Mediator for the whole Church for the Pope for our Bishop for our King and for all faithful Catholicks WE therefore most merciful Father humbly beseech thee through thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord to accept and bless these ✚ Gifts these ✚ Presents these ✚ Immaculate Sacrifices which in the first we offer unto thee for thy Holy Catholick Church to which thou wilt please to grant peace and preserve and maintain in unity through the whole World with the Pope N. thy servant and our Prelate N. and our King N. with all Orthodox Believers of the Catholick Apostolick Faith Then the Priest makes a particular Commemoration of the living for whom he intends to offer his Sacrifice REmember O Lord all thy servants Men and Women Here he makes mention of those for whom he prays in particular And all such especially as are here present whose Faith and Devotion is known unto thee for whom we offer and who offer to thee for themselves or friends this Sacrifice of Praise for the Benefit of their Souls in hope of health and salvation and pay their vows unto thee the Eternal Living and True God The Priest by the vertue of the union of the Church militant with the triumphant in Jesus Christ beseeches God that he will please to supply the defect of his present Prayers imploring protection by the Merits and Suffrages of the most blessed Virgin of the Apostles Martyrs and all Saints PArticipating in the same Communion and Commemorating chiefly the ever glorious Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ the blessed Apostles and Martyrs Peter and Paul Andrew James John Thomas James Philip Bartholomew Matthew Simon and Thadeus Linus Cletus Clement Xistus Cornelius Cyprian Laurence Chrysoganus John and Paul Cosmas and Damianus and of all Saints by whose Merits and Prayers be pleased to grant that in all things we may be protected by thee Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest spreads his hands over the Host and Chalice in testimony that he offers up himself to God together with this Sacrifice begging four things 1. That he will please to accept of this Offering 2. That he will grant us Peace 3. That he will deliver us from Everlasting Death 4. That he will place us amongst the blessed WE beseech thee O Lord therefore graciously to accept this oblation of our servitude as likewise of thy whole Family granting us Peace in our days and preserving us from Eternal Death place among thy Elect. Through Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest beseecheth God to receive and bless this Offering so as that he will please to accept of it and that it may become the Body and Blood of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ to expiate our sins and reconcile us to his Majesty WE beseech thee O God that thou wilt be pleased to make this Oblation blessed approved effectual reasonable and acceptable that it may be made unto us the Body and Blood of thy most beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ The Consecration After this Prayer the Priest comes to the principal action of the Sacrifice and commemorates all that Christ did or said when he instituted this Holy Sacrament and therefore after his example he blesseth and consecrateth the Bread in the same manner WHo the day before his Passion took the Bread into his holy and venerable hands and lifting his eyes towards heaven to thee his God and omnipotent Father to thee giving thanks he blessed broke and gave to his Disciples saying Take and eat ye all of this FOR THIS IS MY BODY The Elevation of the Host. Here the Priest after he hath upon his knees adored the Body of Jesus Christ he lifts it up to be seen and adored by the Faithful and to mind them that Christ's Body was elevated upon the Cross The Consecration of the Blood of Jesus Christ. He blesseth and consecrateth the Wine as Christ consecrated it turning the Wine into his Blood whereby he established and ratified his New Testament and signed the New Alliance he contracted with us to continue for ever IN like manner after he had supt taking this excellent Chalice into his holy and venerable hands giving thee also thanks he blessed it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take and drink ye all of this FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD OF THE NEW AND EVERLASTING TESTAMENT a Mystery of Faith WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS This as often as you shall do you shall do in memory of me The Elevation of the Chalice And then adoring the Blood of our Saviour he elevates it for the same reason as he did the Body And as he offers this Holy Sacrifice in the Person of Christ in whose stead he hath celebrated this mysterious Consecration so is it done in the Name of the Church in honour of the three Mysteries of the Son of God viz. Of his Passion which we account from the Hour of his Conception till his Death of his Resurrection and Ascension The Signs of the Cross which the Priest makes over the Host after Consecration design unto us the particular manner of his immolation WHerefore O Lord we thy servants and the sanctified people also being mindful both of the blessed Passion of the same Christ thy Son our Lord and of his Resurrection as also of his glorious Ascension into Heaven we offer unto thy most excellent Majesty of thy Gifts bestowed upon us A pure Host a holy Host an immaculate Host the Holy Bread of Eternal Life and Chalice of Perpetual Salvation The Priest beseeches God to accept of this Sacrifice in memory of Abel's Sacrifice of Abraham's and Melchisedeck's which were only Figures of this WHich we beseech thee propitiously to regard and to receive this Holy Sacrifice and Immaculate Host as thou wert pleased to receive the Gifts of thy just Child Abel and the Sacrifice of our Patriarch Abraham as likewise that which thy High Priest Melchisedeck offered unto thee Supplices te rogamus Jesus Christ communicates his Substance to the blessed in Heaven without Veil or Sacraments though he communicates himself sacramentally to men on earth and as the wicked are indifferently mixt with the just upon Earth it happens that the wicked receive the Communion in distinctly with the just but it is otherwise in Heaven where the Son of God communicates himself only to the Saints And hereupon the Priest on the behalf of the Faithful asks God's grace that Jesus Christ who in the Holy Scriptures is called the Angel of the Great Council and of the New Testament will give himself unto them under the shadow of this Holy Sacrament as he gives himself to the blessed without veil on the sublime and celestial Altar in the bosom of his Divinity that is to say that as all those are worthy who receive Christ in Heaven as being Saints so he would please to furnish all these with such his blessings and celestial gifts as may enable
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 end for which we became Christians is not for this temporal life wherein God often delivers us up to persecutors who persecute us even to death but that the Name of Christian entitles us to an Eternal Life considering that he whose Name we bear was treated so for us PSALM XXI O God my God have respect unto me why hast thou forsaken me far from my salvation are the words of my sins My God I shall cry by day and thou wilt not hear and by night and not for folly unto me But thou dwellest in the holy place the praise of Israel In thee our fathers have hoped they hoped and thou didst deliver them They cried to thee and were saved they hoped in thee and were not confounded But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and outcast of the people All that see me have scorned me they have spoken with lips and wagged the head He hoped in the Lord let him deliver him save him because he willeth him Because thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb my hope from the breasts of my mother Upon thee I have been cast from the matrice from my mothers womb thou art my God depart not from me Because tribulation is very nigh because there is not that will help Many calves have compassed me fat bulls have besieged me They have opened their mouths upon me as a lyon ravening and roaring As water I am poured out and my bones are dispersed My heart is made as wax melting in the midst of my body My strength is withered as a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death Because many dogs have compassed me the counsel of the maglignant hath besieged me They have digged my hands and my feet they have numbred all my bones But themselves have considered and beheld me they have divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots But thou Lord prolong not thy help from me look toward my defence Deliver O God my soul from the sword and mine onely one from the hand of the dog Save me out of the lyon's mouth and my humility from the horns of unicorns I will declare thy Name to my brethren in the midst of the Church I will praise thee Ye that fear our Lord praise him all the seed of Jacob glorifie ye him Let all the seed of Israel fear him because he hath not contemned nor despised the petition of the poor Neither hath he turned away his face from me and when I cried to him he heard me With thee is my praise in the great Church I will render my vows in the sight of them that fear him The poor shall eat and shall be filled and they shall praise our Lord that seek after him their hearts shall live for ever and ever All the ends of the earth shall remember and be converted to our Lord. And all the families of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight Because the kingdom is our Lords and he shall have dominion over the Gentiles All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and adored in his sight shall all fall that descended into the earth And my soul shall live to him and my seed shall serve him The generation to come shall be shewed to our Lord and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to the people that shall be born whom our Lord hath made Ant. They have divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots This Ceremony is very ancient For St. Gregory mentions it in his Book de Sacramentis and in the sixteenth and seventeenth Councils of Toledo held in the year 693 and 694. in the eighth Canon of the former and in the second of the latter and likewise in St. Eligius Bishop of Noyon who lived in the same Age and treats of it in his eighth Homily ON Good Friday At Prime As before Page 131. At the Third Hour As before Page 136. At the Sixth Hour As before Page 142. At the Ninth Hour As before Page 147. I. N.R.I MASS FOR Good Friday The station in the Church of the Holy Cross of Hierusalem To instruct us that Jesus Christ suffered death upon this day in Hierusalem To the end that this day's Office may be performed with profound humility the Prayers of the None being ended those that officiate come before the Altar and kneeling prostrate themselves on the ground The Acolyts rise and lay a Cloth upon the Altar to represent the Linnens wherein Christ's body was wrapped before he was put into the Sepulcher and also to mind us by this Ceremony of the last Duties paid to our Saviour's body by Joseph of Arimathea and Nichodemus Then the Reader sings the first Prophecy without a title to observe unto us the ignorance and blindness of the Jews who would not understand the truths revealed unto them by the Prophets You may observe also that this Office is begun by Lessons as was done in the Primitive times The LESSON taken out of the sixth Chapter of the Prophet Osee The Church by the words of this Prophet declares unto us the love which God always had for his people either by correcting them to make them return to their duty or by sending Prophets among them who exposed their lives to save them or by sending at last his onely Son who died and rose again the third day to expiate their sins to deliver them from everlasting death and to give them a new life and an eternal felicity THus said our Lord In their tribulation early they will rise up to me come and let us return to our Lord because he hath wounded and he will heal us he will strike and will cure us He will revive us after two days in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight We shall know and we shall follow that we may know our Lord. As the morning light is his coming forth prepared and he will come to us as a shower timely and late to the earth What shall I do to thee Ephraim What shall I do to thee Juda Your mercy as a morning cloud and as the dew passing away in the morning For this have I hewed in the Prophets I have killed them in the words of my mouth and thy judgments shall come forth as the light Because I would mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than Holocausts The TRACT taken out of the third Chapter of the Prophet Abacuc The Church in the foregoing Lesson having taught us how advantageous the coming of Christ was to us shews us in this Tract how painful it was to this Divine Saviour to be born in a manger between two beasts and to be put to death upon the cross between two thieves O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid I considered thy works and trembled V. Thou wilt appear between two beasts
they pierced Before the reading of the rest of the Gospel the Deacon says the Prayer Munda cor meum as before but asks not the Priest's Blessing to note unto us that the Author of all Blessings is dead Nor are the Candles lighted whereby to signifie that as the Eclipse of the Sun and Moon so likewise in the heavens all light was extinguished at the death of our Lord. Nor is the Book incensed to tell us that the fervour of the Disciples Prayers was also cool'd ANd after these things Joseph of Arimathea because he was a disciple of Jesus but secret for fear of the the Jews desired Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus And Pilate permitted He came therefore and took away the body of Jesus Nicodemus also came he that at the first came to Jesus by night bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about an hundred pounds They took therefore the body of Jesus and bound it in linnen clothes with spices as the manner is with the Jews to bury And there was in the place where he was crucified a garden and in the garden a new monument wherein no man yet had been laid There therefore because of the Parasceve of the Jews they laid Jesus because the monument was hard by The Passion being ended Publick and Solemn Prayers are said not onely for the whole Church and all its Members but also for Infidels and all sorts of people in imitation of our Saviour who upon the Cross prayed even for his enemies and executioners to shew that he shed his blood for the whole world You are to observe that before each Prayer the Church minds the people to joyn in prayer with her wishing them to bow their knees to represent the respect and the humility wherewith we are to address unto God For the whole Church LEt us pray my beloved Brethren for the whole Church of God that our Lord God will vouchsafe to give it Peace maintain it in Union and preserve it through the whole Earth subjecting the Princes and Powers of this World unto it and that granting us the grace to lead this life in peace and tranquillity we may glorisie God the Father Almighty Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who hast revealed thy glory in Jesus Christ to all Nations preserve the works of thy mercy that thy Church spred through the whole world may firmly persevere in the confession of thy Name Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Or for the Pope LEt us pray also for our Holy Father the Pope that our Lord God who hath elected and seated him in the Order of Episcopacy will give him health for the good of his Church and the benefit of his People Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God upon whose judgment all things are founded hear graciously our Prayers and in thy goodness preserve our Bishop whom thou hast appointed to guide us that the Christian people be governed by thy Authority may more and more encrease in faith under so great a Prelate Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the Orders of the Church LEt us pray also for Bishops Priests Deacons Subdeacons Acolyts Exorcists Readers Porters Confessors Virgins Widows and for all God's holy people Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God whose Spirit sanctifies and governs the whole Church hear the Prayers we address unto thee for all Orders that by the assistance of thy grace they may all serve thee faithfully Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the King LEt us pray also for our King Defender of the Faith that God will please to reduce all barbarous Nations to his command and grant us perpetual peace Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God in whose hands all Powers and Rights of Kingdoms are graciously look upon this Kingdom that those Nations who put confidence in their brutish fierceness may be supprest by the power of thy right hand Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the Catechumens LEt us pray also for the Catechumens that our Lord God will open the ears of their hearts and the gate of his mercy that having received remission of all their sins and being regenerated by Baptism they may be incorporated with us in our Lord Jesus Christ Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who daily encreasest thy Church with new children encrease in our Catechumens faith and understanding that being regenerated in the waters of Baptism they may be entred into the society of thy adopted children Through c. Amen For all sorts of Necessities LEt us pray my beloved unto God the Father Almighty that he will please to cleanse the world from all sorts of Errors cure our Diseases divert Famine open Prisons dissolve the bonds of Captives grant a safe return to Pilgrims restore health to the sick and to sea-faring men a secure arrival to their haven Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who art a comfort to the afflicted and a strength to those that labour grant that the Prayers of all those who shall call upon thee in affliction may be heard by thee that they may be sensible with gladness of the assistance of thy mercy in their necessities Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For Hereticks and Schismaticks LEt us pray also for Hereticks and Schismaticks that our Lord God will deliver them from all error and vouchsafe to recall them into the bosom of our Holy Mother the Catholick Apostolick Church Let us pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who savest the whole world and desirest not the death of a sinner regard those souls in mercy seduced by the deceit of the devil that all Hereticks and others going astray quitting all malice may rectifie their hearts and return to the unity of the truth Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For the Jews LEt us pray also for the perfidious Jews that our Lord God will withdraw the vail from their hearts that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ We say not here Flectamus genua to signifie the horrour of the outrages committed upon our Saviour at his Passion kneeling unto him in derision but the following Prayer is said Let us Pray ALmighty and Everlasting God who refusest not thy mercy even to the perfidious Jews hear the Prayers we pour forth for the blindness of this people that they arriving to the light of thy truth which is Jesus Christ may be cleared from their darkness Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the Pagans LEt us pray also for the Pagans that Almighty God will take away all wickedness from their hearts that quitting their Idolatry they may convert themselves
it by the Faith of the Church which asks it O Lord Jesus Christ who didst say to thy Apostles Peace I leave unto you my Peace I give unto you regard not my sins but rather look upon the Faith of thy Church and grant it that Peace and Union which may be according to thy will who livest and reignest God for ever and ever Amen The Priest having prayed for the Faithful prays for himself to obtain a disposition requisite to receive the Eucharist worthily O Lord Jesus Christ Son of the living God who by thy Fathers Will and by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost by thy death hast given life to the whole World deliver me by this thy Holy Body and Bloud from all my sins and from all evil make me a true observer of thy Commandments and that I be never separated from thee who being God livest and reignest for ever Amen O Lord Jesus Christ let not this participation of thy Body which I though unworthy now presume to receive be to my Judgment and Damnation but through thy Mercy a wholesom Medicine to my Infirmities who being God livest and reignest with God the Father in the Unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen After he hath kneeled to adore the Blessed Sacrament taking the Host into his hands and considering that he is to receive his God he puts all his confidence in his Mercy saying I Will take the Bread of Heaven and will call upon the name of our Lord. And representing to himself how acceptable the Centurion's Humility was to the Son of God when he would have honoured him with a Visit in imitation of him he protests himself unworthy of so great a favour and striking his breast repeats the same words thrice LOrd I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my Soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my Soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my Soul shall be healed In receiving the Body of our Lord he makes the sign of the Cross with the Hoast calling to his memory that it is the Body which Jesus Christ exposed to death to save us THE Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my Soul to Life Everlasting Amen In taking the Chalice he gives God thanks for the advantages he receives by the Communion of the Bloud of Christ by those words of the 117 and 118 Psalm WHat shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits to me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of our Lord. In singing his praises I will call upon our Lord and I shall be safe from mine enemies When he receives the Bloud of our Lord making on himself the sign of the Cross with the Chalice and meditating that it is the Bloud which Jesus Christ would shed to save us he says THe Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my Soul to Life Everlasting Amen Whilst he takes Wine in the Chalice to wash his mouth and fingers that so the least particle of the Sacrament may not remain there and to shew the care he must take to preserve himself in Purity he says this Prayer GRant O Lord that we may receive that with a pure heart which we have taken by our mouths and that of a Temporal Gift it may become an Eternal Remedy unto us In taking the second Absolution he says LEt thy Body O Lord which I have received and thy Bloud which I have drunk cleave unto my bowels and grant that the least spot of sin may not remain in me who have been satiated with thy pure and holy Sacraments who livest and reignest world without end Amen Neither Communion nor Post-Communion is said because the Neophytes did not receive at this Mass But the Priest to give God Thanks for the Benefits we have received by the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ uses that Thanksgiving which the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of our Saviour did for the whole Body of the Church Secondly to testifie that we ought not to be less sensible of the Benefits received from God by the Merits of his Son than the Saints of the Old Testament to whom God had revealed them the Church says the 116 Psalm Thirdly the Church teaches us that in commemorating the Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ we ought to present unto our Saviour the perfumes of our Prayers and Good works in imitation of the Charity and Zeal of those good Women who came to his Sepulcher at Day-break with their Persumes to pay him the Duty of their Piety And therefore the Antiphon is taken out of the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia PSALM CXVI PRaise our Lord all ye Gentiles praise him all ye people Because his mercy is confirmed on us and his truth remains for ever Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning and now and ever and world without end Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Another ANTIPHON out of the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew IN the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn in the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the Sepulcher Alleluia The Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary Luke 2. The Church in this Canticle represents us with an Abridgment of the Promises and Mysteries of the Salvation and teaches us that as the Son of God became Man to repair by his Humility what Adam had lost by his Pride he was pleased to chuse the Blessed Virgin to be his Mother for the accomplishing this great work in regard of her Humility 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 empty away He hath received Israel his child being mindful of his mercy As he spake to our fathers to Abraham and his seed for ever Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning and now and ever world without end ANTIPHON In the end of the Sabbath as before pag. 304. The Incense puts us in mind of the Piety of these Holy Women who carried Perfumes to our Saviours Sepulcher And the Church beseeches God that our Prayers may ascend as this Incense unto him Our Lord be with you R. And
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
ALlmighty Everlasting God who hast caused our Saviour to take flesh and to be crucified for Mankind as an example of Humility to be imitated Grant propitiously that we may deserve to have both the Instruction of his Patience and Fellowship of his Resurrection Through the same our Lord c. The Lesson out of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Philippians Chap. 2. The Church represents the Cross unto us as the Ladder by which the Son of God descended from Heaven to the lowest degree of abatement on Earth and by which he ascended to the highest pitch of Glory and the Church teaches us by the example of Jesus Christ that we ought to be in the same disposition both in regard of him and of all man which he had in the work of our Redemption that is that we are to be ready and prepared to divest our selves of Honour Life and Goods for the love of Him and our Neighbours that as Christ was elevated above all Powers of Heaven Earth and Hell we may hope and expect a proportionable recompence after our humiliation BRethren for this think in your selves which also in Christ Jesus who when he was in the form of God thought it not robbery himself to be equal to God but he exinanited himself taking the form of a servant made into the similitude of men and in shape found as man he humbled himself made obedient unto death even the death of the Cross For the which God also hath exalted him and hath given him a Name which is above all Names That in the Name of Jesus every knee bow of the celestials terrestrials and infernals and every tongue confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father The GRADUAL taken out of 71st Psalm The Gradual is a Song wherein the Faithful being instructed by hearing the Epistle read at Mass raise themselves towards God in their holy desires as by certain spiritual degrees and prepare themselves to an attentive hearing of the Gospel and to profit by its Instructions Thus by the Gradual in the Mass the Faithful being taught by the Epistle preceding that by Afflictions and Sufferings in this Life they must gain Heaven according to our blessed Saviour's example they prepare themselves by raising their spirits to comprehend the Passion of our Saviour and to meditate that since the Grace of the New Testament appertains to Life Everlasting and not to this temporary one Christ as man being to declare it to the World ought not to draw a recommendation of it from terrestrial happiness And hence came his Humiliations incomprehensible hence his Passion his Sufferings his Scourgings wherewith he was so inhumanely torn the Spittings by which his Divine Face was so outragiously abused with all the other Injuries and Affronts he suffered 'T was in fine this brought him to the Cross this covered with Wounds his Sacred Body and at last delivered him to Death All those Marvels teach the Faithful what their Piety ought to hope and what recompence to beg of him whose children they are to the end they deceive not their selves in proposing terrestrial happiness as a reward for their Service to God And certainly 't is a signal providence of Grace and Bounty that God gives worldly happiness to the wicked to the end that good men may not place their content in the possession of it whereupon the 72d Psalm whence the Gradual of this Mass is extracted personates a man who repents that he had served God out of interest that not a right heart and expected temporal rewards and who seeing the wicked live in abundance and plenty was so far perplext as almost to think that God had no providence of humane affairs yet casting aside this sinful fancy by the authority of Saints who truly belong to God he is enforced to penetrate into so profound a secret which yet he could not discover with all his labour until he entred into the Sanctuary of God and knew their last end that is till having received the Holy Ghost and obtained the conduct of his Grace he considered the glory prepared by God for his faithful servants and learnt to desire it and understood what shall be the torment of the wicked after these contemptible and fading pleasures which they have enjoyed THou hast held thy right hand and in thy will thou hast conducted me and with glory thou hast received me V. How good is God to Israel to them that are of a right heart but my feet were almost moved my feet almost slipped because I have had zeal upon the wicked seeing the peace of sinners The TRACT taken out of the 21st Psalm This word expresseth it self the words being pronounced and sung in a low and languishing manner drawing the voice as groaning and lamenting whereby to incite us to bewail our sins and ask forgiveness of God Likewise in the Tract of this Mass the Church represents the reason why we ought to have an extream regret for our sins since they obliged our Saviour to suffer death to free and reconcile us by his humility to God his Father from whom we so unhappily estranged our selves by our pride Then the Church teaches us our obligation to give God thanks by these following Verses of the 21st Psalm disposing us to hear attentively the Passion of our Saviour whereof this Psalm prophetically makes mention wherein we ought to observe how our Saviour sometimes speaks in his own sometimes in the person of his members that which speaks of sins only relating to us that which speaks of sufferings only to him as our head who suffered for us Yet in suffering thus for us himself being blameless he put himself in our stead and took upon him our Obligations he made our Debts his own making satisfaction for our Transgression GOd my God have respect unto me why hast thou forsaken me V. Far from my salvation are the words of my sins V. My God I shall cry by day and thou wilt not hear and by night and not for folly unto me V. But thou dwellest in the Holy Place the praise of Israel V. In thee our Fathers have hoped they hoped and thou didst deliver them V. They cryed unto thee and were saved they hoped in thee and were not confounded V. But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and outcast of the people V. All that saw me have scorned me they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head V. He hoped in the Lord let him deliver him let him save him because he afflicts him V. But themselves have considered and beheld me they have divided my garments amongst them and upon my vesture they have cast lots V. Save me from the Lions mouth and my humility from the horns of the Unicorns V. Ye that fear our Lord praise him all the seed of Jacob glorifie ye him V. The generation to come shall be shewed to our Lord and the heavens shall shew forth
gives God thanks for the benefits he has received by this Communion in this Antiphon which is called Communion The COMMUNION taken out of the 26th Chapter of St. Matthew Wherein the Church teaches us that Jesus Christ for the love of us would take upon himself our infirmities and frailties and fulfil all things requisite for our salvation according to the will of his Father with excellent order conduct and wisdom to teach us that we ought patiently to suffer for his sake renouncing our own wills and resigning our selves entirely unto God FAther if this Cup cannot pass but that I must drink it thy will be done The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful beseech God's grace that being healed of their sins and having our Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts by virtue of this Holy Sacrifice the representation of his Passion and Death they may have no other will but his that so doing all things agreeable they may thereby work their salvation GRant O Lord by the operation of this Mystery that we may be cleansed from our sins and obtain an accomplishment of our just desires Through our Lord c. Mass being ended the Priest turns towards the Faithful and exhorting them not to make themselves unworthy of God's assistance says Our Lord be with you They answer And with thy Spirit Mass being ended Ita missa est that is You may depart is not said but Benedicamus Domino that is Let us bless our Lord as in all Masses where Gloria in excelsis is not said whereby to admonish the Faithful that these are days of pennance on which 't was the custom formerly to continue in the Church at Prayers some time after Mass Let us bless our Lord. The Faithful answer Thanks be to God The Priest bowing in the midst of the Altar says ACcept O Holy Trinity this Oblation of my servitude and grant that though this Sacrifice be presented thy Divine Majesty by my unworthy hands yet that through thy mercy it may be acceptable to thee and propitiatory for me and all other for whom I have offered it Through Christ our Lord. Then kissing the Altar to receive God's blessing he gives it to the People saying Almighty God Father Son and Holy Ghost bless you Amen Mass being ended the Priest admonishes the Faithful to keep the Union they have with Jesus Christ Our Lord be with you And with thy Spirit Then the Priest reads Saint John's Gospel which relates of the Birth of the Word and the highest Mysteries of Divinity to teach us that the end of this Holy Mystery is to make us happy for all Eternity by a visible participation of the Divinity which Christ communicates under Vells unto us in this life having taken upon him our humanity in his Incarnation and covering himself under the Species of Bread and Wine in this adorable Sacrament to accommodate himself to the weakness of our Mortality The beginning of the Holy Gospel according to St. John The People answer Glory be to thee O Lord. IN the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word This was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was made nothing which was made In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it There was a man sent from God whose name was John This man came for testimony to give testimony of the light It was the true light which lightneth every man that cometh into this world He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not He came into his own and his own received him not because as many as received him he gave them power to be made the sons of God to those that believe in his Name who not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God are born And the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us and we saw the glory as it were of the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and verity The Faithful give God thanks beseeching him not to suffer them to be so unhappy as in their persons to prevent this end of this Divine Sacrifice R. Thanks be to God Saint John's Gospel is always said at the end of Mass unless a double Feast fall upon a Sunday or a Feria which hath a proper Gospel which then is read instead of St. John's Gospel except on the Fourth Sunday in Advent in case it fall on Christmass-Eve On the third Mass upon Christmass-day the Gospel for Twelfth-day is read At private Masses on Palm-Sunday the Gospel for the Blessing of Palms is read and all the Lent no Gospel proper of the Vigils are used THE MASS FOR MUNDAY IN Holy Week The Station to St. Praxede Church To teach us by the example of St. Praxede that those who employ themselves in burying of Christ's members and in other works of Piety shall partake of the Merits of Mary Magdalene commended in this day's Gospel for her provident burial of our Saviour in anointing him with precious Persumes The INTROIT taken out of the 34th Psalm Whereby the Church represents unto us the Prayer which Jesus Christ offered up to God the Father when he suffered death for the salvation of Mankind wherein he begs that his Persecutors should not triumph over his death but that when they should think themselves victorious in that they were able to put him to death he would discover their weakness unto them and manifest his power in restoring him to that life wherein we shall have a share JUdge O Lord them that hurt me overthrow them that impugn me take Armour and Shield and rise up to help me O Lord who art the strength of my salvation PSALM XXXIV BRing forth the sword and shut up against them that persecute me Say to my soul I am thy salvation Judge O Lord c. KYRIE ELEISON c. as before pag. 36. The Faithful considering that Jesus Christ by his sufferings hath passed to life beseech God by the Merits of his Son's Passion that they may participate in his life and salvation COLLECT ALmighty God who knowest us unable to subsist through our own infirmity among so many evils grant that we may respire by the Merits of thy Son's Passion Who liveth and reigneth one God in the unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen Against the Persecutors of the Church WE beseech thee O Lord admit being appeased the Prayers of thy Church that all Adversities and Errors being destroyed it may serve thee in secure liberty Through our Lord c. For the Pope O God the Pastor and Governour of all Faithful thou being merciful favourably respect thy Servant N. whom thou hast raised to the dignity of Chief Pastor of thy Church Grant him we beseech thee in Word and Example to profit those whom he hath charge over to the
end that together with the Flock committed to him he may come unto life everlasting Through our Lord c. The Lesson taken out of the Prophet Isay Chap. 50. The Church teacheth us by this Prophesie that Jesus Christ who neither had or could commit a sin had not suffered death but that he voluntarily exposed himself thereto taking our sins upon him to free us and make satisfaction for us to the Divine Justice No circumstance of his Passion was concealed from him He foresaw all the hardships and ignominies and though humane nature were against it yet he freely submitted himself to the will of his Father which he also faithfully performed But in suffering for us he hath left an Example and Obligation upon us to imitate him in afflictions with a perfect submission to the will of God and an entire confidence in his bounty IN those days said Isaias The Lord God hath opened my ear and I do not gainsay I am not gone backward I have given my body to the strikers and my cheeks to the pluckers I have not turned away my face from the rebukers and spitters The Lord God is my helper therefore am I not confounded Therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock and I know that I shall not be confounded He is near that justifies me who shall gainsay me Let us stand together who is my adversary let him come to me Behold the Lord God my helper who is he that shall contemn me lo they shall all be destroyed as a garment the moth shall eat them Which of you fears our Lord hears the voice of his servant Who hath walked in darkness and hath no light let him hope in the Name of our Lord and lean upon his God The GRADUAL taken out of 34th Psalm By these Verses as by this Lesson out of the Prophet Isay the Church hints unto us the Miseries which must befal the authors of our Saviour's Death It is moreover a Prayer which our Saviour says to God the Father as well in his own Person as in his Churches forasmuch as concerns himself he asks of his Father to clear his innocence and make known the injustice of his Persecutors As in respect to his Church he teacheth us that by the Peoples praying that their souls may be delivered from their enemies the meaning is that an apprehension of worldly miseries may not make them do such things as are unlawful For though God accomplish his will even before or without being prayed unto either by withdrawing the affliction or by giving courage to his servants patiently to bear it Yet it is his pleasure that men should address unto him by Prayer and Thanksgiving in all their occasions because thereby they reap advantage ARise O Lord and attend to my judgment my God my Lord unto my cause Bring forth the Word and shut up against them that persecute me The TRACT out of the 102 and 78 Psalm The Faithful confessing that their sins render them unworthy of God's favours place all their confidence in his bounty and implore his mercy for his nonour and glories sake since he hath vouchsafed to take upon him the quality of their Saviour O Lord do not unto us according to our sins nor according to our iniquities reward us V. Remember not O Lord our old iniquities let thy mercies quickly prevent us because we are become exceeding poor V. Help us O God our Saviour and for the glory of thy Name O Lord deliver us and be propitious to our sins for thy Name-sake MUNDA COR MEUM c. as before pag. 14. The sequence of the Holy Gospel according to St. John Chap. 12. The Church herein represents Judas unto us who after he had seen so many Miracles after he had wrought some according to the power given him with the other Apostles after he heard so many important truths both of Heaven and Hell after he had been admitted to the Table with Christ after he had received as a special mark of friendship and confidence the Purse to distribute Alms to the Poor was yet so transported with the excess of covetousness as to betray and sell him Whereby we may observe that nothing withdraws so much from our Salvation as our being fixt to the Affairs of this World As on the other side by the example of St. Mary Magdalene we see there is nothing makes us more agreeable to God nor more worthy his protection than works of Charity whereupon three things are observable 1. That Opportunities are offered for us to do Good which we ought not to let slip lest they be lost 2. That we ought not to delay assisting our Neighbour till he be in necessity but endeavour to prevent it 3. That we are obliged so to do good works that we may edifie the good without regard of displeasing the wicked JEsus six days before the Pasche came to Bethania where Lazarus was that had been dead whom Jesus raised and they made him a supper there and Martha ministred but Lazarus was one of them that sate at the table with him Mary therefore took a pound of precious Oyntment and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was fill'd with the odour of the Oyntment One therefore of his Disciples Judas Iscariot he that was to betray him said Why was not this Oyntment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor And he said this not because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and having the purse carried the things that were put in Jesus therefore said Let her alone that she may keep it for the day of my burial for the poor you have always with you but me you shall not have always A great multitude therefore of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus onely but to see Lazarus whom he rais'd from the dead The OFFERTORY out of the 142 Psalm The Church teacheth us that if Jesus Christ who as he is God equal to his Father taking the form of a servant and speaking as such and coming so for our sakes shews us that by permitting Judas his treason he did not his own but his Father's will since naturally we desire to be delivered from pains and sufferings how much more ought we by a just contempt of our own will to endeavour a conformity to the will of God DEliver me from my enemies to thee I have fled teach me to do thy will because thou art my God SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER c. as before pag. 56. The SECRET The Faithful beg God's grace that they may conform entirely to his will and contemn the perishable goods of this world the coveting whereof caused Judas his damnation and by the exercise of the works of Piety whereby Saint Mary Magdalene became sanctified to the end they may reap the Benefits of Christ's Passion represented by this Sacrifice of the Altar which applies the merit
of it to them GRant omnipotent God that being purified by the vertue of these Sacrifices we may arrive with the greater purity to their fountain Through our Lord c. The SECRET Against the Persecutors of the Church PRotect O Lord those that assist at these Mysteries that intending holy things they may serve thee both in soul and body Through our Lord. Or for the Pope REceive O Lord graciously these our offerings and guide by thy continual grace thy Servant N. whom thou hast advanced to be Chief Pastor of thy Church Through our The Preface and Canon of the Mass c. is until the Communion as before pag. 60. unto pag. 79. The COMMUNION taken out of the 34th Psalm The Church telling us the evil the Jews drew upon themselves in their crucifying Jesus Christ instructs them the punishment those deserve who receiving the Sacrament of the Altar unworthily make themselves guilty of prophaning the Body and Blood of Christ committing that frequently in their hearts which the Jews onely once perpetrated upon Mount Calvary LEt them blush and be ashamed together that rejoyce at my evils let them be clothed with confusion and shame that speak malicious things against me The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful beg of God grace to receive this Holy Sacrament worthily to the end they may reap the benefit of Christ's Passion GRant O Lord that thy holy Mysteries may inspire us with a divine fervour that in celebrating them we may also be delighted with the fruit of them Through our Lord c. POST-COMMUNION Against the Persecutors of the Church O Lord our God we beseech thee to preserve those from falling through humane frailties whom thou hast vouchsafed to a participation in this Holy Communion Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Or for the Pope PRotect us O Lord we beseech thee by the participation of this Divine Sacrament and strengthen thy Servant N. whom thou hast advanced to be Chief Pastor of thy Church that he and the Flock committed to his charge may attain Eternal Life Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. As the Post-Communion is a Prayer which the Priest says for those who have communicated so the Church adds another for those that do not communicate lest they want the suffrages when they are most subject to the assaults of the Devil in exercises of penance as also to obtain grace for those that have received the blessed Sacrament A Prayer over the People Humble your selves and bow down your heads to God O God who art our salvation afford us thy succour and grant that we may solemnize the approaching Feasts in memory of those Benefits wherewith thou hast been pleased to refresh us Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son c. All the rest as before pag. 75. THE MASS FOR TUESDAY IN Holy Week The station at St. Priscas-Church That the Cross of Christ may triumph in that very place where lately the Heathens had built their Prime Temple and that where the Gentiles adoring Hercules his Idol and been seduced from the Worship of the True God by putting confidence in their own strength there the Christian Church should withdraw men from self-love to the love of their Redeemer who being God was pleased to take upon him our frail nature and partake of our infirmities to reconcile us by his humility to God the Father from whom through Pride we had so far seperated our selves Likewise the station is this day in Rome at St. Priscas-Church by whose example she being but a Virgin of the age of Thirteen underwent great Torments for the Faith of Christ we may be moved to suffer for his love The INTROIT taken out of the 6th Chapter of the Apostle St. Paul to the Galathians and out of the 66th Psalm The Church teaches us by the example and words of the Apostle St. Paul that we ought to look upon the Cross of Christ as our only glory for by it we were delivered from the Tyranny of the Devil and raised from the Death of Sin as we shall be raised from our corporal death By it Christ confers the Life of Grace upon us in this World as he will hereafter give us the Life of Glory in Eternal Bliss 'T is true that to glory in the Cross of Christ we must suffer many hardships but then how great is the glory prepared by God for the just who suffer with patience what will their felicity be but a Crown in Heaven in recompence for their Vertues in this Pilgrimage and immortal incomprehensible Rewards for short and temporal sufferings The compleat consummation of their happiness shall be at the Day of Judgment when Christ raising them from death to life will inanimate them all with his happy life and holy spirit as all the members of one body are inspirited and enlivened by one soul BUT it behoveth us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our salvation life and resurrection by whom we are saved and delivered PSALM LXVI As the Sacrifice of the Cross is an effect of God's mercy so his grace whereby we come to the knowledge of this inestimable benefit and to make our selves worthy to reap the advantage of it is an effect of his goodness and mercy which we ought to pray for GOD have mercy on us and bless us illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy on us Nos autem c. Kyrie eleison c. as before pag. 36. The COLLECT The Faithful beseech God that they may receive the fruit of the Passion of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ ALmighty and Everlasting God grant us thy grace so to celebrate the Mysteries of the Passion of our Saviour that through thy mercies we may reap the benefit Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Ecclesiae tuae quaesumus c. as before pag. 84. Or for the Pope Deus omnium as before pag. 85. The Lesson out of the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 11. The Church in this Lession which describes the Jews conspiracy against the Prophet Jeremy by figure represents unto us the suffering of Jesus Christ under that nation and the evils they drew upon themselves by that excess of wickedness Let us observe how the Prophet threatens them with the punishments prepared for them not through hatred or malice but in zeal to God's service considering their reprobation as decreed by Divine Providence being so revealed unto him IN those days saith Jeremias O Lord thou hast shewed me and I have known thou hast shewed me their studies And I as a mild lamb that is carried to a victim And I knew not that they devised councels against me saying Let us cast wood on his bread and rase him out of the land of the living and let his name be mentioned no more But thou O Lord of Sabaoth which judgest justly and provest the reins and the hearts let me see thy revenge of them for to thee I have revealed
were now dead And sending for the Centurion asked him If he were now dead And when he understood by the Centurion he gave the body to Joseph And Joseph buying sindon and taking him down wrapped him in the sindon and laid him in a monument that was hewed out of a rock And he rolled a stone to the door of the monument The OFFERTORY taken out of the 139th Psalm The Church teacheth us that when we beg of God to be freed from the persecution of our enemies to pray as our Saviour prayed that God's will and ours might be fulfilled KEep me O Lord from the hand of a sinner and from unjust men deliver me SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER until the Secret as before pag. 56 57 58. The SECRET The Church having taught us in the Gradual of this Mass to have recourse unto God by Fasting and Prayer in our afflictions and representing by the notice our Saviour gave his Disciples that the hour of his Passion approached though 't was himself and not his Disciples that was to suffer nevertheless it was not for himself that he said Watch and Pray but onely for them lest they should fall into temptation The Faithful must consider that if the Apostles were not secure even whilest our Saviour was suffering how much more ought they to fear failing whilest themselves are in affliction whereupon amongst the many tentations wherewith they are surrounded they beseech God to give them the grace to Fast and attend to Prayer in such manner that they may reap the benefit of our Saviour's Passion by vertue of the Sacrifice of the Altar which it represents unto them and by which its merits is applied unto them if their sins prevent not GRant O Lord we beseech thee that these Sacrifices which we celebrate with wholsome Fasting by an holy Institution may repair our nature Through our Lord c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Protege nos as before pag. 90. Or for the Pope Oblatis c. as before pag. 90. The Preface and Cnaon till the Communion as before pag. 60 to 79. The COMMUNION taken out of the 68th Psalm The Church instructs us that the Jews not seeing visibly our Saviour's deliverance as one sunk under the weight of their tyranny they being ignorant of his Passion and Resurrection understood not that by his passing hence to immortal glory he made a passage for us from the old to a new life he having never lived in sin was not in a captivity to quit what he was not guilty of THey spake against me that sate in the gate and they made songs against me who drank wine but I made my Prayer to thee O Lord it is a time of thy good pleasure O God in the multitude of thy mercy The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful pray to God that they may cast off the old and put on a new life by vertue of this Sacrament which represents unto us this happy change in the mystery of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ applying its merits unto us SAnctifie us Almighty God by thy Sacraments that we may receive a cure for our sins and life everlasting Through our Lord c. Against the Persecutors of the Church O Lord our God we beseech thee to preserve those from falling through humane frailties whom thou hast vouchsafed to a participation in this Holy Communion Through our Lord c. Or for the Pope PRotect O Lord we beseech thee by the participation of this Divine Sacrament and strengthen thy Servant N. whom thou hast advanced to be Chief Pastor of thy Church that he and the flock committed to his charge may attain Eternal Life Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. A Prayer over the People Let us Pray Humble your selves and bow down your heads to God LEt thy Mercy O Lord cleanse us from the corruption of the old man and give us a new spirit Through our Lord c. All the rest as before pag. 79. THE MASS FOR WEDNESDAY IN Holy Week The Station to St. Mary Major To teach us that the Son of God being impassible and immortal as to his divinity could not subject himself to sufferings and death but only according to that flesh which he took of the holy Virgin Mary The INROITT taken out of the 2d Chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians and out of the 101st Psalm The Church instructs us with how much considence we ought to address our Prayers to God in the name of his Son Jesus Christ either in respect of his love for us having suffered death to redeem us or for his omnipotence being the same God with his Father whom all creatures ought to adore The Angels are thereunto obliged for though Christ died not for them yet mankind being thereby redeemed they reap some advantage being reconciled unto them after the enmity and separation which sin had caused between them and for that by this Redemption of man the loss and fall of the Angels was repaired The Devils are obliged by force being overcome and trodden under foot by him But mankind hath a singular obligation he having redeemed them to give them a Kingdom and most accomplisht felicity IN the Name of Jesus let every knee bow of things in Heaven of things in earth and of things under the earth because our Lord became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father PSALM CI. O Lord hear my Prayer and let my cry come unto thee KYRIE ELEISON c. as before pag. 36. Let us Pray V. Let us bend our knees R. Raise up your selves COLLECT The Faithful out of a pious confidence implore by their Prayers God's mercy through the Merits of his Son's Passion GRant we beseech thee O Almighty God that we who are incessantly afflicted through our excesses may be delivered by the Passion of thy only begotten Son who liveth and reigneth one God with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen The Lesson out of the 62d and 63d Chapter of the Prophet Isay The Church putting us in mind of Christ's Passion represents also unto us at the same time the Glory of his Resurrection to instruct us that his Divinity having never been separated from his Humanity he onely suffered because it was his will and that he made use of his sufferings to appear with the greater lustre in his Resurrection And thereupon in this Lesson his glorious Resurrection is set forth and his departure from Jerusalem the capital City of Judea which is compared for its infidelity to Bosra and Idumen carrying the marks of his Passion upon his Body wherewith his Divinity was clothed as in a Garment And under this figure of the defeat of the Idumeans and delivery of the people of Israel the Church represents to us the victory Jesus Christ gained over the World and the Devil 's securing his flock from their tyranny
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
of my mouth the word of truth utterly because I have much hoped in thy judgments And I will keep thy law always for ever and for ever and ever And I walked in largeness because I have sought after thy Commandments And I spake of thy testimonies in the fight of Kings and was not confounded And I meditated in thy commandments which I loved And I have lifted up my hands to thy Commandments which I loved and I was exercised in thy justifications In this fourth part of the 118 or 119 Psalm the Royal Prophet teaches us to renew our spiritual life and first he shews us the chief affliction of the Faithful being in their not enjoying Almighty God yet their hopes thereof is their onely joy and sole comfort in which hope their soul is much elevated towards Heaven that they descend not to take content in earthly pleasures 2. The Prophet shews us how to reject temptations that assault us when we see the wicked prosper and how to behave our selves in persecutions by considering the punishments threatned to the wicked and the reward promised to the just 3. We must raise in our selves a zeal and holy horror against the disorders the wicked commit in this life and beware lest by a vain compliance we partake with them 4. Being truly sensible of our abode here amongst the wicked it will be requisite that we truly and really desire to return into Heaven our proper Country 5. Since to observe Gods Commandments is the way to get securely thither we are to walk with great care and particular circumspection 6. That we may avoid the ambushes and snares which environ us whilst we are in this World we ought to have continual recourse to God by prayer and meditation of his Law by strictly examining our very thoughts by searching into the very bottom of our hearts left blinded with self-love we lose our selves 7. That we apply our selves and converse with good wise and knowing persons in a spiritual life by adhering to our Councils and imitating their prudence and vertue and by partaking in their necessities and sufferings 8. We must beware of too much confidence of our selves but always acknowledge that the good conduct of our life is a gift from Gods mercy BE mindful of thy word to thy servant wherein thou hast given me hope This hath comforted me in my humiliation because thy word hath quickned me The proud did unjustly exceedingly but I declined not from thy Law I have been mindful of thy judgments from everlasting O Lord and was comforted Fainting possessed me because of sinners forsaking thy Law Thy justifications were song by me in the place of thy peregrination I have been mindful in the night of thy name O Lord and have kept thy Law This was done to me because I sought after thy justifications My portion O Lord I say to keep thy Law I besought thy face with all my heart have mercy on me according to thy word I thought upon my ways and converted my feet unto thy testimonies I am prepared and am not troubled to keep thy Commandments The cords of sinners have wrapped me round about and I have not forgotten thy Law At midnight I rose to confess to thee for the judgments of thy justification I am partaker of all that fear thee and that keep thy Commandments The Earth O Lord is full of thy mercy teach me thy justifications In this fifth part of the 118th or 119th Psalm the Faithful who have received the Word of God with a firm faith are taught their obligation to beg of God the gift of knowledge and understanding to apprehend and tast heavenly things with submission to divine truths that understanding which gives them a gust and sense of things belonging to God first to the end they may be able with gladness to bear the afflictions of this World acknowledging they avail to amend our lives Secondly That they may prefer heavenly benefits which God hath promised in his Law before the fading goods of this life Thirdly That they may acknowledge that man was made to be just to preserve peace and unity in a holy conversation which they ought to have with one another to love God above all Creatures to serve him ardently through the whole course of this life humbly adoring the justice of his judgments Fourthly That finding more consent in Gods service than in any worldly pleasures they may in some manner comprehend the consolation and happiness they shall find hereafter by the comfort he offords his servants in their present afflictions Then the Royal Prophet teaching the Faithful that the wicked apprehend not these truths their hearts being besotted in wickedness which draws upon them their damnation he exhorts them to beseech God to purifie their hearts and elevate them above the things of this World and to dispose them to take consent onely in his honour and service and to place their onely joy desires pretentions and repose in him THou hast done bounty with thy servant O Lord according to thy Word Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge because I have believed thy Commandments Before I was humbled I offended therefore I have kept thy Word Thou art good and in thy goodness teach me thy justifications The iniquity of the proud is multiplied upon me but I in all my heart will search thy Commandments Their heart is curded together as milk but I have meditated thy Law It is good for me that thou hast humbled me that I may learn thy justifications The Law of thy mouth is good unto me above thousands of gold and silver Thy hands have made me and formed me give me understanding and I will learn thy Commandments They that fear thee shall see me and shall rejoyce because I have much hoped in thy words I know O Lord that thy judgments are equity and in thy truth thou hast humbled me Let thy mercy be done to comfort me according to thy word unto thy servant Let thy commiserations come to me and I shall live because thy Law is my meditation Let the proud be confounded because they have done unjustly toward me but I will be exercised in thy Commandments Let them be converted to me that fear thee and that know thy testimonies Let my heart be made immaculate in thy justifications that I be not confounded The Church having taught us how necessary Gods grace is for us to accomplish his Commandments that we may enjoy eternal bliss tells us farther that his grace is not given to men but by the merits of Jesus Christ and that to the same end he became man and suffered death for us V. Christ became obedient unto death for us Pater noster c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before pag 6. THE PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag 130. At the Sixth Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM 118 or 119. The Prophet David in the sixth part of this
Psalm tells us how unalterable the just are in obeying the Law of God in the midst of persecutions considering the duty all creatures owe to God No brute beast will in the least resist his Creator's commands how much the more then are men obliged to obey him who are made after his own image and called to enjoy eternal bliss with him Secondly in considering how contemptible the goods of this life are and how inestimable those promised by Gods Law All perfections which these earthly goods have are finite and transitory and onely those which God promises his servants are infinite and eternal which alone can render us truly happy MY Soul hath fainted for thy salvation I have much hoped in thy Word My eyes have failed for thy word saying When wilt thou comfort me Because I am made as a bottle in the hoar frost I have not forgotten thy justifications How many are the days of thy servant when wilt thou do judgment on them that persecute me The unjust have told me fables but not as thy Law All thy Commandments are truth they have unjustly persecuted me help me They have well near made an end of me in the Earth but I have not forsaken thy Commandments According to thy mercy quicken me and I shall keep the testimonies of thy mouth For ever Lord thy Word is permanent in Heaven Thy truth in generation and generation thou hast founded the Earth and it is permanent By thy ordinance the day continueth because all things serve thee But that thy Law is my meditation I had then perhaps perished in my humiliation I will not forget thy justifications for ever because in them thou hast quickned me I am thine save me because I have sought out thy justifications Sinners have expected me to destroy me I understood thy testimonies Of all consummation I have seen the end thy Commandment is exceeding large In the seventh part of this 118 or 119 Psalm the Kingly Prophet instructs us that to obtain divine knowledge and wisdom we must earnestly demand it of God and we must restifie an ardent love to him and endeavour to keep his Commandments Secondly He teaches us that this divine wisdom renders us more knowing than our Masters when we love him more than they for our Masters are his Disciples as well as we It is a Master which not onely makes us know good but gives us also the will and power to do it Consequently the Prophet tells us the effect of this divine wisdom It makes us flie and hate sin and to delight in the Law of God By it we put on a firm resolution to keep the Commandments by it we order our lives well and all things relating to our soul and disposing our heart to be upright and sincere we do all things according to Justice and Equity It fortifies us against temptations and persecutions making us prefer the expected rewards for our good works before the vain pleasures and goods of this World HOw have I loved thy law O Lord all the day it is my meditation Above my enemies thou hast made me wise by thy Commandment because it is to me for ever Above all that taught me have I understood because thy testimonies are my meditation Above Ancients have I understood because I have sought thy Commandments I have stayed my feet from all evil way that I may keep thy words I have not declined from thy judgments because thou hast set me a law How sweet are thy words to my jaws more than honey to my mouth By thy Commandments I have understood therefore have I hated all the way of iniquitie Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths I swear and I have determined to keep the judgments of thy justice I am humbled exceedingly O Lord quicken me according to thy Word The voluntaries of my mouth make acceptable O Lord and teach me thy judgements My soul is in my hands always and I have not forgotten thy law Sinners laid a snare for me and I have not erred from thy commandments For inheritance I have purchased thy testimonies for ever because they are the joy of my heart I have inclined my heart to do thy justifications for reward In the Eighth Part of this Psalm the kingly Prophet teaches us that to the end a faithful soul may be made capable of divine wisdom she must divest her self of the maxims of humane prudence and that to preserve it she must be solicitous to avoid sin not so much in detestation of sin as for the content and pleasure she ought to take in just actions She must always endeavour to have a holy fear of losing that grace which has given her sentiments of joy in avoiding sin and by which as yet she hath a fear to be forsaken of God though he inflict not punishments upon her In fine she ought to have a great zeal for the service and glory of God I Have hated the unjust and I have loved thy law Thou art my helper and protector and upon thy word I have much hoped Depart from me ye malignant and I will search the Commandments of my God Receive me according to thy word and I shall live and confound me not of my expectation Help me and I shall be saved and I will always meditate in thy justifications Thou hast despised all that revolt from thy judgments because their cogitation is unjust All the sinners of the earth I have reputed prevaricaterers therefore have I loved thy testimonies Pierce my flesh with thy fear for I am afraid of thy judgments I have done judgment and justice deliver me not to them that calumniate me Receive thy servant unto good let not the proud calumniate me Mine eyes have failed after salvation and for the word of thy justice Do with thy servant according to thy mercy and teach me thy justifications I am thy servant give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies It is time to do O Lord they have dissipated thy law Therefore have I loved thy Commandments above Gold and Topazius Therefore was I directed to all thy Commandments all wicked way have I hated The Church tells us that this Divine Wisdom whereof the Royal Prophet speaks is not given to men by the merits of Christs Passion as no man can be saved but by faith in Jesus Christ V. Christ was made obedient for us 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 Ninth Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM 118 or 119. In the Ninth Part of this 118th or 119th Psalm the Holy Prophet teaches us by his example to honour the Law of God with profound Humility telling us that if we love it 't is God's gift He exhorts us to beseech his Majesty not to leave his gifts imperfect but that illuminating
pronounce thy word because all thy Commandments are equity Let thy hand be to save me because I have chosen thy Commandments I have coveted thy salvation O Lord and thy law is my meditation My soul shall live and shall praise thee and thy judgments shall help me I have strayed as a sheep that is lost seek thy servant because I have not forgotten thy Commandments The Church teacheth us that it is by Jesus Christ God sought us even then when as yet we sought him not in following Jesus Christ his Son whom he hath established a Mediatour between himself and us we must therefore run in such manner as that we may attain to him we must observe the end of our progress and course where he hath fixed his which is to be obedient even unto death V. Christ become obedient for us even unto death Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 6. THE PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag. 130. The General Absolution Upon Holy Thursday in the Morning according to the good and laudable custom of France the General Absolution is given in the great Hall at the King's Court where his most Christian Majesty with many Princes and his whole Court are present First begins a Sermon the Bishop in his Robes accompanied with his Clergy gives the Absolution and all upon their knees sing the Miserere mei Deus with the Verses and Prayers following This Ceremony is a sign of the Sacramental Absolution which heretofore was given to those sinners who had done Penance in the Lent And this day is also called Absolution Thursday because Penitents are then absolved and admitted to participate of the Eucharist it being that day on which Jesus Christ instituted it and thereby the Church shews us that at present she inflicts not so severe Penances now as formerly yet she teaches them to do fruits worthy of Penance that they may be admitted to participate of this Holy Sacrament on this day whereon Christ our Saviour began by his Passion the Work of our Redemption to God his Father LOrd have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Pater noster c. And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen V. O Lord deal not with us according to our sins R. Nor yet reward us according to our iniquities V. O Lord remember not our past offences R. But let thy mercies soon prevent us V. Turn thy face towards us though a little R. And graciously hear thy servants V. O Lord save thy servants and thy handmaids R. Trusting in thee O my God V. Be unto them O Lord a Tower of strength R. Against the assaults of the enemy V. Send them O Lord thy help from thy holy place R. And out of Sion protect them V. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray HEar O Lord our Supplications and graciously regard me who in the first place have need of thy mercy and as thou hast been pleased to chuse me by thy grace not for my merit to be thy Minister in this action Grant that I may faithfully acquit my self of the Charge comitted to me and co-operate by our ministring the effect of thy bounty Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God for ever Amen Let us Pray WE beseech thee O Lord grant thy servants grace to do fruits worthy of penance that having obtained pardon for their sins they may be resetled pure and clean in thy Church from the integrity of which they have gone astray Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Amen Let us Pray O Lord I beseech thy Majesty that out of thy bounty thou wilt be pleased to give thy pardon to these thy servants confessing their sins and offences and to loosen the bonds of their past crimes who didst carry upon thy shoulders the strayed sheep back to thy fold and hast graciously heard the prayers of the publican look down also favourably upon these penitents and incline unto their petitions that by their perseverance in confessing and tears they may obtain what they desire and being readmitted to a participation of thy holy Altar they may have fresh hopes of Eternal Glory Who livest and reignest c. Let us Pray O God who of thy goodness hast created and of thy mercy repaired mankind and by the blood of thine onely Son hast redeemed man deprived of eternal life through the malice of the Devil Grant a new life to these penitents thy servants whose death thou desirest not And as thou forsakest not even those who go astray receive those who return to repentance O Lord mercifully regard the tears and sighs of thy servants heal their wounds stretch forth thy helping hand to them cast down before thee to the end thy Church may not lose any part of its body lest thy flock be lessened lest the enemy insult over the loss of thy family lest those who have been regenerated by the wholsome water of baptism fall into a second death We therefore O Lord offer up unto thee our most humble Prayers we shed the tears of our hearts before thee in testimony of our regret Pardon those that confess unto thee to the end that through thy mercy they may escape condemnation at the last judgment Let them be ignorant of that which terrifies in darkness of torments in flames and grant that returning from their errours to the path of justice they may not hereafter receive new wounds but that they may remain entire and perpetual in that which thy Grace has conferred and thy Mercy restored By the same our Lord Jesus Christ c. Amen The Bishop then takes the Crosier and stretching his right hand over the People says Let us Pray OUr Lord Jesus Christ who by giving up himself and shedding his immaculate blood did vouchsafe to take away the sins of the whole world and who said to his Disciples and in them to their successours among whom thou art pleased to make me one though unworthy Whatsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven may he vouchsafe through this my Ministry by the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary his Mother of St. Michael the Archangel of the Apostle St. Peter to whom the power of binding and loosing was given and of all Saints by vertue of his sacred blood shed for the remission of sins to grant you absolution of all your offences negligently committed in thought word or deed and that after you are quit from the bonds of sin he will please to restore you to the Kingdom of Heaven Who with God the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for ever and ever Amen ALmighty God grant
by a strict examen of our consciences that treating our selves with rigour and severity we may avoid it from God BRethren when you come therefore together in one it is not now to eat our Lord's Supper For every one taketh his own Supper before to eat And one certes is an hungred and another is drunk Why have you not houses to eat and drink in or contemn ye the Church of God and confound them that have not What shall I say to you Praise I you in this I do not praise you For I received of the Lord that which also I have delivered unto you that our Lord Jesus in the night he was betrayed took bread and giving thanks brake and said Take ye and eat this is my body which shall be delivered for you This do ye for the commemoration of me In like manner the chalice also after he had supped saying This chalice is the New Testament in my blood This do ye as often as ye shall drink for the commemoration of me For as often as ye shall eat this bread and drink this chalice you shall shew the death of our Lord until he come Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread or drink this chalice of our Lord unworthily he shall be guilty of the body and blood of our Lord. But let a man prove himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of the chalice For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself not discerning the body of our Lord Therefore are there among you many weak and feeble and many sleep But if we did judge our selves we should not be judged But whiles we are judged of our Lord we are chastised that with this world we be not damned The GRADUAL taken out of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians Chap. 2. The Church hereby teacheth us that as Christ entred into glory by his suffering to which he voluntarily for the love of us exposed himself so by incorporating himself in us by this Sacrament which he left us on the Eve of his death to preserve the memory of it he would also that we partake in his Sufferings that so we may at length have share in his glorious Resurrection CHrist was made for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross V. For which thing God also hath exalted him and given him a name which is above all names MUNDA COR MEUM c. as before pag. 14. The sequence of the Holy Gospel according to St. John Chap. 13. The Church represents unto us how our Saviour before he instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist washt his Apostles feet first to give us an example of Humility and Charity which we ought to shew to one another secondly to instruct us that to receive the Body and Blood of Christ worthily we must not onely be free and pure from sin but cleansed from the least sins which are figured by the filth upon our feet ANd before the festival-day of Pasche Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should pass out of this world to his Father whereas he had loved his that were in the world unto the end he loved them And when supper was done whereas the devil now had put into the heart of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon to betray him knowing that his Father gave him all things into his hands and that he came from God and goeth to God he riseth from supper and layeth aside his garments and having taken a towel girded himself After that he put water into a bason and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded He cometh therefore to Simon Peter And Peter faith to him Lord dost thou wash my feet Jesus answered and said to him That which I do thou knowest not now hereafter thou shalt know Peter saith to him Thou shalt not wash my feet for ever Jesus answered him If I wash thee not thou shalt not have part with me Simon Peter saith to him Lord not onely my feet but also hands and head Jesus saith to him He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet but is clean wholly And you are clean but not all For he knew who he was that would betray him therefore he said You are not clean all Therefore after he had washed their feet and taken his garments being set down again he said to them Know you what I have done to you You call me Master and Lord and you say well for I am so if then I have washed your feet Lord and Master you also ought to wash one anothers feet For I have given you an example that as I have done to you so you do also Laus tibi Christe CREDO as before pag. 54 55. The OFFERTORY taken out of the 117th Psalm Wherein the Church minds us of the excess of God's bounty and the marvellous effect of his omnipotence in that it was his will that his Son should become man die for us and give himself for our food whereby to unite and incorporate himself with us And though in justice he might have obliged us to have suffered the same torments as he did since he had not undergone them had not we deserved them yet he lays not any obligation upon us thereunto but is pleased to bestow eternal life through the merit of his sufferings upon those who tast not the bitterness provided they do works of Penance exercise Charity and keep his Commandments THe right hand of the Lord hath done valiantly the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER c. until the Secret as before pag. 56 57 58. The SECRET The Priest teacheth us that it is not by any power of man which works upon the things offered on the Altar but that Jesus Christ who wrought them at his last Supper with his Apostles doth now the self-same here We are constituted his Officers and Ministers but it is he sanctifies the Offerings and changing them into his Body and Blood offers them to God his Father And thereupon the Priest beseeches God that his sins and ours may not hinder this Sacrifice from being acceptable as that whereat the Apostles assisted since there is no less in this than in that For it is not a man that doth this instead of Jesus Christ who offered that but it is truly Jesus Christ who does this as he did that GRant we beseech thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God that he may make this Sacrifice acceptable unto thee who commanded his disciples at this day to celebrate it in memory of him Who liveth and reigneth c. The PREFACE as before pag. 60 61 62. The CANON till Communicantes as before pag. 63 c. COMMVNICANTES By vertue of the Union of the Church-Militant with the Triumphant in Jesus Christ and in memory
praise come from our tongue Amen And when they are come to the place provided for the blessed Sacrament the Deacon upon his knees receives it from the Priests and puts it upon the Altar The Priest being upon his knees incenseth and placeth it in the Tabernacle and returning saith Evensong in the Quire The original of this Custome comes from the ancient reserving some part of the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ for the next day's Communion no Consecration being then made as St. Gregory teacheth in his Book of the Sacrament ON THURSDAY IN Holy Week At EVEN-SONG Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM CXV The Church presents unto us the confidence we must have in God in Afflictions and Persecutions patiently bearing what he shall please to lay upon us beseeching his Majesty that we may die the death of the just that death which is precious in his eyes that death which may secure us from a second death that death which renders the dead happy because they died in our Lord. And if he shall please to deliver us from evil and dangers the Church proposes some sentiments of gratitude and fidelity we ought to conceive in our hearts and the obligation which nevertheless we have not to be less careful and sollicitous that we be not oppressed by God's benefits in not making a right use of them as we are by our sins in not quitting and leaving them as we are bound to do Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I Believed for which I spake but I was humbled exceedingly I said in my excess every man is a lier What shall I render to our Lord for all things that he hath rendred to me I will take the chalice of salvation and will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord before all people precious in the fight of our Lord is the death of his saints O Lord because I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Thou hast broken my bonds I will sacrifice to thee the host of praise and I will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord in the sight of all his people in the courts of the house of our Lord in the midst of thee O Jerusalem Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of our Lord. PSALM CXIX The Church exhorts the Faithful to consider how insupportable the labours are we suffer in this life and how horrible the troubles are which accompany that repose wherewith the world would have us contented to the end that we may acknowledge true content to be found onely in God the sole centre of repose and reaâ— good and that we likewise stir up in our selves a fervent desire to enjoy him speedily bewailing our so long detention in the pilgrimage of this life Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I speak to them they impugned me without cause WHen I was in tribulation I cried to our Lord and he heard me Our Lord deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue What may be given thee or what may be added unto thee to a deceitful tongue The sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of desolation Wo is to me that my sojourning is prolonged I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar My soul hath been long a sojourner With them that hated peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause PSALM CXXXIX The Royal Prophets shews us how to have recourse to God in Afflictions and Persecutions by considering his Justice and Mercy neither permitting any sin to pass unpunishable nor good works unrewarded that he can either divert sweeten give strength to support or absolutely free from the burden of the miseries of this liâ—â— and that after this he can raise men to the fruition of that bliss where no ill can interrupt nor the sovereign good be lost Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men DEliver me our Lord from the evil man from the unjust man rescue me Which have devised iniquity in their heart all the day they did appoint battles They have whet their tongues as that of a serpent the venome of asps is under their lips Keep me O Lord from the hand of the sinner and from unjust men deliver me Who have devised to supplant my steps the proud have had a snare for me And they have stretched out ropes for a snare they have laid a stumbling block for me near the way Our Lord Lord the strength of my salvation thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle Yield me not our Lord from my desire to the sinner they have devised against me forsake me not lest they perhaps be proud The head of their compass the labour of their lips shall cover them Coals shall fall upon them thou shalt cast them down into fire the miseries they shall not stand up A man full of tongue shall not be directed in the earth evils shall take the unjust man into destruction I have known that the Lord will do the judgments of the needy and the revenge of the poor But as for the just they shall confess unto thy Name and the righteous shall dwell with thy countenance Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men PSALM CXL In this Psalm the Holy Prophet teacheth us to acknowledge and confess our sins sincerely that so we may obtain the comforts and blessings of God in the traverses of this life we must examine and put a bridle upon our tongue we must order our words with prudence and discretion we must be sincere in our hearts and discourse hating the vain praises and compliances of flatterers and sinners and taking in good part the meek reprehensions of the just in short we must stir up in our souls an aversion and horror against sin practising patience in afflictions and putting our trust in God Ant. Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of those that work iniquity LOrd I have cried to thee hear me attend to my voice when I shall cry to thee Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight the elevation of my hands as evening sacrifice Set our Lord a watch to my mouth and a door round about my lips Decline not my heart into words of malice to make excuse in sins With men that work iniquity and I will not communicate with the chief of them The just shall rebuke me in mercy and shall reprehend me but let not the oyl of a sinner fat my head Because yet also my prayer is in their good pleasures their judges are swallowed up joyned to the rock They shall hear my words because they have prevailed as the grosness of the
The Faithful in the name of the rest beseech God to make them constant and stable in Faith as the three Hebrews in the midst of Persecutions and Traverses of this Life and that he will give them the grace to remain humble as not depending on their own Justice or Merits but hoping only in his Mercy ALmighty and Everlasting God the onely hope of the world who by the mouths of thy Prophets hast manifested the mysteries of these times increase through thy goodness the fervour of the Vows and Prayers of thy people that they may obtain that perfection in Faith and Piety which they beg since none can advance in vertue but by thy holy inspirations Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Then the Priest goes to the Font and the following Tract is sung taken out of the one and fortieth Psalm to inform the Catechumens how fervently they ought to desire Baptism AS the heart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God V. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God V. My tears have been my meat day and night while continually they say unto me Where is thy God Before the blessing of the Font the Priest says this Prayer Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray The Priest prays for the Catechumens that God would please to give them the Faith necessary for their Sanctification in this Sacrament of Baptism ALmighty and Everlasting God look graciously upon the devotion of thy people now to be regenerate who as the Hart thirst after the waters of thy fountain and grant that the faith which they thirst may sanctifie their Soul and Body by the Sacrament of Baptism Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Church blessing the Fonts upon Easter-Eve does instruct us that Baptism is a figure of the death of Jesus Christ and that he Spiritually does that in our souls which was truly done in his Body upon Mount Calvary For as Jesus Christ by dying hath destroyed the flesh which was in appearance sinful as he blotted out sin which was not in him but because he was pleas'd to charge himself with it to satisfie Divine Justice so Baptism destroys the Old Man who is truly the sinner to invest us with the New and to destroy sin which is truly ours to give us his Grace The Water wherein we are plunged represents our Saviours Burial advertising us that all our sins are there buried and when we come forth of it it is a figure of his Resurrection which was for the glory of his Father and signified that by his Example we ought to live a new Life full of Sanctity and that after this life of Grace we shall enjoy one of Glory if we are truly united to Jesus Christ It is to be observed that though these Ceremonies are not absolutely necessary yet they are not to be altered but upon extream necessity In that they are very ancient and comprehend great Mysteries the knowledge whereof brings us to see the admirable changes wrought in a Soul by Baptism The Priest implores Gods assistance to bless the Font. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray ALmighty and Everlasting God bless these great Mysteries and Sacraments of thine infinite bounty and to regenerate this new people which this water of Baptism brings thee pour forth upon them the Spirit of Adoption so that what is to be done by the ministry of our weakness may be accomplished by the effect of thy power Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Priest raising his voice to a higher Tone protests himself unworthy to administer so great a Sacrament and declares that all the efficacy of the Waters of Baptism come from the Holy Ghost who pours forth upon those that are Baptized the graces they are capable of through the Merits of Jesus Christ For ever and ever Amen Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Raise up your hearts R. We have them to our Lord. Let us give thanks to our Lord God R. It is meet and just IT is truly meet and just right and wholsom that we always and in all places give thee thanks O Lord Holy Father Almighty and Everlasting God who by thy invisible power dost wonderfully bring to pass the effect of thy Sacraments and though we are unworthy to administer so great Mysteries yet thou not withdrawing the gifts of thy grace art graciously pleased to hear our Prayers God whose spirit in the world beginning was carried upon the waters that then its nature might conceive the vertue of sanctification God who by the waters washing away the sins of the guilty world didst note the figure of regeneration by the overflowing of the deluge to the end that the same element by a prodigious mystery should be both the destruction of vices and the source of vertues cast down thine eyes upon the face of thy Church and multiply in her thy regenerations Thou who satiatest thy holy city with joy by the abundant affluence of thy graces and openest the Fonts of Baptism to the whole world to renew the nations inhabiting it that under the Empire of thy Majesty she may receive the grace of thy only Son by the vertue of the Holy Ghost The Priest divides the Water in form of the Cross to teach us that Grace and Sanctification are given us through the Merits of Christs Cross and Passion and that by the same Merits the Waters created for the generation of the Body are Sanctified and joyned with the grace of the Holy Ghost to a Spiritual Regeneration of Men on whom our Lord bestows his gifts without respect either to Nation Sex or Quality making them his Members that so they may live the same life with him And as by Adam's sin the Devil usurpt a Dominion over the Creatures which he makes use of to prejudice Man so he is deprived of it by our Redeemer's Merits who Sanctifies them for our good WHom we beseech by a secret mixture of his Divine Grace to make this water fruitful designed for the regeneration of men to the end that those who are conceived and sanctified in the immaculate womb of this Font may become a heavenly progeny being regenerated to a new creature and that all who are distinguished either by sex in the body or age in time may be brought forth to the same in fancy by grace which is their spiritual mother Command therefore O Lord that all unclean spirits may withdraw hence that all malice and deceit of the devil be banished that no power of the enemy may lurk here to prepare his ambushes to surprise by secret artifices to corrupt with his infection The Priest touches the Water with his hand to beg of God by the following words that it be not profaned MAY this holy and innocent creature O Lord be free from enterprises of the devil and all malice being set apart may be
with thy spirit Let us Pray The Church begs of God the wholsom effect of the Passion and Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ POur forth upon us O Lord the Spirit of thy Charity that those who are satiated with thy Paschal Sacraments through thy goodness may have but one heart and one will Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Priest coming to the end of the Mass turns to the Faithful exhorting them not to render themselves unworthy of Gods Assistance saying Our Lord be with you The Faithful answer wishing him the like R. And with thy spirit Then the Priest tells the People that Mass being ended they may retire saying You may withdraw Mass is ended Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia The Faithful answer Thanks be to God Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia All the rest as before pag. 80 81 82. At EVEN-SONG Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia The Antiphon as before pag. 304. out of the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew The Canticle of the blessed Virgin out of the 2d Chapter of St. Luke As also the Antiphon in the end of the Sabbath c. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray Spiritum nobis Domine c. as before p. 305. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us bless our Lord. Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Thanks be to God Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Pray for the Writer UPON THE SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ AT PRIME Pater noster c. Ave Maria Credo c. INcline unto my aid O God R. O Lord make hast to help me Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning be now and ever world without end Amen Alleluia Deus in Nomine tuo as before 132. Beati immaculi c. as before 133. Retribue te as before 135. Then the following Antiphon is said This is the day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O Lord God Almighty who hath caused us to come to the beginning of this day save us this day by thy power to the end that this day we fall into no sin but that our words may ever proceed and our thoughts and works may be directed to execute thy justice Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit R. Let us bless our Lord. R. Thanks be to God In the Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches the Martyrology is read and then the Priest says V. Precious in the sight of our Lord. R. Is the death of his Saints The blessed Virgin Mary and all Saints make intercssion for us to our Lord that we may obtain to be assisted and saved by him who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever Amen V. Incline unto my aid O God R. O Lord make hast to help me Which is repeated three times and then is said Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. V. Lord have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us V. Pater noster c. In a low voice until V. And lead us not into tempation R. But deliver us from evil V. O Lord look upon thy servants and upon thy works and guide their children R. And let the splendour of the Lord our God shine upon us and direct the works of our hands upon us and direct the work of our hands Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. Let us Pray VOuchsafe O Lord God King of Heaven and Earth this day to direct and sanctifie rule and govern our hearts and bodies our senses speeches and deeds in thy Law and in the works of thy Commandments that here and ever we may deserve to be safe and free by thy assistance O Saviour of the world Who livest and reignest world without end Amen V. Vouchsafe Father to bless R. Almighty God dispose our days and actions in thy holy peace This short Lesson is taken out of the Third Chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians IF then ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God set your affections on things above not in things on earth But O Lord have mercy on us R. Thanks be to God V. Our help is in the Name of our Lord. R. Who made Heaven and Earth V. God bless us R. God bless us The BENEDICTION O Lord bless and defend us from all evil and bring us to Life Everlasting and make the Souls of the Faithful departed rest in peace At the Third Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Deus in adjutorium as before pag. 348. Alleluia Legem pone c. as before pag. 136. Memor esto c. as before p. 138. Bonitatem fecisti c. as before p. 140. Then this following Antiphon is said Ant. This day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O God who this day opened unto 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 prevenient grace inspires Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with thee livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen At sprinkling Holy Water As formerly the Church was accustomed to Baptize the Catechumens upon the Eves of Easter and Whit-Sunday The Priest being to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar on Easter-day and Whit-Sunday did consider them ready to approach the Altar pure and holy all their sins being effaced by the Sacrament of Baptism And therefore he besprinkleth them with Water out of the Font as hath been said to admonish them to be careful to preserve themselves in that Innocence which they received by Baptism and to teach them that they have been entirely purified from all their sins which is not to be doubted with failing in our Faith The Ant. Asperges me is not said nor the Psalm Miserere which signifie the sins wherewith we are defiled and from which we ought to be cleared But instead of Asperges me he says the following Ant. Vidi Aquam which represents the Excellency of the Waters of Baptism which Jesus Christ instituted to wash away the sins of Men by vertue of the Bloud which he shed and this was signified to us by the Water which issued with Bloud from his side which he called his Temple in the 2d Chapter of St. John and was figured in the 38th and 47th Chapters of the Prophet Ezechiel I Saw waters issuing forth 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
Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us R. This night without Sin V. Have mercy on us Lord. R. Have mercy on us V. Let thy mercy O Lord come on us R. Even as we have trusted in thee V. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my Cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray VIsit we beseech thee O Lord this Habitation and repel far from it all Snares of the Enemy Let thy holy Angels dwell therein to preserve us in peace and thy Blessing be upon us for ever through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with thee liveth and Reigneth in the Unity of the Holy Ghost One God for ever and ever Amen V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit V. Let us bless our Lord. R. Thanks be to God THE BLESSING V. The Almighty and Merciful Lord the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost bless and keep us R. Amen THE ANTHYMN OF THE HOLY VIRGIN HAil Queen advanc'd to heavenly Reign Hail Lady of th' Angelick Train Hail Root hail Gate that did disclose The Light which to the World arose Virgin rejoyce whose Form divine All others Beauty do's out-shine Be ever bless'd thrice-beauteous Maid By thee let Christ be for us pray'd V. Vouchsafe that I praise thee O sacred Virgin R. Give me force against my Enemies Let us Pray GRant O merciful God defence unto our Frailty that we who make Commemoration of the Holy Mother of God may by the help of her Intercession arise from our Iniquities Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. R. Amen V. Let the Divine Help always remain with us R. Amen THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY IN Holy-Week FOR THVRSDAY at MATTINS ON this Day the Church represents unto us That Jesus Christ supped with his Apostles washed their Feet prayed in the Olive-Garden and that he was betrayed by Judas into the hands of the Jews These three following Days after having said Pater noster Ave Maria and Credo at Mattins and Prime without farther Ceremony they begin Mattins and Vespers with an Anthymn of the First Psalm and every Anthymn is repeated as on double Feasts Domine labia mea c. and Deus in Adjutorium are omitted to signifie that Jesus Christ was then abandoned by his Father to Torments and Death The Invitatory is likewise omitted Neither the Hymn nor Gloria Patri are said to shew us that the Honor due to the Blessed Trinity was violated by the excessive Wickedness and Infidelity of the Jews Fifteen Wax Tapers are lighted because there are recited two Canticles and thirteen Psalms in the Mattins and Laudes which are all sung under one and the same Anthymn Whereby are represented unto us the Light of the Faith which the Prophets in the Old Testament foretold unto the People And a Taper is extinguished at the end of each Psalm to declare that the Light of that Faith whereof the Prophets spoke unto the Jews was in them extinguished after they had crucified the Saviour of the World And at the end of the Canticle of Zachary the Father of St. John Baptist they put not out that Taper which represents Jesus Christ whom St. John Baptist declared to be the true Light of the World to shew that tho' Jesus Christ died according to his Humanity yet that he was always living according to his Divinity They also hide that Taper to signifie that the Divinity of Jesus Christ was hid under the Veil of his Humanity It likewise represents Jesus Christ in his Sepulcher Afterwards they shew the lighted Taper to represent his Resurrection AT THE FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 68. That which the Royal Prophet foretold in this Psalm of the Mystery of the Passion of Jesus Christ the Church proposes unto us according to the Explication left us by the Apostles as well in the Book of their Acts and in their Epistles as in the Book of Gospels First She represents us with the Sufferings and Death of Jesus Christ which the Prophet compares to an overflowing of the Waters and to a Tempest and to a Wreck Secondly She presents us with the Prayer which our Saviour made to God his Father at the access of his Grief when in the condition of a Slave which our Infirmities occasion'd being in appearance forsaken of God his Father since in his Sufferings he denied him that which he desired through a propension of Humane Nature wherewith he was clothed drawing from the bottom of his Heart these Words full of Love and Piety My Father if it be possible let the Chalice of my Sufferances pass without my drinking it however thy will be done not mine That which he earnestly desired 't is that made his Innocency appear and that he voluntarily suffered those Pains for the Sins of Men and not for his own having never committed or been able to commit the least Sin And though his Passion seems ridiculous and is an Object of Scandal and Abomination in the judgment of the Jews and Gentiles yet the Faithful are not thereat troubled Thirdly The Church shews us that in this Psalm the Prophet foretells how our Saviour was to be betrayed by one of his Disciples and abandoned by his others and how many Outrages and Contempts the Jews would cast upon him Fourthly In this Psalm is declared the Zeal Jesus Christ had for the Honor of his Father his Resignation to his Father's Will his Submission to his Conduct and his Contempt of his own proper Interest For so the Apostle St. Paul in the fifteenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans explicates one part of this Psalm Fifthly According to St. Luke in the first Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and of St. Paul in the second Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans in this Psalm is described the Punishment which was prepared for the Traytor Judas and the other Persecutors of Jesus Christ wherewith this adorable Saviour threatens them not through any Hate or Revenge but through the Zeal of God's Justice considering the Reprobation of those Wretches in the Decrees of his Providence Sixthly We are instructed in this Psalm That Jesus Christ having by his Death repaired the Honor of God his Father he was also to rise again and build his Church which through Sin was lost and establish his Faithful in the possession of the Heavenly Inheritance signified by Jerusalem and lost by Sin Establishing on Earth a more agreeable Sacrifice than that of Calves which was offer'd him in the Old Law to wit the Sacrifice of his own Body and Blood Ant. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me and the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me SAve me O God because waters are entred into my Soul I stick fast in the mire of the depth and there is no sure standing I am come into the depth of the sea and a tempest hath overwhelmed me I have laboured crying my jaws are made hoarse my eyes have failed whilst I hope
in my God They are multiplied above the hairs of my head that hate me without cause Mine enemies are made strong that have persecuted me unjustly then did I pay the things that I took not O God thou knowest my foolishness and mine offences are not hid from thee Let them not be ashamed upon me which expect thee O Lord Lord of hosts Let them not be confounded upon me that seek thee O God of Israel Because for thee have I sustained reproach confusion hath covered my face I am become a foreigner to my brethren and a stranger to the sons of my mother Because the zeal of thy house hath eaten me and the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me And I covered my soul in fasting and it was made a reproach to me And I put hair-cloth upon my garment and I became a parable to them They spake against me that sate in the gate and they sung against me that drank wine But I my prayer to thee O Lord a time of thy good pleasure O God In the multitude of thy mercy hear me in the truth of thy salvation Deliver me out of the mire that I stick not fast deliver me from them that hate me and from the depths of waters Let not the tempest of water drown me nor the depth swallow me neither let the pit shut his mouth upon me Hear me O Lord because thy mercy is benign according to the multitude of thy commiserations have respect to me And turn not away thy face from thy servant because I am in tribulation hear me speedily Attend to my soul and deliver it because of mine enemies deliver me Thou knowest my reproach and my confusion and my shame In thy sight are all they that afflict me my heart hath looked for reproach and misery And I expected somebody that would be sorry together with me and there was none and that would comfort me and I found not And they gave me gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me vineger to drink Let their table be made a snare before them and for retributions and for a scandal Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their back crooked always Pour out thy wrath upon them and let the fury of thy wrath overtake them Let their habitation be made desert and in their tabernacles let there be none to dwell Because whom thou hast strucken they have persecuted and upon the sorrow of my wounds they have added Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity and let them not enter into thy justice Let them be put out of the book of the living and with the just let them not be written I am poor and sorrowful thy salvation O God hath received me I will praise the name of God with canticle and will magnifie him in praise And it shall please God more than a young calf that bringeth forth horns and hoofs Let the poor see and rejoyce seek ye God and your soul shall live Because our Lord hath heard the poor and he hath not despised his prisoners Let the heavens and earth praise him the sea and all the creeping beasts in them Because God will save Sion and the cities of Iuda shall be built up And they shall inhabit there and by inheritance they shall get it And the seed of his servants shall possess it and they that love his name shall dwell in it Ant. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me and the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me PSALM 69. In this and the following Psalm the Church represents unto us how that Jesus Christ when in his Passion he seemed to be overcome and conquered by his powerful Enemies that he then was delivered by his Resurrection from the Power of Death and gloriously ascended into Heaven Thereby shewing unto us partly the Pains the Wicked must endure after the contemptible and unconstant Happiness they have had in this World and partly shewing us what we ought to contemn in this Life and what we must hope for in the next Ant. Let them be turned away backward and blush for shame that will me evils INcline unto my aid O God O Lord make haste to help me Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul Let them be turned away backward and blush for shame that will me evils Let them be turned away forthwith ashamed that say to me Well well Let all that seek thee rejoyce and be glad in thee and let them say always Our Lord be magnified who love thy salvation But I am needy and poor O God help me Thou art my helper and deliverer O Lord be not slack Ant. Let them be turned away backward and blush for shame that will me evils PSALM 70. Ant. My God deliver me out of the hand of the sinner IN thee O Lord I have hoped let me not be confounded for ever in thy justice deliver me and receive me Incline thy ear to me and save me Be unto me for a God protector and for a fenced place that thou maist save me Because thou art my firmament and my refuge My God deliver me out of the hand of a sinner and out of the hand of him that doth against the law and of the unjust Because thou art my patience O Lord O Lord my hope from my youth Upon thee have I been confirmed from the womb from my mothers belly thou art my protector In thee is my singing always I was made to many as a wonder and thou art a strong helper Let my mouth be filled with praise that I may sing thy glory all the day thy greatness Reject me not in the time of old age when my strength shall fail forsake me not Because mine enemies have said to me and they that watched my soul consulted together Saying God hath forsaken him pursue and take him because there is none to deliver O God be not far from me my God have respect to mine aid Let them be confounded and fail that detract from my soul let them be covered with confusion and shame that seek evils to me But I will always hope and will add upon all thy praise My mouth shall shew forth thy justice all the day thy salvation because I have not known learning I will enter into the powers of our Lord O Lord I will be mindful of thy justice only O God thou hast taught me from my youth and until now I will pronounce thy marvellous works And unto ancient age and old age O Lord forsake me not until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come Thy might and thy justice O God even to the highest great marvels which thou hast done O God who may be like to thee How great tribulations hast thou shewed me many and evil and turning thou hast quickned me and from the depths of the earth thou hast brought me back again Thou hast multiplied my magnificence and being turned thou hast
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
of the Devil and his bad Angels Conversion we may despair of for Holy Writ shews us that they are destined to eternal Torments and Flames and against whom we sustain an invisible Conflict to which the Apostle encourageth us and arms us saying Our Combate is not against Flesh and Blood that is against Men whom we see but against the Princes Potentates and Rulers of the Darkness of this World lest when he had said of the World we should think that the Devils were the Rulers of Heaven and Earth He says not simply against the Princes and Powers of this World but adds which reign in Darkness By the World he means those that love the World by the World he means the Impious and Wicked He means by the World that World of which the Gospel speaks The World knew him not The Church shews us what Testimonies of Friendship Christ gave unto Judas even whilst he was compleating the Treason against him R. Judas a most wicked Merchant kissed our Lord and he as an innocent Lamb refused not the Kiss to Judas He delivered Christ unto the Jews for a few Pence V. It had been better he had never been born for some Pence he delivered Christ unto the Jews VI. LESSON The Church represents unto us the Good which Christ drew from the Wickedness and Cruelty of the Jews raising his Throne of Mercy on the Instruments of his Death FOr I have seen Iniquity and Strife in the City Behold the Glory of his Cross That Cross which was the Object of his Enemies Scorn is now placed on the Foreheads of Kings His Power appeared by the Effects for he governed the World not with Steel but Wood. The Wood of the Cross which seemed to his Enemies only to be worthy of their Scorn when before it they wagg'd their Heads saying If he be the Son of God let him come down from the Cross And he stretch'd forth his Hands to an unbelieving and factious People If therefore he be just that lives by Faith he that wants it is wicked Wherefore by Iniquity is understood Infidelity Our Lord therefore seeing the Iniquity and Disobedience which then reigned in the City stretched forth his Hands to the faithless and mutinous People and expecting them he said Father forgive them for they know not what they do The Church having here shewed us with what an excess of Love Jesus Christ prayed unto God his Father for the Conversion and Salvation of his Persecutors She likewise declares his Charity and Goodness by endeavouring to withdraw Judas from his Wickedness by shewing him his Goodness in admitting him to sit at his Table and permitting him to put his Hand with him into the Dish although he knew of his Design to betray him and represented unto him the Unhappiness he was ready to fall into Whereby 't is evident Judas cannot attribute his Damnation to any thing but his own Malice and Infidelity R. One of my Disciples shall this day betray me but wo unto him by whom I shall be betrayed It were better for him he had not been born V. He that dippeth his hand with me in the Dish he shall deliver me up into the hands of sinners It were better for him he had not been born R. One of my Disciples c. THIRD NOCTVRN PSALM 74. The Church represents unto us That with a firm Belief and true Acknowledgment we are to expect the Effects of Gods Promises in the Calamities and Traverses of this Life which Christ hath confirmed unto us not only by the sacred Oracle of his Blessed Mouth but also by the holy Mystery of his bitter Passion and glorious Resurrection Shewing us by his bitter Passion the Hardships we are to undergo in this Life and by his glorious Resurrection what we are to hope for in the next The Church also tells the Wicked how much they are to dread and apprehend the severe Judgment of God who leaves no Ill unpunish'd and prepares eternal Flames for such as die in their Iniquities which the Royal Prophet compares to a Chalice of Wine mixt with Bitterness She also exhorts us to repent and acknowledge that even the temporal Goods which they enjoy in this World are only from the Bounty of God and not the Effects of Fortune or their Industry and that they are only given to Man as conducing to his Salvation Ant. I said to the wicked Speak not iniquity against God WE will confess to thee G God we will confess and will invocate thy name We will tell thy marveilous works when I shall take a time I will judge justices The earth is melted and all that dwell in it I have confirmed the pillars thereof I said to the wicked Do not wickedly and to them that offend Exalt not the horn Exalt not your horn on high speak not iniquity against God For neither from the east nor from the west nor from the desert mountains because God is judge This man he humbleth and him he exalteth because there is a cup in the hand of our Lord of mere wine full of mixture And he hath poured it out of this into that but yet the dregs thereof are not emptied all the sinners of the earth shall drink But I will shew forth for ever I will sing to the God of Jacob. And I will break all the horns of sinners and the horns of the just shall be exalted Ant. I said to the wicked Speak not iniquity against God PSALM 75. The Church admonisheth the Faithful who are represented by the People of Israel to thank God for calling them to the Knowledge and Profession of his Holy Name by his Son our Lord Jesus Christ who reconciled us to his Father uniting us by the Tie of Charity that we might not be at variance with any but in peace with every one and who enlightens us from his Throne on high with the Light of his Grace to make us contemn the transitory and perishable Goods of this World which the Wicked enjoy as it were only in a Dream and which vanish at the Hour of Death The Church represents this Divine Saviour triumphing over the Wicked and proposes unto us the Rigor of his Justice at his last coming when he shall judge the Living and the Dead with so great a Majesty and such irresistible Power that even all the Heavens and Elements shall quake and tremble to the end that the Terror of the Threats of this Last Judgment might not only stop and prevent the Boldness and Rashness of Sinners and secure the Innocency of the Just even in the midst of the Wicked but also that the Wicked fearing the Torments wherewith God in his Justice punishes Offences might at the same time when they dread Chastisement be restrained from sinning and by an internal Motion be excited to invoke the Goodness of God which changes their Spirit and by an admirable Effect of his Grace cures the Corruption and Malice of their Will and transports them not only
to fear but also to love him Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival-day to thee Vow ye and render to our Lord your God all ye that round about him bring gifts To the terrible and him that taketh away the spirit of princes terrible to the kings of the earth Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment PSALM 76. The Church here shews us That if the Faithful of the Old Law acknowledg'd their Sufferings to be occasioned by their Sins and that they deserved the Torments they suffered and that they received no Comfort but by considering the Effects of Gods Bounty in the Conduct of his People whereof there had been great and many Examples given How much more ought the Faithful of the Law of Grace to be comforted in their Afflictions by the Example and Promises of the Son of God our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ considering that what they suffer is nothing if compared to what our Redeemer suffered to take away our Sins and make us happy Then it shews us the Assurance he gives us to obtain by his Merits of God his Father either to avert the Evils of this Life or at least to mitigate them or to enable them to support them or that he wholly frees them from those Calamities and afterwards he raises them to the enjoyment of that Happiness wherein there is no fear of Ill and wherein they cannot lose the Sovereign Good Ant. In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands WIth my voice I have cried to our Lord with my voice to God and he attended to me In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands in the night before him and I was not deceived My soul refused to be comforted I was mindful of God and was delighted and was exercised and my spirit fainted Mine eyes prevented the watch I was troubled and spake not I thought upon old days and the eternal years I had in my mind And I meditated in the night with my heart and I was exercised and I swept my spirit Why will God reject for ever or will he not add to be better pleased as yet Or will he cut off his mercy for ever from generation unto generation Or will God forget to have mercy or will he in his wrath keep in his mercies And I said Now have I begun this is the change of the right hand of the Highest I have been mindful of the works of our Lord because I will be mindful from the beginning of thy merveilous works And I will meditate in all thy works and in thy inventions I will be exercised O God in the holy is thy way What God is great as our God thou art the God that dost merveilous things Thou hast made thy power known amongst peoples thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and Joseph The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee and they were afraid and the depths were troubled A multitude of the sounding of waters the clouds give a voice For indeed arrows do pass the voice of thy thunder in a wheel Thy lightnings shined to the round world the earth was moved and troubled Thy way in the sea and thy paths in many waters and thy steps shall not be known Thou hast conducted thy people as sheep in the hand of Moyses of Aaron Ant. In the day of tribulation I sought God with my hands V. Arise O Lord. R. And judge my cause VII LESSON Out of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians chap. 2. The Church instructs us by the Words of the Apostle St. Paul how on that day Jesus Christ being to leave this World and go unto his Father and that having celebrated the Pasch with his Disciples he instituted at this last Supper he eat with them the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a perpetual Testimony of his Passion and the fulfilling of the Figures of the Old Law and as the greatest Miracle he ever did which he also left in his Church to comfort all the Faithful afflicted by his absence and to ingrave in their Hearts a deeper Impression of that Divine Love which he testified by dying for us In this Seventh Lesson the Apostle treating of the Agapes which were Feasts instituted among the Primitive Christians in imitation of the last Feast our Saviour Jesus Christ made with his Apostles to keep Union among the Faithful he speaks against the Rich who called not the Poor to their Table but came to the Eucharist full of Wine and Meat for according to the ancient Custom every one having taken a small Repast he then came unto those Holy Mysteries But the Council of Laodice held about the Year 364 forbad to celebrate in the Churches this Ceremony of the Agapes for the Irreverences that might be committed and soon after the Apostles time they never communicated but fasting as Tertullian witnesseth ANd this I command not praising it that you come together not to better but to worse First indeed when you come together into the Church I hear that there are schisms among you and in part I believe it For there must be heresies also that they also which are approved may be made manifest among you When you come therefore together in one it is not now to eat our Lords supper For every one taketh his own supper before to eat And one certes is an hungred and another is drunk Why have you not houses to eat and drink in or contemn you the church of God and confound them that have not What shall I say to you praise I you in this I do not praise you The Church represents unto us the Ingratitude and Wickedness of the Jews who endeavoured the Death of our Saviour whilst he even fed them with his own Flesh and gave them his own Blood to drink That also those by receiving it might have eternal Life She likewise admonisheth us to take care that â—e do not crucifie Christ in our own selves as the Jews crucified him on the Cross by profaning and defiling his precious Blood â—â—d by smothering in
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 Guide me 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. Unjust witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self VERSICLE taken out of the One and twentieth Psalm The Church shews us That the Prophets have with such exactness described every Particular of our Saviour's Passion that they have even mentioned the Division of his Garments amongst the Soldiers V. They have divided my garments among them R. And upon my vesture they have cast lot THE FIRST LESSON Taken out of the Second Chapter of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremy HETH OUr Lord hath meant to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion he hath stretched out his cord and hath not turned away his hand from the destruction and the fore-wall hath mourned and the wall is destroyed together TETH Her gates are fastned in the ground he hath destroyed and broken her bars her king and her princes in the Gentiles there is no law and her prophets have not found vision from our Lord. JOD The ancients of the daughter of Sion have sitten on the ground they have held their peace they have sprinkled their heads with dust they are girded with hair-cloth the virgins of Jerusalem have cast down their heads to the ground CAPH Mine eyes have failed for tears my bowels are troubled my liver is poured out on the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people when the little one and the sucking fainted in the streets of the town Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church represents unto us That 't was through the just Judgment of God that those Calamities befel the Jews which were foretold by the Prophet Jeremy because they offered such Indignities to the Son of God our Lord JESUS CHRIST All my friends have forsaken me and those that laid snares for me have prevailed against me and looking furiously upon me gave me most cruel stripes and gave me vineger to drink He whom I loved hath betrayed me V. They threw me among the wicked and they spared not my soul And looking furiously on me c. II. LESSON LAMED THey said to their Mothers â—here is the wheat and wine 〈◊〉 they fainted as the wounded in the 〈◊〉 of the city when they yielded up the ghosts in the bosom of their mothers MEM. Whereto shall I compare thee or whereto shall I liken thee O daughter of Jerusalem Whereto shall I make thee equal and comfort thee O virgin daughter of Sion For great is thy destruction as the sea who shall heal thee NUN Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee neither have they opened thy iniquity to provoke thee to penance but they have seen false burdens and banishments for thee SAMECH All that passed by the way have clapped their hands upon thee they have hiss'd and mov'd their head upon the daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the city of perfect beauty the joy of all the earth Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church declares unto us the Blindness and Obstinacy of the Jews who could not be brought to Repentance neither by the Exhortations of the Prophet Jeremy and other Prophets nor by the Admonition of Jesus Christ though accompanied by many Miracles nor by those Wonders done at his death that by Repentance they might have avoided those Miseries that threatned them Whereas a Malefactor and a Thief who had never seen Christ do any Miracles and whereof the Jews had been so often eye-witnesses yet persisted in their Wickedness of Crucifying him whilst the Thief considering the Wonders on the Cross publickly acknowledged he was God and confessed his Sins with a true Repentance R. The vail of the temple was rent and all the earth trembled The thief cried from the cross saying Be mindful of me O Lord when thou shalt come into thy kingdom V. The rocks were rent and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints that slept rose And all the earth trembled III. LESSON Taken out of the Third Chapter ALEPH. I The man that see my poverty in the rod of his indignation ALEPH. He hath led me and brought me into darkness and not into light ALEPH. Only against me he hath turned and hath converted his hand all the day BETH He hath made my skin old and my flesh he hath broken my bones BETH He hath built round about me and he hath compassed me with gall and labor BETH In dark places he hath placed as the everlasting dead GHIMEL He hath built round about against me that I go not forth he hath aggravated my fetters GHIMEL Yea and when I shall cry and ask he hath excluded my prayer GHIMEL He hath shut up my ways with square stones he hath subverted my paths Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church shews us That God being offended at the Ingratitude and Wickedness of the Jews on whom he had bestowed so many Testimonies of his Affection punished them according to their Crimes R. My chosen vine I have planted thee how art thou converted into bitterness that thou shouldst crucifie me and deliver Barabbas V. I have hedged thee and have picked the stones from thee and I have built a tower How art thou converted c. R. My vine c. SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 37. In this Psalm the Royal Prophet presents us with the Duties of a true Penitent which consist First To be sensible of the noisomness of our Sins Secondly To acknowledge that in Justice we deserve all sorts of Punishments and Chastisements since our Sins are so great and so many Thirdly To deplore our Offences with so sensible a Grief that in comparison of that internal Sorrow which we bear in our Souls we contemn all outward Afflictions being prepared against all Adversities Fourthly That when these Troubles befal us we must suffer them patiently and with a quiet spirit Fifthly We must patiently undergo Injuries and Affronts from our Enemies by always keeping a guard on our Tongues and Ears that we may neither understand nor utter any thing passionately Sixthly We must beg of God that the Sufferings we undergo may not be the Effects of his Wrath but the Chastisments from his Father that is That what we suffer may serve for our Correction thereby to be freed from the Torments of Hell At
must put our chiefest Confidence in the Mercy of God and in the Truth of his Promises and not in our own Merits Sixthly We must demand his Assistance and Grace so to love Justice as that no Persecution may sever us from it Seventhly We are not to beg Punishments for the Wicked through any Motive of Hate or Revenge but through a Motive of Charity that they might mend whilst there was the least hope of their Correction and that by their Punishments others might avoid their Crimes and that Sin being thus destroyed God alone might reign in the World Eighthly We must also beg That as the force of the Evils of this Life may no way shake our Courage so the Allurements of Prosperity may not charm our Senses and Affections but that we may wholly adhere to God and glorifie him Ninthly That we may glorifie God as we ought we must offer our selves unto him in a Spirit of Destruction and Sacrifice that is in a Spirit of Penance Tenthly The Service we offer unto God must be free and not servile or constrain'd God must be served with a full and entire Affection Eleventhly We must likewise acknowledge we cannot have this Will unless the Grace and Spirit of God deliver us from our Evils therefore with our whole heart we must beg it of him Ant. Strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul O God save me in thy name and in thy strength judge me O God hear my prayer with thine ears receive the words of my mouth Because strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul and they have not set God before their eyes For behold God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul Turn away the evils to mine enemies and in thy truth destroy them I will voluntarily sacrifice to thee and will confess to thy name O Lord because it is good Because thou hast delivered me out of all tribulation and mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies Ant. Strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul V. False witnesses have risen up against me R. And iniquity hath lied to it self IV. LESSON Taken out of the Treatise of St. Augustin on the Sixty third Psalm In this Lesson the Church represents unto us That JESUS CHRIST being our Chief has taught us not only by his Words but also his Example how we are to surmount our present Calamities and to hope after the future Goods by shewing us that what Power soever our Persecutors have to kill this mortal Flesh yet they cannot hurt the Soul if being assisted by the Grace of God she be not overcome with their Malice and consent to do Evil. There is this difference 'twixt CHRIST's and our Sufferings that ours depends not always on our own Will It is necessary that we one day must die which being due to our Sins is of Necessity and Justice But JESUS CHRIST did not suffer Torments and Death because he would and when he would and after that manner as it pleased him and being the same God with his Eternal Father he could not die and remain always equally in his Glory Secondly By his Sufferings and Death he hath merited and acquired to us Life everlasting but by our Sufferings and Death we can neither merit nor acquire it unless it be in him and by him and with him MY God thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant from the multitude of them that work iniquity Let us now consider our Chief Many Martyrs have suffered such Torments but none with so much splendor as the Chief of Martyrs for their Sufferings received Lustre from his He was defended from the Fury of the Wicked both by God's and his own protection 'T was he defended his own Flesh and this Human Nature wherewith he was clad for he was the Son of Man and the Son of God The Son of God because of his Form God being of the same Essence with his Eternal Father The Son of Man because he took on him the Form of a Slave having power to separate his Soul from his Body and to resume it again what could his Enemies then do against him They killed his Body but his Soul they could not touch Be attentive Our Lord was not contented to exhort the Martyrs only with his Words but would also fortifie by his Example RESP. The Church confirms us by the Words of JESUS CHRIST in what St. Augustin hath taught us in the precedent Lesson That this Divine Saviour suffered neither Torments nor Death because that he would when he would or after what manner he desired R. As to a thief are you come out with swords and clubs to apprehend me I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you did not lay hands on me V. And when they had laid hands on JESUS he said to them I was daily c. V. LESSON The Church represents unto us the Ingratitude and Impiety of the Jews who after having received so many Benefits from the Saviour of the World seen him purifie the Leprous make the Lame to walk cured all Sicknesses drive Devils out of possessed Bodies multiply the Loaves of Bread appease the Tempest raised the Dead to Life after having heard his Heavenly Doctrine whereof he made them Partakers both by his Words and Actions they not only were so obstinate as to draw no Advantage or the least Acknowledgment from them but even crucified him on an infamous Cross whereon they even exulted over him with extreme Insolency persuading themselves through a stubborn blindness that he was not the Son of God or the Saviour of the World because he suffered Death and yet the Prophets shewed most evidently unto them what hapned in his Passion YOu know what was the Assembly of the wicked Jews and what the Multitude of them that work Iniquity But what was that Iniquity 'T was that they would kill our Lord Jesus Christ I have shewed you said he so many good works and for which of them will you kill me He comforted the Sick amongst them he cured their Infirmities he preached unto them the Kingdom of Heaven he shewed them the Enormities of their Crimes that they might hate them but not the Doctor that cured them But in stead of acknowledging the good he did them by these wholesom Remedies so great was their Ingratitude that as if tormented with a burning Fever they were so transported against this charitable Doctor who came only to cure them that they studied how to destroy him as if thereby they would try whether he were true Man and could die or whether he were any thing above Man and would not permit his own Death We find their Discourse on this Subject in the Book of Wisdom To a most shameful Death say they let us condemn him for there shall be respect had unto him by his words for if he be the true Son of God he
will deliver him RESP. The Church shews us That the Miracles done at the Death of our Lord JESUS CHRIST and which the Prophets foretold of him were most evident Testimonies to the Jews to have acknowledg'd him to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World who had power to render up his Soul to his Eternal Father and to take it again so as none could bereave him of her 'T is therefore that being nailed on the Cross he pronounced the Twenty first Psalm which describes his Passion and gives the Reason of it to wit That by his Sufferings and Death he might satisfie God's Justice for the Sins of Mankind wherewith he was charged and that by his Example he might instruct us that we are not to become Christians only to enjoy this temporal Life but that the Name Christian must make us Pretenders to Life everlasting R. Whilst the Jews crucified Jesus darkness covered the earth and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice My God why hast thou forsaken me And bowing his head gave up the ghost V. And Jesus crying with a loud voice said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And bowing down his head c. VI. LESSON In this Lesson the Church shews us how the Jews put JESUS CHRIST to death THey have sharpned their Tongues as a Sword Let not the Jews say We have not killed Christ for certainly 't was therefore they delivered him into the Hands of Pilate the Judge that so they might seem guiltless of his Death For when Pilate said unto them Do ye your selves put him to death they answered 'T is not lawful for us to kill any one Thus they would retort on the Judge the Injustice of their own Crime But how could they deceive God who is the true Judge 'T is certain that what Pilate did made him partake of their Guilt but in comparison of the Jews he is far more innocent for he did what he could to deliver him out of their Hands And therefore having first caused him to be scourged he shewed him unto them not that he scourged our Lord out of design to persecute him but thereby a little to appease their Rage that by their beholding him so cruelly whipped they might be satisfied and desist from demanding his Death And this he did But when they still persisted ye all know he washed his Hands before them and said That he had nothing to do with it and was cleansed from the guilt of his Death yet he put him to death and if he be guilty for having condemn'd him against his will are they innocent who forced him to it By no means Because Pilate pronounced Sentence against him and commanded him to be crucified he is guilty of his Death And ye O Jews have put him to death and how have ye put him to death With the Sword of your Tongues For ye have sharpned your Tongues and soaked them in his Blood when ye exclaimed against him saying Crucifie Crucifie RESP. The Church shews unto us That the Prophet Jeremy in his twelfth Chapter did foretel this Insolence of the Jews against the Saviour of the World who was willing to suffer this Outrage that thereby he might obey the Decree of God's Providence R. I have delivered my beloved Soul into the Hands of the Wicked and my Inheritance became unto me as a Lion in the Wood The Enemy cried out against me saying Let us assemble and make haste to devour him They have set me in the remotest of the Wilderness and all the earth wailed over me because he was not found that would acknowledge me or do me good V. Men without mercy have risen up against me and they have not spared my Soul Because he was not found that would acknowledge me or do me good R. I have delivered my beloved Soul c. THIRD NOCTVRN PSALM 58. or 59. In the Person of David the Church represents unto us CHRIST persecuted by the Jews and by them put to death yet that he begged from his Father that he would not suffer these wicked People who like mad Dogs were enraged against him to triumph in his Death but that by a quick Resurrection he would deliver him from their Hands shewing thereby what we are to contemn in the Course of this Life and what to hope for in all Eternity and making us acknowledge that all our Merits and all the Good we do is the pure effect of God's Mercy towards us and that when he crowns our Deserts he in reality crowns but his own Gifts 2. The Church shews us the Chastisements God inflicted on the Persecutors of his Son by banishing them out of their own Country depriving them of all Honors Power and Authority and by dispersing them over the whole World like Slaves Vagabonds and the Out-cast of all People Ant. From them that rise up against me defend me O Lord because they have taken my soul DEliver me from mine enemies O my God and from them that rise up against me defend me Deliver me from them that work iniquity and from bloody men save me Because loe they have taken my soul the strong have fallen violently upon me Neither is it mine iniquity nor my sin O Lord without inquity have I run and gone directly Rise up to meet me and see and thou O Lord the God of powers God of Israel attend to visit all nations have no mercy on all that work iniquity They will return at evening and they shall suffer famin as dogs and shall compass the city Behold they will speak in their mouth and a sword in their lips because who hath heard And thou O Lord wilt scorn them thou wilt bring to naught all nations I will keep my strength to thee because thou art my receiver my God thy mercy shall prevent God will shew unto me concerning mine enemies kill them not lest sometimes my peoples forget Disperse them in thy strength and depose them my protector O Lord. The sin of their mouth the word of their lips and let them be taken in their pride And for cursing and lying they shall be talked of in consummation in wrath of consummation and they shall not be And they shall know that God will rule over Jacob and over the ends of the earth They shall be turned at evening and shall suffer famine as dogs and shall compass the city They shall be dispersed to eat and if they be not filled they will murmur also But I will sing thy strength and will exalt thy mercy in the morning Because thou art become my receiver and my refuge in the day of my tribulation My helper I will sing to thee because thou art God my receiver my God my mercy Ant. From them that rise up against me defend me O Lord because they have taken my soul PSALM 87. This Psalm is a Prophecy of the Passion Burial and Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST wherein the Royal Prophet represents unto us the
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
holy one merveilous our Lord will hear me when I shall cry to him Be ye angry and sin not the things that you say in your hearts in your chambers be you sorry for Sacrifice ye the sacrifice of justice and hope in our Lord. Many say Who sheweth us good things The light of thy countenance O Lord is signed upon us thou hast given gladness in my heart By the fruit of their corn and wine and oyl they are multiplied In peace in the self-same I will sleep and rest Because thou Lord hast singularly setled my hope Ant. In peace in the self-same I will sleep and rest PSALM 14. In this Psalm the Prophet teacheth us how the life of a Religious Christian that pretends to the Kingdom of Heaven consists in a strict observance of Gods Commandments and in keeping the Laws of Fraternal Charity Ant. He shall dwell in thy tabernacle and shall rest in thy holy hill LOrd who shall dwell in thy tabernacle who shall rest in thy holy hill He that walketh without spot and worketh justice He that speaketh truth in his heart that hath not done guile in his tongue Nor hath done evil to his neighbor and hath not taken reproach against his neighbor The malignant is brought to nothing in his sight but them that fear our Lord he glorifieth He that sweareth to his neighbor and deceiveth not that hath not given his money to usury and hath not taken gifts upon the innocent He that doth these things shall not be moved for ever Ant. He shall dwell in thy tabernacle and shall rest in thy holy hill PSALM 15. According as the Apostles have explicated this Psalm in the Second Chapter of their Acts it contains the Prayer which JESUS CHRIST made unto God his Father for the establishment and preservation of his Church as being our Head and according to his Humanity giving him thanks for the wonderful work of our Redemption which was to be effected by his Incarnation Preaching Passion Resurrection and Ascension It also makes us acknowledge that there could be no Creature so perfect as in any manner to be able to make a suitable return either by Deeds or Services for the favors they received from their Creator for he being Omnipotent and Infinite fully satisfies in himself And that 't is sufficient for a Creature loaded with such infinite benefits to promise to give unto God all Testimonies of a profound acknowledgment in all the instancesof this life Ant. My flesh shall rest in hope PReserve me O Lord because I have hoped in thee I have said to our Lord Thou art my God because thou needest not my goods To the saints that are in his land he hath made all my wills merveilous in them Their infirmities were multiplied afterward they made haste I will not assemble their conventicles of blood neither will I be mindful of their names by my lips Our Lord the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou art he that will restore mine inheritance unto me Cords are fallen to me in goodly places for mine inheritance is goodly unto me I will bless our Lord who hath given me understanding moreover also even till night my veins have rebuked me I soresaw our Lord in my sight always because he is at my right hand that I be not moved For this thing my heart hath been glad and my tongue hath rejoyced moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou give thy holy One to see corruption Tho hast made the ways of life known to me thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance delectations on thy right hand even to the end Ant. My flesh shall rest in hope The Church represents unto us that maugre all the Power of the Jews Yet JESUS CHRIST triumphed over that Death they had inflicted on him and raised himself from that Sepulcher wherein they had inclosed him confirming us in the Resurrection of our Bodies by the Example and Power of his own Resurrection V. In peace in the self-same R. I will sleep and rest LESSON I. Out of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 3. The Prophet Jeremy shews us That in all our Miseries and Afflictions we must ever have recourse unto God with a true and hearty Repentance We must also support those Persecutions that befal us with all patience and submission to the Divine Will setting all our confidence and trust in his Mercy TETH THe mercies of our Lord that we are not consumed because his commiserations have not failed HETH New in the morning great is thy fidelity HETH Our Lord is my portion said my soul therefore will I expect him HETH Our Lord is good to them that hope in him to the soul that seeketh him TETH It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God TETH It is good for a man when he beareth the yoke from his youth JOD He shall sit solitary and hold his peace because he hath lifted himself above himself JOD He shall put his mouth in the dust if perhaps there be hope JOD He shall give the cheek to him that striketh him he shall be filled with reproaches Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church shews us That JESUS CHRIST has himself undergon out of his meer Love towards us whatever hath been taught us by his Prophet As a sheep he was led to slaughter and whilst they ill treated him he opened not his mouth he was delivered to death that he might give life to his people V. He delivered up his soul to death and was reputed among the wicked that he might give life to his people LESSON II. Taken out of the Fourth Chapter The Prophet describes unto us the destruction of the Temple and City of Jerusalem foretelling the Jews that the enormities of their Crimes should bring a Desolation on them ALEPH. HOw is the gold darkned the best colour changed the stones of the Sanctuary dispersed in the head of all streets BETH The noble children of Sion and they that were clothed with the principal gold how are they reputed as earthen vessels the work of the potters hands GHIMEL Yea even the Lamiaes have opened their breast they have given suck to their young the daughter of my people is cruel as the Ostrich in the desert DALETH The tongue of the suckling hath cloven to the roof of his mouth for thirst the little ones have asked bread and there was none that brake it unto them HE. They that fed voluptuously have died in the ways they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung VAU And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is become greater than the sin of Sodom which was overthrown in a moment and hands took nothing in her Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church represents to the Jews That the miseries which befel them was occasioned by their
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
RESP. By the following Versicles taken out of the Fifty seventh and Fifty third Chapter of the Prophet Isay the Church represents unto us That if the Jews were unhappy in having so ill treated and not acknowledged the Saviour of the World we who believe in him are not less faulty and unhappy unless we consider what this Divine Saviour suffered for us and thence draw some benefit to our selves Behold how the Just perisheth and there is none that considereth in his heart and men of mercy are gathered away because there is none that understandeth for at the face of malice is the Just gathered away V. 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 And his memory shall be in peace Behold how the just perisheth c. THIRD NOCTVRN PSALM 53. This Day the Church commermorating CHRIST in his Sepulcher makes the words in the Fifty third Psalm to express the Prayer this Divine Saviour made unto his Father as being our Chief and Mediator thereby begging of him a quick Resurrection to triumph over Death and destroy the Empire of Sin Ant. God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul O God save me in thy name and in thy strength judge me O God hear my prayers with thine ears receive the words of my mouth Because strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul and they have not set God before their eyes For behold God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul Turn away the evils to mine enemies and in thy truth destroy them I will voluntarily sacrifice to thee and will confess to thy name O Lord because it is good Because thou hast delivered me out of all tribulation and mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies Ant. God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul PSALM 75. The Church represents unto the Faithful who are figured by the People of Israel how JESUS CHRIST dying for us in Jerusalem was there buried there he arose again and there he established his Church calling thither all the Nations of the Earth to the knowledge of the true God and there reconciling us to his Eternal Father and uniting us by the tie of Charity that we might not be at Variance with any but in Peace with every one It is from thence that he began to enlighten us with the Light of his Grace to make us contemn the transitory Goods of this World which the Wicked enjoy but as in a Dream and which must vanish when they die The Church represents us this Divine Saviour triumphing over the Wicked and proposes unto us the severity of his Justice in the last Judgment when he shall come to judge the living and the dead with such Majesty and irresistible Power that all the Heavens and Elements shall be filled with horror and despair to the end that the terror of the threats of that last Judgment might not only prevent the stubbornness and boldness of Sinners and secure the innocency of the Just even amongst the Wicked but also that the Wicked fearing the Torments wherewith God punisheth Offences might at the same time as they dread the punishment for their Sins be restrain'd from sinning and by an internal motion be incited to call upon the goodness of God who changes their Mind and by an admirable effect of his powerful Grace cleanses the corruption and malice of their Will and reduces them not only to fear but also to love him Ant. And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival day to thee Vow ye and tender to our Lord your God all ye that round about him bring gifts To the terrible and him that taketh away the spirit of princes terrible to the kings of the earth Ant. His place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion PSALM 87. This Psalm is a Prophecy of the Passion Burial and Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST wherein the Royal Prophet represents unto us the Sufferings which this Divine Saviour was to undergo to satisfie the rigor of the Justice of his Father and that for the Sins of Man wherewith he had loaded himself Then having described his Burial he proposes unto us the Prayer he was to offer to his Eternal Father to demand from him his Resurrection not only for himself for being equal to his Father he had no need of Prayers that he might not be left in the power of Death who alone was free among the Dead and had power to leave his Soul and take her again but for us that he might make us partners with him of his new Life and give us an Example of perfect patience and submission to the Will of God Moreover it shews us the advantage we receive from the Resurrection of our Saviour making us to acknowledge that our Faith had been fruitless if he had continued in his Sepulcher for then our Sins had not been taken away Death is an effect of Sin so that had not our Saviour vanquished Death it could not have been said he had triumphed over Sin Ant. I am become as a man without help free among the dead O Lord the God of my salvation in the day have I cried and in the night before thee Let my prayer enter in thy sight incline thine ear to my petition Because my soul is replenished with evils and my life hath approached to hell I am accounted with them that descend into the lake I am become as a man without help free among the dead As the wounded sleeping in the sepulchers of whom thou art mindful no more and they are cast off from thy hand They have put me in the lower lake in the dark places and in the shadow of death Thy fury is confirmed upon me and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me Thou hast made my familiars far from me they have put me abomination to themselves I was delivered and came not forth mine eyes languished for poverty I cried to thee O Lord all the day I stretched out my hands to thee Wilt thou do merveils to the
dead or shall physicians raise to life and they confess to thee Shall any in the sepulcher dâ—â—â—e thy mercy and thy truth in perdition Shall thy merveilous works be known in darkness and thy justice in the land of oblivion And I O Lord have cried to thee and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Why dost thou O Lord reject my prayer turnest away thy face from me I am poor and in labors from my youth and being exalted humbled and troubled Thy wraths have passed upon me and thy terrors have troubled me They have compassed me as water all the day they compassed me together Thou hast made friend and neighbor far from me and my familiar because of misery Ant. I am become as a man without help free among the dead V. His place is made in peace R. And his habitation in Sion LESSON VII Taken out of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap. 9. The Church teacheth us by those words of the Apostle That the Mediator of the Old Testament who was the High-priest was not able to cleanse Mens Souls from their Sins nor to open Heaven for them either by the quality of his Priesthood of the Old Law or by the nature of the Sacrifice and Testament The High-Priest of 〈◊〉 was a Sinner like other Men he entred only into the maâ—â—â—â— Sanctuary and into a Tabernacle built by the Hands of Men he only offered Calves and other lawful Victims unto God and they could only receive from him Temporal Blessings It was therefore needful to have a Mediator of the New Testament and that was JESUS CHRIST who being both God and Man could not sin and was the Source and Fountain of all Sanctity Who by Sacrificing himself purified us by his one Blood with an Interior and Spiritual Purity delivering us from our Sins to make us in a condition to render God a truly faithful Service and entring into the true Sanctuary that is into Heaven and into the Bosom of God his Father he profered us to him and made us by his Will and Testament Partakers and Heirs of his Heavenly Inheritance CHrist assisting an high priest of the good things to come by a more ample and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand that is not of this creation neither by the blood of goats or of calves but by his own blood entred in once into the holies eternal redemption being found For if the blood of goats and of oxen and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled sanctifieth the polluted to the cleansing of the flesh How much more hath the blood of Christ who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God cleansed our conscience from dead works to serve the living God RESP. The Church minds to give thanks unto JESUS CHRIST for vouchsafing us his Mercy and Sacrificing himself on the Cross for our Salvation We must also abhor the Wickedness of the Jews who to satisfie their Malice put to Death this Divine Saviour R. The kings of the earth have risen up and the princes are assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ V. Why have the nations raged and the people meditated vain things Against the Lord and against his Christ LESSON VIII The Apostle instructs us That the Death which our Mediator was willing to suffer was to repair those Prevarications committed during the Old Testament and to render us capable of the effects of the Divine Promises of the New Testament and this founded on the natuere of the Testament For in the first place JESUS CHRIST being willing to give unto Man a New Testament it was also but requisit that it should be firm and unalterable the which to render it 't was necessary he should die for the Wills and Testaments of Men take no effect till after their Death for whilst they live they may either change or absolutely cancel them Secondly The New Testament was to correspond with the first neither was the Fire given without the effusion of Blood as appears in Exod. chap. 24. ANd therefore he is the mediator of the new testament that death being a mean unto the redemption of these prevarications which were under the former testament they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance For where there is a testament the death of the testator must of necessity come between for a testament is confirmed in the dead otherwise it is yet of no value whilst the testator liveth Whereupon neither was the first certes dedicated without blood RESP. The Faithful consider that the Jews put this Divine Testator to a most Ignominious Death who came to give them by his last Will and Testament a Heavenly Inheritance if by their Impiety and Ingratitude they had not made themselves unworthy it They likewise consider that as the Jews had no power to put our Saviour to Death but because he would himself so in voluntarily dying he triumphed over Death R. I am accounted with them that descend into the lake I am become as a man without help free among the dead V. They have put me in the lower lake in the dark places and in the shadow of death I am become as c. LESSON IX In this Lesson the Apostle represents unto us That in the Old Testament the Purifications were made by the shedding of Blood without which the Remission of Sins had not been given since it is that which is the confirmation of all Alliance FOr all the commandment of the law being read of Moyses to all the people he taking the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet-wooll and hyssop sprinkled the very book also it self and all the people saying This is the blood of the testament which God hath commanded unto you The tabernacle also and all the vessel of the ministery he in like manner sprinkled with blood And all things almost according to the law are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood there is not remission RESP. In the Old Law in the Seventeenth Chapter of Leviticus God Commanded that the Blood of Victims should be covered to shew unto us that it was an effect of his Bounty that he vouchsafed to receive the lives of Innocent Beasts instead of that of Sinners But on the contrary the Jews instead of covering the Blood of JESUS CHRIST that is instead of acknowledging the excess of his Bounty wherewith God would that his Son who was the God of Man should die for them who deserved Death and that he should die on the Cross even for their Salvation who nailed him thereon But they instead of repenting themselves or being confounded for having put to Death their Saviour they moreover persecuted him even in his Sepulcher And this it is which the Faithful consider in the following Versicles R. Our Lord being buried his monument was sealed rolling a stone against the mouth of the monument setting soldiers who might guard it V. The chief priests came unto Pilate
and asked of him setting soldiers who might keep him R. Our Lord being buried AT LAUDS The Church tells us That to receive benefit from CHRIST's Death we must have a hearty and true Repentance ANTHYMN taken out of the Thirteenth Chapter of the Prophet Osee Ant. I Will be thy death O death thy bit will I be O hell PSALM 50. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 65. ANTHYMN taken out of the Twelfth Chapter of the Prophet Zachary The Church having declared unto us That JESUS CHRIST suffered Death to fulfill the Commands of his Father and to accomplish the Predictions of the Prophets She now represents us the grief the Converted and Penitent Jews had for having been of the number of those who put him to Death She also minds us to acknowledge the obligation we have to mortifie our selves to sigh and weep for having by our Sins contributed to his Death They shall lament him with lamentation as it were upon an only begotten because our innocent Lord is slain PSALM 42. The Church offers us the Prayer JESUS CHRIST made unto God his Father which declares the difference 'twixt his Sufferings and Death and ' twâ—â— the Death and Sufferings of Men. Their Deaths and Sufferings are the Punishments due to their Sins But JESUS CHRIST who is Sanctity it self and the Fountain of all good he only suffered Death because himself would and charged himself with our Iniquities that he might deliver us and satisfie the rigorous Justice of God his Father Then the Church shews us That God made his Light and Truth shine in this Divine Saviour by making his Innocency appear by the Wonders and Miracles that happened at his Death and by his glorious Resurrection from his Tomb and afterwards by his destroying of Jerusalem and by casting the reprobate Jews in everlasting Perdition JUdge me O God and discern my cause from the nation not holy from the unjust and deceitful man deliver me Because thou art God my strength why hast thou repelled me and why go I sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me Send forth thy light and thy truth they have conducted me and brought me into thy holy hill and into thy tabernacles And I will go into the altar of God to God which maketh my youth joyful I will confess to thee on the harp O God my God Why art thou sorrowful O my soul and dost thou trouble me Hope in God because yet I will confess to him the salvation of my countenance and my God Ant. They shall lament him with lamentation as it were upon an only begotten because our innocent Lord is slain Ant. Behold all ye people and see my grief The Psalm Deus Deâ—â—â—eus as before p. 69. Ant. From the gate of hell deliver my soul O Lord. The Canticle of Ezechias Isa 38. Under the Figure of Ezekias's Malady from which he was deliverd by God at the intercession of the Prophet Isay which signifies the health of God The Church represents unto us the deplorable condition whereinto Human Nature was reduced through Sin from which we are freed through the Grace of our Lord JESUS CHRIST She also admonisheth us to render our humble Thanks to the Divine Majesty I Have said In the midst of my days shall I go to the gates of hell I have sought the residue of my years I have said I shall not see our Lord God in the land of the living I shall behold man no more and the inhabiter of rest My generation is taken away and is wrapped together from me as the tent of shepherds My life is cut off as by a weaver whilst I yet began he cut me off from morning until night thou wilt make an end of me I hoped until morning as a lion so hath he broken all my bones From morning until evening thou wilt make an end of me As a young swallow so will I cry I will meditate as a dove Mine eyes are weakned looking on high Lord I suffer violence answer for me What shall I say or what shall he answer me whereas himself hath done it I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul Lord if mans life be such and the life of my spirit in such things thou shalt chastise me and shalt quicken me Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter But thou hast delivered my soul that it should not perish thou hast cast all my sins behind my back Because hell shall not confess to thee neither shall death praise thee they that go down into the lake shall not expect thy truth The living the living he shall confess to thee as I also this day the father shall make the truth known to the children O Lord save me and we shall sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of our Lord. Ant. From the gate of hell deliver my soul O Lord. Ant. O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like unto mine Psalm Laudate Dominum de coelis c. as before p. 74. V. My flesh shall rest in hope R. And thou shalt not give thy holy One to see corruption AT BENEDICTUS ANTHYMN THe women sitting at the monument lamented weeping for our Lord. THE CANTICLE OF ZACHARY Benedictus c. as before p. 78. V. Christ was made obedient for us unto death even the death of the cross R. Wherefore God hath exalted him and given him a name above all names Pater noster c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus c. as before p. 80. FOR SATURDAY IN Holy-Week AT COMPLINE Jube Domine c. as before p. 12. to p. 19. The Chapter and Hymn are omitted The Chapter is not said to signifie That after the Resurrection the Blessed will need no farther Instructions in their Estate of eternal Blessedness which is represented by the Chapters of Divine Offices The Hymn is also omitted to shew That after the Resurrection they praise not God in Heaven with such Hymns as they sang unto him in this World but that they will praise him after another manner Ant. And in the evening of the Sabaoth THE CANTICLE OF SIMEON Luke 2. NOw thou dost dismiss thy servant O Lord according to thy word in peace Because mine eyes have seen thy salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Even as it was in the beginning and now and ever and world without end Amen Ant. And in the evening of the Sabaoth which dawneth on the first of the Sabaoth came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulcher Alleluiah V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us pray VIsit we beseech thee O Lord this Habitation and repel far from it all Snares of the Enemy Let thy Holy Angel dwell therein to preserve us in Peace and thy Blessing be upon us for ever Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit V. Let us bless our Lord. Alleluiah Alleluiah R. Thanks be to God Alleluiah Alleluiah THE BLESSING V. THe Almighty and Merciful Lord the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Bless and keep us Amen THE ANTHYMN OF THE HOLY VIRGIN O Queen of Heaven rejoyce Alleluiah For he whom thou deservest to bear Alleluiah hath risen as he said Alleluiah Pray unto God for us Alleluiah V. Rejoyce and be glad O Virgin Mary Alleluiah R. Because our Lord hath truly risen Alleluiah Let us pray O God who by the Resurrection of thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ hast vouchsafed to make glad the world Grant we beseech thee that by his Mother the Virgin Mary we may receive the Joys of Life eternal Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen V. The Divine Help always remain with us R. Amen Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Credo in Deum c. FINIS