and clubs when I was daily with you in the Temple you did not lay hands upon me but this is your hour and the power of darkness And apprehending him they led him to the High Priests house but Peter followed afar off And a fire being kindled in the mids of the court and they sitting about it Peter was in the mids of them Whom when a certain wench saw sitting at the light and had beheld him she said This fellow was also with him But he denied him saying Woman I know him not And after a while another man seeing him said And thou art of them But Peter said O man I am not And after the space as it were of one hour a certain other man affirmed saying Verily this fellow also was with him for he is also a Galilean And Peter said Man I know not what thou sayest And incontinent as he was yet speaking the Cock crew And our Lord turning looked on Peter And Peter remembred the word of our Lord as he had said That before the Cock crow thou shalt thrice deny me And Peter going forth adoors wept bitterly And the men that held him mocked him beating him And they did blindfold him and smote his face And they asked him saying Prophesie who is he that smote thee And blaspheming many other things they said against him And when it was day there assembled the Ancients of the people and Chief Priests and Scribes and they brought him into their council saying If thou be Christ tell us And he said to them If I tell you you will not believe me If also I ask you will not answer me But from henceforth the Son of man shall be sitting on the right hand of the power of God And they all said Art thou then the Son of God Who saith You say that I am But they said What need we testimony any further for your selves have heard of his own mouth And all the multitude of them rising up led him to Pilate And they began to accuse him saying We have found this man subverting our nation and prohibiting to give tributes to Cesar and saying That he is Christ the King And Pilate asked him saying Art thou the King of the Jews But he answering said Thou sayest And Pilate said to the Chief Priests and Multitudes I find no cause in this man But they were the more earnest saying He stirreth the people teaching throughout all Jewry beginning from Galilee even hither But Pilate hearing Galilee Asked if the man were of Galilee And when he understood that he was of Herod's jurisdiction he sent him back to Herod who was also himself at Jerusalem in those days And Herod seeing Jesus was very glad for he was desirous a long time to see him for because he heard many things of him and he hoped to see some sign wrought by him And he asked him in many words but he answered him nothing And there stood the Chief Priests and the Scribes constantly accusing him And Herod with his army set him at nought and he mocked him putting on him a white garment and sent him back to Pilate And Herod and Pilate were made friends that day for before they were enemies one to another And Pilate calling together the Chief Priests and Magistrates and the People said to them you have presented to me this man as averting the people and behold I examining before you have found no cause in this man of those things wherein you accuse him no nor Herod neither for I sent you to him and behold nothing worthy of death is done to him I will chasten him therefore and dismiss him And of necessity had to release unto them upon the feast-day one But the whole multitude together cryed out saying Dispatch him and release to us Barabbas who was for a certain sedition made in the city and murder cast in prison And Pilate again spake to them desirous to release Jesus But they cryed again saying Crucifie crucifie him And he the third time said to them Why what evil hath he done I find no cause of death in him I will correct him therefore and let him go But they were instant with loud voices requiring that he might be crucified And their voices prevailed And Pilate adjudged their petition to be done And he released unto them him that for murther and sedition had been cast into prison whom they demanded but Jesus he delivered to their pleasure And when they led him they took one Simon of Cyrene coming from the countrey and they laid the cross upon him to carry after Jesus And there followed him a great multitude of people and of women which bewailed and lamented him But Jesus turning to them said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not upon me but weep upon your selves and upon your children For behold the days shall come wherein they will say Blessed are the barren and the wombs that have not born and the paps that have not given suck Then shall they begin to say to the mountains Fall upon us and to the hills Cover us For if in the green wood they do these things in the dry what shall be done And there were led also other two malefactors with him to be executed And after they came to the place which is called Calvari there they crucified him and the thieves one on the right hand and the other on the left And Jesus said Father forgive them for they know not what they do But they dividing his garments did cast lots And the people stood expecting and the Princes with them derided him saying Others he hath saved let him him save himself if this be Christ the Elect of God And the souldiers also mocked him coming to him and offering him vinegar saying If thou be the King of the Jews save thy self And there was also a superscription written over him in Greek and Latin and Hebrew Letters This is the King of the Jews And one of those thieves that were hanged blasphemed him saying If thou be Christ save thy self and us But the other answering rebuked him saying Neither dost thou fear God whereas thou art in the same damnation And we indeed justly for we receive worthy of our doings but this Man hath done no evil And he said to Jesus Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy Kingdom And Jesus said to him Amen I say to thee This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And it was almost the sixth hour and there was made darkness upon the whole earth until the ninth hour And the sun was darkned and the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst And Jesus crying with a loud voice said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And saying this he gave up the Ghost Here the Faithful kneel or prostrate themselves for a while upon the ground And the Centurion seeing that which was done glorified God saying Indeed this man was just And all the multitude of them that were present
praise come from our tongue Amen And when they are come to the place provided for the blessed Sacrament the Deacon upon his knees receives it from the Priests and puts it upon the Altar The Priest being upon his knees incenseth and placeth it in the Tabernacle and returning saith Evensong in the Quire The original of this Custome comes from the ancient reserving some part of the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ for the next day's Communion no Consecration being then made as St. Gregory teacheth in his Book of the Sacrament ON THURSDAY IN Holy Week At EVEN-SONG Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM CXV The Church presents unto us the confidence we must have in God in Afflictions and Persecutions patiently bearing what he shall please to lay upon us beseeching his Majesty that we may die the death of the just that death which is precious in his eyes that death which may secure us from a second death that death which renders the dead happy because they died in our Lord. And if he shall please to deliver us from evil and dangers the Church proposes some sentiments of gratitude and fidelity we ought to conceive in our hearts and the obligation which nevertheless we have not to be less careful and sollicitous that we be not oppressed by God's benefits in not making a right use of them as we are by our sins in not quitting and leaving them as we are bound to do Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I Believed for which I spake but I was humbled exceedingly I said in my excess every man is a lier What shall I render to our Lord for all things that he hath rendred to me I will take the chalice of salvation and will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord before all people precious in the fight of our Lord is the death of his saints O Lord because I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Thou hast broken my bonds I will sacrifice to thee the host of praise and I will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord in the sight of all his people in the courts of the house of our Lord in the midst of thee O Jerusalem Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of our Lord. PSALM CXIX The Church exhorts the Faithful to consider how insupportable the labours are we suffer in this life and how horrible the troubles are which accompany that repose wherewith the world would have us contented to the end that we may acknowledge true content to be found onely in God the sole centre of repose and reaâ— good and that we likewise stir up in our selves a fervent desire to enjoy him speedily bewailing our so long detention in the pilgrimage of this life Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I speak to them they impugned me without cause WHen I was in tribulation I cried to our Lord and he heard me Our Lord deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue What may be given thee or what may be added unto thee to a deceitful tongue The sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of desolation Wo is to me that my sojourning is prolonged I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar My soul hath been long a sojourner With them that hated peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause PSALM CXXXIX The Royal Prophets shews us how to have recourse to God in Afflictions and Persecutions by considering his Justice and Mercy neither permitting any sin to pass unpunishable nor good works unrewarded that he can either divert sweeten give strength to support or absolutely free from the burden of the miseries of this liâ—â— and that after this he can raise men to the fruition of that bliss where no ill can interrupt nor the sovereign good be lost Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men DEliver me our Lord from the evil man from the unjust man rescue me Which have devised iniquity in their heart all the day they did appoint battles They have whet their tongues as that of a serpent the venome of asps is under their lips Keep me O Lord from the hand of the sinner and from unjust men deliver me Who have devised to supplant my steps the proud have had a snare for me And they have stretched out ropes for a snare they have laid a stumbling block for me near the way Our Lord Lord the strength of my salvation thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle Yield me not our Lord from my desire to the sinner they have devised against me forsake me not lest they perhaps be proud The head of their compass the labour of their lips shall cover them Coals shall fall upon them thou shalt cast them down into fire the miseries they shall not stand up A man full of tongue shall not be directed in the earth evils shall take the unjust man into destruction I have known that the Lord will do the judgments of the needy and the revenge of the poor But as for the just they shall confess unto thy Name and the righteous shall dwell with thy countenance Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men PSALM CXL In this Psalm the Holy Prophet teacheth us to acknowledge and confess our sins sincerely that so we may obtain the comforts and blessings of God in the traverses of this life we must examine and put a bridle upon our tongue we must order our words with prudence and discretion we must be sincere in our hearts and discourse hating the vain praises and compliances of flatterers and sinners and taking in good part the meek reprehensions of the just in short we must stir up in our souls an aversion and horror against sin practising patience in afflictions and putting our trust in God Ant. Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of those that work iniquity LOrd I have cried to thee hear me attend to my voice when I shall cry to thee Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight the elevation of my hands as evening sacrifice Set our Lord a watch to my mouth and a door round about my lips Decline not my heart into words of malice to make excuse in sins With men that work iniquity and I will not communicate with the chief of them The just shall rebuke me in mercy and shall reprehend me but let not the oyl of a sinner fat my head Because yet also my prayer is in their good pleasures their judges are swallowed up joyned to the rock They shall hear my words because they have prevailed as the grosness of the
the end for which we became Christians is not for this temporal life wherein God often delivers us up to persecutors who persecute us even to death but that the Name of Christian entitles us to an Eternal Life considering that he whose Name we bear was treated so for us PSALM XXI O God my God have respect unto me why hast thou forsaken me far from my salvation are the words of my sins My God I shall cry by day and thou wilt not hear and by night and not for folly unto me But thou dwellest in the holy place the praise of Israel In thee our fathers have hoped they hoped and thou didst deliver them They cried to thee and were saved they hoped in thee and were not confounded But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and outcast of the people All that see me have scorned me they have spoken with lips and wagged the head He hoped in the Lord let him deliver him save him because he willeth him Because thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb my hope from the breasts of my mother Upon thee I have been cast from the matrice from my mothers womb thou art my God depart not from me Because tribulation is very nigh because there is not that will help Many calves have compassed me fat bulls have besieged me They have opened their mouths upon me as a lyon ravening and roaring As water I am poured out and my bones are dispersed My heart is made as wax melting in the midst of my body My strength is withered as a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death Because many dogs have compassed me the counsel of the maglignant hath besieged me They have digged my hands and my feet they have numbred all my bones But themselves have considered and beheld me they have divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots But thou Lord prolong not thy help from me look toward my defence Deliver O God my soul from the sword and mine onely one from the hand of the dog Save me out of the lyon's mouth and my humility from the horns of unicorns I will declare thy Name to my brethren in the midst of the Church I will praise thee Ye that fear our Lord praise him all the seed of Jacob glorifie ye him Let all the seed of Israel fear him because he hath not contemned nor despised the petition of the poor Neither hath he turned away his face from me and when I cried to him he heard me With thee is my praise in the great Church I will render my vows in the sight of them that fear him The poor shall eat and shall be filled and they shall praise our Lord that seek after him their hearts shall live for ever and ever All the ends of the earth shall remember and be converted to our Lord. And all the families of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight Because the kingdom is our Lords and he shall have dominion over the Gentiles All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and adored in his sight shall all fall that descended into the earth And my soul shall live to him and my seed shall serve him The generation to come shall be shewed to our Lord and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to the people that shall be born whom our Lord hath made Ant. They have divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots This Ceremony is very ancient For St. Gregory mentions it in his Book de Sacramentis and in the sixteenth and seventeenth Councils of Toledo held in the year 693 and 694. in the eighth Canon of the former and in the second of the latter and likewise in St. Eligius Bishop of Noyon who lived in the same Age and treats of it in his eighth Homily ON Good Friday At Prime As before Page 131. At the Third Hour As before Page 136. At the Sixth Hour As before Page 142. At the Ninth Hour As before Page 147. I. N.R.I MASS FOR Good Friday The station in the Church of the Holy Cross of Hierusalem To instruct us that Jesus Christ suffered death upon this day in Hierusalem To the end that this day's Office may be performed with profound humility the Prayers of the None being ended those that officiate come before the Altar and kneeling prostrate themselves on the ground The Acolyts rise and lay a Cloth upon the Altar to represent the Linnens wherein Christ's body was wrapped before he was put into the Sepulcher and also to mind us by this Ceremony of the last Duties paid to our Saviour's body by Joseph of Arimathea and Nichodemus Then the Reader sings the first Prophecy without a title to observe unto us the ignorance and blindness of the Jews who would not understand the truths revealed unto them by the Prophets You may observe also that this Office is begun by Lessons as was done in the Primitive times The LESSON taken out of the sixth Chapter of the Prophet Osee The Church by the words of this Prophet declares unto us the love which God always had for his people either by correcting them to make them return to their duty or by sending Prophets among them who exposed their lives to save them or by sending at last his onely Son who died and rose again the third day to expiate their sins to deliver them from everlasting death and to give them a new life and an eternal felicity THus said our Lord In their tribulation early they will rise up to me come and let us return to our Lord because he hath wounded and he will heal us he will strike and will cure us He will revive us after two days in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight We shall know and we shall follow that we may know our Lord. As the morning light is his coming forth prepared and he will come to us as a shower timely and late to the earth What shall I do to thee Ephraim What shall I do to thee Juda Your mercy as a morning cloud and as the dew passing away in the morning For this have I hewed in the Prophets I have killed them in the words of my mouth and thy judgments shall come forth as the light Because I would mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than Holocausts The TRACT taken out of the third Chapter of the Prophet Abacuc The Church in the foregoing Lesson having taught us how advantageous the coming of Christ was to us shews us in this Tract how painful it was to this Divine Saviour to be born in a manger between two beasts and to be put to death upon the cross between two thieves O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid I considered thy works and trembled V. Thou wilt appear between two beasts
the lamb And it shall be a lamb without spot a male of a year old according also unto which rite you shall take a kid And you shall keep him until the fourteenth day of this month and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice him at even And they shall take of the blood thereof and put upon both the posts and on the upper door-posts of the houses wherein they shall eat him And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire and unleavened bread with wild lettice You shall not eat thereof any thing raw nor boiled in water but onely roasted at the fire the head with the feet and entrails thereof you shall devour Neither shall there remain any of him till morning if there be any thing left you shall burn it with fire And thus you shall eat him You shall gird your reins and you shall have shooes on your feet holding staves in your hands and you shall eat speedily for it is the phase that is the passage of our Lord. The TRACT taken out of the 139th Psalm The Church having represented unto us by the precedent Lesson how God is pleased we should celebrate the memory of the benefit he afforded us by the Passion of his Son in freeing us thereby from the tyranny of the Devil and from the slavery of Sin figured unto us by the people of Israel's delivery from the Egyptian's captivity teacheth us in this Tract how we are to have recourse to God in Afflictions and Persecutions first considering him both just and merciful neither leaving any sin unpunished nor good works unrewarded that he can either divert sweeten give strength to bear or deliver those entirely from the miseries of this life who sink under their weight and that at last he can elevate them to the fruition of that bliss where no evil can interrupt and where the sovereign good is not to be lost DEliver me our Lord from the evil man from the unjust man rescue me V. Which have devised iniquity in their heart all the day they did appoint battels V. They have whet their tongues as that of a serpent the venome of asps is under their lips V. Keep me our Lord from the hand of the sinner and from unjust men deliver me V. Who have devised to supplant my steps the proud have hid a snare for me V. And they have stretched out ropes for a snare they have laid a stumbling-block for me near the way V. I say to our Lord thou art my God hear our Lord the voice of my petition V. Our Lord Lord the strength of my salvation thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battel V. Yield me not our Lord from my desire to the sinner they have devised against me forsake me not lest they perhaps be proud V. The head of their compass the labour of their lips shall cover them V. Coals shall fall upon them thou shalt cast them down into the fire in miseries they shall not stand up V. A man full of tongue shall not be directed in the earth evils shall take the unjust man into destruction V. I have known that the Lord will do the judgements of the needy and the revenge of the poor V. But as for the just they shall confess unto thy Name and the righteous shall dwell with thy countenance The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John Chap. 18. The Passion is read in the Pulpit being uncovered first to shew us that Christ was nailed all naked to the Cross secondly to signifie that Jesus Christ has shewed unto us nakedly and manifestly the accomplishment of the Prophesies and 't is for this reason also that this day the Crucifixes are all unvail'd AT that time Jesus went forth with his disciples beyond the torrent Cedron where was a garden into which he entred and his disciples And Judas also that betrayed him knew the place because Jesus had often resorted thither together with his disciples Judas therefore having received the band of men and of the chief priests and the pharisees ministers cometh thither with lanthorns and torches and weapons Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him went forth and said to them Whom seek ye They answered him Jesus of Nazareth Jesus said to them I am he And Judas also that betrayed him stood with them As soon therefore as he said to them I am he they went backward and fell to the ground Again therefore he asked them Whom seek ye And they said Jesus of Nazareth Jesus answered I have told you that I am he if therefore you seek me let these go their ways that the word might be fulfilled which he said That of them whom thou hast given me I have not lost any Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it out and smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear And the name of the servant was Malchus Jesus therefore said to Peter put up thy sword into thy scabbard The chalice which my father hath given me shall not I drink it The band therefore and the tribune and the ministers of the Jews apprehended Jesus and bound him and they brought him to Annas first for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas who was the high priest of that year And Caiaphas was he that had given counsel to the Jews that it is expedient that one man die for the people Simon Peter followed Jesus and another disciple And that disciple was known to the high priest and went in with Jesus into the court of the high priest But Peter stood at the door without The other disciple therefore that was known to the high priest went forth and spake to the porters and brought in Peter The wench therefore that was portress said to Peter Art not thou also of this mans disciples He said to her I am not And the servants and ministers stood at a fire of coals because it was cold and warmed themselves And with them was Peter also standing and warming himself The high priest therefore asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine Jesus answered him I have openly spoken to the world I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple whither all the Jews resort together and in secret I have spoken nothing Why askest thou me Ask them that have heard me when I have spoken unto them Behold they know what things I have said When he had said these words one of the ministers standing by gave Jesus a blow saying Answerest thou the high priest so Jesus answered him If I have spoken ill give testimony of the evil but if well why strikes thou me And Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest And Simon Peter was standing and warming himself they said therefore to him Art not thou also of his disciples He denied and said I am not One of the servants of the high priest cosin to him whose ear Peter did
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
the new Life which the Israelites that is those who shall believe in the Messias are to receive by a Spiritual Regeneration expecting a glorious Resurrection of the Dead IN those days the hand of the Lord was made upon me and brought me forth in the spirit of our Lord and left me in the mids of a field that was full of bones And he led me about through them on every side and there were very many upon the face of the field and exceeding dry And he said to me Son of man thinkest thou these bones shall live And I said Lord God thou knowest And he said to me Prophesie of these bones and thou shalt say to them Dry bones hear ye the word of our Lord. Thus saith our Lord God to these bones Behold I will put spirit into you and you shall live And I will give sinews unto you and will make flesh to grow up over you and will stretch a skin on you And I will give you spirit and you shall live And you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as he had commanded me And there was made a sound when I prophesied and behold a commotion and bones came to bones every one to his juncture And I saw and behold upon them sinews and flesh was grown up and a skin was stretched out in them above and they had no spirit And he said to me Prophesie son of man and thou shalt say to the spirit Thus saith our Lord God Come spirit from the four winds and blow upon these slain and let them be revived And I prophesied as he had commanded me and the spirit entred into them and they lived and they stood upon their feet an army passing great And he said to me Son of man all these bones are the house of Israel They say our bones are withered our hope is perished and we are cut off Therefore prophesie and thou shalt say to them Thus saith our Lord God Behold I will open your graves and bring you out of your Sepulchers O my people and will bring you into the land of Israel And you shall know that I am the Lord when I shall have opened your Sepulchers and shall have brought you out of your graves O my people And shall have given my spirit in you and you shall live And I shall make you rest upon your ground saith our Lord God Let us pray The Church presenting unto us how Jesus Christ figured by the Paschal Lamb in the Old Testament hath taught us by his Life and Passion what we are to do during this present Life and by his Resurrection what Blessings we are to hope for in the next begs of God to make us worthy of the benefits he bestows upon us in this Life and of the Blessings we hope for in the next Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves O God who by Holy Scriptures Old and New instructest us to celebrate the Paschal Mysteries grant us to know the grandeur of thy mercy that receiving the gifts in this life we may be raised to a firm hope of thy future blessings Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The EIGHTH PROPHECY taken out of the 4th Chapter of Isay Which in one part foretells the Ruin of Jerusalem and the extream desolation which was to befal the Jews and in the other he describes the establishment of our Saviours Reign and the abundant graces he would pour forth on those who should believe in him AND seven women shall take hold of one man in that day saying we will eat our own bread and be covered with our garments onely let thy Name be called upon us take away our reproach In that day the bud of our Lord shall be in magnificence and glory and the fruit of the Earth high and exultation to them that shall be saved of Israel And it shall be every one that shall be left in Sion and shall remain in Jerusalem shall be called Holy every one that is written in life in Jerusalem If our Lord shall cleanse the filth of the Daughters of Sion and shall wash the bloud of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof in the spirit of judgment and the spirit of heat And our Lord shall create upon every place of mount Sion and where he is invocated a cloud by the day and smoak and the brightness of flaming fire by night for upon all glory protection And there shall be a Tabernacle for a place of shadow in the day from the heat and for security and covert from the whirlwind and from rain The TRACT out of the 5th Chapter of Isay The Prophet Isay shews us that the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of his Church which he compares to a Vine wherein God hath established the Jews to cultivate it who not discharging their Duty are driven thence and God put in their stead faithful Servants who make the true House of Israel The Fence wherewith the Prophet says God encompassed his Vineyard that is his Church signifies the grace wherewith he replenisheth protects and guards it The Tower is a sign that he fortifies and defends it from the force of the Devils and their Ministers who continually endeavour to overcome and destroy it The Press there prepared represents Christs Cross whence the Fruit of our Salvation flows as the most precious spiritual Must MY well-beloved hath a Vineyard in a very fruitful Hill V. And he fenced it and planted it with the choicest Vine and built a Tower in the midst of it V. And made a Wine-press in it for the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel The Church beseeches God that the Catechumens withdrawing themselves from Sin and coming into his Fold as a Branch transplanted from Egypt cleared from Thorns and Thistles may produce by his grace the Fruits he requires of them Let us pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves O God who by the mouth of thy Holy Prophets hast declared that for the benefit of all the Children of thy Church thou sowest good Seed through the whole extent of thy Empire and improvest thy chosen Plants grant of thy bounty that having rooted up all the Briars and Thistles from among thy People whom thou art pleased shall be called Vines they may bring forth good Fruit in abundance through our Jesus Christ The NINTH PROPHECY taken out of the 12th Chapter of Exodus In this Lesson the Church proposes unto us the Ceremony of the Jewish Passover explicated before pag. 197. to instruct us that Jesus Christ having fulfilled the Solemnity of the old Pasch celebrated in memory of the delivery of the People of Israel from the Egyptian Bondage came to this new Pasch which he is pleased that his Church should solemnize in memory of the Redemption he brought to the World giving his Body and Bloud in lieu of the Flesh and Bloud of the Paschal Lamb. And for the better observance of
with thy spirit Let us Pray The Church begs of God the wholsom effect of the Passion and Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ POur forth upon us O Lord the Spirit of thy Charity that those who are satiated with thy Paschal Sacraments through thy goodness may have but one heart and one will Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Priest coming to the end of the Mass turns to the Faithful exhorting them not to render themselves unworthy of Gods Assistance saying Our Lord be with you The Faithful answer wishing him the like R. And with thy spirit Then the Priest tells the People that Mass being ended they may retire saying You may withdraw Mass is ended Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia The Faithful answer Thanks be to God Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia All the rest as before pag. 80 81 82. At EVEN-SONG Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia The Antiphon as before pag. 304. out of the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew The Canticle of the blessed Virgin out of the 2d Chapter of St. Luke As also the Antiphon in the end of the Sabbath c. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray Spiritum nobis Domine c. as before p. 305. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us bless our Lord. Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Thanks be to God Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Pray for the Writer UPON THE SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ AT PRIME Pater noster c. Ave Maria Credo c. INcline unto my aid O God R. O Lord make hast to help me Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning be now and ever world without end Amen Alleluia Deus in Nomine tuo as before 132. Beati immaculi c. as before 133. Retribue te as before 135. Then the following Antiphon is said This is the day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O Lord God Almighty who hath caused us to come to the beginning of this day save us this day by thy power to the end that this day we fall into no sin but that our words may ever proceed and our thoughts and works may be directed to execute thy justice Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit R. Let us bless our Lord. R. Thanks be to God In the Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches the Martyrology is read and then the Priest says V. Precious in the sight of our Lord. R. Is the death of his Saints The blessed Virgin Mary and all Saints make intercssion for us to our Lord that we may obtain to be assisted and saved by him who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever Amen V. Incline unto my aid O God R. O Lord make hast to help me Which is repeated three times and then is said Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. V. Lord have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us V. Pater noster c. In a low voice until V. And lead us not into tempation R. But deliver us from evil V. O Lord look upon thy servants and upon thy works and guide their children R. And let the splendour of the Lord our God shine upon us and direct the works of our hands upon us and direct the work of our hands Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. Let us Pray VOuchsafe O Lord God King of Heaven and Earth this day to direct and sanctifie rule and govern our hearts and bodies our senses speeches and deeds in thy Law and in the works of thy Commandments that here and ever we may deserve to be safe and free by thy assistance O Saviour of the world Who livest and reignest world without end Amen V. Vouchsafe Father to bless R. Almighty God dispose our days and actions in thy holy peace This short Lesson is taken out of the Third Chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians IF then ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God set your affections on things above not in things on earth But O Lord have mercy on us R. Thanks be to God V. Our help is in the Name of our Lord. R. Who made Heaven and Earth V. God bless us R. God bless us The BENEDICTION O Lord bless and defend us from all evil and bring us to Life Everlasting and make the Souls of the Faithful departed rest in peace At the Third Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Deus in adjutorium as before pag. 348. Alleluia Legem pone c. as before pag. 136. Memor esto c. as before p. 138. Bonitatem fecisti c. as before p. 140. Then this following Antiphon is said Ant. This day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O God who this day opened unto us by thy only begotten Son the entrance to Eternity through his victory over death vouchsafe by thy mercy to grant those Petitions which thy prevenient grace inspires Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with thee livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen At sprinkling Holy Water As formerly the Church was accustomed to Baptize the Catechumens upon the Eves of Easter and Whit-Sunday The Priest being to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar on Easter-day and Whit-Sunday did consider them ready to approach the Altar pure and holy all their sins being effaced by the Sacrament of Baptism And therefore he besprinkleth them with Water out of the Font as hath been said to admonish them to be careful to preserve themselves in that Innocence which they received by Baptism and to teach them that they have been entirely purified from all their sins which is not to be doubted with failing in our Faith The Ant. Asperges me is not said nor the Psalm Miserere which signifie the sins wherewith we are defiled and from which we ought to be cleared But instead of Asperges me he says the following Ant. Vidi Aquam which represents the Excellency of the Waters of Baptism which Jesus Christ instituted to wash away the sins of Men by vertue of the Bloud which he shed and this was signified to us by the Water which issued with Bloud from his side which he called his Temple in the 2d Chapter of St. John and was figured in the 38th and 47th Chapters of the Prophet Ezechiel I Saw waters issuing forth of
to fear but also to love him Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival-festival-day to thee Vow ye and render to our Lord your God all ye that round about him bring gifts To the terrible and him that taketh away the spirit of princes terrible to the kings of the earth Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment PSALM 76. The Church here shews us That if the Faithful of the Old Law acknowledg'd their Sufferings to be occasioned by their Sins and that they deserved the Torments they suffered and that they received no Comfort but by considering the Effects of Gods Bounty in the Conduct of his People whereof there had been great and many Examples given How much more ought the Faithful of the Law of Grace to be comforted in their Afflictions by the Example and Promises of the Son of God our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ considering that what they suffer is nothing if compared to what our Redeemer suffered to take away our Sins and make us happy Then it shews us the Assurance he gives us to obtain by his Merits of God his Father either to avert the Evils of this Life or at least to mitigate them or to enable them to support them or that he wholly frees them from those Calamities and afterwards he raises them to the enjoyment of that Happiness wherein there is no fear of Ill and wherein they cannot lose the Sovereign Good Ant. In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands WIth my voice I have cried to our Lord with my voice to God and he attended to me In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands in the night before him and I was not deceived My soul refused to be comforted I was mindful of God and was delighted and was exercised and my spirit fainted Mine eyes prevented the watch I was troubled and spake not I thought upon old days and the eternal years I had in my mind And I meditated in the night with my heart and I was exercised and I swept my spirit Why will God reject for ever or will he not add to be better pleased as yet Or will he cut off his mercy for ever from generation unto generation Or will God forget to have mercy or will he in his wrath keep in his mercies And I said Now have I begun this is the change of the right hand of the Highest I have been mindful of the works of our Lord because I will be mindful from the beginning of thy merveilous works And I will meditate in all thy works and in thy inventions I will be exercised O God in the holy is thy way What God is great as our God thou art the God that dost merveilous things Thou hast made thy power known amongst peoples thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and Joseph The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee and they were afraid and the depths were troubled A multitude of the sounding of waters the clouds give a voice For indeed arrows do pass the voice of thy thunder in a wheel Thy lightnings shined to the round world the earth was moved and troubled Thy way in the sea and thy paths in many waters and thy steps shall not be known Thou hast conducted thy people as sheep in the hand of Moyses of Aaron Ant. In the day of tribulation I sought God with my hands V. Arise O Lord. R. And judge my cause VII LESSON Out of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians chap. 2. The Church instructs us by the Words of the Apostle St. Paul how on that day Jesus Christ being to leave this World and go unto his Father and that having celebrated the Pasch with his Disciples he instituted at this last Supper he eat with them the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a perpetual Testimony of his Passion and the fulfilling of the Figures of the Old Law and as the greatest Miracle he ever did which he also left in his Church to comfort all the Faithful afflicted by his absence and to ingrave in their Hearts a deeper Impression of that Divine Love which he testified by dying for us In this Seventh Lesson the Apostle treating of the Agapes which were Feasts instituted among the Primitive Christians in imitation of the last Feast our Saviour Jesus Christ made with his Apostles to keep Union among the Faithful he speaks against the Rich who called not the Poor to their Table but came to the Eucharist full of Wine and Meat for according to the ancient Custom every one having taken a small Repast he then came unto those Holy Mysteries But the Council of Laodice held about the Year 364 forbad to celebrate in the Churches this Ceremony of the Agapes for the Irreverences that might be committed and soon after the Apostles time they never communicated but fasting as Tertullian witnesseth ANd this I command not praising it that you come together not to better but to worse First indeed when you come together into the Church I hear that there are schisms among you and in part I believe it For there must be heresies also that they also which are approved may be made manifest among you When you come therefore together in one it is not now to eat our Lords supper For every one taketh his own supper before to eat And one certes is an hungred and another is drunk Why have you not houses to eat and drink in or contemn you the church of God and confound them that have not What shall I say to you praise I you in this I do not praise you The Church represents unto us the Ingratitude and Wickedness of the Jews who endeavoured the Death of our Saviour whilst he even fed them with his own Flesh and gave them his own Blood to drink That also those by receiving it might have eternal Life She likewise admonisheth us to take care that â—e do not crucifie Christ in our own selves as the Jews crucified him on the Cross by profaning and defiling his precious Blood â—â—d by smothering in
obedient unto death Here following they kneel and say Our Father c. Miserere mei Deus as before p. 65. A PRAYER To beg God's Mercy towards us for the Sufferings and Death of his Son Jesus Christ LOok down O Lord we beseech thee upon this thy Family for which our Lord Jesus Christ doubted not to be betrayed into the hands of the Wicked and so undergo the Torments of the Cross who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen By the Noise is represented the Commotion of the Jews in apprehending JESUS CHRIST After which the lighted Taper is taken from under the Altar to signifie the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST According to the Custom of Paris the Anthymn of Benedictus being repeated they kneel down and two Clerks go behind the Altar where the lighted Taper was set which represented JESUS CHRIST the true Light of the World and there they sing with the rest of the Quire the following Versicles to express the Sighs and Moans of the Women that accompanied our Lord JESUS CHRIST to his Passion and to excite in our Hearts the Affections and Sentiments of Piety in meditating on the Sufferances of JESUS CHRIST The Clerks Lord have mercy on us The Quire Lord have mercy on us The Cl. Lord have mercy on us spare thy servants Christ our Lord became obedient unto death for us The Qu. Lord have mercy on us The Cl. Who camest into the world to suffer for us The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Who hast said by the mouth of the prophet Osee chap. 13. I will be thy death O Death The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Whose Hands being stretched on the Cross didst draw all the world unto thee The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Meek Lamb to whom the Wolf gave a mortal Kiss The Qu. Lord have mercy on us The Cl. And thou wouldst thy self be bound to free us from the Bonds of Death The Qu. Jesus Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Life died on the Wood of the Cross and triumphed over Hell and Death The Qu. Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Spare thy servants Christ our Lord became obedient unto death for us The Cl. Even to the death of the Cross Miserere mei c. as before p. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quaesumus c. as before p. 80. AT COMPLINE They neither say Jube Domne Benedicere nor give the Blessing to shew us that the Author of all Blessing is dead The Lesson is likewise omitted to represent unto us that the Preaching of the Gospel and the Voice of them who ought to instruct others to follow JESUS CHRIST did cease during his Passion Nor is our Lord's Prayer repeated to signifie the Trouble and Forgetfulness of the Disciples of our Saviour After the Confession and Absolution the Psalm Cum invocarem c. is said as before p. 14. But the Hymn is omitted at the end to declare that through the Impiety of the Jews the Honor due to God was violated The Chapter is not said to shew us that the Jews did not profit by the Instructions of the Prophets Nunc dimittis c. is said as before p. 20. to represent the Perfidiousness and Ingratitude of the Jews who were so blind and obstinate as not to acknowledge the Saviour of the World Then is said the following Versicle V. Christ became obedient unto death for us After this Versicle the Pater noster c. is repeated to instruct us in our Duty to pray and watch against all the Accidents of this Life Miserere mei Deus as before p. 65. Respice Quaesumus as before p. 80. THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON Holy-Thursday FOR THE FRIDAY AT MATTINS FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 2. The Royal Prophet describes the Persecutions which the Jews and Gentiles raised against the Messias and his People 2. He describes the Eternal and Temporal Generation of the Messias and the Extent of his Dominion over the whole Earth what Obstacle soever the Persecutors could do against it 3. He represents the Punishments wherewith God threatens the Wicked For so the Apostle St. Peter explicates this Psalm in the Fourth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Ant. The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and against his Christ WHy did the Gentiles rage and peoples meditate vain things The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and against his Christ Let us break their bonds asunder and let us cast away their yoke from us He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them and our Lord shall scorn them Then shall he speak to them in his wrath and in his fury he shall trouble them But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy hill preaching his precept The Lord said to me Thou art my Son I this day have begotten thee Ask of me and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance and thy possession the ends of the earth Thou shalt rule them in a rod of iron and as a potters vessel thou shalt break them in pieces And now ye kings understand take instruction you that judge the earth Serve our Lord in fear and rejoyce to him with trembling Apprehend discipline lest sometimes our Lord be wrath and you perish out of the just way When his wrath shall burn in short time blessed are all that trust in him Ant. The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and his Christ PSALM 21. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST pronounced the first Words of this Psalm when he was fastned to the Cross and they contain the Prophecy of his bitter Passion And the Royal Prophet having represented the Pains and Sufferings of the Son of God then speaks of his Glory and Empire and at last shews us the Advantages that accrue unto the Faithful and for which they ought to render Thanks unto God This Divine Saviour who could not be guilty having put himself in our place incurred our Obligations contracted our Debts and satisfied for our Crimes Likewise this Psalm presents unto us That the Sins of Men wherewith he had loaded himself deserved that his Father should abandon him to all imaginable Misery that thereby he might satisfie the Rigor of his Justice in all things and if he addressed this Complaint My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me it was not in his own Person he spoke it but in the Person of this wretched Infirmity of the Flesh wherewith He was clothed 't was in the Person of the Members of his Mystical Body foreseeing the Desires and Demands they would offer to his Father and himself by an inclination of Nature and by a Human Motion of being delivered from Torments and Death For What did our Saviour desire to be delivered from Sufferings aad Death who came only to
putting to death the Redeemer of the World She also admonisheth them to acknowledge their Sins and to beg Gods pardon for them Jerusalem arise and put off thy garments of mirth cover thy self with ashes and haircloth For in thee is slain the Saviour of Israel V. Draw forth tears as a torrent day and night and let not the apple of thine eye besilent Because in thee was slain the Saviour of Israel LESSON III. Taken out of the Fifth Chapter The beginning of the Prayer of the Prophet JEREMY The Prophet prays unto God to have mercy on his People REmember O Lord what is fallen to us behold and regard our reproach Our inheritance is turned to aliens our houses to strangers We are made pupils without father our mothers are as it were widows Our water we have drunk for money our wood we have bought for a price We were led by our necks no rest was given to the weary We have given our hand to Egypt and to the Assyrians that we might be filled with bread Our fathers have sinned and they are not and we have born their iniquities Servants have ruled over us there was none that would redeem us out of their hand In peril of our lives did we fetch us bread at the face of the sword in the desert Our skin was burnt as an oven by reason of the tempests of famin They humbled the women in Sion and the Virgins in the cities of Juda. Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God VERSICLE taken out of the First Chapter of the Prophet Joel The Church having represented unto us the Prayer which the Prophet Jeremy offered unto God to endeavor to avert those Miseries which threatned the City of Jerusalem she likewise shews us in the following Versicles the admonition God gave unto the Jews to do Penance by the Month of the Prophet Joel that they might avoid those Miserie 's their Sins would draw upon them Mourn as a virgin my people girded with sackcloth upon the husband of her youth Because the day of our Lord is at hand a very great and bitter day V. Gird your selves and mourn ye priests howl ye ministers of the altar lie ye in sackcloth Because the great day of our Lord is at hand Mourn as a virgin c. SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 23. The Church yearly commemorating on this Day the Sepulcher of JESUS CHRIST represents unto us That this Sovereign Lord and Creator of all things was that amiable Saviour who out of his Love to us voluntarily suffered Death and Burial that by his Death having delivered us from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin might also by his Resurrection and Ascension open Heaven unto those that lead a Vertuous Humble Innocent and Chast Life Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in THe earth is our Lords and the fulnest thereof the round world and all that dwell therein Because he hath founded it upon the seas and upon the rivers hath prepared it Who shall ascend into the mount of our Lord or who shall stand in his holy place The innocent of hands and of clean heart that hath not taken his soul in vain nor sworn to his neighbor in guile He shall receive blessing of our Lord and mercy of God his Saviour This is the generation of them that seek him of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory Our Lord strong and mighty our Lord mighty in battel Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory The Lord of powers he is the king of glory Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in PSALM 26. The Church declares unto us That we should not fear the Accidents and Miseries of this Life since God is our Safety and Salvation and what help are we nor to expect from him whose only Son was Sacrificed for us And what should we fear since by his Death he has overcome all things that might hurt us and since he has ascended into Heaven there to give us refuge and which now is open to us in all our Miseries and Afflictions since from his Throne of Glory he pours forth upon us his Graces to purifie us conduct us and make us surmount all difficulties and obstacles to our Salvation and to convert our Patience to the shame and confusion of our Enenlies Therefore let us be careful not to render our selves unworthy his Protection and take heed lest the fear of trouble make us commit unlawful Actions We must also most strictly observe his Commandments and wholly apply our selves to his service in hopes of attaining to that Eternal Felicity he has promised us Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living OUr Lord is my illumination and my salvation whom shall I fear Our Lord is the protector of my life of whom shall I he afraid Whilst the shameful approach upon me to eat my flesh Mine enemies that trouble me themselves are weakned and are fallen If camps stand together against me my heart shall not fear If battel rise up against me in this will I hope One thing I have asked of our Lord this will I seek for that I may dwell in the house of our Lord all the days of my life That I may see the pleasantness of our Lord and visit his temple Because he hath hid me in his tabernacle in the day of evils he hath protected me in the secret of his tabernacle In a rock he hath exalted me and now he hath exalted my head over mine enemies I have gone round about and have immolated in his tabernacle an host of jubilation I will sing and say a psalm to our Lord. Hear O Lord my voice wherewith I have cried to thee have mercy on me and hear me My heart hath said to thee my face hath sought thee out thy face O Lord I will seek Turn not away thy face from me decline not in wrath from thy servant Be thou my helper forsake me not neither despise me O God my Saviour Because my father and my mother have forsaken me but our Lord hath taken me Give me a law O Lord in thy way and direct me in the right path because of mine enemies Deliver me not into the souls of them that trouble me because unjust witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living Expect our Lord do manfully and let thy heart take courage and expect thou our Lord. Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living PSALM 29. In this
RESP. By the following Versicles taken out of the Fifty seventh and Fifty third Chapter of the Prophet Isay the Church represents unto us That if the Jews were unhappy in having so ill treated and not acknowledged the Saviour of the World we who believe in him are not less faulty and unhappy unless we consider what this Divine Saviour suffered for us and thence draw some benefit to our selves Behold how the Just perisheth and there is none that considereth in his heart and men of mercy are gathered away because there is none that understandeth for at the face of malice is the Just gathered away V. As a Lamb before his shearer he shall be dumb and shall not open his mouth From distress and from judgment he was taken up And his memory shall be in peace Behold how the just perisheth c. THIRD NOCTVRN PSALM 53. This Day the Church commermorating CHRIST in his Sepulcher makes the words in the Fifty third Psalm to express the Prayer this Divine Saviour made unto his Father as being our Chief and Mediator thereby begging of him a quick Resurrection to triumph over Death and destroy the Empire of Sin Ant. God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul O God save me in thy name and in thy strength judge me O God hear my prayers with thine ears receive the words of my mouth Because strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul and they have not set God before their eyes For behold God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul Turn away the evils to mine enemies and in thy truth destroy them I will voluntarily sacrifice to thee and will confess to thy name O Lord because it is good Because thou hast delivered me out of all tribulation and mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies Ant. God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul PSALM 75. The Church represents unto the Faithful who are figured by the People of Israel how JESUS CHRIST dying for us in Jerusalem was there buried there he arose again and there he established his Church calling thither all the Nations of the Earth to the knowledge of the true God and there reconciling us to his Eternal Father and uniting us by the tie of Charity that we might not be at Variance with any but in Peace with every one It is from thence that he began to enlighten us with the Light of his Grace to make us contemn the transitory Goods of this World which the Wicked enjoy but as in a Dream and which must vanish when they die The Church represents us this Divine Saviour triumphing over the Wicked and proposes unto us the severity of his Justice in the last Judgment when he shall come to judge the living and the dead with such Majesty and irresistible Power that all the Heavens and Elements shall be filled with horror and despair to the end that the terror of the threats of that last Judgment might not only prevent the stubbornness and boldness of Sinners and secure the innocency of the Just even amongst the Wicked but also that the Wicked fearing the Torments wherewith God punisheth Offences might at the same time as they dread the punishment for their Sins be restrain'd from sinning and by an internal motion be incited to call upon the goodness of God who changes their Mind and by an admirable effect of his powerful Grace cleanses the corruption and malice of their Will and reduces them not only to fear but also to love him Ant. And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival day to thee Vow ye and tender to our Lord your God all ye that round about him bring gifts To the terrible and him that taketh away the spirit of princes terrible to the kings of the earth Ant. His place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion PSALM 87. This Psalm is a Prophecy of the Passion Burial and Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST wherein the Royal Prophet represents unto us the Sufferings which this Divine Saviour was to undergo to satisfie the rigor of the Justice of his Father and that for the Sins of Man wherewith he had loaded himself Then having described his Burial he proposes unto us the Prayer he was to offer to his Eternal Father to demand from him his Resurrection not only for himself for being equal to his Father he had no need of Prayers that he might not be left in the power of Death who alone was free among the Dead and had power to leave his Soul and take her again but for us that he might make us partners with him of his new Life and give us an Example of perfect patience and submission to the Will of God Moreover it shews us the advantage we receive from the Resurrection of our Saviour making us to acknowledge that our Faith had been fruitless if he had continued in his Sepulcher for then our Sins had not been taken away Death is an effect of Sin so that had not our Saviour vanquished Death it could not have been said he had triumphed over Sin Ant. I am become as a man without help free among the dead O Lord the God of my salvation in the day have I cried and in the night before thee Let my prayer enter in thy sight incline thine ear to my petition Because my soul is replenished with evils and my life hath approached to hell I am accounted with them that descend into the lake I am become as a man without help free among the dead As the wounded sleeping in the sepulchers of whom thou art mindful no more and they are cast off from thy hand They have put me in the lower lake in the dark places and in the shadow of death Thy fury is confirmed upon me and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me Thou hast made my familiars far from me they have put me abomination to themselves I was delivered and came not forth mine eyes languished for poverty I cried to thee O Lord all the day I stretched out my hands to thee Wilt thou do merveils to the
Psalm tells us how unalterable the just are in obeying the Law of God in the midst of persecutions considering the duty all creatures owe to God No brute beast will in the least resist his Creator's commands how much the more then are men obliged to obey him who are made after his own image and called to enjoy eternal bliss with him Secondly in considering how contemptible the goods of this life are and how inestimable those promised by Gods Law All perfections which these earthly goods have are finite and transitory and onely those which God promises his servants are infinite and eternal which alone can render us truly happy MY Soul hath fainted for thy salvation I have much hoped in thy Word My eyes have failed for thy word saying When wilt thou comfort me Because I am made as a bottle in the hoar frost I have not forgotten thy justifications How many are the days of thy servant when wilt thou do judgment on them that persecute me The unjust have told me fables but not as thy Law All thy Commandments are truth they have unjustly persecuted me help me They have well near made an end of me in the Earth but I have not forsaken thy Commandments According to thy mercy quicken me and I shall keep the testimonies of thy mouth For ever Lord thy Word is permanent in Heaven Thy truth in generation and generation thou hast founded the Earth and it is permanent By thy ordinance the day continueth because all things serve thee But that thy Law is my meditation I had then perhaps perished in my humiliation I will not forget thy justifications for ever because in them thou hast quickned me I am thine save me because I have sought out thy justifications Sinners have expected me to destroy me I understood thy testimonies Of all consummation I have seen the end thy Commandment is exceeding large In the seventh part of this 118 or 119 Psalm the Kingly Prophet instructs us that to obtain divine knowledge and wisdom we must earnestly demand it of God and we must restifie an ardent love to him and endeavour to keep his Commandments Secondly He teaches us that this divine wisdom renders us more knowing than our Masters when we love him more than they for our Masters are his Disciples as well as we It is a Master which not onely makes us know good but gives us also the will and power to do it Consequently the Prophet tells us the effect of this divine wisdom It makes us flie and hate sin and to delight in the Law of God By it we put on a firm resolution to keep the Commandments by it we order our lives well and all things relating to our soul and disposing our heart to be upright and sincere we do all things according to Justice and Equity It fortifies us against temptations and persecutions making us prefer the expected rewards for our good works before the vain pleasures and goods of this World HOw have I loved thy law O Lord all the day it is my meditation Above my enemies thou hast made me wise by thy Commandment because it is to me for ever Above all that taught me have I understood because thy testimonies are my meditation Above Ancients have I understood because I have sought thy Commandments I have stayed my feet from all evil way that I may keep thy words I have not declined from thy judgments because thou hast set me a law How sweet are thy words to my jaws more than honey to my mouth By thy Commandments I have understood therefore have I hated all the way of iniquitie Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths I swear and I have determined to keep the judgments of thy justice I am humbled exceedingly O Lord quicken me according to thy Word The voluntaries of my mouth make acceptable O Lord and teach me thy judgements My soul is in my hands always and I have not forgotten thy law Sinners laid a snare for me and I have not erred from thy commandments For inheritance I have purchased thy testimonies for ever because they are the joy of my heart I have inclined my heart to do thy justifications for reward In the Eighth Part of this Psalm the kingly Prophet teaches us that to the end a faithful soul may be made capable of divine wisdom she must divest her self of the maxims of humane prudence and that to preserve it she must be solicitous to avoid sin not so much in detestation of sin as for the content and pleasure she ought to take in just actions She must always endeavour to have a holy fear of losing that grace which has given her sentiments of joy in avoiding sin and by which as yet she hath a fear to be forsaken of God though he inflict not punishments upon her In fine she ought to have a great zeal for the service and glory of God I Have hated the unjust and I have loved thy law Thou art my helper and protector and upon thy word I have much hoped Depart from me ye malignant and I will search the Commandments of my God Receive me according to thy word and I shall live and confound me not of my expectation Help me and I shall be saved and I will always meditate in thy justifications Thou hast despised all that revolt from thy judgments because their cogitation is unjust All the sinners of the earth I have reputed prevaricaterers therefore have I loved thy testimonies Pierce my flesh with thy fear for I am afraid of thy judgments I have done judgment and justice deliver me not to them that calumniate me Receive thy servant unto good let not the proud calumniate me Mine eyes have failed after salvation and for the word of thy justice Do with thy servant according to thy mercy and teach me thy justifications I am thy servant give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies It is time to do O Lord they have dissipated thy law Therefore have I loved thy Commandments above Gold and Topazius Therefore was I directed to all thy Commandments all wicked way have I hated The Church tells us that this Divine Wisdom whereof the Royal Prophet speaks is not given to men by the merits of Christs Passion as no man can be saved but by faith in Jesus Christ V. Christ was made obedient for us even unto death Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before pag. 6. The PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag. 130. At the Ninth Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM 118 or 119. In the Ninth Part of this 118th or 119th Psalm the Holy Prophet teaches us by his example to honour the Law of God with profound Humility telling us that if we love it 't is God's gift He exhorts us to beseech his Majesty not to leave his gifts imperfect but that illuminating
is God V. The love of Jesus Christ hath united us V. Let us rejoyce and praise him V. Let us fear and love the living God V. And love one another with a sincere heart Then the Antiphon is repeated Where charity and love is there is God V. When therefore we are assembled V. Let us beware we are not divided in mind V. Let all quarrels and contentions cease V. And let Christ be among us Then the Antiphon is repeated the third time Where charity and love is there is God V. Grant that we may see with the blessed V. Thy face in glory O Christ our Lord. V. There to enjoy a happy and immense joy V. For ever and ever Amen Then the Superior or he that washes the feet of others washeth his hands wipes them and putting on his Coap he stands upright with his head bare says Pater noster c. V. And lead us not into temptation R. But deliver us from evil V. Thou hast enjoyned O Lord R. That thy Laws be exactly observed V. Thou hast washed thy Disciples feet R. Despise not the work of thy hands V. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray GRant O Lord we beseech thee that we may worthily discharge this our duty and since thou vouchsafest to wash thy Disciples feet despise not the work of thy hands which thou hast commanded us to retain and imitate that as we here cleanse all filth from our Bodies so thou wilt be pleased to free our Souls from all sins Which we beseech thee to grant us who livest and reignest God for ever and ever Amen THE MASS FOR THURSDAY IN Holy Week The station in the Church of St. John of Lateran This day in Rome the station is in this Church because the Pope did formerly bless the Holy Oyls there upon this day The INTROIT The Church representing to us in this Mass how our Saviour instituted the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist it being the Eve of his Passion as a perpetual Monument and to apply the fruit of it unto us she teacheth us by the example and words of Saint Paul that we ought to look upon the Cross of Christ as our onely glory for it is by its vertue that we are freed from the tyranny of the Devil that we are raised from death It is by it that Jesus Christ grants from corporal death of sin as we must be raised to the life of grace in this world as he will hereafter he will when he pleases give us the Life of Glory in Everlasting Bliss 'T is true that to glory in the Cross of Christ we must suffer much But what will that glory be which God hath prepared for the patience of the just what will their happiness be when for their vertues in this exile he shall give them crowns in heaven for short and temporary pains immortal and incomprehensible rewards The consummation of their felicity will be at the day of judgment when Jesus Christ after he hath raised them again shall inanimate them with his happy life and spirit as all the members of one body are filled and enlivened by one soul BUt we ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our Salvation Life and Resurrection and by whom we are redeemed and saved PSALM LXVI As the Sacrifice of the Cross is an effect of God's Mercy so his Grace whereby we are enlightened to acknowledge this inestimable benefit and whereby we are made worthy to reap the fruit of it is an effect of his Bounty and Mercy which we ought to beg of him GOd have mercy upon us and bless us illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy upon us But we ought to glory c. KYRIE ELEISON LOrd have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us All the rest as before pag. 30â— As the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is a Consequent and Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God on this day whereon our Saviour instituted this most venerable Sacrament the Church commands that Hymn to be sung which the Angels did sing at his Birth GLory be to God in the Highest and on Earth peace to men of good will We praise thee we bless thee we adore thee we glorifie thee we give thanks to thee for thy great glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely begotten Son Jesus Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father who takest away the Sins of the World have mercy on us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father have mercy on us For thou onely art Holy Thou onely art the Lord Thou onely O Jesus Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father Amen The Bells are rung during the Gloria in excelsis but are not rung again till Holy Saturday to teach us that the preaching of the Gospel and the voice of those who ought to excite others to follow Christ were silent during this Passion-time The COLLECT The people considering on the one side that Judas having received so many Testimonies of Favour from Jesus Christ after he had been admitted to his Table was yet so blind with covetousness that he betrayed his Master and God into the hands of the Jews who put him to death upon the Cross and transported with despair fell headlong into Hell On the other side the good thief made sensible by his pains repented himself of his sins and acknowledged our dying Saviour's divinity and putting his whole hopes and confidence in him deserved to receive the fruit of his Death and Resurrection They beseech God that they may nor approach his Table as Judas did but may obtain the same Grace with the penitent thief that so they may reap the advantage of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour O God who hast punished the sin of Judas and rewarded the confession of the repenting thief grant unto us the effect of thy mercy to the end that as our Lord Jesus Christ hath dispensed to each of them at his Passion according to their merit so having destroyed the old man in us he will grant us grace to have part with him in his glorious Resurrection Who liveth and reigneth one God world without end This Prayer is only said The Lesson out of the first Epistle of the Apostle St. Paul to the Corinthians Chap. 11. 1. The Apostle blames them for their disorder in their Feasts called Agapae as we have explicated before 2. He treats of the institution of the Eucharist and teacheth us that Christ did institute this Sacrament to renew in us the memory of his incomparable love restified by his dying for us 3. He shewed how we ought to prepare our selves worthily to receive this Adorable Sacrament
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
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
As the dream of them that rise O Lord in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing Because my heart is inflamed and my reins are changed And I am brought to nothing and know not As a beast am I become with thee and I always with thee Thou hast held my right hand and in thy will thou hast conducted me and with glory thou hast received me For what is to me in heaven and besides thee what would I upon earth My flesh hath fainted and my heart God of my heart and God my portion for ever For behold they that make themselves far from thee shall perish thou hast destroyed all that fornicate from thee But it is good for me to cleave to God to put my hope in our Lord God That I may shew forth all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion Ant. The wicked have thought and have spoken wickedness they have spoken iniquity on high PSALM 73. The Church represents unto us That as the Prophet David foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Evils that were like to be fal the Jews and considering the Love God had heretofore for the Israelites and the Wonders he had done in their favour She demands their Conversion of his Divine Majesty thereby to preserve the rest from that imminent Danger they are in of being Shipwreck'd And that the Infidels might not rejoyce at the Miseries of that People on whom God had once heaped so many Blessings and that they might acknowledge that 't is a Chastisement wherewith God punisheth their Infidelity and Sins Ant. Arise O Lord and judge my cause WHy hast thou O God repelled for ever is thy fury wrath upon the sheep of thy pasture Be mindful of thy congregation which thou hast possessed from the beginning Thou hast redeemed the rod of thine inheritance mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt List up thy hands upon their prides for ever how great things hath the enemy done malignantly in the holy place And they that hate thee have gloried in the midst of their solemnity They have set their signs for signs and have not known as in the issue on high As in a wood of trees they have with axes cut out the gates thereof together in hatchet and chip-ax they have cast it down They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire they have polluted the tabernacle of thy name in the earth Their kindred together have said in their heart Let us make all the festival days of God to cease from the earth Our signs we have not seen there is now no prophet and he will know us no more How long O God shall the enemy upbraid the adversary provoke thy name for ever Why dost thou turn away thy hand and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever But God our king before the worlds he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth Thou in thy strength hast confirmed the sea thou hast crushed the head of dragons in the waters Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon thou hast given him for meat to the people of the Ethiopians Thou hast broken up fountains and torrents thou hast dried the rivers of Ethan The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast made the morning and the sun Thou hast made all the coasts of the earth the summer and the spring thou hast formed them Be mindful of this the enemy hath upbraided our Lord and a foolish people hath provoked thy name Deliver not to beasts the souls that confess to thee and the souls of thy poor forget not for ever Have respect unto thy testament because they that are obscure of the earth are filled with houses of iniquities Let not the humble be turned away being confounded the poor and needy shall praise thy name Arise God judge thy cause be mindful of those thy reproaches that are from the foolish man all the day Forget not the voices of thy enemies the pride of them that hate thee hath ascended always Ant. Arise Lord and judge my cause V. My God deliver me from the hand of the sinner R. And from the hand of the wicked doing against thy law IV. LESSON Taken out of St. Augustin on the Fifty fourth Psalm Wherein the Church shews us what we must consider on in the Treason of Judas figured unto us in the Prophecy expressed in the Fifty fourth Psalm under the Figure of Achitophel's Treason and reiterating in this Lesson the Question St. Augustin proposes on this Subject to wit Why God permits the Wicked to be And then again it shews us by that great Saints Answer That God suffers them to live either to give them time to repent and be converted or thereby to exercise the Vertues of the Just HEar my Prayer O God despise not my Petition Attend to me and hear me These are the words of one in tribulation who asks in the height of his Sufferings to be freed from Evil. Let us hear the Evil he complains of and when he shall have told it let us acknowledge our selves in the same Affliction that partaking of his Sufferings we may also joyn with him in Prayer I am made sorrowful in my exercise and am troubled Wherein was he troubled wherein was he made sorrowful In my Exercises saith he speaking of the Mischiefs the Wicked did him and calling them his Exercises Do not think the Wicked inhabit the earth to no purpose or that God works not some Good by them for he permits them to live either to amend their Lives or to exercise the Vertues of the Good The Church proposes unto us how Judas by his Treason tried our Saviour's Patience and how instead of making good use of the time God granted him to repent in he contrariwise hurried on by his Despair hung himself ending his Life as Achitophel finished his after he had betrayed David R. My friend betrayed me with the sign of a Kiss saying Whomsoever I shall kiss the same is he hold him fast he did this wicked Sign to compleat a Murder with a Kiss This unhappy returned the Price of Blood and in the end hanged himself V. It had been good for him if that Man had never been born This unhappy returned the Price of Blood and in the end hanged himself V. LESSON By St. Augustin the Church teacheth us That there are some Kvils which we may suffer and that we must not hate the Authors of our Misery but we ought to love them and to pray incessantly to God for them nor ever despair of their Conversion and Repentance WOuld to God those who now tried our Patience were converted and that with us theirs might be exercised yet as long as they do exercise us let us not hate them for we know not whether they 'l persevere in their Wickedness to the end And it often happens that when thou thinkest thou hatest thine Enemy thou hatest thy Brother tho' thou knowest it not 'T is only
to the Precepts of his Gospel with the fidelity of a sincere Heart and consider that that Infinite Wisdom cannot be deceived which penetrates the most hidden Secrets of our Soul LEt us hasten therefore to enter into that rest that no man fall into the same example of incredulity For the word of God is lively and forcible and more piercing than any two-edged sword reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit of the joynts also and the marrows and a discerner of the cogitations and intents of the heart And there is no creature invisible in his sight but all things are naked and open to his eyes To whom our speech is Having therefore a great high-priest that hath entred the heaven Jesus the Son of God let us hold the confession For we have not a high-priest that cannot have compassion on our infirmities but tempted in all things by similitude except sin RESP. The Church represents unto us That this Sovereign Priest felt the Temptations and Infirmities of Humane Nature by offering himself unto God for us as a Sacrifice and Victim R. They have delivered me into the hands of the wicked and have cast me among the impious and have not spared my soul The strong are gathered together against me and like giants have stood against me V. Strangers have rose up against me and the strong have sought my soul And like giants c. VIII LESSON The Church describes to us a holy Bishop in general and a Pattern of one very particularly in JESUS CHRIST LEt us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid For every high-priest taken from among men is appointed for men in those things that pertain to God that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins that can have compassion on them that be ignorant and do err because himself also is compassed with infirmity and therefore he ought as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins RESP. The Church in the precedent Lesson having proposed unto us the Description of a Holy Bishop in this she presents us in the Person of Caiphas with a Wicked one R. The wicked delivered Jesus to the chief princes of the priests and to the elders of the people But Peter followed him afar off that he might see the end V. But they led him to Caiphas the prince of the priests where the Scribes and Pharisees were met together But Peter followed c. IX LESSON The Apostle teacheth us That as in the Old Law none could intrude himself to exercise the Function of Priesthood without a successive Vocation so JESUS CHRIST intruded not himself into the Pontifical Dignity but received it from God his Father Then he treats of the Prayers accompanied with the Sighs and Tears JESUS CHRIST offered on the Cross and which God accepted in regard of his Dignity and the Love he bare towards him as his Son 2. The Apostle declares unto us the Excellency of CHRIST's Priesthood above that of Aaron's 1. Because being Immortal he was an Eternal Priest 2. Because he was the Son of God and one and the same God with his Father 3. In being the Beginning of our Salvation 4. In that he offered up himself 5. Because he needed not to have been offered up a Sacrifice for his own Sins he having none nor being able to commit any because he was the Source and Fountain of all Goodness NEither doth any man take the honor to himself but he that is called of God as Aaron So Christ also did not glorifie himself that he might be made a high priest But he that spake to him My Son art thou I this day have begotten thee As also in another place he saith Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedeck Who in the days of his flesh with a strong cry and tears offering prayers and supplications to him that could save him from death was heard for his reverence And truly whereas he was the Son he learned by those things which he suffered obedience And being consummate was made to all that obey him cause of eternal salvation called of God a high-priest according to the order of Melchisedeck RESP. The Church presents unto us the extremity of Christs sufferings and that by his Passion he has given us an example of perfect Patience and Obedience R. My eyes are darkned with my tears for he is far from me that did comfort me See all people if there be any sorrow like to my grief V. O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like to my grief My eyes are darkned with my tears because he is far from me who did comfort me See all ye people if there be any grief like mine AT LAUDS Ant. GOod spared not his own Son but delivered him for us Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 65. PSALM 142. The Church shews us that in all our afflictions we must have recourse to Gods Mercy with an humble confidence and faithful submission to his Will and we must acknowledge that our Sins brought on us our Miseries and we must pray his Divine Majesty to conduct us with his Holy Spirit lest the extremity of our sufferings transport us to do unlawful Actions Ant. My spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled LOrd hear my prayer with thine ears receive my petition in thy truth hear me in thy justice And enter not into judgment with thy servant because no man living shall be justified in thy sight Because the enemy hath persecuted my soul he hath humbled my life in the earth He hath set me in obscure places as the dead of the world and my spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled I was mindful of old days I have meditated in all thy works in the facts of thy hands did I meditate I have stretched forth my hands to thee my soul is as earth without water unto thee Hear me quickly O Lord my spirit hath fainted Turn not away thy face from me and I shall be like to them that descend into the lake Make me hear thy mercy in the morning because I have hoped in thee Make the way known to me wherein I may walk because I have lifted up my soul to thee Deliver me from mine enemies O Lord to thee I have fled teach me to do thy will because thou art my God Thy good spirit will conduct me into the right way for thy name sake O Lord thou wilt quicken me in thine equity Thou wilt bring forth my soul out of tribulation and in thy mercy thou wilt destroy mine enemies And thou wilt destroy all that afflict my soul because I am thy servant Ant. My spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled ANOTHER ANTHYMN The Church shews us the difference 'twixt Christ's and our Sufferings Ours