered him from the power of the Jews who pursued him with reproaches and outrages even to death as he preserved Noah from the deluge Lot from the fire that fell from Heaven Isaac from the sword lifted up to cut off his head Joseph from the slander of a woman and the horrour of a prison Moses from the fury of the Egyptians Raab from the destruction of the City of Jericho Susanna from the imposture of the false witnesses Daniel from the Lyon's den the three Hebrew Children from the fiery furnance instructs us thereby that we ought to desire what we are to ask by the grace of the New Testament and that
fixed in a triangle which he lights one after another to instruct us that the Light of the Gospel which Jesus Christ hath brought unto us is the work of the blessed Trinity to whom we are to render thanks And therefore advancing towards the Altar he thrice repeats Behold the light of Christ The Faithful answer R. Thanks be to God The Deacon disposing himself to receive Commission from the Priest to give God thanks for the favour done us in freeing us from the Tyranny of the Devil and the Slavery of Sin by the Death and Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ whereof the Jewish Pasch was a figure asks his blessing Vouchsafe Father to bless The Priest blessing him saith OUr Lord be in thy lips that thou mayest worthily and competently declare the praises of his Pasch In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Then the Deacon taking the Censor out of the Acolyts hands incenseth the Book thrice in honour of the Holy Trinity which the light of the Gospel revealed unto us as we are taught by Jesus Christ And inviting the Faithful to give God thanks for the Victory which his Son Christ Jesus gained over the Devil and for the favour done unto them by drawing them from darkness and servitude of sin by the light of the Gospel represents unto them that their joy ought to be common to them and to the Angels who rejoyce to see that their number lessened by the fall of Lucifer and his complices is filled up again by humane nature renewed and repaired by Jesus Christ Then the Deacon acknowledging his own unworthiness joyns in Prayer with the Church MAy the angelical troops now rejoyce may the divine mysteries be celebrated with a holy joy may the sound of a comfortable trumpet publish the victory of so great a King and may the whole earth be sensible of the blessing it had by the splendour of the the Eternal King who freed it from that darkness which overspread the whole World May our Mother the Church rejoyce also at the glympse of so resplendent light and may this place resound with the voices of this Congregation And therefore I beseech ye my beloved Brethren here present who enlightened with the admirable splendour of this holy light joyn with me and call upon our Merciful and Almighty God to the end that as he hath been pleased not through my merits to advance me to the number of his Levites so shedding the beams of his light upon me he will give me grace to perfect the praise of this Paschal Candle Through c. Amen The Benediction and Praise of the Paschal Candle is very ancient for this Ceremony is mentioned in Prudentius his Hymn who lived in the fourth Age and St. Gregory Nazianzenus and St. Ambrose Then the Deacon prepares the Faithful to celebrate this Ceremony worthily with him advising them to lift up their hearts to God and to quit all affections to Creatures acknowledging the grace they have received of God by the Light of his Gospel which is represented by the Candle Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit R. Lift up your hearts The Faithful being in the disposition he requires answers We have raised them towards our Lord. Then the Deacon bids the Faithful consider that God so disposed their hearts therefore that they should give publick thanks Let us give thanks to our Lord. The Faithful answer that it is just and reasonable and according they give publick thanks by the Deacon and particular resentments of their hearts by following in their minds the words which the Deacon uses R. It is meet and just The Deacon exhorts the Faithful to give God thanks for that in this Night by the glorious Resurrection of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Merits of his Death he had freed us from the Tyranny of the Devil and from the Bondage of Sin wherein our first Parent by his sin had involved us and for that by the light of his Gospel he had conducted us to the Kingdom of Heaven which he had promised to his faithful Servant as he delivered the Israelites out of the Captivity of Egypt causing a Pillar of Fire to lead them into the Land of Promise IT is truly meet and just that with all affections of our heart and soul and with the ministry of our voice we glorifie the invisible God Father Almighty and his onely Son our Lord Jesus Christ who hath paid Adam's death for us to his Eternal Father and by shedding his innocent blood hath blotted out the hand-writing of our old sins whereby we are subjected to death For these are the Paschal Feasts wherein the true Lamb is immolated and the gates of the Faithful consecrated by his blood This is that night wherein first thou madest our forefathers the Children of Israel to pass the Red Sea dry-foot This is that night which dissipated the darkness of sins by the light of a pillar of fire This is that night which separating through the whole World those that believe in Jesus Christ from the vices of this age and from the darkness wherein sinners are ingaged restores them to grace and associates them to sanctity This is that night wherein the chains of death being broken Christ ascended Conquerour from Hell For it would not have availed us to have been born unless Christ had been pleased to redeem us O God how admirable is thy bounty towards us how inestimable thy charity who didst deliver up thy Son to redeem thy slave O certain necessary sin of Adam to make us sensible of the excess of God's love towards us since it hath been effaced by the death of Jesus Christ O happy fault that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer O truly happy night which alone deserved'st to observe the time and moment of Christ his rising from the dead This is that night of which it is written in the 178th Psalm The night shall shine as the day and the night is my illumination in my delights therefore the sanctification of this night banisheth all crimes washeth away all offences restores to innocence those that had been lost makes glad the afflicted reconciles hatred and enmities restores peace and union and humbles empires Here the Deacon puts the five grains of blest Incense in form of a Cross into the Candle not yet lighted which signifies the dead Body of our Saviour teaching us how adorable the wounds were which he received on the Cross where he offered up himself a Sacrifice for us to God his Father whereof the Evening Sacrifice was a figure in the Old Law and the Sacrifice of the Altar is a representation of it in the Evangelical Law Then the Deacon lighting the Candle which then becomes a figure of Christs Body risen again acknowledges the advantage we have received by his Resurrection REceive then O Holy Father from us on this happy night the Evening-Sacrifice of
are the punishments of our Sins and those of JESUS CHRIST are the effects of his Love towards us that thereby he might open Heaven for such as honor him with a sincere Heart as the good Thief did who beholding JESUS CHRIST hanging on the Cross all torn with stripes overwhelmed with shame and confusion drinking Gall covered with Spirtle and so outragiously scoffed at by all the People yet was he no ways scandaliz'd but on the contrary publickly acknowledged he was God he silenced his fellow Malefactor who cursed this Innocent he confessed his Sins he discoursed after a wonderful manner of the Resurrection and prayed JESUS CHRIST who expired on the Cross to be mindful of him when he came into his Kingdom Ant. The one thief said to the other We indeed justly receive worthy of our doings but what hath this man done Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom The Psalm Deus Deus meus ad te de luce vigilo c. as before p. 69. CANTICLE OF HABACCUC Chap. 3. The Prophet Habaccuc represents unto us under the Figure of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Captivity of Babylon and Egypt the deliverance of the Faithful by our Saviour JESUS CHRIST from the slavery of Sin and tyranny of the Devil Ant. When my soul shall be troubled O Lord thou shalt be mindful of mercy LOrd I heard thy hearing and was afraid Lord thy work in the midst of years quicken it In the midst of years shalt thou make it known when thou art angry thou wilt remember mercy God will come from the south and the holy One from mount Paran His glory shall cover the heavens and the earth is full of his praise His brightness shall be as the light horns in his hands there is his strength hid Before his face shall death go and the devil shall go forth before his feet He stood and measured the earth he beheld and dissolved the Gentiles and the mountains of the world were broken The hills of the world were bowed by the ways of his eternity For iniquity I saw the tents of Ethiopia and the skins of the land of Median shall be troubled Why wast thou angry with the rivers O Lord or was thy fury in the rivers or thine indignation in the sea Who wilt mount upon thy horses and thy chariots salvation Raising thou wilt raise up thy bow the oath to the tribes which thou hast spoken Thou wilt cut the rivers of the earth The mountains saw thee and were sorry the gulf of water passed the depth gave his voice the height lifted up his hands The sun and the moon stood in their habitation in the light of thine arrows they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear In fretting thou wilt tread down the earth in fury thou wilt astonish the Gentiles Thou wentest forth the salvation of thy people salvation with thy Christ Thou struckest the head out of the house of the impious thou hast discovered the foundation even to the neck Thou hast cursed his scepters the head of his warriors them that came as a whirlwind to disperse me Their exultation as his that devoureth the poor in secret Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses in the midst of many waters I heard and my belly was troubled at the voice my lips trembled Let rottenness enter in my bones and swarm under me That I may rest in the day of tribulation that I may ascend to our girded people For the fig-tree shall not flourish and there shall be no spring in the vines The work of the olive-tree shall deceive and the fields shall not yield meat The cattel shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls But I will joy in our Lord and will rejoyce in God my Jesus God our Lord is my strength and he will make my feet as of the harts And upon my high places he the conqueror will lead me singing in psalms Ant. When my soul shall be troubled O Lord thou shalt be mindful of mercy ANOTHER ANTHYMN The Church sets before us the Example of the good Thief that by his Example we must have recourse unto Christ in all afflictions and hope for Eternal Goods which by his Death he has merited for us Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom PSALM Laudate Dominum de coelis c. as before p. 74. VERSICLE taken out of Psalm 142. The Church represents unto us the Blindness and Insolency of the Jews who having put JESUS CHRIST to death glorified therein as if they had vanquished him and destroyed his Power for they believed not he would triumph over Death by a speedy Resurrection He hath set me in obscure places R. As the dead of the world AT BENEDICTUS ANTHYMN The Church hath shewed us how Iniquity hath lied against it self for the Jews Maugre all their Power were enforced to publish JESUS CHRIST to be their true King and whereas they thought by the punishment of the Cross to have destroy'd his Kingdom they have thereby more powerfully established it They put over his head his cause written This is JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS The Canticle of Zachary Benedictus c. as before p. 78. V. Christ made himself for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross Pater noster c. Miserere c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus as before p. 80. AT COMPLINE As before p. 82. V. Jesus Christ made himself for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross Pater noster c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus c. as before p. 80. THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON Holy-Friday FOR SATURDAY AT MATTINS FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 4. This Psalm declares unto us that we cannot raise up our selves to love and seek after the true good whilst our Hearts are loaded with the weight and cares of this World and that being but once enlightened with the Grace of God we then begin to afflict our selves in the secret of our Soul and being touch'd to the very bottom of our Hearts we then offer to his Majesty all our past life and for the future resolve by his assistance entirely to change it Then our Lord begins to make us relish his Sweets ad Delights and to heap on us all Joys Then we find in that Sovereign Good another Wine and another Oyl than they below do so as we neither repine at the prosperity of the Wicked nor fear their Malice having all our confidence in God Ant. In peace in the self-same I will sleep and rest WHen I invocated the God of my justice heard me in tribulation thou hast enlarged to me Have mercy on me and hear my prayer Ye sons of men how long are you of heavy heart why love you vanity and seek lying And know ye that our Lord hath made his
putting to death the Redeemer of the World She also admonisheth them to acknowledge their Sins and to beg Gods pardon for them Jerusalem arise and put off thy garments of mirth cover thy self with ashes and haircloth For in thee is slain the Saviour of Israel V. Draw forth tears as a torrent day and night and let not the apple of thine eye besilent Because in thee was slain the Saviour of Israel LESSON III. Taken out of the Fifth Chapter The beginning of the Prayer of the Prophet JEREMY The Prophet prays unto God to have mercy on his People REmember O Lord what is fallen to us behold and regard our reproach Our inheritance is turned to aliens our houses to strangers We are made pupils without father our mothers are as it were widows Our water we have drunk for money our wood we have bought for a price We were led by our necks no rest was given to the weary We have given our hand to Egypt and to the Assyrians that we might be filled with bread Our fathers have sinned and they are not and we have born their iniquities Servants have ruled over us there was none that would redeem us out of their hand In peril of our lives did we fetch us bread at the face of the sword in the desert Our skin was burnt as an oven by reason of the tempests of famin They humbled the women in Sion and the Virgins in the cities of Juda. Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God VERSICLE taken out of the First Chapter of the Prophet Joel The Church having represented unto us the Prayer which the Prophet Jeremy offered unto God to endeavor to avert those Miseries which threatned the City of Jerusalem she likewise shews us in the following Versicles the admonition God gave unto the Jews to do Penance by the Month of the Prophet Joel that they might avoid those Miserie 's their Sins would draw upon them Mourn as a virgin my people girded with sackcloth upon the husband of her youth Because the day of our Lord is at hand a very great and bitter day V. Gird your selves and mourn ye priests howl ye ministers of the altar lie ye in sackcloth Because the great day of our Lord is at hand Mourn as a virgin c. SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 23. The Church yearly commemorating on this Day the Sepulcher of JESUS CHRIST represents unto us That this Sovereign Lord and Creator of all things was that amiable Saviour who out of his Love to us voluntarily suffered Death and Burial that by his Death having delivered us from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin might also by his Resurrection and Ascension open Heaven unto those that lead a Vertuous Humble Innocent and Chast Life Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in THe earth is our Lords and the fulnest thereof the round world and all that dwell therein Because he hath founded it upon the seas and upon the rivers hath prepared it Who shall ascend into the mount of our Lord or who shall stand in his holy place The innocent of hands and of clean heart that hath not taken his soul in vain nor sworn to his neighbor in guile He shall receive blessing of our Lord and mercy of God his Saviour This is the generation of them that seek him of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory Our Lord strong and mighty our Lord mighty in battel Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory The Lord of powers he is the king of glory Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in PSALM 26. The Church declares unto us That we should not fear the Accidents and Miseries of this Life since God is our Safety and Salvation and what help are we nor to expect from him whose only Son was Sacrificed for us And what should we fear since by his Death he has overcome all things that might hurt us and since he has ascended into Heaven there to give us refuge and which now is open to us in all our Miseries and Afflictions since from his Throne of Glory he pours forth upon us his Graces to purifie us conduct us and make us surmount all difficulties and obstacles to our Salvation and to convert our Patience to the shame and confusion of our Enenlies Therefore let us be careful not to render our selves unworthy his Protection and take heed lest the fear of trouble make us commit unlawful Actions We must also most strictly observe his Commandments and wholly apply our selves to his service in hopes of attaining to that Eternal Felicity he has promised us Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living OUr Lord is my illumination and my salvation whom shall I fear Our Lord is the protector of my life of whom shall I he afraid Whilst the shameful approach upon me to eat my flesh Mine enemies that trouble me themselves are weakned and are fallen If camps stand together against me my heart shall not fear If battel rise up against me in this will I hope One thing I have asked of our Lord this will I seek for that I may dwell in the house of our Lord all the days of my life That I may see the pleasantness of our Lord and visit his temple Because he hath hid me in his tabernacle in the day of evils he hath protected me in the secret of his tabernacle In a rock he hath exalted me and now he hath exalted my head over mine enemies I have gone round about and have immolated in his tabernacle an host of jubilation I will sing and say a psalm to our Lord. Hear O Lord my voice wherewith I have cried to thee have mercy on me and hear me My heart hath said to thee my face hath sought thee out thy face O Lord I will seek Turn not away thy face from me decline not in wrath from thy servant Be thou my helper forsake me not neither despise me O God my Saviour Because my father and my mother have forsaken me but our Lord hath taken me Give me a law O Lord in thy way and direct me in the right path because of mine enemies Deliver me not into the souls of them that trouble me because unjust witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living Expect our Lord do manfully and let thy heart take courage and expect thou our Lord. Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living PSALM 29. In this
Psalm the Church tells us that altho' the Wicked think they can do much because they can kill those who love and fear God yet they cannot utterly destroy them for in spite of them they will rise again and triumph over Death and their Persecutions as JESUS CHRIST has assured them by his Resurrection who brought his Enemies to that condition as they had no reason to rejoyce in the Death they had inflicted on him Ant. Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell I Will exalt thee O Lord because thou hast received me neither hast delighted mine enemies over me O Lord my God I have cried to thee and thou hast healed me Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell thou hast saved me from them that go down into the lake Sing to our Lord ye his saints and confess to the memory of his holiness Because wrath is in his indignation and life in his will At evening shall weeping abide and in the morning gladness And I said in my abundance I will not be moved for ever O Lord in thy will thou hast given strength to my beauty Thou hast turned away thy face from me and I became troubled To thee O Lord I will cry and I will pray to my God What profit is in my blood whilst I descend into corruption Shall dust confess to thee or declare thy truth Our Lord hath heard and had mercy on me our Lord is become my helper Thou hast turned my mourning into joy unto me thou hast cut my sackcloth and hast compassed me with gladness That my glory may sing to thee and I be not compunct Lord my God for ever will I confess to thee Ant. Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell VERSICLE taken out of Psalm 63. The Church proposes unto us 1. That altho' JESUS CHRIST had power to raise his one Body from Death to Life yet he begged that favor from God his Father thereby to give us an Example of perfect Submission and Obedience 2. That as JESUS CHRIST by his Resurrection and Ascension was made the source of all Grace and Salvation to those who rendred him a punctual obedience so was he confirm'd the Sovereign Judge to condemn those to Eternal Flames who should die in their Iniquities V. But thou O Lord have mercy on me R. And raise me that I may be thankful for them LESSON IV. Taken out of the Treatise of St. Augustin upon the Sixty third Psalm In this Lesson St. Augustin teacheth us That Jesus being both God and Man suffered only as he was Man It was necessary he should be God that he might reconcile us to God his Father being in the quality of a Mediator between God and Man It was needful he should be Man to the end he might be able to satisfie in all rigor the Justice of God his Father for the Sins of Mankind MAn shall penetrate into the depth of his heart and God shall be exalted They have said Who shall see us They are wearied in searching after wicked Councils Man has penetrated into the wicked Councils and has suffered himself to be taken like a Man for unless he had been a Man he could not have been taken seen whipp'd crucified or died Therefore it was a Man that underwent all these Passions which unless he had been Man could have had no effect upon him For had he not been Man Man had never been delivered Man then penetrated into the depth of the heart that is to say into the Secret of the Heart presenting his Humanity to their sight but concealing his Divinity from them and hiding from them his form of God wherein he was equal to his Father and only permitting to their sight the form of a Servant wherein he was less than his Father RESP. The Church represents unto us That JESUS CHRIST declared his Divinity even in his Death by those Miracles he then did and by his descent into Hell by destroying the Empire of Death and the Devil R. Our Pastor is retired the Fountain of living Water is vanished and the Sun lost its Light at his passage For he is now taken who led the First Man Captive To day our Saviour hath broke both the Locks and Gates of Hell V. He hath destroyed the prisons of Hell and overthrown the Powers of the Devil For he himself was taken who led Captive the First Man LESSON V. In this Lesson St. Augustin declares the Iniquity of the Jews who persecuted JESUS CHRIST even to his Grave TO what excess did their Search and Care transport them and how they fainted in their Searchings That our Lord being dead and buried they should set a Guard over his Sepulcher for they said unto Pilate That Seducer By that name they called our Lord Jesus Christ to the comfort of his Servants when they are called Seducers Therefore they said to Pilate That Seducer said yet living After three days I will rise again Command therefore the Sepulcher to be kept till the third day lest perhaps his Disciples come and steal him and say to the People He is risen from the dead And the last error shall be worse than the first Pilate said to them You have a Guard go guard it as you know And they departing made the Sepulcher sure sealing up the Stone with Watchmen RESP. The Church proposes unto us all the Sufferings of JESUS CHRIST O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like mine V. All ye people behold and see my grief if there be any grief like mine LESSON VI. St. Augustin represents unto us the malice and obstinacy of the Jews who instead of owning the truth of Christs Resurrection whereof they had such certain Testimonies yet they still persisted in their Infidelity running headlong on their own ruin and destruction THey set a Guard of Soldiers to keep the Sepulcher In the mean time the Earth trembled and our Lord arose signalizing his Resurrection by so many Miracles that the very Soldiers who guarded his Body became Witnesses and could have declared it if they had willed to have spoken truth But Avarice which had possessed that Companion-Disciple of Christ had likewise entred the Hearts of those Soldiers who kept the Sepulcher We will give you Money said they and say That whilst ye were asleep his Disciples came and stole him away Truly they failed in their vain Searches Unhappy as ye are What have ye said Where is your Subtleness and Cunning Are ye so blind Have ye so little Sense Are ye so wicked and malicious to utter such Words O unhappy Craft What hast thou said Dost thou forsake so much the Light of Counsel and Piety And art thou so much drowned in Cunning and Wickedness as to say this Do ye say That whilst ye slept his Disciples came and stole him away You produce sleeping Witnesses but rather you have slept your self since you are lost in your vain Search