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
triumphant entry into Jerusalem which was a figure of his glorious Ascension to Heaven having vanquished the Devil and therefore the Church begins this Ceremony with the Canticle which the Hebrew Children sung on this day in honour of our Saviour where we are to observe that the Priest reads it with a low Voice without making the sign of the Cross to mind us that this Action preceded the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ HOsanna to the Son of David or save us we beseech thee O Son of David blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord O King of Israel Hosanna in the highest V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray The Faithful considering how God had opened the mouths of the Hebrew Children to sing a Canticle of Praise to the Honour of his Son Saviour of the World and how he had inspired the People of Jerusalem to go before him with Olive and Palm branches as a sign of those Graces he intended us by his Victory and Triumph over the World and the Devil beseech his Majesty to render us worthy of those Graces and that Salvation which he hath purchased for us by his victorious Death to the end we may reap the accomplishment thereof in eternal bliss by the vertue of his Resurrection O God whom it is justice to love multiply in us the Gists of thy ineffable Grace and as through the Death of thy Son thou hast made us hope for what we believe grant that we may arrive to Eternal Glory according to our desires through the resurrection of thy only Son who liveth and reigneth one God with thee in unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen The Lesson taken out of the 15th and 16th Chapter of Exodus The Church minds us that as the Israelites found refreshment in the desert under the shade of Palm-trees and in the Fountain of fresh Waters they murmured presently after against Moses their leader and notwithstanding God was pleased to surmount their ingratitude with his benefits by showring down Manna In like maner the Jews who would have found their salvation in the honour which they rendred this day to Jesus Christ if they had accompanied it with a lively faith did yet presently after conspire against him who nevertheless was pleased in his bounty to give them his own Body as Bread from Heaven for Food to their Souls which he soon after offered as a Sacrifice to God his Father to expiate the sins of men and heap upon them his Grace IN those days the Children of Israel came into Elim where there were twelve Fountains of Water and seventy Palm-trees and they camped beside the Waters And they set forward from Elim and all the multitude of the Children of Israel came into the desert Sin which is between Elim and Sinai the fifteenth day of the second Month after they came forth out of the land of Egypt And all the Assembly of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the Wilderness and the Children of Israel said to them Would to God we had died by the hand of our Lord in the land of Egypt when we sate over the Flesh-pots and did eat Bread our fill Why have you brought us into this desert that you may kill all the multitude with famine And our Lord said to Moses Behold I will rain you Bread from Heaven let the People go forth and gather that sufficeth for every day that I may prove them whether they will walk in my Law or no. But the sixth day let them provide for to bring in and let it be double to that they were wont to gather every day And Moses and Aaron said to all the Children of Israel At Even you shall know that our Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt and in the Morning you shall see the glory of our Lord. The following Responsory is sung instead of the Gradual taken out of the Eleventh Chapter of St. John THe chief Priests therefore and Pharisees gathered a Council and said What do we for this Man doth many signs If we let him alone so all will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away our Place and Nation Vr. But one of them named Caiphas being the high Priest of that year said to them It is expedient for us that one man die for the people and the whole Nation perish not Therefore from that day they devised to kill him saying And the Romans c. Another Responsory taken out of the second Chaper of St. Matthew JEsus prayed unto his Father on Mount Olivet My Father if it be possible let this Chalice pass from me The spirit indeed is prompt but the flesh weak thy will be done Watch ye and pray that ye enter not tentation The spirit indeed is c. In the mean time the Deacon carries the Book of Gospels to the Altar to testifie that it contains the Word of God and presents Incense to the Priest to bless saying Reverend Father bless this Incense The Priest takes the Incense and putting into the Thurible blesseth it â—avowing by this Benediction that the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God alone humbly beseeching his Grace that his Prayers may ascend as this Incense towards him Be thou bless'd by him to whose honour thou shalt be burnt Then the Deacon upon his knees at the foot of the Altar prepares himself to receive commission from the Priest to publish the Gospel by this Prayer CLeanse O Almighty God my heart and lips who didst purifie with a fiery coal the lips of the Prophet Isaiah and vouchsafe so to purifie me for thy mercies sake that I may worthily declare thy holy Gospel Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Amen Then taking the Book from the Altar he asks the Priest's Blessing Reverend Father bless me The Priest blesseth him OUr Lord be in thy heart and lips that thou mayest worthily publish his Gospel in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen The Deacon kisseth the Priest's hand to testifie that as in the Old Law a Seraphin did purifie the lips of the Prophet Isaiah with a coal of fire so in the New Law it is Jesus Christ represented by the Priest who purifies his mouth He goes to the place appointed for reading the Gospel with the Subdeacon Thurifer and two Acolyts who carry two Tapers lighted before him to signifie the Joy which the Faithful ought to have for this Great Blessing of the Light of Faith He turns towards the People that they may hear the Gospel the Subdeacon holding the Book before him to testifie that what he reads to the People is only what the Priest ordered him Before he reads the Gospel he beseeches God's blessing upon the Assembly to hear his Word worthily saying Our Lord be with you The Assembly reciprocally beseeching God to assist him with his Grace and that
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
of blessed Spirits pray for us St. John Baptist pray for us All ye Holy Patriarchs pray for us St. Peter pray for us St. Paul pray for us St. Andrew pray for us St. John pray for us All ye Holy Apostles and Evangelists pray for us All ye Holy Disciples of our Lord pray for us St. Stephen pray for us St. Laurence pray for us St. Vincent pray for us All ye Holy Martyrs pray for us St. Sylvester pray for us St. Gregory pray for us St. Augustine pray for us All ye Holy Bishops and Confessours pray for us All ye Holy Doctors pray for us St. Anthony pray for us St. Bennet pray for us St. Dominick pray for us St. Francis pray for us All ye Holy Priests and Levites pray for us All ye Holy Monks and Hermits pray for us St. Mary Magdalene pray for us St. Agnes pray for us St. Cecily pray for us St. Catherine pray for us St. Agatha pray for us St. Anastasia pray for us All ye Holy Virgins and Widows pray for us All ye Men and Women Saints of God make intercession for us Be merciful unto us spare us O Lord. Be merciful unto us graciously hear us O Lord. From all evil O Lord deliver us From all sin O Lord deliver us From everlasting death O Lord deliver us Through the mystery of thy holy Incarnation O Lord deliver us Through thy coming O Lord deliver us Through thy Nativity O Lord deliver us Through thy Baptism and Holy Fasting O Lord deliver us Through thy Cross and Passion O Lord deliver us Through thy Death and Burial O Lord deliver us Through thy Holy Resurrection O Lord deliver us Through thy admirable Ascension O Lord deliver us Through the coming of the Holy Ghost the comforter O Lord deliver us In the Day of Judgment O Lord deliver us We sinners do beseech thee to hear us Here the Priest with his Ministers accompanying him go into the Sacristy to vest themselves for the celebrating of Mass the Litanies in the mean time being continued by the Quire That thou spare us we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to govern and preserve thy Holy Church we beseech thee to hear us That thou vouchsafe to preserve our Apostolick Prelate and all Ecclesiastical Orders in Holy Religion we beseech thee to hear us That thou vouchsafe to humble the enemies of thy Holy Church we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to give Peace and true Concord to Christian Kings and Princes we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to comfort and keep us in thy Holy Service we beseech thee hear us That thou render eternal good things to our benefactors we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to give and preserve the fruits of the earth we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to give eternal rest to all Faithful departed we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe graciously to hear us we beseech thee hear us Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world spare us O Lord. Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world hear us O Lord. Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy on us O Lord. Christ hear us Christ graciously hear us The Litanies being ended the Priest with his Attendance come to the foot of the Altar where he makes his Confession then he ascends the Altar and kissing it incenseth it as usually In the mean time Kyrie-Eleison is sung as before pag. 36. And as the Glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ crowned the Mystery of his Incarnation the People testifie their joy and acknowledgments in singing the Canticle which the Angels used when this Divine word became Man Gloria in Excelsis c. as before pag. 167. You are to observe that this days Mass belongs to the following Night for it was the custom formerly to celebrate this Service at Night and the People were wont to watch till Midnight expecting the hour in which our Saviour rose again And likewise that there is no introit said to intimate unto us that as yet Christs Resurrection was not manifested unto Men. Gloria in Excelsis is said to observe unto us the Joy conceived by the Angels the first Witnesses of Christs Resurrection wherefore they begin to ring out the Bells The COLLECT The Priest beseeches God that having made the new Baptized partakers of the Merit of his Resurrection by raising them from the death of sin he will please to preserve them in the Life they have new received Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O God who hast illustrated this Night by the glorious Resurrection of our Lord conserve the Spirit of Adoption given unto those new Children of thy Church that being renewed both in mind and body they may serve thee with a pure heart through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Colossians Chap. 3. The Church instructs Christians to look upon themselves as Persons revived by Jesus Christ and in this quality they ought not to place their hopes and affections upon this World but that Heaven is their Country where they should converse and dwell in Spirit that they raise up themselves to the Right Hand of God where our Redeemer sits They must be as it were dead to the World and not live but to God alone The life of grace works in them what the Root does invisibly in Trees for as the Trees in Winter seem dead their life being only preserved in their Roots hid under ground but at Spring this hidden life makes them wax green again and resume all their beauties So during this life the Faithful are as in a state of death because they apply not themselves to the exterior attentions of this because they renounce the delights thereof the satisfactions of the flesh and all visible things their life is hid with Jesus Christ in God that is they live not but to God alone by the grace of Christ and what they must be appears not as yet till the Spring-time of Eternity shall succeed the Winter of this present Life that is when Jesus Christ shall come to judge all men Their life which was hidden in Jesus Christ as in their Root will make them flourish for all Eternity and all that was corruptible in them will become incorruptible and all that was mortal will put on immortality glory and splendor BRethren if you be risen with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God Mind the things that are above not the things that are upon the Earth For you are dead and your life is with Christ in God when Christ shall appear your life then you also shall appear with him in Glory The Priest invites the People to praise the Blessed Trinity for the graces poured upon them by the vertue of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by
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
THE Compleat Office OF THE Holy Week WITH NOTES and EXPLICATIONS Translated out of Latin and French Published with Allowance IHS LONDON Printed for Matthew Turner at the Lamb in High-Holborn 1687. TO THE QUEEN MADAM WITH all possible Respect and some Hopes it will not prove absolutely unwelcom I Humbly lay at Your Majesty's Feet a very good Book but a very ill-suited Present For Devout Ink and Paper to Your Majesty whose Life is it self a Book of Devotion is but a Link of Silver to a Chain of Gold And then a Translation is such a kind of Present to Your Majesty as a bad Copy to one who has an excellent Original 'T is true you are an absolute Mistress of our Language as well as Hearts but you would never Pray in an Vnknown Tongue though there were neither English nor Italian in the World and Translating is but telling you a Story for News which you know already and hear when you please much better told But since what is useless to Your Majesty may be beneficial to your Subjects and a Queen is neither the Greatest nor the most Glorious of your Titles I promise my self that your Charity will condescend to make an Alms of your Name and Patronage and by your countenance to Devotion allure a People fond of making their Court to you to make it in the way most pleasing to Your Majesty straining to follow afar off and be as Devout as they can since few can hope to be as Devout as you 'T is to be hoped this will be the Courtship in fashion now the Times are returned in which the Queens of England are Saints again and the Fruit infinitely great when People find the way to Heaven is the way to be well at Court I was Ambitious to make my Court this way but to my shame so poor a Courtier that I was forc'd to borrow a Present and to make it mine dress'd in a new Language as we alter the property of Plate by a new Fashion I know I have expos'd my unskilfulness in this Trade to the Eye in all England which will the soonest discern it But Your Majesty will have the goodness to reflect that no Translation can express the beauty and force of the Original to suffer the Argument to attone for all Faults and to have some Indulgence for the Passionate Zeal and Profound Respect with which I shall always be MADAM Your MAJESTY'S Most Humble most Faithful and most Dutiful Subject Walter Kirkham Blount THE OFFICE UPON Palm-Sunday Of Holy Water IT has been an Ancient Practice in the Church even among the Primitive Christians for the Priest before Mass at Easter and Whitsontide to sprinkle the People with Water out of the Font blest with the Prayers and Exorcisms the Eve of those Holy Days and there reserved till Holy Oyl was poured therein And to the end the Faithful should not esteem this sprinkling a second Baptism the Church has instituted particular Blessings and Exorcisms of Water and Salt for each Sunday through the Year to instruct us That by this sprinkling she gives us no second Baptism but that she applies her Prayers to obtain of God through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST if we our selves are not the obstacle the grace of true repentance for our sins and a guard from the assaults of the Devil that so we may preserve our selves in that state of innocence we received by Baptism By the Water the Church tells us she prays to God and that we are therein to concur with her to beseech him to purifie our Souls by his Grace as the Water cleanseth our Bodies And by the Salt she represents her Prayer to God wherein we ought also to joyn for obtaining his Grace to preserve our Souls from spiritual corruption as Salt preserves the Body from corporal And as Salt gives an agreeable tast to our Meat so his Grace renders our actions acceptable to his Majesty preserving us from falling into those sins wherewith the Devil might otherwise infect us whereby we may more worthily be assistant at the Holy Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of CHRIST and reap the benefit thereof Every Sunday Water and Salt is prepared in the Sacristy which the Priest blesseth being vested in his Albe or Surplice and with a Stoale The Exorcism and Benediction of the Salt OUr help is in the Name of the Lord. R. Who made Heaven and Earth V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Whereas by the Fall of Adam the Devil has usurpt an Empire over creatures so as to make use of them to the disadvantage of men he is deprived of them again by the Merits of our Redeemer who sanctifies them for our benefit I Exorcise thee O creature Salt by the living God the true God by the holy God by that God who commanded thee to be cast into the Water by the Prophet Elizaeus to cure its barrenness that by this Exorcism thou mayest be made beneficial to the Faithful healthful both to the Bodies and Souls of all that shall use thee and where ever thou art sprinkled thou mayest chase away all Illusions Malice Crafts and Surprises of the Devil and that all unclean Spirits be cast out of him who will come to judge the living and the dead and the World by fire Amen The PRAYER Let us Pray The Priest by signing with the Cross instructs us that the sanctifying of creatures and the graces which we receive thereby are only derived unto us from the merits of the death of Christ He makes the sign of the Cross twice upon the Salt to signifie unto us that the Church prays unto God to preserve us from corruption both of Soul and Body ALmighty and Everlasting God we humbly implore thy infinite clemency that thou wilt vouchsafe out of thy Piety to bless ✚ and sanctifie ✚ this thy creature Salt to the end that all such as make use of it may be sensible of health in Soul and Body and that what shall be either touch'd or sprinkled with it may be preserved from all uncleanness and assaults of the Devil Through our Lord c. The Exorcism and Benediction of the Water The Priest makes the sign of the Cross thrice in this Exorcism and once in the following Prayer to teach us that the Graces we receive by the Merits of Christ's Death are bestowed upon us by the three Divine Persons who are one only God I Exorcise thee O creature Water in the Name of God ✚ the Father Almighty in the Name of Jesus Christ ✚ our Lord his Son and in the Vertue of the Holy Ghost ✚ That by this Exorcism thou mayest dissipate all the Assaults of the Enemy and put the Enemy himself to flight with all his apostate Angels by the power of the same our Lord Jesus Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead and the World by fire Amen The PRAYER Let us Pray O God who for the health of Mankind hast
both of Soul and Body WE beseech thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty and Everlasting God to bless and sanctifie this Olive thy creature which thou hast commanded to spring from Wood and which the Dove brought in his mouth returning to the Ark that whoever shall take of it may receive protection both for Soul and Body thou O Lord making it a Remedy for Health and a Sacrament of thy Grace Through our Lord c. Amen Let us Pray The Faithful considering that those blest Palms represent our Union with Christ being delivered from the Tyranny of the Devil and the intercession of the Church which is applied unto us by this Blessing joyn in Prayer with the Church and beg God's protection O God who gatherest together such things as are disperst and preservest what is so gathered together who didst bless the People going forth with Boughs to meet Jesus bless also these Palms and Olive-branches which thy People take in honour of thy Name that where-ever they shall be brought the Inhabitants may be sensible of thy Blessing and freed from all Adversity and thy Right-hand protect those whom Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord redeemed Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen Let us Pray As by the sin of Adam the Devil hath usurpt an empire over creatures which he makes use of to the prejudice of men so is he deprived thereof through the Merits of Jesus Christ who sanctifies them for our benefit And therefore the Faithful considering that by these Branches which the Church blesseth and distributeth this day she represents the Victory which Christ gained over the Devil and our Divine Redeemer's triumph in his glorious Resurrection beseech God to make them able to vanquish the Devil and overcome all Obstacles of their Salvation through the Merits and Grace of our Redeemer with whom we are incorporated so that at last we may partake of his glory O God who through the wonderful order of thy Providence art pleased to make use of insensible creatures to instruct us in the way of our salvation Grant we beseech thee that the devout hearts of thy Faithful may healthfully understand what is mystically designed in the action of this day in which the multitude of Jews being illustrated with a heavenly light went to meet our Redeemer with Boughs of Palms and Olives which they cast under his feet The Palm-branches put us in mind of the Victory he gained over the Prince of Death and the Olive-boughs do in a sort proclaim that the Spiritual Unction is come to us For all that blessed Company understood that Ceremony to signifie that our Redeemer taking compassion of man's misery was to encounter the Prince of Death for the Life of the World and that he was to triumph by dying Therefore he fulfilling the Will of God performed all those things that we might thereby arrive to the knowledge of his Triumphs and unctuous plenitude of Mercy We also firmly believe Lord Holy Father Omnipotent and Eternal God that all hath been fulfilled that was signified And therefore most humbly beseech thee through the same our Lord Jesus Christ that in and by him we whom thou hast vouchsafed to become his members having obtained the victory over Death may also partake in his glorious Resurrection Who liveth and reigneth c. Let us Pray The Faithful beseech God that these hallowed Boughs representing the Happy Reconciliation obtained for us by Jesus Christ with his Divine Majesty may induce them to dispose themselves as worthily to receive the wholsome effects O God who by an Olive-branch didst command a Dove to publish Peace to the Earth vouchsafe we beseech thee to sanctifie with thy Celestial Benediction the salvation of all Through Christ our Lord c. Let us Pray The Faithful considering that by these Palm-boughs the Church represents the conquest we ought to endeavour to obtain over the Devil and by the Olive-branches the Works of Charity we are obliged to practice demand of God his Grace to accomplish what the Church teaches by this Ceremony BLess we beseech thee O Lord these Boughs of Palms or Olives and grant that thy People may testifie the zeal of their Piety by a pious performance of what this day they outwardly profess and triumphing over their Enemies may apply themselves zealously to the Works of Mercy Through our Lord c. Then the Priest sprinkles the Boughs with Holy Water to teach us that we ought to purisie our selves in receiving a Blessing from God and to practice what the Church designs by these Boughs Thou shalt sprinkle me with Hyssop and I shall be cleansed thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow The Priest then incenseth the Boughs to instruct us that all the Blessing comes from God and that we ought to beg that our Prayers may ascend as Incense towards him The PRAYER Whereby we ask God's Grace to prepare our Ways to our Saviour by a lively Faith and good Works V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us pray O God who for our salvation didst send into this World thy only begotten Son that he humbling himself for us might regain us unto thee before whom at his entry into Jerusalem that the Scriptures might be fulfilled a multitude of People spread their Garments with a pious zeal and cast Palms in the way Grant we beseech thee that we may so prepare the way of Faith to him that the stone of offence and rock of scandal being removed our good works may flourish as the branches of a beautiful tree and therein imitate him Who with thee liveth and reigneth c. The Priest gives Palms to the Clergy and People whilst the Quire sing the following Antiphons and Canticle sung by the Children at Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem ANTIPHON THE Hebrew Children spread their Garments in the way and cryed out saying Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord. ANOTHER THE Hebrew Children spread their Garments in the way and cryed out saying Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord. The Antiphons are repeated till all the Palms are distributed then the Priest in the name of the Faithful beseeches God for his grace that in this Commemoration of his Son JESUS CHRIST'S triumphant entry into Jerusalem they may arrive to the Innocence and Piety of those who pay him all due honour V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray ALmighty Everlasting God who wast pleased that our Lord Jesus Christ should sit upon an Asses Colt and directedst the multitude to spread their Garments and Boughs in the way singing Hosanna in his honour Grant us the grace to imitate their Innocence and to partake of their Merit Through the same our Lord c. Then they go in Procession to represent JESUS CHRIST'S triumphant entry
his justice to the people that shall be born whom our Lord hath made V. And the justice by which he shall render them just shall be shewed to the people At Paris the Tract being ended the Deacon begs God's grace to read the Passion of his Son so effectually to the Faithful that they may receive wholesome effect thereby CLeanse my heart and lips O Almighty God who didst cleanse the lips of the Prophet Isaiah with a burning coal and vouchsafe through thy gracious mercy to purifie me that I may worthily pronounce thy Holy Gospel Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Then he asks blessing of the Priest V. Reverend Father bless me The Priest blesseth him saying OUr Lord be in thy heart and in thy lips that thou mayest worthily and competently publish his Gospel Amen He incenseth the Book in acknowledgment that Christ is the true Son of God who voluntarily put on humane nature that by his death he might expiate our sins The Acolyts carry the lighted Tapers before the Deacon to signifie the light of Grace and Glory which Christ by his death had merited for the Faithful According to the Roman Directory the Deacon asks not the Priest blessing before his reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ nor says Munda cor meum c nor doth he incense the Book but performs all those Ceremonies afterwards Nor doth the Priest salute the People with Dominus vobiseum c. Our Lord be with you to observe unto us a detestation of perfidious Judas who betrayed our Saviour with a Salute Nor do the People answer Gloria tibi Domine c. Glory be to thee O Lord to express that they do not glorifie Jesus Christ in his Passion Neither are the lighted Tapers carried to signifie that as well upon Earth through the Eclipse of the Sun and Moon the light of the World was extinguished as in Heaven by the Death of our Saviour Lastly The Book is not incensed to mind us that the fervour of Christ's Disciples Prayers was then abated The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew Chap. 26 27. AT that time Jesus said to his Disciples You know that after two days shall be Pasche and the Son of man shall be delivered to be crucified Then were gathered together the Chief Priests and Ancients of the People into the Court of the High Priest who was called Caiaphas And they consulted how they might by some guile apprehend Jesus and kill him But they said Not on the Festival-day lest perhaps there might be a tumult among the people And when Jesus was in Bethania in the house of Simon the leper there came to him a Woman having an Alabaster Box of Precious Oyntment and poured it out upon his Head as he sat at the Table And the Disciples seeing it had indignation saying Whereto is this waste for this might have been sold for much and given to the poor And Jesus knowing it said to them Why do you molest this Woman for she hath wrought a good work upon me for the poor you have always with you but me you have not always for she in pouring this Oyntment upon my Body hath done it to bury me Amen I say to you wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole World that also she hath done shall be reported for a memory of her Then went one of the twelve which was called Judas Iscariot to the Chief Priests and said to them what will you give me and I will deliver him unto you But they appointed unto him Thirty Pieces of Silver And from thenceforth he sought opportunity to betray him And the first day of the Azymes the Disciples cames to Jesus saying Where wilt thou that we prepare the Pasche But Jesus said Go into the City to a certain man and say to him the Master saith My time is at hand with thee do I make the Pasche with my Disciples And the Disciples did as Jesus appointed them and they prepared the Pasche But when it was even he sate down with his twelve Disciples And while they were eating he said Amen I say unto you That one of you shall betray me And they being very sad began every one to say Is it I Lord but he answering said He that dippeth his hand with me in the Dish he shall betray me The Son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him but wo be to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed it were good for him if that man had not been born And Judas that betrayed him said Is it I Rabbi he saith to him Thou hast said And whiles they were at Supper Jesus took Bread and blessed and brake and he gave to his Disciples and said Take ye and eat this is my Body And taking the Chalice he gave thanks and gave to them saying drink ye all of this for this is my Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins And I say unto you I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the Wine until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the Kingdom of my Father And an Hymn being said they went forth unto Mount Olivet Then Jesus said to them All you shall be scandalized in me this night For it is written I will strike the Pastor and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed but after I shall be risen again I will go before you into Galilee And Peter answering said to him Although all shall be scandalized in thee I will never be scandalized Jesus said to him Amen I say to thee that in this night before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice Peter said to him Yea though I should die with thee I will not deny thee Likewise also said all the Disciples Then Jesus cometh with them into a Village called Gethsemani and he said to his Disciples Sit you here while I go yonder and pray And taking to him Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee he began to wax sorrowful even unto death stay here and watch with me And being gone forward a little he fell upon his face praying and saying My Father if it be possible let this Chalice pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou And he cometh to his Disciples and findeth them sleeping and he saith to Peter Even so could you not watch one hour with me Watch ye and pray that ye enter not into temptation The spirit indeed is prompt but the flesh weak Again the second time he went and prayed saying My Father if this Chalice may not pass but I must drink it thy will be done And he cometh again and findeth them sleeping for their eyes were become heavy And leaving them he went again and he prayed the third time saying the self-same word Then he cometh to his Disciples and saith to them Sleep ye now and take rest behold the hour approacheth and
them to receive him worthily WE therefore Almighty God most humbly beseech thee to command these things to be represented to thy High Altar in presence of thy Divine Majesty by the hands of thy Holy Angel that all who participating of this Altar shall receive the Body and Blood of Christ may be replenished with thy Heavenly Grace and Blessing Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen The Commemoration for the Dead Memento c. As our Redeemer by his descent into Hell after his death by the Merits of his Sacrifice freed the Faithful from Limbus and Purgatory who there expected his coming and were in a condition of relief the Priest begs of God by the Merits of this Sacrifice which he offers in memory of his Son's death and descent into Hell that he will please to grant relief and rest to the Souls of the Faithful which they expect in Purgatory being there as in a dream of Peace either for that they are to come one day thence as out of a dream to enjoy a peaceable and happy life no longer subjected to the necessity of sleep or because the anguish of their pains troubles not the peace of their conscience in obedience and conformity to our Saviour's will being full of hope and confidence insomuch that we may say these transitory pains are but as a dream in comparison of those which are damned suffer in Hell for ever REmember also O Lord thy servants Men and Women N. and N. who have gone before us with the sign of Faith and now rest in Peace Here remember such particular persons as you best please WE humbly beseech O Lord to grant to these and to all those who rest in Christ a Place of Refreshment Light and Peace Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest striking his breast says Nobis quoque peccatoribus The Priest after he hath prayed to God for the Faithful both living and dead prays for himself and all other Priests that it may please his Divine Majesty by his mercy to supply their defects and grant him the grace to partake of the company of the Saints through the Merits of Jesus Christ VOuchsafe also to grant unto us sinners thy servants hoping from the multitude of thy mercies a part and society with thy Apostles and Martyrs John Stephen Matthias Barnaby Ignatius Alexander Marcellinus Peter Felicitas Perpetua Agatha Lucy Agnes Cecily Anastasia and with all Saints among whom we humbly beseech thee to admit us not esteeming our merit but mercifully granting thy pardon Through Christ our Lord. Amen Per quem haec omnia c. The Priest protests before God the Father that the Sacraments now upon the Altar with all the Benefits it contains proceeds from him through Jesus Christ by whom as by the Chief Priest he daily produces it by a kind of Creation and Consecration and life-giving Satisfaction replenished with all sorts of Blessings bestowing it upon us as a nourishment fit for our Souls that being enlivened by his Spirit we may render him all due Honour and Glory confessing that God the Father receives nothing by us but by with and in Jesus Christ By Jesus Christ as Mediator and Fountain of all good works with Jesus Christ for being but one and the same Divinity and Nature he communicates his Glory with him and the Holy Ghost in the bottom of his Divinity In Jesus Christ in the Unity of his Body and Members who make one person with him and it is in his Person incarnate that God is perfectly adored BY whom O Lord thou dost always create all these goods thou dost sanctifie quicken bless and bestow them on us by him and with him and in him O God the Father Almighty all Honour and Glory is due to thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost Per omnia saecula c. The Priest in a loud voice concludes his protestation That he comes to praise and adore God eternally and invites the Faithful to a consent saying World without end The Faithful consenting answer Amen Let us Pray Praeceptis c. After the Priest has declared that the Glory which we give to God the celestial nourishment of this Sacrament and all other Benefits are derived unto us from God the Father through Jesus Christ we beseech him in the same words which Christ commanded us to use wherein he encourageth us to call him our Father as he was pleased to become our Brother to make us worthy to acknowledge that we can want Nothing since we have a Father so omnipotent BEing taught by our Saviour's Commands and lead by Divine Institution we are bold to say Our Father which art in Heaven where thy glory appears in more splendour and whether thou wouldst have us raise up our thoughts Hallowed be thy Name Acknowledged and adored Thy Kingdom come The Empire of thy Grace in this world and of thy Bliss in the other Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread The precious Body and Blood of thy Son which is to day consecrated thy holy Grace and all things necessary unto us for the sustentation of this life And forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into Temptation The Faithful testifying that they pray with the Priest answer R. But deliver us from Evil. The Priest to shew that he said this Prayer in all our Names says Amen Libera c. The Priest considering there can be nothing more prejudicial to us nor which is more contrary to the communion of this Holy Sacrifice than that which disorders and troubles the Christian Peace and Union he beseeches God to deliver us from it by the Merits of Christ by the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin the Apostles and all Saints and to give us that Peace and Union which we ought to have with our Saviour and the Three Members of his Church which he signifies by dividing the Host into three parts That part which he puts on the Patine signifies the Faithful living that which he holds in his hands those in Purgatory that which he breaks off them from that the blessed in Heaven DEliver us from all Evil past present and to come and by the Intercession of the blessed and ever glorious Virgin Mary Mother of God of thy holy Apostles Peter and Paul St. Andrew and all Saints Grant propitiously unto us Peace in our days that through the assistance of thy mercy we may both be freed from sin and secured from all trouble Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Whereunto the Faithful joyn their Prayers and answer Amen Pax Domini c. The Priest makes thrice the sign of the Cross over the Chalice with that part of the Host which represents the Blessed to testifie that Christ rising again and ascending into Heaven hath left the Legacy of Peace
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
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
is God V. The love of Jesus Christ hath united us V. Let us rejoyce and praise him V. Let us fear and love the living God V. And love one another with a sincere heart Then the Antiphon is repeated Where charity and love is there is God V. When therefore we are assembled V. Let us beware we are not divided in mind V. Let all quarrels and contentions cease V. And let Christ be among us Then the Antiphon is repeated the third time Where charity and love is there is God V. Grant that we may see with the blessed V. Thy face in glory O Christ our Lord. V. There to enjoy a happy and immense joy V. For ever and ever Amen Then the Superior or he that washes the feet of others washeth his hands wipes them and putting on his Coap he stands upright with his head bare says Pater noster c. V. And lead us not into temptation R. But deliver us from evil V. Thou hast enjoyned O Lord R. That thy Laws be exactly observed V. Thou hast washed thy Disciples feet R. Despise not the work of thy hands 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 GRant O Lord we beseech thee that we may worthily discharge this our duty and since thou vouchsafest to wash thy Disciples feet despise not the work of thy hands which thou hast commanded us to retain and imitate that as we here cleanse all filth from our Bodies so thou wilt be pleased to free our Souls from all sins Which we beseech thee to grant us who livest and reignest God for ever and ever Amen THE MASS FOR THURSDAY IN Holy Week The station in the Church of St. John of Lateran This day in Rome the station is in this Church because the Pope did formerly bless the Holy Oyls there upon this day The INTROIT The Church representing to us in this Mass how our Saviour instituted the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist it being the Eve of his Passion as a perpetual Monument and to apply the fruit of it unto us she teacheth us by the example and words of Saint Paul that we ought to look upon the Cross of Christ as our onely glory for it is by its vertue that we are freed from the tyranny of the Devil that we are raised from death It is by it that Jesus Christ grants from corporal death of sin as we must be raised to the life of grace in this world as he will hereafter he will when he pleases give us the Life of Glory in Everlasting Bliss 'T is true that to glory in the Cross of Christ we must suffer much But what will that glory be which God hath prepared for the patience of the just what will their happiness be when for their vertues in this exile he shall give them crowns in heaven for short and temporary pains immortal and incomprehensible rewards The consummation of their felicity will be at the day of judgment when Jesus Christ after he hath raised them again shall inanimate them with his happy life and spirit as all the members of one body are filled and enlivened by one soul BUt we ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our Salvation Life and Resurrection and by whom we are redeemed and saved PSALM LXVI As the Sacrifice of the Cross is an effect of God's Mercy so his Grace whereby we are enlightened to acknowledge this inestimable benefit and whereby we are made worthy to reap the fruit of it is an effect of his Bounty and Mercy which we ought to beg of him GOd have mercy upon us and bless us illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy upon us But we ought to glory c. KYRIE ELEISON LOrd have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us All the rest as before pag. 30â— As the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is a Consequent and Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God on this day whereon our Saviour instituted this most venerable Sacrament the Church commands that Hymn to be sung which the Angels did sing at his Birth GLory be to God in the Highest and on Earth peace to men of good will We praise thee we bless thee we adore thee we glorifie thee we give thanks to thee for thy great glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely begotten Son Jesus Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father who takest away the Sins of the World have mercy on us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father have mercy on us For thou onely art Holy Thou onely art the Lord Thou onely O Jesus Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father Amen The Bells are rung during the Gloria in excelsis but are not rung again till Holy Saturday to teach us that the preaching of the Gospel and the voice of those who ought to excite others to follow Christ were silent during this Passion-time The COLLECT The people considering on the one side that Judas having received so many Testimonies of Favour from Jesus Christ after he had been admitted to his Table was yet so blind with covetousness that he betrayed his Master and God into the hands of the Jews who put him to death upon the Cross and transported with despair fell headlong into Hell On the other side the good thief made sensible by his pains repented himself of his sins and acknowledged our dying Saviour's divinity and putting his whole hopes and confidence in him deserved to receive the fruit of his Death and Resurrection They beseech God that they may nor approach his Table as Judas did but may obtain the same Grace with the penitent thief that so they may reap the advantage of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour O God who hast punished the sin of Judas and rewarded the confession of the repenting thief grant unto us the effect of thy mercy to the end that as our Lord Jesus Christ hath dispensed to each of them at his Passion according to their merit so having destroyed the old man in us he will grant us grace to have part with him in his glorious Resurrection Who liveth and reigneth one God world without end This Prayer is only said The Lesson out of the first Epistle of the Apostle St. Paul to the Corinthians Chap. 11. 1. The Apostle blames them for their disorder in their Feasts called Agapae as we have explicated before 2. He treats of the institution of the Eucharist and teacheth us that Christ did institute this Sacrament to renew in us the memory of his incomparable love restified by his dying for us 3. He shewed how we ought to prepare our selves worthily to receive this Adorable Sacrament
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
and when thy years shall be accomplished thou wilt make thy self known when the time shall come thou wilt be manifested V. And when my soul shall be troubled thou wilt remember thy mercy even in thy wrath V. God will come from Libanus and the Holy One from the shady and dark mountain V. His glory overspread the heavens and the earth was filled with his praise Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves The PRAYER The people considering on the one side that Judas having received so many testimonies of favour from Jesus Christ after he had been admitted to his Table was yet so blinded with covetousness that he betrayed his Master and God into the hands of the Jews who put him to death upon the Cross and transported with despair fell headlong into Hell on the other side the good thief made sensible by his pains repented himself of his sins and acknowledged our dying Saviour's divinity and put his whole hopes and confidence in him deserved to receive the fruit of his Death and Resurrection they beseech God that they may not approach his Table as Judas did but may obtain the same grace with the penitent thief that so they may reap the advantage of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour O God who hast punished the sin of Judas and rewarded the confession of the repenting thief grant unto us the effect of thy mercy to the end that as our Lord Jesus Christ hath dispensed to each of them at his Passion according to their merit so having destroyed the old man in us the grace to have part with him in his glorious resurrection Who liveth and reigneth one God world without end The LESSON taken out of the twelfth Chapter of Exodus The Church proposes to us in this Lesson the Ceremony of the Jewish Passover thereby teaching us that Jesus Christ having accomplisht the Solemnity of the ancient Pasche celebrated in memory of the deliverance of the people of Israel out of the Egyptian servitude passed to a new Passover which he is pleased the Church should solemnize in memory of the Redemption which he brought unto the world by giving his body and blood instead of the flesh and blood of the Paschal Lamb. The entire and unspotted Paschal Lamb signified that he who as a sacrifice was one day to be immolated for us should be pure and free from all spot or sin The blood of this Lamb wherewith the Gates of the Israelites were sprinkled to prevent the destroying Angel from involving them in the same slaughter with the first-born of Egypt was a sign that the blood of Christ should be shed for the remission of the sins of God's people The injunction of not breaking a bone of the Paschal Lamb signified that not a bone of Christ should be broken upon the Cross to shew the force and power of his divinity As God instituted the Pasche and commanded the Israelites to eat the Paschal Lamb in memory of the Miracles he had done for them in Egypt so his Son Jesus Christ instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood in memory of what he had done for us in his Passion The Jews in eating the Paschal Lamb were in a posture of travellers to mind them that they were upon the point of flying out of Egypt into the land of Palestine and therefore they were standing upright having their shooes on with a staff in their hands and to eat it hastily With how much more diligence and activity ought we to eat the Divine Lamb of the New Law since we are to make a longer Voyage viz. from Earth to Heaven The Jews were not to eat the Paschal Lamb but with unleavened bread to teach us that we cannot eat as we ought our Paschal Lamb whereof theirs was but onely a figure unless we purisie our hearts from all filth becoming as a new paste without leaven that is without sin The Jews did eat the Paschal Lamb with wild Lettice to signifie the grief we ought to have for our sins and the bitterness we must conceive to expiate them whereby to pass hence to heaven The number of persons which the Jews were to call together to eat the Paschal Lamb was a figure of that charity we ought to bear to each other to the end we may worthily partake in this Sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ It was commanded not to eat any thing of this Lamb that was raw to teach us that we are not to eat the body of our Lord without the due preparation which God requires of us It was prohibited to be eaten boiled in water and onely to be eaten roasted to instruct us that our love of God ought to be pure in our hearts whereby to make us worthy to eat the flesh of this Divine Lamb without engaging our affections upon the transient pleasures of this life figured by water in the Holy Scripture The Jews did eat the head feet and entrails of the Paschal Lamb to tell us that we must sincerely and firmly believe not only the divinity of Christ figured by the head but his humanity figured by the feet and all the more hidden mysteries of our faith represented by the entrails The blood of this Paschal Lamb was sprinkled on the two side-posts and upon the upper door-post of the house in form of a cross to signifie that by the cross and blood of Christ we are delivered from the tyranny of the devil and servitude of sin And it was further to signifie that to receive worthily this Sacrament of the Passion of our Saviour we must not onely take it with our mouths but with our hearts designing to imitate him by the practice of good works In fine All that remained of this Paschal Lamb was cast into the fire and burnt to observe unto us that when we find our selves incapable of eating this Sacrifice entirely through weakness of spirit or doubting whether that which we see be the body of our Saviour which the Angels themselves are not able to behold we are not then to continue longer in that doubt but cast it into the fire of the holy spirit that it may be there consumed since our weakness is not able to overcome it If not then when we consider that the things that seem impossible unto us cease not to become possible by the vertue of the Holy Ghost IN those days our Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt This month shall be to you the beginning of months it shall be the first in the months of the year Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel and say to them The tenth day of this month let every man eat a lamb by their families and houses But if their number be less then may suffice to eat the lamb he shall take unto him his neighbour that joyneth to his house according to the number of souls which may suffice to the eating of
fixed in a triangle which he lights one after another to instruct us that the Light of the Gospel which Jesus Christ hath brought unto us is the work of the blessed Trinity to whom we are to render thanks And therefore advancing towards the Altar he thrice repeats Behold the light of Christ The Faithful answer R. Thanks be to God The Deacon disposing himself to receive Commission from the Priest to give God thanks for the favour done us in freeing us from the Tyranny of the Devil and the Slavery of Sin by the Death and Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ whereof the Jewish Pasch was a figure asks his blessing Vouchsafe Father to bless The Priest blessing him saith OUr Lord be in thy lips that thou mayest worthily and competently declare the praises of his Pasch In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Then the Deacon taking the Censor out of the Acolyts hands incenseth the Book thrice in honour of the Holy Trinity which the light of the Gospel revealed unto us as we are taught by Jesus Christ And inviting the Faithful to give God thanks for the Victory which his Son Christ Jesus gained over the Devil and for the favour done unto them by drawing them from darkness and servitude of sin by the light of the Gospel represents unto them that their joy ought to be common to them and to the Angels who rejoyce to see that their number lessened by the fall of Lucifer and his complices is filled up again by humane nature renewed and repaired by Jesus Christ Then the Deacon acknowledging his own unworthiness joyns in Prayer with the Church MAy the angelical troops now rejoyce may the divine mysteries be celebrated with a holy joy may the sound of a comfortable trumpet publish the victory of so great a King and may the whole earth be sensible of the blessing it had by the splendour of the the Eternal King who freed it from that darkness which overspread the whole World May our Mother the Church rejoyce also at the glympse of so resplendent light and may this place resound with the voices of this Congregation And therefore I beseech ye my beloved Brethren here present who enlightened with the admirable splendour of this holy light joyn with me and call upon our Merciful and Almighty God to the end that as he hath been pleased not through my merits to advance me to the number of his Levites so shedding the beams of his light upon me he will give me grace to perfect the praise of this Paschal Candle Through c. Amen The Benediction and Praise of the Paschal Candle is very ancient for this Ceremony is mentioned in Prudentius his Hymn who lived in the fourth Age and St. Gregory Nazianzenus and St. Ambrose Then the Deacon prepares the Faithful to celebrate this Ceremony worthily with him advising them to lift up their hearts to God and to quit all affections to Creatures acknowledging the grace they have received of God by the Light of his Gospel which is represented by the Candle Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit R. Lift up your hearts The Faithful being in the disposition he requires answers We have raised them towards our Lord. Then the Deacon bids the Faithful consider that God so disposed their hearts therefore that they should give publick thanks Let us give thanks to our Lord. The Faithful answer that it is just and reasonable and according they give publick thanks by the Deacon and particular resentments of their hearts by following in their minds the words which the Deacon uses R. It is meet and just The Deacon exhorts the Faithful to give God thanks for that in this Night by the glorious Resurrection of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Merits of his Death he had freed us from the Tyranny of the Devil and from the Bondage of Sin wherein our first Parent by his sin had involved us and for that by the light of his Gospel he had conducted us to the Kingdom of Heaven which he had promised to his faithful Servant as he delivered the Israelites out of the Captivity of Egypt causing a Pillar of Fire to lead them into the Land of Promise IT is truly meet and just that with all affections of our heart and soul and with the ministry of our voice we glorifie the invisible God Father Almighty and his onely Son our Lord Jesus Christ who hath paid Adam's death for us to his Eternal Father and by shedding his innocent blood hath blotted out the hand-writing of our old sins whereby we are subjected to death For these are the Paschal Feasts wherein the true Lamb is immolated and the gates of the Faithful consecrated by his blood This is that night wherein first thou madest our forefathers the Children of Israel to pass the Red Sea dry-foot This is that night which dissipated the darkness of sins by the light of a pillar of fire This is that night which separating through the whole World those that believe in Jesus Christ from the vices of this age and from the darkness wherein sinners are ingaged restores them to grace and associates them to sanctity This is that night wherein the chains of death being broken Christ ascended Conquerour from Hell For it would not have availed us to have been born unless Christ had been pleased to redeem us O God how admirable is thy bounty towards us how inestimable thy charity who didst deliver up thy Son to redeem thy slave O certain necessary sin of Adam to make us sensible of the excess of God's love towards us since it hath been effaced by the death of Jesus Christ O happy fault that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer O truly happy night which alone deserved'st to observe the time and moment of Christ his rising from the dead This is that night of which it is written in the 178th Psalm The night shall shine as the day and the night is my illumination in my delights therefore the sanctification of this night banisheth all crimes washeth away all offences restores to innocence those that had been lost makes glad the afflicted reconciles hatred and enmities restores peace and union and humbles empires Here the Deacon puts the five grains of blest Incense in form of a Cross into the Candle not yet lighted which signifies the dead Body of our Saviour teaching us how adorable the wounds were which he received on the Cross where he offered up himself a Sacrifice for us to God his Father whereof the Evening Sacrifice was a figure in the Old Law and the Sacrifice of the Altar is a representation of it in the Evangelical Law Then the Deacon lighting the Candle which then becomes a figure of Christs Body risen again acknowledges the advantage we have received by his Resurrection REceive then O Holy Father from us on this happy night the Evening-Sacrifice of
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
your selves which also in CHRIST JESUS who when he was in the form of God thought it no 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 a man R. Thanks be to God HYMN In remembrance of the Victory Christ obtained by his Cross A Broad the Regal Banners fly Now shines the Crosses Mystery Upon it Life did Death endure And yet by Death did Life procure Who wounded with a direful Spear Did purposely to wash us clear From stain of Sin pour out a Flood Of precious Water mixt with Blood Fully accomplish'd are the things David in faithful Meeter sings Where he to Nations do's attest God on a Tree his Reign possest O lovely and refulgent Tree Adorn'd with purple Majesty Cull'd from a worthy Stock to bear Those Limbs which sanctified were Blest Tree whose happy Branches bore The Wealth that did the World restore The Beam that did that Body weigh Which rais'd up Hells expected Prey Hail Cross of Hopes the most sublime Now in this mournful Passion-time Improve Religious Souls in Grace The Sins of Criminals efface Blest Trinity Salvations Spring May ev'ry Soul thy Praises sing To those thou grantest Conquest by The Holy Cross Rewards apply Amen THE SONG OF THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY Luke 1. The Church briefly represents unto us in this Canticle the Promises and Mysteries of our Salvation and shews us that the Son of God became Man to repair by his Humility what Man had lost through his own Pride and that it was his will to chuse the Holy Virgin to be his Mother out of his great Humility to accomplish this grand Work MY Soul doth magnifie our Lord. And my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is his Name And his mercy from generations unto generations to them that fear him He hath shewed might in his arm he hath dispersed the proud in the conceit of their heart He hath deposed the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble The hungry he hath filled with good things and the rich he hath sent away empty He hath received Israel his child being mindful of his mercy As he spake to our fathers to Abraham and his seed for ever Glory be to the Father c. Ant. For it is written I will strike the Pastor and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed but after I shall be risen again I will go before you into Galilee and there ye shall see me saith our Lord. At Paris the following Anthymn is said ALl the people which descended rejoyced and began to praise God exceedingly for the wonders they had seen saying Blessed is the King that comes in the name of our Lord Peace in heaven and glory in the highest THE PRAYER To beg God's Grace to imitate the Humility and Patience of our Saviour O Almighty Eternal God who hast caused our Saviour to take Flesh and be crucified for Mankind as an Example of Humility to be imitated Grant propitiously that we may partake both of the Instructions of his Patience and the Fellowship of his Resurrection Thro' the same our Lord c. AT COMPLINE The Reader says Vers REverend Father bless me THE BLESSING GRant us Omnipotent Lord a quiet Night and a happy End Resp Amen THE LESSON taken out of the First Epistle of the Apostle St. Peter chap. 5. BRethren be sober and watch because your adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist ye strong in faith But thou 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 OUr Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from all evil Amen HAil Mary full of Grace our Lord is with thee Blessed art thou amongst Women and blessed is the Fruit of thy Womb JESUS Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us Sinners now and in the hour of our death Amen I Confess unto Almighty God to Blessed Mary ever Virgin to Blessed Michael the Archangel to Blessed John Baptist to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul to all Saints and to Thee Father That I have sinned exceedingly in Thought Word and Deed by my fault by my fault by my most grievous fault Therefore I beseech the Blessed Mary ever Virgin Blessed Michael the Archangel Blessed John Baptist the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul all Saints and Thee O Father to pray for me to our Lord God Almighty God have mercy on us and all our Sins being forgiven bring us unto everlasting Life R. Amen The Almighty and merciful Lord give unto us Pardon Absolution and Remission of all our Sins R. Amen Convert us O God our Saviour R. And avert thine Anger from us V. Incline unto my aid O God R. O Lord make haste to help me Glory be to the Father c. Ant. Have mercy on me PSALM 4. This Psalm shews us That 't is impossible to raise up our Thoughts to the Love of the true Goods whilst our Hearts are overcharged with the Cares of Worldly Affairs but that once being purified with the Grace of God we then in the secret of our Souls begin to contemn our selves and being touched with a true Compunction of Heart we offer to his Majesty a Sacrifice all our past Life with an intention by his assistance entirely to change it And from thence-forth our Lord begins to make us rellish his Sweets and Delights and to heap Joys upon us Then we find in that Sovereign Good another Grain another Wine and another Oyl than what here below so as we neither envy the Prosperity of the Wicked nor fear their Persecutions having placed all our Confidence in God 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 marveilous 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 ye 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
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
obedient unto death Here following they kneel and say Our Father c. Miserere mei Deus as before p. 65. A PRAYER To beg God's Mercy towards us for the Sufferings and Death of his Son Jesus Christ 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 in the Unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen By the Noise is represented the Commotion of the Jews in apprehending JESUS CHRIST After which the lighted Taper is taken from under the Altar to signifie the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST According to the Custom of Paris the Anthymn of Benedictus being repeated they kneel down and two Clerks go behind the Altar where the lighted Taper was set which represented JESUS CHRIST the true Light of the World and there they sing with the rest of the Quire the following Versicles to express the Sighs and Moans of the Women that accompanied our Lord JESUS CHRIST to his Passion and to excite in our Hearts the Affections and Sentiments of Piety in meditating on the Sufferances of JESUS CHRIST The Clerks Lord have mercy on us The Quire Lord have mercy on us The Cl. Lord have mercy on us spare thy servants Christ our Lord became obedient unto death for us The Qu. Lord have mercy on us The Cl. Who camest into the world to suffer for us The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Who hast said by the mouth of the prophet Osee chap. 13. I will be thy death O Death The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Whose Hands being stretched on the Cross didst draw all the world unto thee The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Meek Lamb to whom the Wolf gave a mortal Kiss The Qu. Lord have mercy on us The Cl. And thou wouldst thy self be bound to free us from the Bonds of Death The Qu. Jesus Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Life died on the Wood of the Cross and triumphed over Hell and Death The Qu. Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Spare thy servants Christ our Lord became obedient unto death for us The Cl. Even to the death of the Cross Miserere mei c. as before p. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quaesumus c. as before p. 80. AT COMPLINE They neither say Jube Domne Benedicere nor give the Blessing to shew us that the Author of all Blessing is dead The Lesson is likewise omitted to represent unto us that the Preaching of the Gospel and the Voice of them who ought to instruct others to follow JESUS CHRIST did cease during his Passion Nor is our Lord's Prayer repeated to signifie the Trouble and Forgetfulness of the Disciples of our Saviour After the Confession and Absolution the Psalm Cum invocarem c. is said as before p. 14. But the Hymn is omitted at the end to declare that through the Impiety of the Jews the Honor due to God was violated The Chapter is not said to shew us that the Jews did not profit by the Instructions of the Prophets Nunc dimittis c. is said as before p. 20. to represent the Perfidiousness and Ingratitude of the Jews who were so blind and obstinate as not to acknowledge the Saviour of the World Then is said the following Versicle V. Christ became obedient unto death for us After this Versicle the Pater noster c. is repeated to instruct us in our Duty to pray and watch against all the Accidents of this Life Miserere mei Deus as before p. 65. Respice Quaesumus as before p. 80. THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON Holy-Thursday FOR THE FRIDAY AT MATTINS FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 2. The Royal Prophet describes the Persecutions which the Jews and Gentiles raised against the Messias and his People 2. He describes the Eternal and Temporal Generation of the Messias and the Extent of his Dominion over the whole Earth what Obstacle soever the Persecutors could do against it 3. He represents the Punishments wherewith God threatens the Wicked For so the Apostle St. Peter explicates this Psalm in the Fourth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Ant. The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and against his Christ WHy did the Gentiles rage and peoples meditate vain things The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and against his Christ Let us break their bonds asunder and let us cast away their yoke from us He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them and our Lord shall scorn them Then shall he speak to them in his wrath and in his fury he shall trouble them But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy hill preaching his precept The Lord said to me Thou art my Son I this day have begotten thee Ask of me and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance and thy possession the ends of the earth Thou shalt rule them in a rod of iron and as a potters vessel thou shalt break them in pieces And now ye kings understand take instruction you that judge the earth Serve our Lord in fear and rejoyce to him with trembling Apprehend discipline lest sometimes our Lord be wrath and you perish out of the just way When his wrath shall burn in short time blessed are all that trust in him Ant. The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and his Christ PSALM 21. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST pronounced the first Words of this Psalm when he was fastned to the Cross and they contain the Prophecy of his bitter Passion And the Royal Prophet having represented the Pains and Sufferings of the Son of God then speaks of his Glory and Empire and at last shews us the Advantages that accrue unto the Faithful and for which they ought to render Thanks unto God This Divine Saviour who could not be guilty having put himself in our place incurred our Obligations contracted our Debts and satisfied for our Crimes Likewise this Psalm presents unto us That the Sins of Men wherewith he had loaded himself deserved that his Father should abandon him to all imaginable Misery that thereby he might satisfie the Rigor of his Justice in all things and if he addressed this Complaint My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me it was not in his own Person he spoke it but in the Person of this wretched Infirmity of the Flesh wherewith He was clothed 't was in the Person of the Members of his Mystical Body foreseeing the Desires and Demands they would offer to his Father and himself by an inclination of Nature and by a Human Motion of being delivered from Torments and Death For What did our Saviour desire to be delivered from Sufferings aad Death who came only to
earth is broken out upon the earth Our bones are dissipated near to hell for to thee our Lord Lord are mine eyes in thee have I hoped take not away my soul Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of them that work iniquity Sinners fall in his net I am alone until I pass Ant. Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of them than work iniquity PSALM CXLI In this Psalm the Prophet teacheth us to pray incessantly to God that if he will not please absolutely to grant our Petitions at least to give us sufficient assistance for our conservation that we may have an assured foundation of hopes to enjoy blessings prepared for us hereafter Ant. I looked towards the right hand and saw and there was none that knew me WIth my voice I have cried to our Lord with my voice I have prayed to our Lord. I pour out my prayer in his sight and I pronounce my tribulation before him When my spirit faileth of my self and thou hast known my paths In this way which I walked they hid a snare for me I looked towards the right hand and saw and there was none that would know me Flight hath failed me and there is none to require my soul I have cried to thee O Lord I have said thou art my hope my portion in the land of the living Attend to my petition because I am humbled exceedingly Deliver me from them that persecute me because they are made strong over me Bring forth my soul out of prison to confess unto thy Name the just expect me till thou rewardest me Ant. I looked toward the right hand and saw and there was none that would know me During these three days no Hymn is sung as we observed before pag. 131. Nor is any Chapter read to tell us that the Jews reaped no benefit by the instructions from the Prophets The Antiphon before Magnificat The Church teacheth us that Jesus Christ was not onely pleased by his example to shew us how we are to suffer persecutions and afflictions in this life but also to incorporate us with him to strengthen us with his presence And thereupon when he was to pass out of this world to God his Father after he had celebrated the Passover with his Disciples he instituted the venerable Sacrament of his Body and Bloud as a perpetual monument of his Passion as an accomplishment of the figure of the Old Law and as the greatest of Miracles Ant. And Jesus after he had supt with his Disciples took bread and blessed it and breaking it gave it to his Disciples The Song of the blessed Virgin Which is an Abridgment of the Promises and Mysteries of our Salvation shewing us further that as the Son of God became man to repair by his humility what man had lost by his pride he was pleased to chuse the blessed Virgin for his Mother in respect of her humility to compleat this great work MY soul doth magnifie our Lord. And my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is his Name And his mercy from generation unto generations to them that fear him He hath shewed might in his arm he hath dispersed the proud in the conceit of their heart He hath deposed the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble The hungry he hath filled with good things and the rich he hath sent away empty He hath received Israel his child being mindful of his mercy As he spake to our fathers to Abraham and his seed for ever Ant. And Jesus after he had supt with his Disciples took bread and blessed it and breaking it gave it to his Disciples V. Christ was made for us obedient even unto death Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before pag. 6. The PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag. 130. At the Vncloathing of the Altars The Priest and his Ministers uncover the Altars and take away the Ornaments to represent Christ bereft by the Souldiers of his Garments which they divided among themselves according to the Prophecy of the Twenty one Psalm and thereupon the Church recites this Psalm and this Antiphon out of which it is taken Ant. And they divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots This Psalm out of which our blessed Saviour when nailed to the Cross repeated the first words containeth the Prophecy of his Passion where after the Royal Prophet hath represented Pains and Sufferings of the Son of God after he hath spoken of his Glory and of the grandeur of his Empire and related the benefits accuring to the Faithful for which they ought to be thankful this Divine Saviour who was himself impeccable putting himself in our stead and taking our obligations upon him making our debts his own satisfying for our crimes teacheth us in this Psalm that the sins of mankind which he took upon himself did merit that his Father should abandon him to all imaginable torments whereby to make rigorous satisfaction to his justice and that in these words when he saith My God my God why hast thou forsaken me speaks not in his own person but as in the unhappy infirmity of our flesh which he hath taken upon him and on the behalf of the members of his mystical body whose groans and prayers to his Father and Himself he foresaw through a propension of humane nature desirous to be freed from sufferings and death For who can believe our Saviour should desire to avoid death and sufferings since he came into the world for that end Or who can imagine he spake in such sort as if that which happened had been against his will who had power to give up his soul to God and to take it again though no man had power to bereave him of it These words then of this One and twentieth Psalm are a figure of such Prayers as shall be addrest to God by men in their afflictions begging to be freed of them Consequently the Son of God shewing us that his Eternal Father hath not delivered him from the power of the Jews who pursued him with reproaches and outrages even to death as he preserved Noah from the deluge Lot from the fire that fell from Heaven Isaac from the sword lifted up to cut off his head Joseph from the slander of a woman and the horrour of a prison Moses from the fury of the Egyptians Raab from the destruction of the City of Jericho Susanna from the imposture of the false witnesses Daniel from the Lyon's den the three Hebrew Children from the fiery furnance instructs us thereby that we ought to desire what we are to ask by the grace of the New Testament and that