and are here set down in that direct order which ought to be observ'd in meditating upon them which is First to begin with the five joyfull mysteries Secondly to proceed to the five Dolorous Thirdly to conclude with the five Glorious For according to this order they were accomplish'd in the Persons of our Saviour Christ and his Blessed Mother The five Joyfull Mysteries So called for that they contain the chief Joys which the most sacred virgin Mary felt concerning her Son Christs human nature 1. The Annunciation of Christs Incarnation by the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary which is briefly express'd in these verses Heav'ns loftyest turret to earth's center bends Th' Incarnat Word to our low vale descends And Eccho's there usher'd by Angells voyce And by a purer Virgins vocall choyce While She according to this word of thine Humbly reply'd thy Masters word be mine 2. The Visitation which the Blessed Virgin made to her cousin Saint Elizabeth Mary salutes Eliza while from far Our Sun is brought to light his morning Star The Star though clowded feels the welcom ray And leaps to shew he can fore-run his day Dance unripe Child before thou com'st to light An after-dance will cause thy fatall night 3. The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ Learn Man what wonders in this birth appear The lesser Orbe involves the greater Spheare Etheriall lightning leaves its native shrowd Comes forth not breaking the mysterious clowd Angells their God their Master Beasts discern Of those above of these below thee learn 4. The Oblation or Presentation of Christ to his Eternall Father in the Temple and the Purification of his Mother How cheap a thing is light and more we pay For oylin flame than goulden locks of day His ransom who from darkness all redeem'd The Priest a two poor Turtle-Doves esteem'd Jews are wise marchands this new Sun ere old Must to the Priests again b' as cheaply sold 5. The Finding of Christ in the Temple disputing amongst the Doctors Found in the Temple midst the Doctors plac'd Jesus at once vertu and learning grac'd If Church and Schools be severd zeal turns blind And knowledg lame they both are perfect joynd Adore the Altar reverence the Chair Learn what to ask and then present thy pray'r The five Dolorous Mysteries so called for that they contain the chief sorrows which Christ our Redeemer felt in his bitter Passion 1. His Agony whil'st he was at his Prayers in the Garden What man of sorrow with two blood-shot eyes Ten thousand bleeding pores there prostrate lyes All middle colours by extreams are bred His candour with our blackness makes him red Whose present dress though Scarlet but displays The rosy dawn of two more Crimson day's 2. His most cruell Flagellation Can all these bleeding wounds that scourging find No blush in face no pity raisd in mind Behold the Man you worst of savage beast Malice enough has done more Hell detests Hate forward goes till her loath'd object she Not to be wretched knows but not to be 3. His Crowning with sharp Thorns The pungent cares on regall Scepters born Do prove all Diadems be crowns of thorn Yet Kings from scoffs and low contempt are free Derisions reach not earthly Majestie Christs Crown no fewer slights than thorns emboss More keen than those sharp nayls that pierc'd his Cross 4. The Carrying of his Cross to Mount Calvary Striving his Cross to bear he faints and falls He that sustains Heaven and Earths massie balls Simon succeeds on whose weak shoulders they The shadow of the Cross not substance lay Simon the wood the weight Christ only bore A world of heavy sins throng'd in each pore 5. His Crucifixion and Death upon the Cross Hail Tree of life whose trunck the table made Whereon the worlds dear price was told and payd On thy fair planks our sinking souls that bore Poor shipwrackt men layd hold and swim to shore Raisd from the depth by thee they floating stood Boy'd up with spring-tides of Christs copious blood The five Glorious Mysteries so called for that they contain the chief Glories which befell Christ and his sacred Mother 1. The Resurrection of our Lord JESUS The piercing sword leaves sad Maria's brest Sorrow's old wound makes for new joy 's a nest Jesus himself and her revives his light Relumins many a fire long quencht in night She sees the Patriarks shine with him his ray Dimms not their weaker Stars yet doubles day 2. His Ascension into Heaven Our Heav'n-ascending Lord no fiery Steed's Nor flaming Chariot of Elijah needs The wings of wind or Angels are too slow His feet in thier own motion swifter go The Sun at his approach that fabulous sign Of Aries leaves in him the Lamb tâ— shine 3. The sending down the Holy Ghost to his Church In form of fire a rushing wind conveighs Ardours divin the Infant Church to raise And high enthrone in a majestick Sphear Above the reach of cold distrust or fear Th' Elect thus freed from bonds of narrow sense In all known tongues all unknown truth dispence 4. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin up to heaven Enoch alive translated walks with God Walks finds yet in bliss no fix't about The zealous Thesbite undissolv'd ascends And at Heav'n gates the worlds last year attends Death 's the sole way to life Maria dyes Closes on earth open's in heav'n her eyes 5. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin in Heaven T is thy Sons light Maria makes thee shine The beam's are his the sole reflection thine Bright as the Moon thou look'st for borrow'd rays Both tributarie to the Prince of days The Sun her globe opposed only fills On thee full light thy Sun conjoyn'd distills These fifteen Mysteries for greater ease of the memory are briefly comprehended in these six verses Annun Vis Nat. Present and Find Reduce the Joyfull Five to mind Pray'r Scourg Thorn Cross Crucify Do the five Dolorous imply Res As Parac Assump corone By those the Glorious five are known Or thus in three verses She 's told She visits He 's Born Offer'd and Found He Pray's is whipp'd is crown'd carryes is kill'd Râ—ses Ascends sends down She dyes is Crown'd §. 7. Of the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary in particular The first part containing the five Joyfull Mysteries 1. The first Joyfull Mystery She 's told THE Annunication of Chirsts Incarnation by the Archangell Gabriel to the Blessed virgin Mary Luca. To Blessed Mary th' Angell of our Lord Announces she shall bear th' Eternal Word This first Principall and Joyfull Mystery as also all the others hereafter following comprehends under its notion may other singular and particular Joy's wherewith the sacred Virgins soul was ravish'd and replenish'd upon the news brought down to her from Heaven of the Eternall Words Incarnation in her womb which we shall both here and hereafter briefly reduce to Ten heads or points of Meditation according to the number of the Angelicall Salutations which are
one lives no other scite of body than that in which devotion find's us whether it be standing sitting lying walking or kneeling 5. An Institute of that infinite spirituall profit that it is impossible to be expressed whereof I shall instance onely these few particulars 1. In respect of the speciall Patronage and protection of the Blessed Virgin for though she is a carefull Mother of all faithfull Christians yet surely she is more tenderly solicitous for the domestiques of her familie more heedfully diligent for the advancement of her devoted servants more seriously studious for the good of her dutifull children 2. In respect of the Community of Merits amongst the members of this sacred Society For it is a point of our Religion an Article of our Faith an infallible Maxime amongst our Divins that the merits of all the Saints are common to all faithfull Christians that there is a communication between the Church Militant upon Earth the Church suffering in Purgatory and the Church Triumphant in Heaven yes there is such a connexion amongst all Gods Children such an association of all the Churches members which make up one spirituall body under their sacred head CHRIST JESUS that the least of them all supposing he is capable of merit and in good state whereof grace is the root and foundation hath a title and may claim a share in all the spirituall goods and consequently in all the treasures of merits and good works heaped up from the Worlds first Origin to this present and which shall be laid up in the Churches Store-House till the Worlds Consummation Our Creed teacheth us this truth wherein we profess to believe the Communion of Saints that is we acknowledge a communication of merits between them who are happily lodged in Heaven and them who living upon Earth and lying in Purgatory hope to follow after We believe that whatsoever the greatest Saints have done merited obtained what the ancient Patriarks by propagating Gods honour putting down idolatry what the Prophets by preaching Gods Judgments proclaiming open Warr against all impiety what the glorious Apostles by planting the Faith publishing the Gospel converting the World what the invincible Martyrs by their endured torments persecutions deaths what the holy Confessors by the couragious carriage of their crosses chastisements of their flesh mortifications of their sensuality what the good Hermits Anchorites Monks in their Solitudes Cells and Cloysters what the learned zealous eloquent Doctors by their writings preachings teachings what the chast Virgins and Widows by the inviolable preservation of their purity Finally whatsoever the pious people in their secular calling or any persons under each Pole of the World and in the four corners of the Vniverse have profited in good works in godly actions in vertuous exercises all this is communicable to each one of the Catholique Churches members all is to them proportionably imparted and distributed I am partaker sings joyfully the Royall Psalmist with all them who fear you and faithfully follow your Laws and Ordinances All such as live Christianly carefully devoutly all such as practise works of piety make progress in vertue march up the degrees of perfection and sanctity labour for me profit me lay up treasures for me we are all fellow members under one head we all make up one common purse amongst us we all aim at the same end of Gods honour and glory and our own eternall felicity Now besides this generall communication of spirituall goods and merits amongst all faithfull Christians the stock whereof is in the Churches hands and store-house there is another bank in the bodyes of Confraternities common to them alone who are of that particular familie and communitie and from whence all the influences of graces and blessings which Heaven imparts to this whol body inflow into each one of its members And to instance this also in some particulars First what an immense profit is it to have a part in all the zealous prayers meditations acts of charity and exercises of Vertu and Piety performed in a whol Confraternity All which entring into common and making one only deposiâ—um redound to each particular members spiritual profit and advantage So that when any one of us offers up his prayers to the Throne of mercy he pray's as it were by as many mouths as there are brethren and sisters in our whol Confraternity And what an incredible force judg yee devout Rosarists must this needs add to our petitions How can a just demand presented by so many pious Souls sent up to Heaven by so many humble hearts pronounced by so many devout tongues suffer a repulse If our Creator though most highly incensed and irritated by the wicked and malicious Sodomites yet mercifully promised to pardon all their enormous impieties might there have been found amongst them only ten just Men to joyn in prayer with holy Abraham for their delivery May we not without presumption perswade our selves that the prayers of so many good Souls whereof this Sacred Confraternitie is composed may have great power to move our Maker when he is justly angry with us for our offences ingratitude disloyalty to pitty and pardon us and to reverse the sentence of our deserved punishment and condemnation Surely united forces you know are far more prevalent than when divided many Torches give a greater luster many fires affoard a fiercer heat many men remove a heavier weight and in all cases whatsoever that which one alone is unable to attain uncapable to effect unworthy to deserve a multitude conspiring together in the same end and intention may hope to atchieve and compass Secondly what an inestimable profit is it to have a share of merit in so many divin Sacrifices of the Masse celebrated yearly monthly weekly daily to Gods glory to his Mothers honour to his Saints prayses to the Solace of the living to the Succour of the dead both at this sacred and priviledg'd Altar of our blessed Mother of Power And wheresoever throughout the World this Arch-Confraternitie of the Rosary is erected and established If one only Masse the lively representation of what passed upon Mount-Calvary the highest act of Religion the authenticall memoriall of the great sacrifice of the Cross is capable says our Venerable Father Bede to add glory to God joy to the Angels and Saints grace to the just pardon to Sinners comfort to the living help to the Souls in Purgatory what good what grace what advantage may you here expect where so many Masses are daily celebrated for the forenamed intentions whereof each member participates Thirdly what a vast treasure of Indulgences Pardons Jubilies given and granted by the prime Pastours of the Church the generall dispencers of divin blessings the universall Stewards of celestiall riches are annexed to this our holy Confraternity Indulgences which no Catholique can deny or doubt of Indulgences so ample as no Society ever had larger So many as meerly to mention them would take up another hours time and tire out your
sublime height of his own most holy handy work And now O worthy Mother of God! since we have hitherto presented you with the fervent Affections which your faithfull servants have put into our hearts and mouths as well knowing that our own faint inventions could furnish us with none more pithy or to more pleasing permit us also to presume upon your pious Doctor S. Ildefonse de Virginitate Mariae cap. 1. for this our concluding Protestation That the height of all our ambitious desires is To prayse you as much as you deserve to be praysed To love you as much as 't is possible to love you and to render you as much service as your self can desire from such caitif creatures as we are Yes O Sacred Queen Mother had we hearts larger than the Empyreall heaven we would most willingly employ their whol extent in loving you Had we the Crowns Kingdoms Riches of all earthly Monarchs and Princes and as many lives as the Seas have sands we would most cheerfully leave all lose all forfeit all for the defence of your honour for the procuring of your affection for the promoting of your service Finally had either of us as much collected Capacity as all creatures have dispersedly it would come far short of our unlimited desires and affections which are to Love Honour and Serve you perfectly entirely eternally Receive our Hearts O Soveraign Queen of all Hearts replenish'd with these our pious intentions and protestations together with this small Mite which we here again most humbly offer up to your sacred Majesty as a votive Table of the now promised Homage we will ever hereafter be performing to the end that all such as shall make use of these ensuing Devotions may assuredly know that in the solemn tender of this small pledge we jointly intend to include an absolute Dedication of the whol remainder of our lives and labours to your Love and service and that we are content every Line Syllable Letter and Title of this Treatise shall rise as so many accusing witnesses to call for just revenge upon us and remain as so many marks to brand us with eternall infamy if we at any time hereafter maliciously ungratefully disloyally forfeit these our maturely made Resolutions of being your faithfull servants And finally that we hereby avouch in the face of Heaven and Earth to esteem nothing in this world after the inestimable benefits reap'd by the precious Death of your divin Son our dear Redeemer CHRIST JESVS comparable to the honour we have in being Most worthy Mother of GOD The meanest of your Chaplains at the Head-Altar of your Holy Rosary A. C. and T. V. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE OUR Noble Patron and most worthy Prefect of this Sacred Confraternity of the ROSARY RIght Honorable Though this little Book which carries in its Front the lovely Names of JESUS MARIA JOSEPH can want no forreign recommendation whereby to invite all faithfull Christians and especially the devout Rosarists to receive and embrace it and that the excellencie sublimitie and utilitie of the subject is to it self a sufficient safeguard and protection Yet surely could this Book have been conveniently dedicated to any other than the Queen of Heaven whose honour is its chief aym and intention it must necessarily have had recourse unto your self under whose wings it received its birth growth and accomplishment In acknowledgment whereof and the many signall favours you have charitably conferr'd upon us and upon this holy Confraternity of the sacred Rosary we conceiv'd our selv's bound to give this publick testimony of our sincere gratitude and withall to declare our earnest desire of contributing something towards your own spirituall advancement and perfection For notwithstanding that your Piety to God and devotion to the sacred Virgin-Mother and her glorious Bridegroom Saint Joseph are so deeply setled in your heart as it may seem superfluous to lend you any assistance in order to their further encrease or confirmation yet the perusall of this present Treatise which so far excells all others of this nature in the solidity of the deliver'd doctrin in the explication of the most important points and in the clear facil and familiar insinuation of this sort of Piety that we need not blush to yeild to their Judgment who esteem it the chief of them which have yet seen light in our mother language must needs prove both pleasing and profitable unto you as being a perfect Mirrour of what you either are already or zealously wish to be where you will find both Fewell to foment your fervour and Fire to add to it where you will read the Precepts of Perfection reduc'd into Practises and the Doctrin of Devotion drawn into forms of Duty Briefly where you may learn a compendious way to extract the fruits of your Predestination to glory to tast the sweetness of heavenly affections during this your earthly Pilgrimage and to procure your Souls repose here and its salvation hereafter which is the desired end and Crown of yours and all pious Christians endeavours And all these happinesses with more if more can be imagined are obtain'd by means of the sacred Rosary whereby these influences of celestiall blessings slide efficaciously into faithfull hearts from her holy hands who is appointed by her all-powerfull Son to be the charitable Dispensatrix of his divin treasures and the Common Mother of all the pious Christians which are regenerated in Baptism by his most pretious Blood and Passion For as all they who are predestinated to glory are properly Gods Children since they have the self same heavenly Father by Grace Adoption which the Son of God hath by Birth and Nature according to that expression of S. John Behold how great the Fathers goodnes is towards us for that we are call'd are the Sons of God And as the Eternall Father in begetting his Co-eternall Son gives part of the honour of this Divin Filiation to such as he foresees conformable to his Sons Image so that they may truly call him their Father who is the Father of Gods Son as himsef expresly declares by teaching us to say Our Father which art in heaven So the Son in his human generation given him by a Mother upon earth is pleas'd to make his friends partakers with himself in the title of his Temporall Filiation by giving them the same Mother whom he chose for himself whereby they become Brethren to Gods Son both on the Fathers side who adopts them and on the Mothers side who by her own Sons will and command acknowledges them for her Children Behold your Mother said our Saviour to all his friends and Brethren represented in Saint Johns person Behold your Children said he to the sacred Virgin shewing her Saint John who represented all the faithfull Words appointing her our Mother and adopting us her Sons Words recommending to Her a Maternall care and affection towards us and to us a filiall duty and reverence towards Her Nor are we only
patience there being no Pope since Sixtus the fourth who hath not freely opened the Churches Storehouse and added new priviledges prerogatives and benefits unto his predecessors liberalitie in so much as I find above forty authentick Bulls and Instruments issued forth of that highest spirituall Court for the approbâ—tion confirmation and ornament of this renowned Arch-Confraternity of the Rosary Fourthly I may add to this large inventory of spirituall profits That to be of this Confraternity is a probable sign of being predestinated to eternall feliâ—ity For if with the holy you shall be holy sayes the Psalmist and with the Elect elected what better sign of holiness what surer token of election can one have in this life than to be associated with so many good Souls aspiring zealously and unanimously to piety to perfection to salvation Fiftly the last profit to let pass many others is a confidence a comfort and a kind of security in the article of Death Death is commonly accompanied with three corrosives Bitterness because of the Cessation of all pleasures the pâ—ivation of all worldly riches the separation of body and Soul two ancient friends and companions Danger because of the dire conflicts and dismall temptations of the then most busy devill Dread and terrour because of the doubtfull and severe judgment immediatly ensuing Now the devout and diligent members of this sacred Confraternity are exempt from the most part of these alarm's For death seems not to them so bitter because long before expected prevented pâ—ovided for The enemies assaults and temptations are not to them so dreadfull and dangerous because the dayly use of their spirituall weapons renders them expert in these combats able to foil their adversaries and experienc'd to defend themselves The apprehension of Gods Judgments is not to them so terrible because they continually think of them and accordingly order their Life and actions discharge their consciences of sin practise works of piety and endeavour to acquire the sacred Virgins favour in hope to have her then their friend and advocate which is surely the best way to dy with safety and security The just man dy's says Saint Bernard as well as the wicked yet the just man dy's with this advantage and assurance that the ending of his life here is the entrance into a better Life hereafter and therefore he living dy's to the world that dying he may begin to live to God O Life truly holy O Death truly happy where the conscience is pure and the Soul unspotted These are some part of the spirituall profits which proceed from this renowned Society of the ROSARY It now remains that I briefly tell you how you may become capable to participate of these priviledges and prerogatives and what duty and devotion befits the faithfull servants of the sacred Virgin Mary and the true members of this most holy Society For it is not enough to have registred your names in the Rosary Catalogue to enter with the rest into her Chappell to be externally associated to this Confraternity but in the first place 1. You must resolve upon an honest honourable holy life A reformation of your manners a renouncing of all vice and vanity a pursute of all vertu piety perfection Yea you must strive to surpass in devotion and sanctity all such other worldlings as have not that honour and happyness you have to be of the blessed Virgins familie for you O devout Rosarists have dedicated your selves more particularly to God service you make a more speciall profession to honour his holy Mother than they who walk in the wide track of the World and if you surpass them not in perfection how deserve you the title of her particular servants If you make not appear in your lives and actions more Modestie Humilitie Patience Piety Devotion and all sorts of vertues than others how are you worthy to be her speciall friends and favourite Finally if you pretend to be truly her children and domesticks she expects from you cleaness of heart purity of conscience sanctity of life and conversation 2. And in order to obtain this mundicity purity and sacntity you must have a high esteem and make frequent use of the Sacrament of Penance as being the main Pillar of a spirituall life the soveraign Medicin to recover our Souls decayed health the first and fundamentall step to all perfection Yes every Christian who hath any Zeal for his own salvation much more we who make a profession of somewhat more than ordinary devotion must presently upon his lapse into mortall sin dispose his Soul to Contrition his mouth to Confession his hands to Satisfaction his body to Penance which is the true Dâ—ttany curing these bitings the wholsom Mithridat expelling these poysons the clear Fountain cleansing us from these filths and impurities O how important is the observation of this point to all pretenders to piety and perfection and how prejudiciall the neglect of it For first a Soul faln into one mortall sin hath set the dore open to let in a second and that makes way for many followers Such is the weight of sin says St. Gregory that it bears dow the Soul under it and sways the inclination to commit more and more on Abyssus calling on another Secondly a Soul in mortall sin looses all her good works all merit all hope of Heaven all title to eternall happyness no alms avail her no prayers profit her no austerities help her no good actions can open to her the gates of Paradise without the key of an intire confession or a true Contrition Thirdly sin as it gains time gets strength becoms insensibly master of the Soul shutts up the dores against the divin mercy and at length leaves her in despair of pardon and makes her give over all hopes of favour and petitioning for grace Ah! what comfort what confidence what means of salvation is left to a miserable Soul that wilfully persevers in her impiety The longer she stays in it the deeper she sinks into it the lesse she deserves favour the more highly she provokes Heavens anger and revenge Fourthly and which is yet worse a Soul wounded with mortall sin and uncured by Confession or Contrition is continually worried with a worm of remorse and if she be grown so insensible as not to feel now its gnawings she shall surely resent its dismall bitings at the approaching hour of death and much more piercingly after her departure when this worm that devours her shall never dy where the fire that burns her shall never be extinguished Behold the inevitable ruins the irreparable losses the unexplicable miseries which are by them incurred who after their fall delay to do Penance Let it be therefore your chief care O devout Rosarists to arise speedily to present your selves presently to the Tribunall of confession to announce your frailty renounce your impiety that so you may obtain grace to walk afterwards more warily For as a spot or stain is sooner rubbed off at first than
of certain spirituall exercises tending to the common end of our Creation the fervour and good examples of his faithfull Associats warm his Tepidity excite his Piety and add the continuall fewell of courage and constancy to his holy Resolutions according to that saying of the Wiseman Si unus ceciderit fulcietur ab altero c. where many are united together if one falls he may be rais'd up by his fellow and if one be assaulted two may be able to repulse the adversary For Funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur A triple cord says he is not easily broken And one man alone is as a small single slender threed feeble frail and easily pash'd in peeces but being twisted and ty'd to many others by the strong bands of a spirituall friendship he becoms formidable to all his Infernall Enemyes And this by reason of the mutuall succour of their multipli'd prayers and merits according to that pithy expression of Saint Ambrose Dum singuli orant pro omnibus sequitur ut omnes orent pro singulis When as every single person pray's for all it follows that all pray for every single person Now though generally in all confraternities there is a Communication of prayers merits and spirituall goods yet not in all alike And this is the particular point wherein this Arch-Confraternity of the Rosary seems to excell all others In which according to their severall Institutes Approbations Intentions this participation of Prayers and Communitie of Merits is confin'd to some certain place where they are receiv'd and to that congregation whereof they are children and members Whereas the Brethren and Sisters of this Arch-confraternitie being any where receiv'd are every where priviledg'd and who so is inroll'd in this Book of our Blessed Lady of Power is forthwith made a happy partaker of all their spirituall perfections who are registred in Rome in Paris in any place of the whole universe The learned Doctor Navar gives the reason hereof Because says he this Communication is express'd and declar'd in the Statuts Erections and Confirmations of this Confraternity without which particular expression they could not enjoy that speciall priviledg For confraternities are certain associations of severall people together In societatem autem non veniunt nisi bona expressa say the Jurists In Societies there is no farther communication of any goods amongst the associated persons than only of such as are express'd in the contract of association Therefore proceeds this famous Canonist Hanc communicationem universalem ipse tanto magis suspicio quanto minus memini logere per aliarum Confratriarum Statuta esse similem factam I set a higher price upon this Confraternity by reason of this universall Communication for that I remember not to have read the like in the constitutions of any other Confraternity Besides this Priviledge which gives the Confraternity of the Rosary a precedency before all its collateralls and which is thus briefly here insisted upon not to obscure their lustre but to blazon its own splendor there is yet another in which it also much more surpasses all other confraternities whatsoever Which is The vast Treasure of Indulgences conferr'd upon it by the prime Pastors of the Church there having been no Pope since Sixtus quartus who hath not liberally layd open the Churches Store-house to enrich the sacred Rosary and added new benefits to his predecessors bounty as will apear by the sequall of this discourse §. 11. Of Indulgences in generall BEfore we give in the large Catalogue of Indulgences it may be very convenient to declare the nature reason and ground of all Indulgences with as much brevity and plainess as is possible for their information whose capacities cannot reach the intelligence of School-Divinity It is therefore an assured Tenet amongst all Orthodox Authors as is elsewhere largly declared in our Oration of Indulgences and may be abundantly prov'd by many express'd passages of Holy Writ That when our Mercifull Creator pardons the fault of a converted sinner he doth not always remit the punishment which he hath thereby deserved Adam and Eve the first sinners and the first Penitents were surely pardon'd and yet severely punish'd for neither was he restored to the priviledg of Immortality nor she exempted from the pangs of childing God pardon'd his Idolatrous people by the interecession of Moyses but bids them expect to be punish'd in the day of his revenge Nathan declar'd King David absolv'd from his Adultery and yet God visited him for the chastisement of the same crime with many rigorous adversities Our Originall Sin is remitted in Baptism and yet our understandings remain still punish'd with ignorance our wills with malice and all the faculties of our bodyes and souls with sensualitie and Rebellion against our Reason From which and other infinit examples we must needs infer That when the fault is pardon'd the punishment is not always relaxed and consequently That after our Reconciliation to the Divin Mercy by our due Contrition Confession and Conversion we are still liable to make satisfaction to the Divin Justice This then being suppos'd as most certain First That whosoever offends God mortally on the one side committs a fault and on the other side contracts an Obligation to satisfie for it which are called culpa and poena Secondly That the Fault may be pardon'd by Confession and the penaltie by Penance and satisfaction either in this World or in the next Thirdly That few in this world either do or can fulfill that penance which their sins deserve Hence it is That every sinner stands in need of some forraign assistance to warrant him from the flames of Purgatory in which he must pay Usque ad ultimum quadrantem Even to the last farthing who hath not payd it in this world And this Assistance must necessarily be deriv'd unto us from the superabundant merits of our Blessed Redeemer whose precious Blood Death and Passion is the prime source of all Christians merit and satisfaction Now say our learned Divins The same blood of our Saviour which hath merited for us a Remission of our crimes and a Reconciliation to Gods favour is also applyed to us for the relaxation of our deserv'd punishments By four manners of means First By means of the Sacraments Secondly By means of some Heroique Act of Charitie such as is Martyrdom c. Thirdly By means of satisfactory works done in the state of Grace such as are Almesdeeds Fasting and Prayer Fourthly by the means of Indulgences The First three are the Ordinary means whereby our Redeemers Satisfactions are apply'd unto us The last of Indulgences is the extraordinary means whereby they are also apply'd unto us either by our Saviour himself immediatly or by him instrumentally who is intrusted with this power by our Saviours own concession express'd in these words Tibi dabo claves Regni Coelorum c. I will give to thee O Peter the Keys of my heavenly Kingdom Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth shall be
year of our Redeemer 1571. about the end of Pius quintus's Popedom who was the zealous promotor of this holy war and at the beginning of the Popedom of his no less zealous successor Gregory the thirteenth In which happy conflict twenty of the Enemy's Galley's were consum'd with fire as many more inguif'd by the waves one hundred and fourscore taken the great Bashaw with twenty five thousand Turkish Soldiers slain in the place most of the residue brought away captives twenty thousand Christians freed from their slâ—very and the Catholique Cause asserted from most imminent danger and calamity And this glorious victory was obtain'd as is piously conceiv'd says this holy Pope Gregory in his Bull aforesaid by the Prayers of the devout Rosarists who even at that very time were making their publick Processions in the severall parts of Christendom for this end most earnestly imploring the divin assistance by the Intercession of their powerfull Mother that he would be pleased to protect his Church in her pressing necessity and favour the just designs of those generous souls who were then exposing their lives for the preservation of their Faith Nor did the effect fail but rather exceed their hopes and expectation as hath been briefly declar'd The eleventh Rule THe third Sunday of Aprill is also to be solemniz'd by the devout Rosarists according to the grant of Pope Gregory the 13. in his Bull cum sicut accepimus Jan. 3. 1579. Annotation THe reason of the Institution of this solemnity was the signall Miracle which hapned in the City of Pavia and which was briefly thus When in the year 1578. all Italy and particularly Lumbardy and more particularly the City Pavia was afflicted with a violent Plague The Inhabitants by advice of the then and there Director of the Rosary had recourse to the sacred Virgin-Mother in this their extreme and urgent necessity vowing to erect a Chappell which should be dedicated Virgini liberatrici after their deliverance from this eminent danger The Mother of Mercy heard their prayers obtain'd for them a present redress of their miseries an entire cessation of the raging Pestilence and they gratefully perform'd their promises building a most sumptuous Chappell to her honour Seraphinus Siccus Generall of St. Dominicks Order was an eye-witness of this famous Miracle And Pope Gregory the 13. gave most ample and Plenary Indulgences to all such as should devoutly visit the Chappell aforesaid upon the third Sunday of April which Indulgences were afterwards extended by the same Gregory 13. and Sixtus quintus to all the other Confraternities of the sacred Rosary throughout the world §. 15. The form of receiving Brothers and Sisters into this sacred Confraternity With the blessing of their Bedes Roses and Candles And a form of Generall Absolution at the hour of Death WHen the Dean of the Rosary hath maturely and prudently consider'd the quality and condition of the person who desires an admittance into this sacred Confraternity Which is a caution onely necessary for such Countreys and places where the Catholique Faith and profession is under restraint and where there may be danger of Persecution For where our Religion is permitted to its full and free exercise there needs no scruple be made of admitting any one to the Rosary who humbly petitions for it unless it be such a Person whose life and conversation is notoriously and publickely scandalous without hope of his being reclaim'd from his wickedness He writes down his name and enrolls him in the Register-book of the Rosary Which done he causes the man or woman to kneell down before the Altar of the Rosary if it be there present or some other devout picture or in any place whatsoever as opportunity shall permit with a Rosary-Candle in his or her hand and speaks to them briefly in this or the like manner Think with your selves dear and devout Brethren and Sisters that you are now entring into a spatious and specious Garden full fraught with all sorts of spirituall fruits and flowers A Garden wherein sinners may find food to convert them the Good means to better them the Bad motives to correct them the Just way 's to confirm them the Tepid occasions to excite them the Desolate helps to comfort them the Weak cordialls to strengthen them the Sick Physick to cure them and all Faithfull Christians fit conveniencies to save their soul 's which is the end of our creation the period of our pretensions the Crown of all our laborious endeavours in this our earthly Pilgrimage Now these fruits are not only to be gaz'd upon and admired but to be gathered swallow'd disgested Nor is it sufficient to have your names enrolled in the Rosary Catalogue and to be externally associated to this sacred Confraternity but you must seriously resolve upon an honest honorable holylife and conversation a detestation of sin vice and vanity and in brief a totall reformation of your whol outward and inward man For since you desire to dedicate your selves this day particularly to Gods service and to make a speciall profession of honouring his sacred Mother for the future by becoming a member of her family you must also endeavour to surpass such others as pretend not to this height holiness and happiness in all sorts of Christian piety vertu and perfection That so really corresponding to what you outwardly promise you may deserve to obtain her desired Patronage and Protection Say therefore with heart and mouth as follows The Form of offering ones self to the Blessed Virgin THrice sacred Virgin Mary Mother of God! I. N.N. though most unworthy to be registred amongst your servants yet moov'd by that Goodness which the Angells admire in you to an ardent desire of honouring loving and serving you do here this day withall possible humility sincerity and devotion in the presence of my Angell Guardian and the whole Court of Heaven make choyce of you for my singular Lady Advocate and Mother firmely purposing to honour love and serve you with all filiall duty diligence and fidelity and to procure as much as it shall lye in my power that all others may do the same I therfore most heartily beseech you O mercifull and compassionate Mother by the pretious Blood which your dearly beloved son my Blessed Saviour shed for me in his bitter passion That you will be graciously pleased to receive and admit me into the number of your devout Clients as one dedicated to your perpetuall service Be you favourable to me O Blessed Lady and obtain for me of your All-powerfull Son that I may so behave my self in all my Thoughts Words and Actions as never more to think speak or act any thing displeasing to his sacred Majestie Grant furthermore O my good and gracious Mother that I may never forget you nor forfeit this my now made promise of honouring loving and serving you all the days of my life that so I may never be forgotten forsaken nor abandoned by you but be always protected aided and
Rosa Puritatis Palma Virens Virga Florens Gemma Refulgens Oliva speciosa Columba Formosa Mulier Gratiosa Rubus Incombuftus Hortus Conclusus Puteus Signatus Vellus Gedeonis Favus Sampsonis Thronus Salomonis Vitis fructificans Navis abundans Arca Salvans Gloria Saeculi Honor Populi Nutrix Parvuli Regina Angelorum Regina Patriarcharum Regina Prophetarum Regina Apostolorum Regina Martyrum Regina Confessorum Regina Praedicatorum Regina Virginum Regina Sanctorum Omnium Regina Sanctissimi Rosarii Ab omni malo Peccato Libera nos Domina Per salutiferam Nativitatem beatam Praesentationem tuam Te rogamus Domina Per sanctam Purificationem caelestem vitam tuam Te rogamus Domina Per admirabilem Assumptionem gloriosam Coronationem tuam Te rogamus Domina Ut veram paenitentiam perseverantiam nobis impetrare digneris Te rogamus Domina Ut Ecclesiasticos ordines Catholicos Princâ—pes conservare digneris Te rogamus Domina Ut hanc nostram Cunctasque Congregâ—tiones tibi devotas augeâ—e Conservare digneris Te rogamus Domina Ut hanc nostram Cunctasque Congregationes tibi devotas augere conservare digneris Te Rogamus Domina Ut Populo Christiano Pacem salutem abundantiam obtinere digneri Te rogamus Domina Ut Navigantibus portum pro Fide pugnantibus Victoriam Fidelibus vitam defunctis Requiem aeternam Impetrare digneris Te rogamus Domina Vers Ave de coelis Alma Resp Sucurre nobis Domina Vers Ave de coelis Pia Resp Fer opem nobis Domina Vers Ave de coelis Dulcis Resp Intercede pro nobis Domina Vers Sancta Maria Mater Christi Resp Audi rogantes servulos impetratam nobis coelitus tu defer Indulgentiam Vers Orate pro nobis omnes Sancti Dei Resp Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi Vers Salvos fac servos tuos Ancillas tuas Resp Deus meus sperantes in te Oremus SUpplicationem servorum tuorum Deus miserator exaudi ut qui in Societate sanctissimi Rosarii Dei genitricis Virginis Mariae congregamur ejus intercessionibus a te de instantibus perisulis eruamur Deus cujus unigenituâ— per vitam mortem Resurrectionem in nostrae carnis substantia nobis salutis aeternae praemia comparavit Da famulis tuis haec omnia per Sanctum Rosarium recensentibus imitari quod gessit sentire quae pertulit assequi quod promisit Tribue quaesumus Domine omnes Angelos Sanctos tuos jugiter pro nobis orare cos clementer exaudire digneris Ecclesiae tuae Domine preces placatus admitte ut destructis adversitatibus erroribus universis secura tibi serviat libertate Custodi Domine famulum tuum N. Patronum nostrum pro quo Majestati tuae supplicam us ut in fide Catholica constans perseveret ac vita hujus pericula illaesus pertranseat nullisq tentati nibus a te summâ— bono unquam so paretur Remittantur illi quaesumus peccata quibus iram tuam promeruit Augeatur in eo justitia Tibi Majoribus Proximis exhibenda Vocationi suae in qua degit probe satisfaciat aequè in prosperis atque in adversis rebus sese moderatè gerat Atque finem Vitae faelicem te duce conseqatur Corpus illius Animam Vitam mortem tuae divinae gratiae magnoperè commendamus ut Benedictionis tuae Virtute in Viis omnibus dirigatur contra omnes hostium tam visibilium quam invisibilium insidias defendatur Per Christum Dominum nostrum Vers Ave Maria Resp Gratia plena Vers Dominus tecum Resp Benedicta tu in mulieribus Benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus Jesus Christus Amen Vers Sancta Maria Mater Dei ora pro nobis Peccatoribus nunc in hora mortis nostrae Resp Et fidelibus defunctis requiem sempiternam impetra Amen Benedictio Nos cum Prole pia Benedicat Virgo †Maria. A devout recommendation to the ever blessed Virgin after Procession O Mother of Mercy Mother of Power Mother of Jesus Mother and Advocate of poor and repentant Sinners to whom your care and affection is greater than that of a Mother to her child Into your sacred hands and heart I do most humbly recommend this day and for ever my body and soul all that I am and have my life and my death that in all I may seek your Sons honour and find my own happiness Beg for me O blessed Mother diligence to seek Jesus love to find him obedience to follow him purity to see him charity to embrace him patience to suffer for him devotion to sigh after him indifferencie to adhere to him and perseverance to remain with him for evermore O Empress of Heaven Beauty of Angells and Lady of Love How long shall nature sensuality and selfishness bear sway How long shall I seek and not find sigh and not enjoy live and not truly love Jesus and Mary the good Son and glorious Mother the holy Fruit and happy Tree O my compassionate Mother obtain for me your poor child counsell in all my doubts comfort in all my distresses courage in all my temptations and confidence in all my troubles Help me O holy Mother of my Lord Jesus to be truly humble in my self truly devout and loyall to my God truly obedient to my Superiors and truly meek to all Be you alwaies mindfull of me O my dear Mother both living and dying and then especially have a care of me when I forget my self by falling into Sin and when my Soul must be forc'd out of my Body by death that after death I may see praise and love both you and your Son Jesus for all eternity Amen THE LITANIES OF OUR BLESSED LADY OF LORETTO So called For that they are usually sung in that sacred Church of Loretto upon all the Saturdays in the year and Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary THE pious Rosarists may please to take notice that some years since there were certain Religious Persons who agreed together to recite daily these holy Litanies for the happy death of each other to whom many thousands joyn'd themselvs throughout all Italy Spain France Germany and the Indies And why should nor the like sacred Association be established also in our Countrey amongst such devout Christians as are equally zealous of the Blessed Virgins honour and as much desirous of a happy death We therefore the Compilers of this Book do hereby declare unto all you the devout Children and Servants of our Common-Mother the ever Blessed Virgin Mary that we intend henceforth to recite daily these following Litanies for each others happy death And that we do now even by these presents without any further declaration or ceremony admit receive and associate unto our selv's and to a joynt Communication with us in these our prayers All such as being desirous therof shall mutually perform these three following points 1. Recite daily these Litanies
body peace of minde quiet of conscience assist us against all our visible and invisible adversaries destroy in us all carnal and worldly desires impart wholsomness unto the Air and to the Earth fruitfulness unite the hearts both of our Friends and of our Enemies in true love and charity defend all them of our Confraternity of the sacred Rosary from all contagious diseases from all plaguy infection and from all heretical cruelty and incursion Protect our chief Pastor our Superiors the Clergy and the whol Body of the Catholick Church from all misery and adversity give prosperity to the living and rest to the departed and let your divin blessing be upon us all this day and evermore Amen IV. A Prayer for the conversion of Hereticks and Infidels O Almighty and all-mercifull God! who seekest and desirest the salvation of all souls Take pity we beseech thee upon all such as are seduced with pestiferous errors and segregated from the unity of thy sacred Church Pardon them O Lord for they perceive not what they do Illuminate the eyes of their understanding O true light of all spirits that they may see their own blindness and seeing it may speedily abandon it and that so becoming sincerely reconciled to thee the supream Shepherd and to thy Church the onely safe Sheep-fold they may joyfully praise and magnifie thy mercies together with us thy faithfull Children for evermore Amen V. A Prayer for a special Friend PReserve O Lord this your servant and our Benefactor N. for whom we humbly offer up these our Petitions to your sacred Majestie beseeching you to grant him a perseverant constancy in the Catholick Faith a safe passage through this lives dangerous pilgrimage and that no worldly carnal or diabolical temptations may have the power to separate him from you his prime and onely good Pardon his sins we beseech you whereby he hath deserv'd your indignation Increase his justice due to your self and to his neighbour give him grace to correspond to the calling and condition wherein you have plac'd him let him be equally moderate patient resign'd in adversity and in prosperity direct him in all his ways and defend him against all his enemies and grant him finally a happy death and departure out of this world and a speedy passage after death to the fruition of your eternal felicity VI. A Prayer for a Friend in Tribulation VOuchsafe we beseech you O mercifull Creator to afford the sweetness of your consolation to your afflicted servant N. Remove O Lord according to your good pleasure the heavy burthen of his calamities give him patience in his sufferings resignation to your providence perseverance in your service and a happy translation from this calamitous life to eternal glory VII A Prayer for a Friend in his sickness and infirmity O Sovereign Lord God! the Author of our health and our comfort in sickness in the watch of whose divin providence run all the moments of our lives earthly pilgrimage Hear we beseech you the prayers which we pour out before you for N. your infirm but faithfull servant and mercifully restore him to his former welfare that he may henceforth walk more worthy of his calling and make greater progress in Christian virtue and piety But if it be your pleasure O supream Lord of life and death to call him hence to Eternity let your most just will O heavenly Father be accomplished in this and in all things whatsoever onely let Death finde him well prepared and rightly dispos'd Let him humbly kiss your paternal rod which chastiseth him and patiently submit to the cross which your loving hand hath laid upon his shoulders let him behave himself during the remaining time of his infirmity as befits a pious and devout Christian free from pusillanimity and despair full of hope and filial confidence And finally being strengthned with the Sacraments reconcil'd to his Enemies and setled in your grace and favour let him chearfully expect and joyfully embrace Death's summons and his bodies and souls separation Amen VIII A Prayer for our Enemies Detractors and Persecutors O Meek and mercifull Lord Jesu the great Master Exemplar and Practiser of Peace Charity and Union amongst men Who hast commanded us to love our Enemies and to do good for them that hate us and who pray'd on the Cross for your capital Adversaries increase within us we most humbly beseech you the spirit of Christian charity meekness and sweetness that we may freely sincerely and heartily forgive all such as have any way offended us injur'd us or persecuted us and that we may conquer all our Enemies malice by our fraternal compassion and affection Bestow on them also O blessed Saviour the same spirit of perfect peace love and charity and powerfully defend us from all their treachery and deceits Amen IX A Prayer for a Woman great with Child or labouring in Child-bed O Most dread Sovereign who for the just punishment of the first Womans prevarication have pronounced and imposed a severe and unavoydable sentence of malediction upon all Woman-kinde to wit that they should conceive their Children in Original sin that having conceiv'd them they should be subject to many miseries and that they should bring them forth with the hazard of their own lives we most humbly beseech you O undrainable Fountain of goodness and mercy that you will be gratiously pleased by your Blessed Mothers pious intercession to mitigate the rigorous edict of this general Law in behalf of this your poor Handmaid now labouring in the pangs of Child-bed and to give her courage comfort and patience in her sorrows Grant that in due time she may be happily and speedily deliver'd that the Child she bears in her womb may be brought forth into the world accompanied with all such perfections of body soul and senses as are befitting our human nature that it may live to be re-born by sacred Baptism and that both the Child and the Mother may become your faithfull servants Amen X. A Prayer to appease the Divin Indignation in any publick or private necessity WHen we compare O Lord your punishments with our own impieties we are forc'd to confess that our crimes do far exceed your chastisements We are sensible of our sins penalty but we leave not our sinfull pertinacy our sick minds are troubled but our stiff necks are not bowed our life languishes under the burthen of our afflictions and yet we amend not our wicked actions we acknowledg our misdeeds in the day of correction and we forget what we bewail'd after the visitation If you O Lord stretch forth your hand to strike us we make you large promises if you sheath your sword we fail in our performances If you scourge us we petition you to spare us if you mercifully spare us we again maliciously provoke you to scourge us Behold O dread Sovereign you have us self-accused adjudged condemned and we well know that unless you will pardon us we must needs perish Grant unto us O
also imbuing me with his goodness rendred me so full of Grace that whosoever seeks grace and favour by my means may surely find it And by that sentence Our Lord is with thee I am reminded of the ineffable union and operation which the whole Trinity wrought within me when he coupled the substance of my flesh to his own Divin Nature in one Person God becoming Man and man God Surely the sweetness I then felt exceeds all expression By the following words Blessed art thou amongst Women all Mankind admiringly confesses my singular priviledges prerogatives and perfections above all other pure creatures And lastly By Blessed is the fruit of thy Womb he is pray'sd extoll'd and magnifi'd who made me thus blessed by vouchsafing to be born of me Thus much of the first effect of this divin Salutation 2. This Slutation strikes the Devill with terrour and each word thereof exceedingly troubles torments and confounds him For Ave or Hail displeases the Devill because by Eve he had procured mans wo and misery which by this Ave is redressed Mary he cannot abide because she bruised his head Full of Grace affrights him who is full of malice Our Lord is with thee renews his torment because himself was formerly with Eve and the greatest part of her posterity til he became disposess'd by Christs being with Mary Blessed art thou amongst Women exceedingly troubles him because he by Eve had brought a Malediction upon all mankind which by Mary was cancell'd and chang'd into a Benediction Blessed is the fruit of thy Womb Jesus utterly confounds him because by this blessed fruit of Mary he was totally defeated and conquered 3. This Salutation brings great profit to mankind and if we will seriously dive into the hidden sense and meaning of each syllable wherof it is compos'd we shall every where find some evill to be repell'd or some good thing acquir'd Let us therefore frequently make our humble addresses to the most holy Virgin Mary saying Ave Hail O Immaculate Mother you were free from all wo and blemish of sin help me who am therewith defil'd and defend me from the Eternall wo I have thereby deserved Mary O Virgin Illuminated of God Illuminatrix of Blind sinners Bright Star of the Sea and the worlds beautifull Lady Enlighten my eyes that I may not sleep in death and plead my cause at your Sons Tribunall that I may be preserv'd from blindness of heart and finall Impenitencie Full of Grace O Mary you found grace with God to become his dearly beloved Spouse Daughter and Mother to be indu'd with all vertues excellencies and perfections to be honour'd and exalted above all creatures and to be crown'd Queen of Heaven Impart to me so much grace out of this your great plenty as may procure my reconciliation to your Sons favour and friendship Our Lord is with thee And O sacred Mother let him by your powerfull means be with me also He was with you In your Soul spiritually in your Body corporally and let him be here with me by Faith charity spiritually and hereafter by vision and fruition eternally Blessed art thou amongst Women O most Blessed Mother bestow a Mothers blessing upon me your child and free me by your merits and intercession from all future curse and malediction And blessed is the fruit of thy Womb Jesus O Eternally Blessed Jesu be unto me a Jesus O Mary be unto me a Mother Thus both Saints and sinners may find sufficient fewell for their devotion in the recitall of this divin Salutation They for the encrease of their sanctity These for the redress of their misery And what pious Christian will not be henceforth stirr'd up the fervent and frequent use of this Salutation which is so short and yet so sweet and so full of celestiall fruits and profits and to which they are invited says the mellifluous S. Bernard by Gabriels example by the Baptists exultation and by the hopes of gaining a resalutation O happiness to be met with reciprocall courtesies by so holy so honourable so powerfull a Mother and to be repay'd with rich and reall gifts benefits for our verbal salutations and services For she will not be backward says Albertus to answer us nor silent to resalute us because she is the Mother of humility civility and courtesie and her resalutation is a collation of all sorts of spirituall favours and benefits Let us therefore O my Brethren says S. Bernard come before her sacred Image or Representative and with bended knees imprint upon it our kisses saluting her and saying Hail Mary full of Grace our Lord is with thee c. The fourth Part of the Rosary is the Meditation upon the Fifteen Mysteries whereof Five are call'd Joyfull Five Dolorous and Five Glorious as shall be hereafter more particularly set down and described Now since the great fruits and Profits which redound to pious souls by the devout reflexion upon these divin Mysteries and the same may be said of all internall Prayer are much more easily experienced than explicated And also since this is largly deliver'd by severall learned Authors upon the subject of Mentall Prayer and Meditation we shall only here give you most devout Rosarists some few rules and cautions whereby you may understand how to manage these your Meditations for your best spirituall profit and advantage Whosoever therefore will fruitfully meditate upon the Joyfull and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary First must do it with a certain intimate and affectionate congratulation of heart and soul as holy Church invites us in the person of the sacred Virgin Congratulate with me all yee that love our Lord for that I being a little one have pleas'd the most high and have born God and man in my bowellâ—… for by this sincere congratulation we become sweetly transform'd into the holy Virgins affections feeling as it were the same Joys wherewith her heart was replenish'd Secondly It must be done with a due and gratefull thanksgiving for the Benefitts bestow'd upon us and upon the Blessed Virgin Praysing God for his Mercies with her and by her example in her divine Magnificat Thirdly It must be done with a devout attention and recollection without which all prayer and meditation as our Reason dictates and the Angelicall Doctor proves will be altogether fruitless and unprofitable In like manner whosoever will reap true profit by reflecting upon the Dolorous Mysteries must do it First with a mind and intention to imitate the Patience Humility Piety and whatsoever vertue he finds there exemplifi'd 2. To compassionate with our loving Redeemer and his dear Mother in their sufferings 3. To admire our Saviours Mercy and Goodness Considering Who What For whom And from whom he endured 4. To rejoyce at our own Redemption and at the Angells Reparation 5. To transform our selves by sincere affection as it were into our Crucifi'd Saviour 6. To rest sweetly upon that sacred object making it our place of retreat and refuge and hiding
Son our Lord. I Believe in the second Person of the sacred Trinity the Son whom the Father begot from all Eternity communicating to him all his own Essence Greatness Perfection who continuing God became Man for the Salvation of Sinners was nam'd Christ Jesus and is the Soveraign Lord and King of all Souls O divin word which descended from Heaven to Earth to deliver me from sin and Satan be you my Lord by Election as you are by Creation and Redemption I freely give and bequeath my self to you for your perpetuall Bondslave Live O Jesu and reign in my Soul as you do in the whol extent of this large Universe Who was conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary I Believe that Gods Son that he might become Man did vouchsafe to unite to his divin Person a Rationall soul and a human body which the Holy Ghost miraculously form'd in the chast bowels of the blessed Virgin Mary and of her proper and pure blood so that he was truly conceiv'd in her and truly born by her without any prejudice to her Virginity O Jesu the lover of Purity who chose the chastest woman of the World for your Mother by the Immaculate Purity of your Conception and Nativitie give me the gift and grace of purity of Life and Conversation Suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucify'd dead and buryed I Believe that the Son of God Incarnate endured very severe Torments in his humanity for the Worlds Redemption that he was adjudg'd to dy by the Prefident Pilate and that after his death he was buryed and laid in a Sepulchre O Jesu the Redeemer of my Soul your death is the only hope of my Life be you graciously pleas'd to apply to me one single drop of your sacred Bloud and I shall rest secure in this Life and be happy for all Eternitie He descended into Hell the third day he arose again from the Dead I Believe that in the death of my blessed Saviour his Soul was really seperated for a time from his Body to descend into that part of Hell which was call'd Limbus Patrum where all such souls as from the Worlds first beginning departed this life in a good estate were till then detaind I believe that he deliver'd them from that Dungeon and that upon the third day his Soul return'd to his buryed Body became reunited unto it and rays'd it up to Life and Immortality O most glorious Soul of Christ my Saviour which thus mercifully visited the Patriarchs lying in the sad Prison of Limbus vouchsafe to give me also a gracious vâ—sit that whil'st I live I may duly and devoutly love and honour you and when my Soul shall be call'd out of this imprisoning Body it may be rays'd up to Contemplate admire and prayse your greatness goodness and glorie for all Eternitie He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Allmightie I Believe that Jesus my Redeemer being by his own power resuscitated from death to life ascended up to Heaven by his own strength where he sits at the right hand of God his Father to whom he is every way equall as the chief of all the Blessed full of glory and felicity O Jesu my Redeemer how worthy are you thus to triumph to reign to be exalted above all creatures But O forget not in the state of your greatness the condition of your miserable Creature bought with the price of your precious Bloud O King of glory grant that all my thoughts words actions and desires may aym at nothing but your only honour From thence he shall come to judge the Quick and the Dead I Believe that Christ Jesus when he shall please to put a Period to time and all sublunary things will descend visibly from Heaven in his glorious Humanity to judg all Manking both the good and the bad and publickly to reward to punish every one according to their works Ah! just Judg of all consciences what shall I then do or what shall I answer when you shall question me concerning my whol lives transactions I believe in the Holy Ghost I Believe in the third person of the sacred Trinitie the Holy Ghost who joyntly proceeds both from the Father and from the Son and is to them equall in Greatness in Majestie in all things whatsoever O sacred Spirit the God of Infinit Love and Charity breath upon my flinty heart mollify it into meekness towards my Neighbour and melt it into the sweet affections of your pure and perfect Love I believe the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints I Believe the Catholick Church to be the only Church of Christ that it is holy universall apostolical and infallible in things appertaining to Faith and that in this Church there are found many pious Souls pleasing to the divin Majesty which mutually help each other by their prayers and good works O my Lord and my God! I render you most humble and hearty thanks for having made me a child and member of this holy Church in which I have so great hopes and so many helps to save my soul give me your grace good Jesu that I may improve this signall favour and persever in this saving Faith that from it I may pass to the clear vision of your prepared glory The Forgiveness of Sins I Believe that God is both able and willing to forgive me my Sins and that he hath left power in his Church to remit them be they never so heynous and enormous and this especially by the Priests absolution in the Sacrament of Penance O God of Infinit goodness and mercy let all Creatures Eternally prayse and magnifie your sacred Name for having given such power to men and such comfort to poor sinners The Resurrection of the Flesh I Believe that the very body in which my Soul now lives and breaths and all human bodyes though after death they are redâ—c'd into dust in their graves shall at the end of the World and at the great day of generall Judgment be rays'd to lâ—fe by Gods omnipotent command and his Angells ministry to be then rejoyn'd to their same souls and to live for evermore O Dread Soveraign in whose hands are life and death and to whose beck all things are obedient Ingrave deeply in my heart and soul the hope of a happy Resurrection that the horrour of this temporall dissolution and death of my body may not over-terrify and dismay me And life everlasting Amen I Believe that the good shall live in Heavenly glory for all Eternitie and that the wicked shall live eternally in infernall torments O good God! grant that I may so live in your grace during this my short Pilgrimage that I my live with you in glorie in your Eternall Paradise Amen §. 3. Of the Pater Noster or our Lords Prayer The second part of the Rosary THe Pater Noster is the Prayer which our Lord Jesus taught his disciples informing them from his own sacred mouth
then ponder his love to mankind in generall and to your self in particular c. The second Rule which concerns the action of your will is That you pass speedily from speculative discourses to devout affections and self-reflections as for example had you been in the Bethleem stable aforesaid how diligently would you have employ'd your self in the service of little Jesus and his loving Mother How willingly would you have pick'd up sticks made a fire ayr'd his swaths and fetch'd or carryed whatsoever might have been usefull for their solace and succour c. Such like reflections will rayse enflam'd desires and firm resolutions in your soul of better loving and serving both the Son and Mother for the future and of suffering for his sake who suffered so much for yours c. And in some such manner you may conclude each mysterie by some particular resolution drawn from the subject of the meditation either of correcting such an imperfection or of exercising such a vertu and assure your self that if you presently apply your self to the practise of such well made resolutions humbly imploring the divin assistance therein by the blessed Virgins Intercession you shall find it a most speedy and efficacious means to the amendment of your life the extirpation of vice the implanting of vertu and finally much conducing to your generall advancement in all sorts of spirituall Perfections 3 You may also represent to your self the sacred Virgin Sometimes as sitting or kneeling in her silent and solitary retreat and attentively listning to the Angell Gabriels Salutation and Embassy Other times as infolding gently her sweet Infant Jesus in her sacred arms imbracing him tenderly in her bosom suckling him lovingly at her breasts watching him carefully with her eyes cherishing him affectionatly with her kisses contemplating him devoutly with her heart Other times as painfully wayting on him from place to place in the time of his Passion sorrowfully standing by him at the foot of his Cross cheerfully rejoycing with him at his Resurrection Other times as gloriously reigning in Heaven mercifully vouchsafing to hearken to our prayers and piously presenting them to her Son Or otherwise according to the severall mysteries and sutably to each ones gust and devotion 4. You are also here to be exhorted to propose to your self the cause whether common or particular which moves you now to the recitall of the Rosary as for example I intend now to prayse my Lord God for the benefit of my Creation Redemption Vocation c. Or In the honour of my Saviours sacred Nativity bitter Passion glorious Resurrection admirable Ascention c. Or In the honour of the blessed Virgins Annunciation Visitation Assumption Coronation c. Or I intend to render thanks to my Creator for such a particular favour as for mine own or my friends Conversion delivery from danger c. Or any other privat or publick benefit Or I intend to implore the divin assistance for the overcoming of such a Temptation extirpating such a vice obtaining such a vertu Or For a good success in such an affair Or that I may make a happy progress in my Studies c. Consider therefore briefly at the beginning of your prayers what it is that you chiefly intend and if it be any temporall or worldly benefit which you desire to obtain be sure you demand it not absolutely but only conditionally as thus If it please the divin Majesty and that it is for my good and his glory I humbly beg a happy end of such a Law-sute success in such a journey prosperity in such an undertaking c. 5. Then taking your Bedes in hand or having this your Book open before you begin your Rosary with the sign of the Cross saying In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen 6. Then adding this Preparatorie Prayer of the Church Aperi Domine os meum ctc. O Lord Open my mouth to bless your holy name purge my heart from all vain wicked and wandring thoughts enlighten my understanding and inflame my affections that reciting this Rosary with due reverence attention and devotion I may be graciously heard by your divin Majesty through the merits of your Son our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus 7. Then making a Profession of your Faith with heart and mouth say I believe in God the Farher Almightie Creator of Heaven and Earth c. 8. After your Creed recite thrice your Hail Mary upon the three grains which are commonly plac'd at the head of your Rosary saluting the blessed Virgin in honour of her three singular Prerogatives Of being 1. The Daughter of the Eternall Father 2. The Mother of the Eternall Son 3. The Spouse of the Holy Ghost 9. Then Reflecting upon the first mysterie say our Father and ten Hail Maries and so pass on to the second and the rest of the Decades according to the order hereafter described and in the end of every Decade you are to say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen Then recite these verses devoutly These Prayers Angelical with bended knee We offer holy Virgin up to thee Steer us a prosperous course while here we tarry And in deaths Pangs assist us blessed Mary Remember Virgin that no age hath known Any by thee deserted that has flown To thy Protection or implor'd thy Ayd By which encouragement most sacred Mayd Mother of Virgins I to thee repayre And for thy help address my humble prayer Mother of God! desert me not but hear And listen to me with a gracious eare 10. And having compleated the Recitall of your Rosary conclude with the repeated Creed and sign of the Cross so ending where you began which is both the ancient and a most laudable custom After all add this Prayer of the Church to obtain the remission of all the negligences committed in your Prayers Sacrosanctae Individuae Trinitaeti c. To the sacred and undivided Trinitie to the blessed Humanitie of our crucify'd Lord Jesus to the fruitfull integrity of the most glorious Virgin Mary and to all the Saints universally be ascribed all prayse honour and glory from all creatures for evermore and to us be granted by Gods Mercy the Remission of all our Sins And likewise ever blessed be the Bowels of the Virgin Mary which bore the Eternall Fathers Son and blessed be the Breasts which suckled Christ our Lord Amen §. 6. Of the fifteen Mysteries in generall The fourth part of the Rosarie THe devout Rosarist is here to be remembred of what was briefly related in the first book § 7. that whilst his mouth is employ'd in the due pronunciation of the aforesaid prayers his mind is to be embusied in the serious contemplation of certain divin mysteries which are fitly reduced to the number of Fifteen answering to the fifteen Decades or Tens of the sacred Rosary
favour in the world which makes me in the Order of Grace not only existent by you but existent in you So that by this manner of Grace proper to this Mystery and springing from it in the honour and Imitation of your Eternall Procession I am not only yours not only by you but I am in you I live in you I make a part of you I am bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh let me be then also spirit of your Spirit let me live by your life let me participate of the Interiour of the Grace of the Estate of the Spirit of your Mysteries let me appropriate my self to you let me appropriate them to my self let me appropriate my self to your Greatnesses and to your debasings your Cross and your Glory your Life and your Death 9. The Perfection of a Christian requires that Jesus live in him and that he imprint in his Soul the Spirit and life of his estates and Mysteries 'T Is my desire and my hope but it surpasseth my power and therfore I expect it from the new Grace of the new Man For this Grace joyns me to him and placeth me in a condition not only to work but further to receive and bear his sacred and divin Operations yea and tends to a more strict and inward Communication For this new Grace issuing out of the Incarnation and resembling its own originall and Prototypon tends to this that I be in Jesus and that Jesus be in me as he is in his Father and his Father is in him Be then in me O Jesu live in me work in me form and figure in me your Estates and your Mysteries your actions and your sufferings And as the Father expresseth and impresseth in you his substance as in his divin Character so imprint in my soul and in my life your inward and outward Conversation and make me a lively character bearing the impression of your Spirit of your estates of your holy and wholsom operations You are the Image of God make me the perfect picture of your self make me like to your self conforming me to your Mysteries as you have been pleasd to make your self like me conforming your self to my miseries and let me carry the effects and lineaments of your Grace and of your Glory of your Power and of your life which you led upon earth Let your Birth make me be new-born born Let your Infancy put me in the state of Innocency Let your flight into Egypt make me fly the world and sin let your Servitude render me your slave let your bonds unfetter me and infranchise me from my sins from my passions and from my self Let your hidden and unknown life hide me from the world and from vanity let your solitude entertain me let your temptations strengthen me let your labours solace me let your griefs cure me let your Agonyes comfort me and let your death make me live and be new-born in Eternity 10. The Principall Mysteries of Jesus apply'd to our sanctification And his qualities and offices referr'd to our use LEt me thus enter Commerce and communication with you O my Life and my Love O my God and my All Let the course and the Moments the Periods and the Estates of your Life upon earth be thus apply'd and appropriated to me and let your Qualities and Offices thus work in me and imprint in me their comfortable efforts You are the uncreated Wisdom I will adhere to your Maxims and follow your conduct you are the Doctor of Justice I will enter into your School and Disciplin you are the Holy and Health-bringer of God in you will I have Grace and Salvation you are the live I will live in you you are the way I will walk by you you are the God of Heaven and of Earth I will be yours 11. By how many titles we belong to Jesus and Jesus to us I Know I am yours and that by many titles For I am yours by your Greatness your Powerfulness your Priviledges I am yours by your Dignities your Merits your Benefits I am yours by the gift of your Father who gives me unto you in giving the whol Earths circumference to you I am yours by your own gift whereby you give your self to your Father for me And you are mine for your Father gives you to the world in the excess of his love and you are your Fathers gift you are Gods gift in divers and sundry significations And 't is your own self which thus qualifies your self telling the Samaritan woman Didst thou know Gods gift and who he is that talks wtth thee This was your discourse of your self to this poor stranger whom you happily made a Domestique of your Faith and of your word and vouchsaf'd your self to Catechize so familiarly 12. Jesus is Gods Gift unto us and what this Gift demands of us with an Explication of Christian Grace WHerefore being taught by your sacred mouth that this quality of being Gods Gift is proper unto you I adore you I behold you I receive you in this quality As by this you are mine I will be yours Nor shall it suffice me to be yours by your self and by your Father I will be yours by my self also and by choise of my own Free-will I give my self then to you O Jesu my Lord I give to you my self with my whol power and according to the full extent of your own power and will over me I give my self to the Grace of your Mysterie of the Incarnation Grace which tyes me unto you in a new manner Grace which separates me from my self unites and incorporates me in you Grace which makes me yours in so noble so intimate and so powerfull a fashion and renders me yours as a parcell of your self Grace of life and of death both together Grace of annihilating and also of establishing In the strength and vertue of this Grace which hath its origin in you and in your new estate of God-Man I annihilate my self in my own self to be in you and I will carry within my Soul a death to all things that I may live in you And I will that my Being be reduced to be nothing els than a pure Capacity of you fill'd up with you 13. This Christian Grace is form'd upon the Mysterie of the Incarnation which is its Modell And requires of us a particular manner of Oblation and Donation to Jesus ACcording to the Power efficacy of this Grace which is peculiar to your Mysterie of the Incarnation and which is form'd upon it as upon its Copy I bequeath my self to you O Jesu my Lord I give you my Being my life and my love I give you my time and my Eternity I give you my Body and my Soul I give you my senses and powers I render my self slave to your Greatnesses to your Cross and to you love I put into your hands the last hour of my life which is the decider of my Eternity I offer my self to you I