and hath taught me he hath spread a net for my feet he hath turned me backward he hath made me desolate all the day consumed with sorrow NUN The yoke of mine iniquities hath watched they are folded together in his hand and put upon my neck my strength is weakned our Lord hath given me into the hand from which I cannot rise Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God If the Jews deservedly suffered all those Miserie 's foretold by the Prophet Jeremy what Calamities do they not merit for putting to death the Saviour of the World who suffered Death only because he was charged with the Sins of Men and because he would satisfie for us the Rigor of the Justice of God his Father R. Behold we have seen him and there was no sightliness and we were desirous of him he hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried But he was wounded for our iniquities and with the weight of his stripe we are healed He surely hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried with the weight of whose stripe we are healed V. Behold we have seen him and there was no sightliness and we were desirous of him he hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried But he was wounded for our iniquities and with the weight of his stripe we are healed THE SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 71. The Church represents us with the Reign of Solomon as being a Figure of the Reign of Jesus Christ shewing us with what Zeal King David desired the Reign of this Divine Saviour whom he acknowledged to be his Lord and King according to his Divinity as he ought to be his Son according to his Humanity Ant. Our Lord shall deliver the poor from the mighty and the poor which had no helper O God give thy judgment to the king and thy justice to the son of the king To judge thy people in justice and thy poor in judgment Let the mountains receive peace for the people and the little hills justice He shall judge the poor of the people and shall save the children of the poor and he shall humble the calumniator And he shall continue with the sun and before the moon in generation and generation He shall descend as rain upon a fleece and as drops distilling upon the earth There shall rise in his days justice and abundance of peace until the moon be taken away And he shall rule from sea unto sea and from the river even to the ends of the round world Before him shall the Ethiopians fall down and his enemies shall lick the earth The kings of Tharsis and the Islands shall offer presents the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts And all kings of the earth shall adore him all nations shall serve him Because he shall deliver the poor from the mighty and the poor which had no helper He shall spare the poor and needy and he shall save the souls of the poor From usuries and iniquities he shall redeem their souls and their name shall be honorable before him And he shall live and there shall be given him of the gold of Arabia and they shall adore it always all the day they shall bless him And there shall be a firmament in the earth in the tops of the mountains the fruit thereof shall be extolled far above Libanus and they shall flourish of the city as the grass of the earth Be his name blessed for ever before the sun his name is permanent And all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed in him all nations shall magnifie him Blessed be our Lord the God of Israel who doth only merveilous things And blessed be the name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty Be it Be it Ant. Our Lord shall deliver the poor from the mighty and the poor which had no helper PSALM 72. The Church represents unto us by the example of the Sufferances of Jesus Christ the Grace of the New Testament which this adorable Saviour came to declare unto the World appertains to Life everlasting and not this transitory one which passes with the Time wherein God bestows even on the Wicked worldly Felicities to the end that the Rich and the Good should not propose to themselves a Reward of Happiness in this World for such Services they render God She likewise shews that this Truth was declared even to the Saints of the Old Testament She therefore proposes unto us the 72. Psalm wherein the Royal Prophet mentions a Man who repents himself for having served God out of Self-interest not having a just Heart but ever inclined it self to temporal Rewards seeing that the Wicked abounded in the Goods of the Earth and who was much troubled almost to despair thinking God took no care of Human Affairs But these criminal Thoughts being laid aside by the Authority of the Saints he is forced to penetrate into so profound a Secret as with all his Endeavors and Studies he can never discover until he is entred the Sanctuary of God and known his last End that is to say until he hath received the Holy Ghost who instructs him to desire better things and shews him what Pains the Wicked will suffer after they have enjoyed the fleeting and transitory Pleasures of this World Ant. The wicked have thought and have spoken wickedness they have spoken iniquity on high HOw good is God to Israel to them that are of a right heart But my feet were almost moved my steps almost slipped Because I have had zeal upon the wicked seeing the peace of sinners Because there is no respect to their death and stability in their plague In the labors of men they are not and with men they shall not be scourged Therefore hath pride held them they are covered with their iniquity and impiety Their iniquity hath proceeded as it were of far they have passed into the affection of the heart They have thought and have spoken wickedness they have spoken iniquity on high They have set their mouth unto heaven and their tongue hath passed in the earth Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them And they have said How doth God know and is there knowledge in the Highest Lo the sinners themselves and they that abound in the world have obtained riches And I said Then have I justified my heart without cause and have washed my hands amongst innocents And have been scourged all the day and my chastisings in the mornings If I said I shall speak this behold I reproved the nation of thy children I thought to know this thing it is labor before me Until I may enter into the sanctuary of God and may understand concerning their latter end But yet for guiles thou hast put it to them thou hast cast them down whilst they were elevated How are they brought into desolation they have failed suddenly they have perished for their iniquity
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
the Deacon saying Sequentia sancti Evangelii c. The sequence of the Gospel c. makes the sign of the Cross upon his Forehead his Mouth and Breast to signifie he publishes the Word of God with a good heart and will not be ashamed to confess it before men and taking the Thurible he incenseth the Book thrice in honour of the Blessed Trinity in whom we are taught to believe by the Gospel Whilest the Deacon reads the Gospel with an audible Voice the Priest stands on the Epistle side which represents the Jewish People to tell us that Christ preached the Gospel amongst them and that from Judea it should be carried to other Nations He stands upright uncovered as do the rest of the People to teach us that the Word of God is to be feared with reverence and to testifie our Faith in the Resurrection The sequence of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew Chap. 21. In this Gospel the Church minds us of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem foretold by the Prophet Zacharias Chap. 9. where we are to observe that Eve and the Synagogue are figured by the She-Ass And by the Ass-Colt never yet used the Gentils are represented for before the coming of Christ none had ever called the Gentils to the true Faith The Village where these creatures were tied is a figure of the servitude of this World and the command which Christ gave to his Disciples to untye them is a presentation of that power which God hath given his Ministers to absolve men from their sins AT that time when Jesus drew nigh to Jerusalem and was come to Bethphage at the foot of Mount Olivet then he sent two of his Disciples saying to them Go ye into the Town that is against you and immediately you shall find an Ass tied and a Colt with her loose them and bring them to me and if any man shall say ought unto you say ye that our Lord hath need of them and forthwith he will let them go And this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying Say ye to the Daughter of Sion Behold thy King cometh to thee meek and sitting upon an Ass and a Colt the Foal of her that is used to the Yoke And the Disciples going did as Jesus commanded them And they brought the Ass and the Colt and laid their Garments upon them and made him to sit thereon and a very great multitude spread their Garments in the way and others did cut their Boughs from the Trees and strewed them in the way and the multitudes that went before and that followed cried saying Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of our Lord. Hosanna in the highest After the Deacon hath read the Gospel he presents the Book to the Priest to kiss to signifie thereby the Union and Charity which the Faithful ought to have in the observance of God that so they may obtain pardon for their sins and thereupon he says May our Sins be forgiven by the vertue of the Holy Gospel The Deacon incenseth the Priest thrice thereby expressing our honour to Christ who hath freed us from our sins by our faith in the Gospel acknowledging him to be God and the Second Person of the Trinity Then the Palms are blest by which Ceremony the Church commemorating Christ's triumph applies her Prayers for us to obtain of God through the Merits of this Divine Saviour unless we render our selves uncapable the grace to reap the fruit of that Victory which he has obtained over the World and the Devil Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray O God increase the Faith of those that hope in thee and clemently hear the Prayers of thy Supplicants Let thy manifold Mercies come upon us bless these Boughs of Palms or Olives and as in the figure of the Church thou didst multiply Noah going forth of the Ark and Moses going out of Egypt with the Children of Israel so grant that we carrying these Branches of Palm and Olive may with the Fruits of our Good Works appear before Jesus Christ and by his Merits enjoy the Delights of Eternal Happiness who one God liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen The PREFACE The Priest prepares the Faithful minding them to lift up their hearts to God to disengage their affections from worldly creatures to acknowledge the excess of the divine benefits Our Lord be with you And with thy Spirit Lift up your hearts R. We raise them up to our Lord. Then the Priest admonisheth the Faithful to reflect that 't is God who puts their hearts into that state and therefore that they give him publick thanks Let us give thanks to our Lord God The Faithful answer that it is just and reasonable and according do concur in publick with the Priest giving thanks and so in particular each man by his particular private resentments accompanies the Priest saying It is Just and becoming our Duty The Church representing unto us the Obedience which all created nature oweth unto God the Zeal wherewith the Saints and particularly the Martyrs have offered themselves to his Majesty as a Holocaust for the faith of Jesus Christ his Son the Homage which the Angels render him in Heaven and the Canticle of Praise which the Children sung in honour of our Saviour when he made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem exhorts us in imitation of them to give God thanks for so many benefits received of his bounty through the Merits of his Son acknowledging that in duty we are bound to endeavour the Zeal of Martyrs the Purity of Angels and Innocence of Children IT is truly meet and just right and necessary that we always and in all places give thanks to thee Holy Lord Omnipotent Father and Eternal God who art glorified in the Council of thy Saints For thy Creatures serve thee acknowledging thee their sole Author and God and all thy handy-works joyntly praise and thy holy ones bless thee freely confessing the Sacred Name of thy Son before the Kings and Princes of this World The Angels Archangels Thrones and Dominations observe thee with a Profound Reverence and with the whole Celestial Host sing a Hymn of thy Glory for ever saying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God of Hosts the Heavens and Earth are filled with thy Glory Hosanna in the Highest Blessed is he that comes in the Name of our Lord Hosanna in the Highest V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray The Faithful giving God thanks that besides the interiour and exteriour Graces wherewith he prevents and assists us and besides what he confers by his Sacraments upon us he yet further fortifies us by the Vertue of Sacred Things they joyn in Prayers with the Church which are applied unto them by this Benediction to the end they may obtain particular Benefits from God for the good
unto you absolution and remission of all your sins space of true penance and amendment of life Amen Then the Bishop gives his solemn Benediction saying V. Blessed be the Name of our Lord. R. Now and for evermore V. Our help is in the Name of our Lord. R. Who made Heaven and Earth Almighty God Father Son and Holy Ghost bless you all Amen After the solemn Benediction is given the Deacon in his Dalmatique kneeling down to the Bishop asks his Blessing for the reading of the Gospel and having received it sings the Gospel out of that day's Mass Ante diem festum c. The Bishop setting aside his Mitre stands upright holding the Crosier in both his hands till the end of the Gospel to teach us to listen with respect to God's Holy Word and testifie our Faith of the Resurrection After the Deacon hath read the Gospel he presents the Book to the Bishop to kiss to testifie the Union and Charity which all Christians ought to have in the observation of the Word of God to obtain pardon for their sins and reconcile themselves to God The King washes the feet of thirteen poor people and attends on them at the Table in great ceremony in imitation of Christ's Humility who washed his Apostles feet who were thirteen comprehending St. Paul At Paris the Archbishop gives the same general Absolution on Wednesday-afternoon at our Lady's Church and on Thursday-morning at the Church-yard of the Holy Innocents For the Washing of the Feet The Church imitating the Example and Command which our blessed Saviour gave us celebrates this day the Ceremony of Washing Feet and teacheth us that he thereby hath recommended Humility and Charity among us and to be careful that we cleanse our selves from the least sins figured unto us by the filth that sticks to our feet 'T is that which the Church presents unto us by Antiphons by the Verses of the Psalms and by the Prayers sung in this Ceremony blessing God for the Graces bestowed on us through our Lord Jesus Christ where we must observe that he calls it a New Command wherein he obliged us to love one another for that the Old Command given unto Moses and engraven upon the Tables of the Law was to love ones Neighbour as ones self but Jesus Christ had made it a New Command by the extent he gave it requiring us to love our Neighbour more than our selves even as to this temporal life that is to say as Christ gave his life for us so we ought to offer up ours for our Neighbour upon certain occasions as if his salvation were in danger we ought to expose our life to preferve him The practice of this Day 's Ceremony is very ancient for St. Augustin in his Epistle and the Seventeenth Council of Toledo held in the Seventh Age in the Third Canon and St. Eligius Bishop of Noyon in the same Age in his Fourth and Eighth Homily of our Lord's Supper makes mention of it The Prelate or Superior in his Albe Amice Stole and Coap of a Violet colour with his Deacon and Subdeacon goes to the place prepared to wash the Feet the Deacon holding the Book of the Gospel between his Arms kneels to the Prelate or Superior and asks his Blessing to read the Gospel saying Sir Vouchsafe to Bless me and having received his Benediction puts the Book into the Subdeacons hands to testifie he declares nothing to the People but what he was ordered to do by the Prelate The Acolyts hold the Candles to signifie the joy which the people ought to have in that they are enlightened with the Gift of Faith Before the Deacon begins to read the Gospel he begs God's Grace for the Assembly to hear his Word worthily saying Our Lord be with you He Incenseth the Book to signifie that we adore Jesus Christ who redeemed us and freed us from our sins by faith in the Gospel acknowledging him to be God and the second Person of the Holy Trinity And then he reads the Gospel Ante diem Festum as before The Gospel being ended the Subdeacon presents the Book to the Prelate or Superior to kiss who thereby testifies the Unity and Charity which the Faithful ought to have in the observance of God's Word to the end to obtain pardon for their sins The Deacon incenseth after the usual manner Then the Prelate or Superior laying aside his Coap the Deacon and Subdeacon putting a Towel about him washeth the feet of those chosen for this Ceremony dries and kisses them whilest they sing I Give you a New Commandment that you love one another as I loved you saith our Lord. PSALM 118. BLessed are the immaculate in the way which walk in the law of our Lord. The Antiphon Mandatum novum c. and the other Antiphons out of the Psalms are repeated and onely the first Verse of each Psalm is said Ant. After our Lord was risen from Supper he put Water into a Bason and began to wash his Disciples feet to whom he left this example Psalm 47. Great is our Lord and to be praised exceedingly in the city of our God in his holy mount Ant. After our Lord Jesus had supt with his Disciples he washed their feet and said unto them Do you see what I your Lord and Master have done unto you I have given you an example that you also may do the like Psalm 84. O Lord thou hast blest thy land thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob Ant. Wilt thou O Lord wash my feet Jesus answered and said unto him If I wash not thy feet thou shalt have no part with me V. Jesus came unto Simon Peter and Peter said to him Here the Antiphon is repeated Wilt thou O Lord wash my feet Jesus answered and said unto him If I wash not thy feet thou shalt have no part with me V. What I do thou knowest not now but shalt know hereafter Then is repeated this Antiphon the third time O Lord dost thou wash my feet Jesus answered and said unto him If I wash not thy feet thou shalt have no part with me V. If I your Lord and Master have washt your feet how much more ought you to wash one anothers feet Psalm 116. All nations hear these things and all people understand them Ant. All men shall know you to be my disciples in that you love one another V. Said Jesus to his disciples Ant. Let faith hope and charity abide in you these three but the greatest of them is charity V. But now remain faith hope and charity these three but the greatest of them is charity Ant. Blessed be the Holy Trinity and Undivided Unity we will confess unto him because he hath dealt with us according to his mercy V. Let us bless the Father and Son with the Holy Ghost Psalm 83. How beloved are thy tabernacles O Lord of Hosts my soul coveteth and fainteth unto the courts of our Lord. Ant. Where charity and love is there
to the true living God and to his only Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who willest not the death of sinners but rather that they should be converted and live graciously hear our Prayers and freeing them from their Idolatry admit them into thy holy Church for the honour and glory of thy Name Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Adoration of the Cross This Adoration is not terminated in the wood of the Cross but in Jesus Christ fastened thereon The Ceremony is very ancient For besides that it is set forth in the Roman Order and in St. Gregory's Book of the Sacraments St. Paulinus Bishop of Nola the immortal Ornament and Native of Bourdeaux living in the Fourth Age mentions it in his 11 Epistle to Severus Sulpicius The publick Prayers being ended the Priest puts off his Casuble and takes the Cross to represent Jesus Christ naked and loaded with his Cross Then he uncovers it at three several times to shew us how the Gospel was spred first in a little corner of Judea and for that cause the Priest begins to unvail the Cross on the right side and beneath the Altar singing BEhold the Wood of the Cross And the Quire answers R. Come let us adore Secondly The Gospel was preached publickly to the Jews figured by the right side of the Altar and therefore the Priest coming to the right corner of the Altar uncovers the right arm and the head of the Crucifix saying again Behold the Wood of the Cross The Quire answering R. Come let us adore Thirdly The Gospel was preacht to the whole world and therefore the Priest goes to the middle of the Altar and uncovers the Crucifix entirely saying Behold the Wood of the Cross whereon the Saviour of the World is fastened The Quire answer again R. Come let us adore Then the Priest puts the Cross in a convenient place for the people he first beginning this Ceremony in three times kneeling according to the ancient custom in the Roman Order And after the Priest the rest of the Clergy and people follow in the same manner During the Ceremony the Trisagion is sung both in Latine and Greek being taken from the Grecians as you may read in the first Session of the Council of Chalcedon mentioned by Nicephorus in his 14th Book and 46th Chapter and by it the Church offers to our meditation that Christ dying for us according to his humanity is the living invincible and immortal God by his Natural and Divine Person Then the following Verses are sung taken out of the Prophets and particularly out of Michaeas which contain the just reproaches our Saviour made to the Jews for their ingratitude MY people what have I done to thee or in what have I molested thee Answer me V. Because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour V. Agios O Theos Sanctus Deus O Holy God V. Agios Ischyros Sanctus fortis Holy and strong God V. Agios Athanatos Eleison imas Sanctus immortalis miserere nobis Holy and immortal God have mercy on us V. Because I led thee through the desart forty years and fed thee there with Manna and brought thee into a good soil thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour Agios O Theos c. as before V. What ought I to do more and have not done I have planted thee my most beautiful vine and thou art become very bitter unto me in my thirst thou gavest me vinegar to drink and with a launcet thou hast pierced thy Saviour's side Agios O Theos as before V. My people what have I done to thee or in what have I molested thee Answer me V. For thy sake I struck Egypt in their first-born and thou hast delivered me to be scourged My people c. I brought thee forth of Egypt having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea and thou hast delivered me over to the princes of the priests My people c. V. For thee I opened the sea and with a launce thou hast pierced my side My people c. V. I went before thee in a pillar of the cloud and thou hast brought me to the palace of Pilate My people c. V. I nourished thee with Manna in the desart and thou hast struck me with bussets and whips My people c. V. I gave thee wholsom water to drink from the rock and thou hast given me to drink vinegar and gall My people c. V. For thy sake I have struck the kings of the Chananites and thou hast struck my head with a reed My people c. V. I gave thee a royal scepter and thou hast set upon my head a crown of thorns My people c. V. I have raised thee with great strength and thou fastened me on the cross The ANTIPHON The people by their adoring the Cross testifie their horrour of the Jews impiety and ingratitude and considering how Christ triumphed over death by his glorious Resurrection to make us partakers of his glory they render him thanks O Lord we adore thy Cross we praise and glorifie thy Holy Resurrection for by the Wood of the Crofs the whole World is filled with joy PSALM LXVI The Faithful beg of God that he will make them capable to receive the benefit of his Passion and Resurrection GOd have mercy upon us and bless us Illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy on us Ant. O Lord we adore thy Cross c. After this Crux fidelis and the Hymn Pange lingua are sung HAil Holy Cross to thee we bow To whose blest fruit our lives we ow Our earth bears no such tree Dear are the nails and dear the wood On which our dear Lord shed his blood 'T was Heaven that planted thee Come then my soul and gladly sing The happy combate of our King Which on this Cross he sought Where he the all-victorious Lamb Sin Death and Hell it self o'recame And our full safely wrought V. Hail Holy Cross to thee we bow To whose blest fruit our lives we ow Our earth bears no such tree V. He saw with pity our sad fate When our first-parents rashly ate Of that unhappy tree He saw and markt the deadly wound And soon this sovereign Balsam found To save our souls by thee V. Dear are the nails and dear the wood On which our dear Lord shed his blood 'T was Heaven that planted thee V. This way our cure required as fit That Heaven 's high wisdom should out-wit The dire black art of hell And from the source of all our bane A powerful Antidote should be tane The poison to expell Hail Holy Cross c. V. When the blest time was fully come The Father from his glorious home Sent his Eternal Son He that created Heaven and Earth Of a poor Virgin took his Birth And our frail flesh put on V. Dear are the nails
and his justice continueth for ever and ever He hath made a memory of his merveilous works a merciful and pitiful Lord he hath given Meat to them that fear him He will be mindful for ever of his testament the force of his works he will shew forth to his people To give them the inheritance of the Gentiles the works of his hands truth and judgment All his commandments are faithful confirmed for ever and ever made in truth and equity He sent redemption to his people he commanded his testament for ever Holy and terrible is his name The fear of our Lord is the beginning of wisdom Understanding is good to all that do it his praise remaineth for ever and ever Glory be to the Father c. Ant. All his commandments are faithful confirmed for ever and ever made in truth and equity Ant. He shall have great delight in his commandments c. PSALM 111. or 112. The Royal Prophet David shews us in this Psalm That none render themselves more worthy of Fame and Glory or leave more happy or longer-lasting Testimonies of themselves to Posterity than those that apply themselves entirely to the Service of God We must also observe That those Blessings which God promiseth to a wise and generous Man in the State of Grace are in this Psalm compared to such temporal Goods as he promised his People in the Old Testament BLessed is the man that feareth our Lord he shall have great delight in his commandments His seed shall be mighty in earth the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Glory and riches in his house and his justice abideth for ever and ever Light is risen up in darkness to the righteous he is merciful and pitiful and just Acceptable is the man that is merciful and lendeth that shall dispose his words in judgment because he shall not be moved for ever The just shall be in eternal memory he shall not fear at the hearing of evil His heart is ready to hope in our Lord his heart is confirmed he shall not be moved till he look over his enemies He distributed he gave to the poor his justice remaineth for ever and ever his horn shall be exalted in glory The sinner shall see and will be angry he shall gnash his teeth and pine away the desire of sinners shall perish Glory be to the Father c. Ant. He shall have great delight in his commandments Ant. The name of our Lord c. PSALM 112. or 113. This Psalm represents unto the Faithful of what Estate or Condition soever they be their Obligation they have to praise God whose Care extends it self over all Creatures according to the Order of his Providence PRaise our Lord ye children praise ye the name of our Lord. Be the name of our Lord blessed from henceforth now and for ever From the rising of the Sun unto the going down the name of our Lord is laudable Our Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens Who is as the Lord our God that dwelleth on high and beholdeth the low things in heaven and in earth Raising up the needy from the Earth and lifting up the poor out of the dung To place him with princes with the princes of his people Who maketh the barren woman to dwell in a house a joyful mother of children Glory be to the Father c. Ant. Be the name of our Lord blessed for ever Ant. But we that live c. PSALM 113. or 114. The Church represents unto the Faithful the Goodness and Mercy of God in having delivered them from the Tyranny of the Devil and by planting amongst them his Gospel and true Worship thereby to withdraw them from Idolatry and the Slavery of Sin She also exhorts them to praise God with as true and fervent a Zeal as the Israelites when he delivered them from the Bondage of Egypt gave them his Law and conducted them into the Land of Promise and there caused a Temple to be built to be therein adored IN the coming forth of Israel out of Egypt of the house of Jacob from the barbarous people Jewry was made his sanctification Israel his dominion The sea saw and fled Jordan was turned backward The mountains leaped as rams and the little hills as the lambs of sheep What aileth thee O sea that thou didst fly and thou O Jordan that thou wast turned backward Ye mountains leaped as rams and ye little hills as lambs of sheep At the face of our Lord the earth was moved at the face of the God of Jacob. Who turned the rock into pools of waters and stony hills into fountains of waters Not to us Lord not to us but to thy Name give the glory For thy mercy and thy truth lest at any time the Gentiles say Where is their God But our Lord is in heaven he hath done all things whatsoever he would The Idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold the works of mens hands They have mouths and shall not speak they have eyes and shall not see They have ears and shall not hear they have nostrils and shall not smell They have hands and shall not handle they have feet and shall not walk they shall not cry in their throat Let them that make them become like to them and all that have confidence in them The house of Israel hath hoped in our Lord he is their helper and their protector The house of Aaron hath hoped in our Lord he is their helper and their protector They that fear our Lord have hoped in our Lord he is their helper and their protector Our Lord hath been mindful of us and hath blessed us He hath blessed the house of Israel he hath blessed the House of Aaron He hath blessed all that fear our Lord the little with the great Our Lord add upon you upon you and upon your children Blessed be you of our Lord which made heaven and earth The heaven of heavens is to our Lord but the earth he hath given to the children of men The dead shall not praise thee O Lord nor all they that go down into hell But we that live do bless our Lord from this time and for ever Glory be to the Father c. Ant. We that live do bless our Lord. At Paris the Anthymn Occurrunt turbae c. is said to these five Psalms A Great number of people carrying flowers and olive-branches went before the Redeemer of the world victoriously and triumphing rendring him all due honour The Nations publish the Greatness of the Son of God crying out Hosanna in the highest The LITTLE CHAPTER taken out of the Epistle to the Philippians chap. 2. The Church shews us the greatness of God's Bounty who to save us was willing his only Son should be charged with all our Infirmities and Evils She farther represents unto us with how much Zeal we are to endeavor to please him thereby to work our Salvation BRethren for this think in
sleep and rest Because thou Lord hast singularly setled me in hope Glory be to the Father c. PSALM 30. This Psalm represents unto us how we ought to put all our Trust and Confidence in God's Justice and not in our own and that we must acknowledge we can neither be just or merit any thing of our selves or have any hope but through Gods holy Grace who hath given it unto us through the Merits of our Redeemer which also he hath declared to us by his Example And in this Confidence we must commit our Soul into the hands of God IN thee O Lord have I hoped let me not be confounded for ever in thy justice deliver me Incline thine ear to me make haste to deliver me Be unto me for a God protector and for a house of refuge that thou mayst save me Because thou art my strength and my refuge and for thy name thou wilt conduct me and wilt nourish me Thou wilt bring me out of the snare which they have hid for me because thou art my protector Into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth Glory be to the Father c. PSALM 90. or 91. This Psalm represents unto us the Temptations Dangers and Evils whereto we are subject in this Life whereof the least are compared to the Fear that surprises in the Night and to the Arrows flying in the Day And the most outragious and hazardous resemble those Enterprises which are undertaken in Darkness and in open invasion and in the Mid-day Devil Or they are like the infectious Air which spreads it self in darkness and like the Plague which rages at Mid-day We are environed with wicked Spirits which the Scripture terms fierce and venemous Beasts to represent unto us the several Employments they maliciously exercise over Men. By the Aspick who with all his force presses one of his Ears against the Ground and stops his other with his Tail to hinder his hearing the Enchantments of the Hunters she signifies such as are obstinate persisting in Evil and in the Love of earthly things By the Basilisk who carries his Venom in his Eyes is signified Envy and Vain-glory. By the Lion whose Roaring terrifies the other Beasts is signified Menaces and Persecutions By the Dragon who kills whatever he toucheth with his burning Breath is signified Anger Then the Royal Prophet shews us in this Psalm that in the Perils and Dangers we find our selves we must ever stand upon our guard God being ever ready and his Angels to protect and conduct us But to be worthy his Protection 't is necessary we confide wholly in him and give unto his Name the whole Glory of our Salvation HE that dwelleth in the help of the Highest shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven He shall say to our Lord Thou art my Protector and my refuge my God I will hope in him Because he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters and from the sharp word With his shoulders shall he overshadow thee and under his wings thou shalt hope With shield shall his truth compass thee thou shalt not be afraid of the fear in the night Of the Arrow flying in the day of business walking in darkness of invasion and the mid-day devil A thousand shall fall on thy side and ten thousand on thy right hand but to thee it shall not approach But thou shalt consider with thine eyes and shalt see the retribution of sinners Because thou O Lord art my hope thou hast made the Highest thy refuge There shall no evil come to thee and scourge shall not approach to thy tabernacle Because he hath given his Angels charge of thee that they keep thee in all thy ways In their hands they shall bear thee lest perhaps thou knock thy foot against a stone Upon the Asp and the Basilisk thou shalt walk and thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the Dragon Because he hath hoped in me I will deliver him I will protect him because he hath known my name He shall cry to me and I will hear him with him I am in tribulation I will deliver him and I will glorifie him With length of days I will replenish him and I will shew him my salvation Glory be to the Father c. PSALM 132. or 133. The Psalmist exhorts the Clergy to sing Praises to God whilst the People are asleep BEhold now bless our Lord all ye servants of our Lord. Which stand in the house of our Lord in the courts of the house of our God In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy places and bless ye our Lord. Our Lord out of Sion bless thee who made Heaven and earth Glory be to the Father c. Ant. Have mercy on me O Lord and hear my Prayer The HYMN for EVENING BEfore the closing of the Day Creator thee we humbly pray That for thy wonted Mercies sake Thou us into protection take May nothing in our Minds excite Vain Dreams and Fantomes of the Night Our Enemy repress that so Our Bodies no Uncleanness know To JESUS from a Virgin sprung Be Glory given and Praises sung The like to God the Father be And Holy Ghost eternally Amen CHAPTER taken out of the Fourteenth Chapter of the Prophet Jeremy BUt thou O Lord art in us and thy holy name is invocated upon us forsake us not O Lord our God R. Thanks be to God Pettit R. Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit V. Thou hast redeemed us O Lord God of truth R. Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit V. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost R. Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit V. Keep us O Lord as the apple of thy eye R. Protect us under the shadow of thy wings Ant. Save us THE SONG OF SIMEON Luke 1. NOw thou dost dismiss thy servant O Lord according to thy word in peace Because my eyes have seen thy Salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel Ant. Save us O Lord waking and keep us sleeping that we may watch in Christ and rest in peace THE PRAYERS LOrd have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Pater noster c. V. And lead us not into temptation R. But deliver us from evil I believe in God c. V. The Resurrection of the Flesh R. And Life everlasting Amen V. Thou art blessed Lord God of our Fathers R. And laudable and glorious for ever V. Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Ghost R. Let us praise and super-exalt him for ever V. Blessed art thou Lord in the Firmament of Heaven R. And laudable and glorious and superexalted for ever V. The Almighty and Merciful Lord bless and keep us R. Amen V.
this Incense which thy Holy Church by its Ministers renders unto thee in the Solemn Oblation of this Wax Candle made of the work of Bees And now we acknowledge the praise-worthy Benefits of this Pillar lighted from the sparkling fire to the honour of God Then the Deacon lights the Candle with one of the three Cierges on the Cane to signifie that Jesus Christs Resurrection as also his Incarnation and Passion was the work of the whole Trinity whose works are inseparable though the only Person of the Son became Incarnate suffered Death and rose again communicating the glory of his Resurrection and Graces necessary to obtain it without the least diminution to himself to those who are regenerated and formed in his Church as this Wax which is employed to the Service of God WHich fire though it be divided yet loseth it not any thing in the communication of its light feeding it self from the melted Wax which the Bee hath produced to make the substance of this precious touch Here the Lamps and Tapers are all lighted with the new fire to represent the light and grace which Jesus Christ hath poured forth upon his Faithful in his Resurrection carrying away the spoils of Hell whereof the Egyptian spoils born away by the Children of Israel at their going forth of Egypt were a figure And the Deacon magnifying the benefits of Gods bounty beseeches his Majesty to bestow them upon all Orders which compose the body of his Church O Night truly blessed wherein the Egyptians were pillaged the Hebrews enricht with their spoils The night wherein celestial and terrestial divine and humane things were conjoyned We beseech thee therefore O Lord that this Candle consecrated to the honour of thy Name may without ceasing dissipate the darkness of this night and that its light ascending as an acceptable perfume may mix with the celestial lights Let the morning-star receive its flames that star I say which never sets and who being risen again and returned from Hell shined afresh upon mankind We beseech thee therefore O Lord that granting us peace in our days thou wilt vouchsafe amidst these Paschal-Feasts to lead us as thy servants to govern and protect us continually with thy whole Clergy and all thy Faithful our Holy Father the Pope and our Bishop Regard likewise our King N. and knowing the desires of his heart grant O God by the ineffable grace of thy bounty and mercy that he may enjoy a tranquillity of perpetual peace and together with his people a heavenly victory By the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen The blessing of the Paschal Candle being ended the Prophesies and Canticles are read out of the Old Testament to instruct the Catechumens in Divine Mysteries who there present themselves to receive Baptism And these Lessons are read without any Title to observe unto us that the Catechumens are not as yet vers'd in Holy Writ The FIRST PROPHECY taken out of the 1st Chapter of Genesis In this Lesson the Catechumens are taught that all Creatures subsist by God alone who would in creating them give a Being to a Good that might proceed from him though he had no use of them to compleat himself by them his whole felicity being in himself though these his Creatures had never been or that they had remained in their imperfection then the Church represents how God made Man the most noble and perfect of all visible Creatures in raising him above all that is upon the Earth in making him according to his own Image in giving him Reason and Understanding and lastly making him capable of Eternal Felicity IN the beginning God created heaven and earth And the earth was void and vacant and darkness was upon the face of the depth And the spirit of God moved over the waters And God said Be light made And light was made And God saw the light that it was good and he divided the light from darkness And there was evening and morning that made one day God also said Be a firmament made amidst the waters And let it divide between waters and waters And God made a firmament and divided the waters that were under the firmament from those that were above the firmament And it was done so And God called the firmament heaven And there was evening and morning that made the second day God also said Let the waters that are under the heaven be gathered together in one place And let the dry land appear And it was so done And God called the dry land earth and the gathering of waters together he called seas And God saw that it was good And said Let the earth shout forth green herbs and such as may seed and fruit-trees yielding fruit after his kind such as may have seed in it self upon the earth And it was done so And the earth brought forth green herb such as seeds according to his kind and tree that beareth fruit having seed each one according to his kind And God saw that it was good And there was evening and morning that made the third day Again God said Be there lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and night and let them be for signs and seasons and days and years to shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth And it was done so And God made two great lights A greater light to govern the day and a lesser light to govern the night and stars And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth and to govern the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good And there was evening and morning that made the fourth day God also said Let the waters bring forth creeping creature having life and flying foul over the earth under the firmament of heaven And God created huge whales and all living and moving creature that the waters brought forth according to each sort and all foul according to their kind And God saw that it was good And he blessed them saying Increase and multiply and replenish the waters of the sea and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth And there was evening and morning that made the fifth day God said moreover Let the earth bring forth living creature in his kind cattel and such that creep and beasts of the earth according to their kinds And it was so done And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and cattel and all that creepeth on the earth in his kind And God saw that it was good And he said Let us make man to our own image and likeness let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea and the fouls of the air and the beasts and the whole earth and all creeping creature that moveth upon the earth And God created man to his own
image to the image of God he created him male and female he created them And God blessed them and saith Increase and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and rule over the fishes of the sea and fouls of the air and all living creatures that move upon the earth And God said Behold I have given you all manner of herb that seedeth upon the earth and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind to be your meat and to all beasts of the earth and to every foul of the air and to all that move upon the earth and wherein there is life that they may have to feed upon And it was so done And God saw all things that he had made and they were very good And there was evening and morning that made the sixth day The heavens therefore and the earth were fully finished and all the furniture of them And the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and rested the seventh day from all the work that he had done The Church having told us in the precedent Lesson whence we derive our Extraction to what a state of Glory God had raised the first Man having placed him in the midst of the delights of Paradise as in the shadow of Life from whence by an exact observance of God's Commandments he was to have been translated to a far more happy condition in this she tells us the cause of our fall and the excess of God's love to us that he sent his only Son to deliver us from eternal Damnation whereunto we were enslaved and to make us capable of Eternal Life And thereupon by the voice of the Deacon she exhorts us to bend our knees and render all due acknowledgments to the Divine Goodness Let us Pray Let us bend our knees The Church shewing us that our sins are exceeding great and numerous and that our state is very lamentable yet she assures us that the Remedy our Saviour brought us is far more effectual and powerful by the Sub-deacon's answering R. Lift up your selves The Faithful give God thanks by the Priest for his goodness in Creating and Redeeming them and considering that the Mortal Venom of sin seized upon Eve and Adam through their own Senses and thereby fell into that misery which was the Fountain of ours beseeches of his Majesty the Grace to subject their Senses to their Reason so as they may reap the wholsome effect of their Redemption O God who by an admirable effect of thy power hast created man and yet more powerfully hast redeemed him grant we beseech thee strength of our reason we may overcome all allurements to sin and at length enjoy eternal happiness Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The SECOND PROPHECY out of the 5th 6th 7th and 8th Chapters of Genesis In this second Lesson the Church teaches Catechumens that as in the Deluge all men perish'd except those that were in the Ark with Noe So to avoid damnation all Men must enter into the Ark that is into the Church of Christ out of which there is no Salvation NOE when he was five hundred years old begat Sem Cham and Japhet And after that men began to be multiplied upon the earth and procreation of daughters the sons of God seeing the daughters of men that they were fair took to themselves wives out of all which they had chosen And God said My spirit shall not remain with man for ever because he is flesh and his days shall be an hundred and twenty years And gyants were upon the earth in those days For after the sons of God did company with the daughters of men and they brought forth children these be the mighty of the old world famous men And God seeing the malice of men was much upon the earth and that all the cogitation of their hearts was bent to evil at all times it repented him that he had made man upon earth And touched inwardly with sorrow of heart I will saith he clean take away man whom I have created from the face of the earth from man even to beasts from that which creepeth even unto the fouls of the air For it repenteth me that I have made them But Noe found grace before our Lord. These are the generations of Noe. Noe was a a just and perfect man in his generations He did walk with God And he begat three sons Sem Cham and Japhet And the earth was corrupted before God and was replenished with iniquity And when God had perceived that the earth was corrupted for all flesh had corrupted his way upon earth he said to Noe The end of all flesh is come before me the earth is replenished with iniquity from the face of them and I will destroy them with the earth Make thee an ark of timber-plank cabinets shalt thou make in the earth and shalt pitch it within and without with Bitume And thus shalt thou make it The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits fifty cubits the breadth and thirty cubits the heighth of it Thou shalt make a window in the ark and in a cubit finish the top of it and the door of the ark shalt thou set at the side below middle chambers and third losts shalt thou make in it Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth that I may destroy all flesh wherein there is breath of life under heaven All things that are in the earth shall be consumed And I will establish my covenant with thee and thou shalt enter into the ark thou and thy sons and thy wife and the wives of thy sons with thee And of all living creatures of all flesh thou shalt bring pairs into the ark that they may live with thee of the male sex and the female Of fouls according to their kind and of beasts in their kind and of all that creepeth on the earth according to their kind pairs of all sorts shall enter in with thee that they may live Thou shalt take therefore with thee of all meats that may be eaten and thou shalt lay them up with thee and they shall be meat for thee and them Noe therefore did all things which God commanded him And he was six hundred years old when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth Then all the fountains of the great depth were broken up and the flood-gates of heaven were opened and the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights In the very point of that day entred Noe and Sem Cham and Japhet his sons and his wife and the three wives of his sons with them into the ark they and every beast according to their kind and all cattel in their kind and all that moveth upon the earth according to their kind and all foul according to their kind Moreover the ark floted upon the waters And the waters prevailed out of measure upon the earth and all the high mountains under the whole
heaven were covered Fifteen cubits higher was the water above the mountains which it covered And all the flesh was consumed that moved upon the earth of fowl of cattel of beasts and of all creepers that creep upon the earth But only Noe remained and they that were with him in the ark And the waters held on above the earth an hundred and fifty days And God remembred Noe and all the beasts and all the cattel which were with him in the ark and brought a wind upon the earth and the waters decreased And the fountains of the depth and the flood-gates of heaven were shut up and the rain from heaven was staid And the waters returned from the earth going and coming and they began to decrease after an hundred and fifty days And after that forty days were passed Noe opened the window of the ark which he had made let forth a crow which went forth and did not return till the waters were dried upon the earth He sent forth also a dove after him to see if the waters were ceased yet upon the face of the earth which finding not where her foot might rest returned to him into the ark for the waters were upon the whole earth and stretched forth his hand and caught her and brought her into the ark And having expected yet seven more days again he let forth a dove out of the ark but she came to him at eventide carrying a bough of an olive tree that had green leaves in her mouth Noe therefore understood that the waters were ceased upon the earth And he expected nevertheless other seven days and he sent forth a dove which returned not any more to him And God spake to Noe saying Go forth of the ark thou and thy wife thy sons and the wives of thy sons with thee All cattel which are with thee of all flesh as well in fowls as in beasts and all creepers that creep upon earth bring out with thee and go ye upon the earth encrease and multiply upon it Noe therefore went forth and his sons his wife and the wives of his sons with him Yea and all cattel beasts and creepers that creep upon the earth according to their kind went forth out of the ark And Noe built an altar to our Lord and taking of all cattel and fowls that were clean offered holocausts upon the altar And our Lord smelled a sweet savour The Priest begs of God on the Peoples behalf that admitting them into his Church thereby securing them from the Deuge wherewith the World was overflowed by sin he would be pleased to restore them to that Innocency wherein they were Created Let us Pray Let us kneel R. Lift up your selves O God whose power is unchangeable and light eternal look favourably upon the mystical and wonderful body of thy whole Church and by the effect of thy continual conduct compleat tranquillity the salvation of mankind that all the world may experimentally see that thou hast raised what was fallen and renewed what was decayed and that all things are re-established by him from whom they had their beginning our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen The THIRD PROPHECY taken out of the 22d Chapter of Genesis The Church instructs the Catechumens that as Christ was tempted by the Devil after his Baptism so they must prepare for and fortifie themselves against the Temptations of this Enemy of our Salvation learning by his example to overcome them And as there is another sort of Temptation wherewith God sometimes tries his Servants the Church admonishes the Catechumens to be ready as Christ was to give Testimony of their Faith and Obedience And therefore Abraham is proposed as an Example whose Faith was more prevalent than his inclinations of Nature and caused him to Offer couragiously in Sacrifice his dear Son Isaac who had been given him beyond his expectation and by whom alone he could hope for his innumerable Posterity which God had promised unto him This was a strange Tryal nor could he have obeyed with such promptitude a Command so irksom but by the strength of Faith which made him firmly believe that God having drawn his Son from a Man half dead through Age he could also preserve him from the Tomb and Slaughter IN those days God tempted Abraham and said to him Abraham Abraham But he answered Here I am He said to him Take thy only begotten Son whom thou lovest Isaac and go into the land of vision and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee Therefore Abraham rising up in the night sadled his ass taking with him two young men and Isaac his son and when he had cut wood for the holocaust he went his way to the place which God had commanded him And the third day lifting up his eyes he saw the place afar off And he said to his young men Tarry you here with the ass I and the boy going with speed as far as yonder after we have adored will return to you He took also the wood of the holocaust and laid it upon Isaac his son and himself carried in his hand fire and a sword And as they went together Isaac said to his Father My father And he answered What wilt thou son Behold saith he fire and wood Where is the victim of the holocaust And Abraham said God will provide unto himself the victim of the holocaust my son They went therefore together and they came to the place which God had shewed him wherein he builded an altar and laid the wood in order upon it And when he had bound Isaac his son he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood And stretched forth his hand and caught the sword for to sacrifice his son And behold an angel of our Lord from heaven cried saying Abraham Abraham who answered Here I am And he said to him Stretch not forth thy hand upon the boy neither do thou any thing to him Now I have known that thou fearest God and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briers sticking fast by the horns which he took and offered an holocaust instead of his son And he called the name of that place Our Lord seeth whereupon even to this day it is said in the mountain Our Lord will see And the angel of our Lord called Abraham the second time from heaven saying By my own self have I sworn saith our Lord because thou hast done this thing and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake I will bless thee and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is by the sea-shore thy seed shall posses the gates of his enemies And in this seed shall be blessed all the nations of the earth because thou hast obeyed my voice
years and the more of them labor and sorrow Because mildness is come upon us and we shall be chastised Who knoweth the power of thy wrath and for fear to number thy wrath So make thy right hand known and men learned in heart in wisdom Turn O Lord how long and be entreated for thy servants We are replenished in the morning with thy mercy and we have rejoyced and are delighted all our days We have rejoyced for the days wherein thou hast humbled us the years wherein we have seen evils Look upon thy servants and upon thy works and direct their children And let the brightness of our Lord God be upon us and direct thou the works of our hands over us and the work of our hands do thou direct Ant. Our Lord was led like an innocent lamb to the slaughter and he opened not his mouth â—â—ALM 62. In one part the Church represents unto us in the Person of King David the Happiness of those who esteem this World but as a Wilderness and 〈◊〉 extreme Grief because they yet enjoy not God but who make their hopes of possessing and enjoying him their sole Joy and Comfort preferring the Delights they find in the Mercies of God before all the perishable Goods and transitory Pleasures of this World and who in their Afflictions and Persecutions put all their Confidence in God who makes them in the end victorious over their Persecutors On the other part the Church represents unto us the Misery and Unhappiness of the Wicked and such as are Enemies to the Just ANTHYMN The Church having in the precedent Psalm shewed unto us how terrible and irresistible Gods Anger is She now shews us in this Antiphon taken out of the Twenty third Chapter of the Prophet Jeremy that his Wrath is so terrible that the very Prophets themselves were not able to express and declare his Threats without trembling for fear Ant. My heart is broken in the midst of me all my bones have trembled O God my God to thee I watch from the morning light My soul hath thirsted to thee my flesh to thee very many ways In a desert land and inaccessible and without water so in the holy have I appeared to thee that I might see thy strength and thy glory Because thy mercy is better than lives my lips shall praise thee So will I bless thee in my life and in thy name I will lift up my hands As with marrow and fatness let my soul be filled and my mouth shall praise with lips of exultation I have been mindful of thee upon my bed in the morning I will meditate on thee because thou hast been my helper And in the covert of thy wings I will rejoyce my soul hath cleaved after thee thy right hand hath received me But they in vain have sought my soul they shall enter into the interior parts of the earth they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword they shall be the portion of foxes But the king shall rejoyce in God all shall be praised that swear by him because the mouth is stopped of them that speak wicked things PSALM 66. The Church represents unto us First With what Fervor and Ardency the Royal Prophet and the Saints of the Old Testament expected and covered the Coming of the Messias as being the Author of their Sanctification and Salvation Secondly With what a fervent Charity they desired the Conversion of Insidels to the end that God might be acknowledged and adored by all the Nations of the Earth O God have mercy upon us and bless us illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy on us That we may know thy way on earth in all nations thy salvation Let peoples O God confess to thee let all peoples confess to thee Let nations be glad and rejoyce because thou judgest peoples in equity and the nations in the earth thou dost direct Let peoples O God confess to thee let all peoples confess to thee the earth hath yielded her fruit God our God bless us God bless us and let all the ends of the earth fear him Ant. My heart is broken in the midst of me all my bones have trembled THE CANTICLE OF MOYSES Taken out of the Fifteenth Chapter of Exodus The Church shewing the Faithful that the Deliverance of the People of Israel from the Captivity of Egypt is but a Figure of God's Goodness in delivering them by his Son Jesus Christ from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin She also shews them how much they are obliged to sing Canticles of Praise to the Glory of our Lord with much greater joy than did the Israelites when they were delivered from the Tyranny of Pharao and the Persecution of their Enemies ANTIPHON taken out of the Fourth Chapter of the Prophet Barach Lord thou hast exhorted thy people to put their trust in thee and thou hast comforted them with thy holy grace LEt us sing to our Lord for he is glorious gloriously magnified the horse and the rider he hath thrown into the sea My strength and my praise is our Lord and he is made unto me a salvation This is my God and I will glorifie him the God of my father and I will exalt him Our Lord is a man of war Omnipotent is his name Pharaos chariots and his army he hath cast into the sea His chosen princes are drowned in the red sea the depths have overwhelmed them they are sunk into the bottom like a stone Thy right hand O Lord is magnified in strength thy right hand O Lord hath stricken the enemy and in the multitude of thy glory thou hast put down thy adversaries Thou hast sent thy wrath which hath devoured them like stubble and in the spirit of thy fury were the waters gathered together The flowing water stood the depths were gathered together in the midst of the sea The enemy said I will pursue and overtake I will divide the spoils my soul shall have his fill I will draw forth my sword my hand shall kill them The Spirit blew and the sea overwhelmed them they sank as lead in the vehement waters Who is like to thee among the strong O Lord who is like to thee Glorious in sanctity terrible and laudable doing merveils Thou didst stretch forth thy hand and the earth devoured them thou hast in thy mercy been a guide to the people which thou hast redeemed And in thy strength thou hast carried them unto thy holy habitation Nations rose up and were angry sorrows possessed the inhabiters of Philisthiim Then were the princes of Edom troubled trembling seised on the sturdy of Moab all the inhabiters of Canaam were confounded Let fear and dread fall upon them in the greatness of thy arm Let them become unmovable as a stone until thy people O Lord shall pass until thy people shall pass this which thou hast possessed Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance in thy most firm