thy Saints we may also imitate their faith and patience We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That we may keep inviolably the Catholick Faith so stoutly maintained by them that like as thine Elect in heaven so we may readily do thy will on earth that we may hate our own Souls in this world that we may preserve them to eternal life that thou wouldst vouchsafe to admit us into the inheritance of thy chosen in light We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That we may continually praise thee in thy Saints that we may laud thee with thy Saints in Heaven and magnify thee for ever We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Our Father which art in Heaven c. PRaise the Name of our Lord praise him ye Servants of our Lord. Who stand in the house of our Lord in the courts of the house of our God Praise our Lord for he is good sing unto his Name for it is sweet Sing unto our Lord a new Song his Praise in the congregation of his Saints For our Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will magnify the meek with Salvation Let the Saints be joyful in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds Let the high Praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged Sword in their hand To execute vengeance upon the Nations and punishment upon the people To bind their Kings with chains and their Nobles with fetters of Iron To execute upon them the Judgment written This Honor have all his Saints Hallelujah Let us pray WE give thee thanks O Lord with all our hearts for that thou hast chosen thy Saints and justified them by thy infinite grace for that thou hast prevented them with the blessings of thy sweetness and preserved them in their way thro all the impediments of their Salvation We give thee infinite thanks O God for all the Graces and Benefits which thou hast bestowed upon them in time and reserved for them to Eternity O ye blessed Servants and Friends of God who confirmed in all Grace and now have received the Crown of heavenly Glory and with joy behold the Sacred Trinity face to face praising him with unspeakable gladness everlastingly obtain for us your Supplicants free pardon of our sins and a perfect denial of our selves that we may follow your steps thro the narrow way as also an intimate and sincere love of God wherewith you being enflamed have valiantly and gloriously overcome the world the flesh and the devil with all the crosses of this present life pray for us now and at the hour of our death that when we are to pass hence and to appear before the fearful Tribunal of the great Judge he would not enter into judgment with us but judge us according to his infinite mercy that so at length we may be admitted into the blessed Fellowship in that supernal Jerusalem where we altogether may praise extol and magnify our Lord God for ever and ever Amen O Lord God multiply upon us thy Grace and grant us to follow in a holy profession the joy of thy Saints whose memories we celebrate through Jesus Christ thy only Son our Lord. Amen MOst gracious God the Author of all Sanctity and lover of Unity whose wisdome hath established an admirable communion between thy Church triumphant in heaven and militant on earth as members of the same mystical Body whereof thy Son Christ Jesus is the Head mercifully grant that as thy Blessed without ceasing pray to thee for us we may continually praise thee for them and in correspondence to their perfect Charity with pious observance celebrate their memories till we all meet before thy glorious Throne and with one heart adore the Saviour of us all who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end Amen O All ye blessed Saints of heaven and Spirits Angelical whom God with the brightness of his presence makes everlastingly joyful pray for us We salute and honour you we give praise and thanks to our Lord who hath chosen you and made you eternally happy with his benedictions obtain from him for us forgiveness obtain for us grace that at the end of this frail life we may be admitted to the fruition of your heavenly Society thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty God and most merciful Father favourably regard the imperfect Prayers of thy servants here on earth which we present unto thee by the most efficacious intercession of our fellow members the Saints in heaven and grant that as their Sanctity is exalted by thee to a supreme degree of glory so their Charity may obtain for us the especial assistance of thy Grace thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen GRant O Almighty God that we who celebrate the Memories and reverence the Holiness of all thy Saints may be assisted with Thee by their intercession and rejoyce in their protection thro Jesus Christ Amen O Almighty and Eternal God who vouchsafest us the Grace to reverence the Holiness of all thy Saints Grant us we beseech Thee the desired plenty of thy mercy by their multiplied intercessions thro our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The LITANY of Penitents O God the Father of heaven our Creator Have mercy on us O God the Son our Redeemer Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier Have mercy c. O strong just and jealous God taking revenge upon all sin and iniquity who sparedst not the Angels that sinned but castedst them down into hell to be tormented From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who hast appointed death the stipend of Sin who didst shut Adam after he had sinned out of Paradise and subjectedst him to many Curses From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who sparedst not the old world but punishedst it overwhelmed in sin by the flood From thy great wrath c. Who utterly consumedst Sodom and Gomorrah burnt to ashes and miraculously punishedst Pharoah and the Aegyptians hardening their hearts against thee From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who sparedst not thine ancient people the Jews rebelling against thee but deliveredst them up into the hands of their enemies and into the Babylonish Captivity From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who at last scatteredst them throughout all the world whilst persevering in their sins and gavest thy beloved City and thy Sanctuary to be trodden under foot of the Enemy From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us O God to the relenting and penitent gracious and merciful long-suffering and abundant in mercy and repenting thee of evil who lovest every thing and hatest nothing that thou hast made From thy great wrath c. Who pitiest all and winkest at the sins of men for their amendment of life who wouldst have none to perish but all be converted and in whose presence there is joy over one sinner that doth penance From all thy great wrath c. Who calledst
with Grace seasoned with Salt that we may know how to answer every man and our discourse such as may some-way edify and minister Grace to the hearers that this busy member being defiled with no filthy or vain communication here may be the more hallowed in the world to come to sing Hallelujahs Doxologies and Thanksgivings for ever and ever to the Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen A DOXOLOGY to the Blessed Trinity GLory be to the Father of mercies the Father of Men and Angels the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Glory be to the most holy and eternal Son of God the blessed Saviour and Redeemer of the world the Advocate of Sinners the Prince of Peace the Head of the Church and the mighty Deliverer of all them that call upon him Glory be to the holy and eternal Spirit of God that searcheth all things even the depths and hidden things of God the Holy Ghost the Advocate the Comforter the sanctifying and life-giving Spirit All glory and thanks all honour and power all love and obedience be to the blessed and individual Trinity one God Eternal It is most just and right to praise and to glorify to worship and adore to give thanks and to magnify thee the great Maker of all Creatures visible and invisible the Treasure of all good temporal and eternal the Fountain of all life mortal and immortal the Lord and God of all things in heaven and earth the great Father of thy servants the great Master of thy children The Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens and every Power therein the Sun and the Moon and all the Stars of the Sky the Sea and the Earth the heights above all the depths below Jerusalem which is from above the Congregation celestial the Church of the first born written in the heavens the Spirits of the Prophets and just men made perfect the Souls of Apostles and all holy Martyrs Angels and Archangels Thrones and Dominions Principalities and Powers the Spirits of Understanding and the Spirits of Love with never ceasing Hymns and perpetual Anthems cry out night and day and let the humble voice of thy servants also be heard amongst them saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts heaven and earth are full of thy glory The Heavens declare thy glory the Earth confesseth thy providence the Sea manifests thy power and every Spirit and every understanding Creature celebrates thy greatness for ever and ever Especially thy miserable creature Man is bound to praise thee because thou mad'st him according to thy own Image because thou gav'st him the riches and the rest of Paradise and when he fell and broke thy easy Commandment thou didst not despise his folly nor leave him in his Sin but didst chastise him with thy Rod and restrain him by thy law and instruct him by thy Prophets and at last by the coming of the second person God the Son into the world did'st renew and repair this thy broken Image for which praised be the Lord God Almighty good and gracious dreadful and venerable holy and merciful to the works of thy hands Hosannah blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Hosannah in the highest for ever and ever Amen A DOXOLOGY concerning the Ways of God's Providence § 1 O The depth of thy Knowledge and Wisdome O God! how unsearchable are thy Judgments and thy Ways past finding out O Lord how great are thy works how deep are thy thoughts Who can utter thy mighty Acts O Lord Who can shew forth all thy Praise Even from the Creation thy Power delighteth to manifest it self in high and difficult matters and thou walkest contrary to the wisedome of men Thy whole work is to do wonders and by these thou being invisible in person declarest thy presence on the earth Thou bringest light out of darkness good out of evil and strength out of weakness Content and satiety out of poverty and glory and honour out of humility True wisdome and knowledge out of holy simplicity and self-disesteem the greatest consolations and joys out of adversities and sufferings Thou makest thy foolishness to be wiser then men and thy weaknes stronger then men By the foolish things of this world thou confoundest the wise and by the weak things of the world thou confoundest things that are mighty By the base and despised and things that are not thou bringest to nought things that are On the contrary thou bringest scorn and contempt out of the highest of pride ambition and glory covetousnes and unsatiableness out of plenty and abundance Extreme folly out of secular wisdome and cunning and sudden want out of ill gotten wealth Distraction out of the fulfilling our desires and sighing and mourning out of secular joys and pleasures Thou delightest to take the wily in their own craftiness and to deceive the deceivers To make his own net that he hath hid to catch himself and himself to fall into the same destruction he hath prepared for others Thou lovest to judge men by their own self-condemnation and to make the guilty pronounce sentence upon himself To punish men by their faults and to make their own way and not thy power to overthrow them Out of deep security and confidence thou bringest adversity and trouble and death when men think most enjoying life When they say Peace behold a sudden destruction and in the midst of War behold a sudden Peace Thou shewest strength with thy arm O Lord and scatterest the proud man in the imaginations of his heart Thou puttest down the mighty from their seat and dost exalt the humble and meek Thou fillest the hungry with good things and the rich thou sendest empty away Thou makest him who disperseth his goods to the poor to abound in wealth and those who heap them up to suffer penury The Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the strong nor Bread to the wise nor Favour to the skilful nor Riches to the Understanding but as thou distributest them O Lord to those who depend on thee § 2 The way by which thou appointest man to be happy is that which humane reason judgeth contrary to it Here repeat the Preface and which seemeth to render him most unhappy By his abondoning all things he comes to possess all things and by his desire of nothing he attains to want nothing By his being careful for nothing but the serving of thee he becomes provided of all things by thee and in his flying from the world the good things thereof follow him To cross and forsake his own will he finds the way to true tranquility of mind and to forsake his own reason with dependance on thee the way to true wisdome To be careless of and to lay down his life for thy sake the surest way to save it whilst others by seeking to preserve do lose it By his humility he attaineth to honour and in voluntary poverty he findeth content He taketh pleasure in infirmities in necessities in
the flesh and delighteth in the severest afflicting and subduing thereof especially taketh pleasure in its Purity and Chastity and eminently opposeth all uncleanness and those risings of Concupiscence which sin first discovered in our first Parents Who also continually warreth against this world opposing the vain shews of this present life with the representation to the eye of Faith of the Glories of that to come Who also fighteth against Satan and being stronger than he hath cast him out and possessed his house from whose gracious descent upon our Saviour's ascension this evil Spirit hath suffered a great restraint of his former delusions by his Oracles being silenced and Idolatry destroyed §. 192. The Internal Intercessor and Advocate The Holy-Ghost the Paraclete our Intercessor and Advocate here on earth within us to the Father and as the Son is in heaven with God Who helpeth our Infirmities not knowing what we ought to pray for and maketh intercession within us for us with groans that cannot be uttered Who maketh intercessions according to the will of God because he knoweth the deep things of God and God that searcheth the heart knoweth the secret mind of this Spirit Who crieth in our hearts Abba Father and teacheth us to pray by which Spirit all our Prayers must be offered as they are offered through the Son that we may find any access unto the Father Who abiding here on earth with us is the effectual Reconciler and maker of our peace for any sins which we commit whether against the Father or the Son But when we sin against him also and make him depart from us we are desolate since there is no person any more left that can acceptably sue or make request for our pardon without this Spirit §. 193. The Internal Comforter The Holy-Ghost the Comforter whose Divine presence rendreth all sufferings not only supportable but pleasant that which is contrary to the flesh being so much the more grateful to the Spirit who graciously doth afford in all mortifications and sufferings sufficient ability internal peace and spiritual joy who freeing us from the former spirit of fear is the author of a lively constant hope and confidence in God whereby we always rejoyce in and long and wait for that blessed day of our Consummation and the appearance of our Saviour that so we may enter into the joy of our Lord. §. 194. The Spirit of Obsignation and Vnction The Holy-Ghost the Spirit of Vnction and Obsignation an Vnction and a nointing from the holy one whereby we are consecrated unto God as the Lord Jesus was and made Kings and Priests hereafter to reign under Him and to serve Him in his heavenly Temple who is the Seal of God upon us that we are already his adopted Sons and shall be Heirs of all his rich Promises in their due season who is the Earnest of his Covenant made with us and first fruits of the plentiful Harvest to come by whom we have now a foretast of those heavenly Gifts and of the good word and promise of God and of the power of Christ's Kingdome and of the world to come §. 195. The Spirit of Miracles and wonderful Works The Holy-Ghost the Spirit of Power and Might of all miraculous and wonderful Works over all the Creatures and over all the Works of Nature which at first he made Spiritual and Corporal over Satan and all his instruments expelling them and confining them at pleasure over all infirmities and diseases Who only doth great wonders upon the earth above and contrary to the course of Nature healeth the sick enlighteneth the blind strengthneth the lame restoreth the withered multiplyeth food raiseth the dead freeth the possessed cureth the wounded Soul and broken Spirit sanctifieth perverse inclinations to testify to men the power and presence of God amongst them §. 196. The Internal Seed of Immortality The Holy Ghost the Seed of Immortality in our corruptible Bodies and a fountain in us springing up unto eternal life By whose virtue and efficacy It being here sown in shame will hereafter spring up glorious weak shall come up in power natural shall come up spiritual and angelical Who dwelling in this our flesh will never forsake it until as it did raise the Body of Christ our Head from the Dead so it shall have raised up the Body of us his Members and until these Bodies also by the virtue of this Spirit shall ascend like unto his and be caught up in the Clouds to meet him Until this our vile Body shall be made like unto his glorious Body and until as we now bear the image of the earthly Adam so we shall bear the image of the heavenly into which we shall be changed by the Spirit of the Lord from Glory to Glory till with the Angels and Saints the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs we be all made one in God and God all in all To whom be given all Glory unto all Eternity Amen FINIS LITANIES The LITANY to the Sacred Trinity O God the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the World Have c. O God the Holy-Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son Have mercy on us O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one God Have mercy on us Holy Holy Holy Lord God Omnipotent which art which wast and art to come Have mercy on us Who manifested'st thy Name I am that I am to Moses whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain and the whole Earth is filled with thy Majesty Have mercy on us Everlasting King Immortal Invisible who inhabitest that Light unto which no man can approach great in counsel and mighty in work and of whose wisdome there is no end Have mercy on us Who only dost great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number who workest all things according to the purpose of thy will and madest all things for thy self Have mercy on us One God and Father of us all who art above all and thro all and in us all from whom by whom and in whom are all things in whom we live and have our Being Have mercy on us Who hast disposed all things in number weight and measure who madest heaven and earth and all things therein who createdst the earth by thy power and the universe by thy wisdome Have mercy on us The Lord forming light and creating darkness making peace and creating evil in whose hands is the life of every living thing and the breath of all flesh Have c. The Lord that searchest the heart and triest the reins who quicknest the dead and callest those things that are not as if they were whose eyes are brighter than the Sun beholding all the ways of men Have mercy on us On whom the eyes of all wait and thou givest their meat in due season who openest thy hand and fillest with thy blessing every living thing Have mercy on us Who executest judgment for the oppressed who givest food to the hungry
who healest the broken in heart and bindest up their wounds God of the Fatherless and Judge of the Widows which loosest the Prisoners and openest the eyes of the blind Have mercy on us The Lord God that killest and makest alive who sendest to the grave and bringest back again who increasest the nations and destroyest them who enlargest the nations and straightenest them Have mercy on us God who takest no pleasure in iniquity with whom is no accepting of persons terrible in thy Counsels concerning the Sons of men the strong and jealous God visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children Have mercy on us God whose anger none can withstand the just Judge strong and long-suffering and a consuming fire Have mercy on us The Lord who liftest up the meek and humblest the wicked down to the ground who hast power to cast body and soul into Hell who takest the wily in their own craftiness and scatterest the counsel of the wicked Have mercy on us The Lord compassionate long-suffering of great mercy and truth our Protector and exceeding great Reward Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Sacred Trinity Be merciful and hear us O Sacred Trinity From all evil Deliver us O Lord. From all pride and loftiness of mind from gluttony and surfeiting and all intemperance Deliver us O Lord. From envy hatred and malice from luxury and uncleanness from sloth and inordinate heaviness and anxiety Deliver us O Lord. By the Eternity of thy Glory and Majesty by the infiniteness of thy power by the abundance of thy goodness by the unspeakable greatness of thy love and mercy and by the abysse of thy justice and judgments Deliver us O Lord. In the day of Judgment Deliver us O Lord. We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lord. That we may adore our Lord God and serve thee only in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That we may never take thy holy Name in vain that we may keep holy the Festivals of thy Church in exercises of religion and devotion We sinners beseech Thee c. That we may obey and reverence with due honor our Parents Prelates Superiors and all thou hast set over us We sinners beseech thee to hear us That we injure no man's life good name or honor out of anger hatred or envy We sinners beseech thee to hear us That we keep our hearts clean from all inordinate lustings of the flesh and impure affections That we hurt none by stealing damage or any other wrong through cousinage or violence That we never speak a ly or bear false witness against our Neighbour nor covet his goods We sinners beseech thee to hear us That we love thee O God with all our heart with all our soul and with all our strength and that we do to others as we would should be done to our selves We c. That thou wouldest make us grow in all grace that we despise not the riches of thy bounty patience and long-suffering We sinners beseech thee to hear us That we present our bodies a living and holy Sacrifice well-pleasing to Thee that at length we may attain to that kingdome which thou hast prepared for us from the beginning of the world We sinners beseech thee to hear us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Pacify thy Father towards us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world By thy merits and sufferings redeem us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Send thy holy Spirit into us O Blessed Trinity hear us O Adored Sacred Trinity hear us Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Our Father which art in Heaven c. Blessed art thou O God the God of our Fathers Praise-worthy and glorious for ever All the Angels and Saints bless thee Praise and magnify thee for ever Bless we the Father Son and Holy Ghost Praise him and exalt him for ever O Lord hear our Prayers And let our cry come unto thee Let us pray ALmighty and everlasting God from whom descends every good and perfect gift mercifully grant that the serious consideration of thy incomprehensible Majesty may beget in us profound humility and constant obedience and the frequent meditation of thy infinite goodness may move our wills to love thee above all things that we may here in reverence to thy word believe what we do not see and may hereafter in the blissful Vision of thy glory see what now we cannot comprehend thro Jesus Christ our Lord who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end Amen The LITANY to God the Father O God the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the world Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Father which art in Heaven Father of Glory whose face the holy Angels behold continually in heaven who hast life in thy self Have mercy on us Father of whom are all things who hast made us after thine own Image and gavest us dominion over the rest of thy Creatures Have mercy on us Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom all paternity is called and derived in heaven and in earth Have mercy on us Who art well pleased in thy Son who lovest him and hast given all things into his hands And who by a voice from heaven didst glorify Him Have mercy on us Who so lovedst the world that thou gavest thy only begotten Son that we should have life by him and would'st have thy Son take upon him the form of a Servant to redeem us that were in bondage Have mercy c. Who by thy Son hast predestinated us into the Adoption of Sons and hast elected us in him before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and unspotted before thee Have mercy on us Who would'st have us conformable to the Image of thy Son and hast called us into Fellowship with him and hast made us acceptable in thy beloved Son without whom none cometh to the Son unless thou O Father drawest him Have mercy on us O Father who sendest out thy Spirit and they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth who fillest the world with thy spirit and givest it to them that ask it of thee Have mercy on us Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift descendeth who hidest thy mysteries from the wise and revealest them to little ones Have mercy on us Father of mercies and God of all consolation by whom all the hairs of our head are numbred who comfortest us in all our tribulations and hast blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places Have mercy on us Who out of thy abundant charity hast vouchsafed to make us partakers of the inheritance of thy Saints and
hast translated us into the kingdome of the Son of thy love Have mercy on us Who without accepting of persons judgest every man according to his work Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord. Be merciful and hear us O Lord. Be merciful and deliver us O Lord. From all evil and from the power of Satan Deliver us O Lord. From anger hatred and malice from the imminent mischiefs of sin and from everlasting death Deliver c. By thine infinite wisdome whereby thou seest the most secret things by thine endless power by which out of nothing thou createdst all things by thy infinite goodness whereby thou filledst all things by thy gracious providence whereby thou sweetly governest and disposest all things and by thine eternal charity wherewith thou lovest the world Deliver us O Lord. In the day of Judgment Deliver us O Lord. We sinners do beseech thee to hear us O Lord. That thy name may be always and every where sanctified that thy Kingdome may come into us that thy Will may be done in and by us in earth as it is in heaven by the holy Angels We beseech thee to hear us That thou would'st vouchsafe to give us this day our dayly bread to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and to defend us under the shadow of thy wings and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil We beseech thee to hear us That our works may so shine before men that they may glorify thee our Father which art in heaven We beseech thee to hear us That what we faithfully ask may effectually be obtained We beseech thee to hear us O Father in the name of thy Son We beseech thee to hear us O Lamb of God that takest away sins Have mercy c. O Lord our Protector behold us And look upon the face of thy Christ Remember us O Lord with thy good pleasure And visit us with thy Salvation Convert us O Lord God of Hosts Shew thy face and countenance upon us and we shall be saved O Lord hear our Prayer And let our cry come unto thee See the Prayer Pag. 277. LITANIES to God the Son O God the Father of heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the world Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O only begotten Son of God who art in the bosome of thy Father the beloved Son of God in whom the Father is well pleased in whom the fulness of the Trinity inhabiteth bodily Have mercy on us Arm of God upholding all things by the word of thy power God by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made Father of the world to come Have mercy on us The splendor of eternal light the brightness of the glory of God and the express image of his person whom he hath appointed Heir of all things Have mercy on us Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace in whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdome and Knowledge the way the truth and the life the Sun of Justice and bright Morning-Star Have mercy on us The Alpha and Omega the beginning and end the first and the last who art who wast and art to come the Heir of all things the beginning and first-born of every creature Have mercy on us The Word made Flesh full of grace and truth Immanuel our God seen on earth and conversant with men the Messias the expectation of all Nations Have mercy on us The true light which enlightenest every man that cometh into the world the righteous branch of God truth sprung out of the earth Have mercy on us The great Prophet that was to come upon the earth mighty in word and deed before God and all the People Have mercy on us The anointed of God by the Holy Ghost with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Have mercy on us O Son of God who emptiedst thy self taking upon thee the form of a servant who wast sent to preach the Gospel to the poor to heal the broken in heart and to publish freedome to the captives Have mercy on us O Son of Man meek and humble in heart who camest to seek and save Sinners that were lost who camest not to be ministred unto but to minister a man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmities Have mercy on us O Son of God made obedient to thy Father even to the death of the Cross that wast led like a sheep to the slaughter and dumb before the shearers the good Shepherd that layedst down thy life for thy sheep Have mercy on us Who lovedst us and washedst us from our sins in thy own blood on whom was laid by thy Father the iniquities of all Have mercy on us Who truly barest our infirmities and by whose stripes we were healed who wast wounded for our trangressions and broken for our offences Have mercy on us O immaculate Lamb slain from the beginning of the world who takest away the sins of the world the propitiation for our sins the author and finisher of our faith the Mediator and Angel of the New Testament the faithful and true Witness Have mercy on us The Stone which the Builders refused and yet made the head of the corner who wast delivered for our offences and didst rise again for our justification who art the resurrection and the life and the first-born from the dead Have mercy on us Who art made unto us by God wisdome justice sanctification and redemption the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls the Apostle of our profession and High-Priest of good things to come Have mercy on us Our Peace who hast made of two one Nation who hast made us Kings and Priests to God and the Father the Bridegroom of the Church beloved fair and ruddy chosen amongst thousands Have mercy on us Who art ascended above all Heavens a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech an High-Priest holy innocent unspotted and separate from Sinners one Mediator betwixt God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Have mercy on us Who sittest at the right hand of his Majesty in the highest at whose Name every knee doth bow both of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth to whom a Name is given above all Names Have mercy c. The Head of all Principalities and Powers the Lord of Lords and Prince over the Kings of the earth who hast the keys of hell and death who are constituted by God Judge of the living and the dead Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord. Be merciful and hear us O Lord. From all evil Deliver us O Lord. By thy eternal generation of the Father by thy Nativity in the fulness of time of thy Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary by thy most holy life and conversation and by thy death and most bitter
judge the living and the dead Give rest to the Souls of the Faithful departed O Lamb of God at whose presence the earth shall be moved and the heavens melt away Give rest to the Souls of the Faithful departed O Lamb of God in whose blessed book of Life their names are written Give eternal rest to the Souls of the Faithful departed The Antiphon DEliver us O Lord and all thy Faithful in that day of terror when the Sun and Moon shall be darkned and the Stars fall down from heaven in that day of calamity and amazement when heaven it self shall shake and the Pillars of the earth be moved and the glorious Majesty of Jesus come with innumerable Angels to judge the world by fire Deliver us O Lord in that dreadful day And place us with thy blessed at thy right hand for ever O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Supplications come to thee ALmighty God with whom do live the Spirits of the perfect and in whose holy custody are deposited the Souls of all those that depart hence in an inferior degree of thy grace who being by their imperfect Charity rendred unworthy thy presence are detained in a state of grief and from thy beatifical sight as we bless thee for the Saints already admitted to thy glory so we humbly offer our Prayers for thy afflicted servants who continually wait and sigh after the day of their deliverance Pardon their sins supply their unpreparedness and wipe away the tears from their eyes that they may see thee and in thy glorious light eternally rejoyce Thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Eternal God who besides the general precepts of Charity hast commanded a particular respect to parents kindred and benefactors grant we beseech thee that as they were the instruments by which thy providence bestowed on us our birth education and innumerable other benefits so our Prayers may be a means to obtain for them a speedy delivery from any privation of bliss which they may suffer for their sins and a free admittance to thy infinite joys Thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen MOst wise and merciful Lord who hast ordained this life as a passage to the future confining our Conversion to the time of our Pilgrimage here and reserving for hereafter the state of punishment and reward vouchsafe us thy grace who are yet alive and still have opportunity of reconcilement to thee so to watch over all our actions and correct every least deviation from the true way to Heaven that we be neither surprised with our sins uncancelled nor our duties imperfect but when our Bodies go down into the grave our Souls may ascend to thee and dwell for ever in the mansions of eternal felicity Thro Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour Amen The LITANY of Christian Virtues O God the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the world Have c. O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Lord just and good and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently Have mercy on us Who createdst our first Parents in innocency and holiness after thine own image and gavest a testimony to the offerings of just Abel Have mercy on us Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood Noah a Preacher of Justice and deliveredst from the Fire just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked Have mercy on us Who gavedst the Promise to Abraham found faithful after many trials Have mercy on us Who deliveredst Jacob endued with a wonderful patience and confidence in adversities from all evils and gavest a joyful end to thy servant Job that pattern of patience Have mercy on us Who rewardest the singular modesty and chastity of Joseph with the rule over Aegypt Have mercy on us Who choosest Moses the meekest man upon earth to be Ruler over thy people and electedst Joshuah notable for valour and constancy to lead thy people into the land of Promise Have mercy on us Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great courage in vindicating thine honor and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true worship against the false Prophets and at length took'st him up into heaven Have mercy on us Who set'st Samuel Judge over thy people a lover of Justice and free from bribes And liftedst up David a man after thy own heart in the faithful service of thee to be King of Israel Have mercy on us Who replenishedst Solomon humbly begging Wisdome of thee both with it and many other Graces And adornedst Daniel and his Companions being singularly temperate and sober with wisdome and beauty Have mercy c. Who chosest the Blessed Virgin Mary adorned with singular chastity humility obedience and all other Virtues to be the Mother of thy Son Have mercy on us Who sentest John Baptist a fore-runner of thy Son a Preacher of penance and of great austerities and abstinence Have mercy on us Who sentest JESUS Christ thy only begotten Son into the world the pattern of all Holiness that we should follow his example Have mercy on us Who hast chosen us in him before the foundations of the world that we also should be holy and unblameable in thy sight Have mercy on us Who hast predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the image of thy Son and hast created us in him to good works which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them Have mercy on us Who hast redeemed us from our vain conversation by the precious blood of Christ and hast regenerated us by thy word unto a lively hope of an eternal inheritance Have mercy on us O Jesu who knewest no sin neither was guile found in thy mouth but appearedst to take away the sins of the world Have mercy on us JESUS who barest our sins in thy body on the Cross that we being dead unto sin may live unto Justice and Holiness Have mercy on us Who hast delivered us out of darkness into light from the power of Satan into thy Kingdome and hast bestowed upon us the remission of sins and an inheritance amongst thy Saints Have mercy on us Who promisedst thy Disciples that forsook all for thee twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel who committedst unto St. Peter notably confessing and loving thee the feeding of thy sheep Have mercy on us Who vouchsafest to St. John notable for chastity the singular priviledge of thy love Have mercy on us Who sendedst thy holy Spirit whereby divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord. Be merciful and grant unto us O Lord The virtue of humility and patience spiritual poverty and meekness longanimity and obedience to those that are set over us Grant unto us O Lord A quiet mind and contented with our present condition true peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Grant us c.
to their Superior Potestates or to God who tho in himself Omnipotent yet is thus pleased by many Subordinations of Agents to govern the Universe but especially to provide all manner of Protection for his Servants in it And if for nothing else yet what a sad thing were it to be wicked for this that we should thus contristate so many near tho not seen Friends and Patrons labouring our Salvation in vain For these see Ezech. 10 11 12. 6.50 2. Pet. 2.11 comp 10. Job 1.6 Dan. 4.13.17 Rev. 8.3 4 5. 5 6. Zech. 4.10 Luk. 1.19 Tobit 12.15 1. Kin. 22.19 Psal 84.7 12. The Prayers and Intercessions of the beatified Saints in Heaven for us here on Earth secure of their own Salvation still solicitous for ours and the many Benefits that are received thereby 13. The Good growing better by perseverance in well-doing from custome and a former habit as the wicked by continuing in sin grow daily worse Digr Of the great Power of Custome 14. That as it is a very dangerous condition if any after having begun in a more special manner to serve God and after much well-doing shall fall away and abandon themselves to sin so it is no easy matter for nor often happens to those who are once truly converted to God after they have found such a difference in their Satisfaction and comfort in serving God from what they had in serving the World and after their tast of earthly pleasures is so much altered Rom. 6.21 so to fall-away but that falling they easily and quickly rise again and are very unquiet and discontented whilst they live in their sin Digr Of the great folly of not undertaking a strict and holy life out of fear of inability to persevere 15. The great retardements he receives who hath made some Progress in Holiness and Mortification for the committing any single act of any greater sin from the fears he hath 1 Of loosing all his former pains and holy endeavors of the Reformation of himself Ne perdat quod operatus est 2. Jo. 8. I have washed my feet how shall I defile them Cant. 5.3 2 Of the after-long griefs and self-afflictions he knows he shall suffer for such an act 3 Of his being though pardoned yet set so much backward in his love to God and the love of God to him 4 And of his being denied those great visitations and consolations of the Holy Spirit 16. The certain addition of new and greater Graces upon former well managed Habenti dabitur Matt. 11 12. 17. The chiefest Graces of God's Spirit ordinarily not meerly gratuital but rewards of former service and nothing given that is not first laboured for except the ability to labour for them The Grace little in comparison which is bestowed at the first And this little again from the unprofiting withdrawn Non habenti auferetur quod habet Regnum coelorum patitur vim violenti rapiunt 18. Our Preparations necessary for attaining Grace and that it ordinarily worketh in us according to each man's capacity and his former natural and acquired parts neither usually changeth it in us all natural imperfections 19. The accesses and recesses and the vicissitudes of the Influences and Actings of the Holy Spirit in us according to the more or less exercise of our Devotions the several preparations and elevations of the heart towards God and Divine things and also according to the present needs of our imployments sufferings and that it is excited and improved by our fervency and care and cooled by our neglect grieved affronted quenched by our resistance See 1. Cor. 12.31 2. Tim. 1.16 1. Tim. 4.12 13 14 15. 2. Tim. 2.1 Apocal. 3.19 Rom. 12.11 2. Cor. 6.1 2. 8.7 Gal. 5.25 Eph. 5.17 18. Col. 3.14 15 16. Col. 4 5 6. Heb. 12.28 Eph. 4.30 Matt. 25.8 1. Thes 5.19 Heb. 10.29 1. Cor. 3.17 Most of which Texts are Exhortations concerning husbanding and improving the Graces received of God and not resisting the Spirit Therefore not to incur such hazard the internal motions of this Spirit whether operating in the Understanding or the Will are to be very diligently attended-on expected hearkned to especially in time of Prayer with much silencing of our own reason and passions and among other things its unity carefully to be preserved in a bond of Peace with all our Fellow-members Eph. 4.3 25. Col. 3.14 15. Phil. 1.27 20. God's Spirit working less or more in all the Regenerate Gal. 5.17 and all those Acts mentioned Gal. 5 22 23 its Fruits And therefore we obliged to a reverent entertaining and prosecuting of all those illuminations and motions that arise in us which we think tend to any good though many times the Spirit to advance our co-operation and reward in doing well upon less assurance gives no evident testimony to its self this pious resentment of the Celestial Influence that we dayly receive much encouraging us to go forward in Piety and to return our thanks Digr Of the well keeping and preserving Graces given 21. Internal Consolations much more abounding by external and secular avoided 22. By more holiness a ready assent to more illuminations qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris and Christianity not so much a Science but Experience sentitur antequam discitur nor do they though much learned who serve not truly know God i. e. in his chiefest Excellencies He being so intelligible only by this Experience but they do remain still in darkness and Wisdome is justified only of her children 23. By practising and exercising of things better the speedy attainment to a perfect dis-affection and contempt of things worse and nothing worth So by purging our selves from those works which are opposite to the doctrine of true Faith we procure a true Faith see Jo. 3.19 20. Jo. 5.44 Quod nolumus difficile credimus from working believing and from working loving 24. The great vertue and efficacy of the most excellent Grace of Charity or Love which once possessed doth the work and effect of all other Graces by its own power and cureth all Sins better than their proper remedies whilst it seeks in all things punctually to observe and conform-to the Will of him and in no small thing to displease him with whom this ravished Soul is sick of Love Whilst she careth only for the things of the Lord how she may please the Lord 1 Cor. 7.23 and languishing with a perpetual desire of two things 1. Prayer 2. Mortifications and Sufferings the last the more to shew her love to God the other always in some manner to enjoy it And this love of God also infers that of our Neighbour in respect of the many near relations he hath to God and besides the Precept of it And this love of our Neighbour again in its doing them no manner of ill compendiously fulfills all the other laws of our Duty towards them as is observed by the Apostle Rom. 13.9 10. 1. Cor. 13.4 25. The excellent degrees of Perfection that
which you must be accountable Because of the multiplied cares thereof leaving you less vacancy for attendance on Prayer and Celestial things which vacancy you ought by all means you can to preserve for the doing your chiefest business that of the next World for it may well be applied to this secular engagement what the Apostle adviseth concerning another 1. Cor. 7.33 Qui sine uxore est read it sine officio solicitus est quae Domini sunt quomodo placeat Deo qui autem cum uxore solicitus est quae sunt mundi quomodo placeat uxori divisus est And ver 35. Hoc ad utilitatem vestram dico quod facultatem praebeat sine impedimento Dominum obsecrandi The Apostles frequently advising us to whatever may further disswading from whatever may hinder Prayer the chief business in this life See this ch v. 5. 1. Pet. 3.7 Matt. 5.23 24. 1. Tim. 2.8 Jam. 1.6 And ver 32. Volo autem vos sine solicitudine esse Again Because of the many Temptations and great Sins to which secular Greatness and State joined with Wealth and Applause its two ordinary Hand-maids exposeth you Concerning which Temptations and Sins the former Counsels and Texts being as applicable to an honourable and a low condition as before to a rich and a poor need not here be repeated Lastly Because of the many changes to which secular Greatness is liable and from which though no condition whatever in this world is freed yet much the more stedfast and fixt and always equal are the lowest As for the invitement to all these hazards the doing more good consider that it is also most what a temptation proceeding from too much self-love and self-esteem that if indeed you be not so worthy and fit for the right discharge of such Office as some others your procuring it doth for so much hinder and diminish the publick Good Again being exposed to so many more Temptations by it your Humility ought to fear that the Sins you shall commit are likely to o're count the Good you may perform and that in this case you ought to prefer your own Innocence before your neighbour's Benefit and the not offending God by Sin before your pleasing him with some good Work he requiring Purity before Charity and Obedience before Sacrifice 2. Refusing also such Honors and Preferments when offered preserving due obedience to those who may command you because there are persons enow fitter than your self as you ought to think to possess them 3. Prescinding at once all ambitious desires and designs and the many vices that attend them after a due respect had to the sufficiency of your present condition by passing a firm Resolution never to solicite for or accept when freely offered unless constrained to it by authority not to be opposed any higher place or preferment in this world men much more freely and devoutly attending to their spiritual Progress when they have concluded their secular Recommendation of Humiliations and of a low Condition 4. Diligently practising frequent Humiliations of your self to mean persons and services below your condition See Rom. 12.10 16. Jam. 1.10 considering the many Vertues and Graces in us that receive great growth thereby and rise still higher as our Humility can descend still lower and this is the proper effect of such Humiliations considering also the Tranquility and Peace enjoyed by it whilst we seek that wherein we have no Competitor but wherein all are ready rather to further our design But especially imitating the Pattern of our great Lord in this Practice Matt. 20.28 And Jo. 13.4 c. where he professeth he did it for a Pattern ver 14 15. And obeying his Lessons Luk. 14.10 9.46 Matt. 18.2 23.12 Mar. 9.35 36. where he directs the Guest to take the lowest place that so he might be called higher and by an humble Child brought in amongst them teacheth his ambitious Disciples that the true way to be greatest was to be least and first was to be last Greatest for the present i. e. in Vertue and in the esteem of God and his good Angels even whilst he is last in Place and mens esteem But greatest too for the future this being in the rule of God's Oeconomy the only posture for Preferment he depressing the high and exalting the low and so such a State if it were only out of ambition to be chosen which God and Men love to advance §. 16. 2. And Reputation 1. And as for Honors Preferments and Offices so for Reputation and a Name which we may seek also even in the not-seeking the other Keeping ever a strict watch of not being tainted at least with this most subtle Evil never suffering the praise of men to be a motive to you of undertaking any Action The praise of men a thing so little worth which is but of a few of them only in some Corner only of this lower world most of these too of little judgment and this perhaps mis-informed or partial as is the praise of friends or dissembling and praising only from the lips outward when the heart despiseth and very mutable commending to Day condemning to Morrow See how it went with our Lord himself Benedictus qui venit on Palm-Sunday and Crucifige Crucifige within five days after the most being of a perverted judgment and commending things no way praise-worthy and so this drawing aside the ambitious thereof from doing what his conscience would tell him is most fit to what is most applauded the occasion of the Pharisees great miscarriage in their actions Jo. 12.43.5.44 And see Jo. 5.41 Lastly all in a short time swept away from the earth the praiser and praised and both forgotten and unknown to Posterity This praise of men therefore always rejected let your only motive be the Praise you shall have with God 2. Cor. 10.18 Rom. 2.29 1. Cor. 4.7 and with his Holy Angels infinitely more numerous persons more honourable of a constant being and in the next world our near Acquaintance and Associates never lost but to whom now also we are a spectacle as well as to men 1. Cor. 4.9 1. Tim. 5.21 and our present Actions discoursed of in the Court of heaven and laid up in their Memories Job 1.8 Zechar. 1.12 13. 3.2 Who see and rejoice for any good done to us Luk. 2.14 or done by us Luk. 15.7 and this our Reputation with them declared by our Lord to be worth the valuing See Luk 12.8.9 Rev 3.5 14.10 Matt. 25.31 Eccl. 6.5 1. Tim. 3.16 Who considers much and often that all his Virtues are seen and registred in the Court of heaven will little care to be applauded or known in the Village of this world or rather in but one Cottage of it Mihi pro minimo est ut judicer ab humana die 1. Cor. 4.3 Nay Si hominibus i. e. mundi placeo Christi servus non sum Gal. 1.10 This then often meditated on will animate you to worthy performances with
a Guest but with great humility bespeak him as a Father recount to him her calamities and beg of him the remedy thereof acknowledging she is unworthy to be his daughter Treat ye with him as with a Father with a Brother with a Lord and with a Spouse sometimes in one manner sometimes in another for he will teach you what you must do to please him Observe that it concerns you much to understand this truth that God abides within you and that there we may abide with him This way of praying although it be vocally with much more speed recollects the understanding and is a way of Prayer that brings with it many good things being stiled of Recollection This she supposeth to be in our power by our endeavours to attain to Because the Soul in it recollects all her faculties and enters within her self with her God and there her Divine Master comes to instruct and teach her in a much briefer manner than 't is in other ways and to bestow upon her the Prayer of rest This is the lowest sort of Prayer which she calls super-natural and not in our power to acquire Because thus retired she may here with her self meditate on the passion and here represent the Son as Crucified and offer him to the Father and not weary the understanding in going forth to seek him on Mount Calvary or in the Garden or at the Pillar Those who in this manner can lock in themselves in this little Heaven of our Soul where abides he that created both the Heaven and the Earth and shall inure themselves not to behold nor stay where the exterior senses distract them let them believe that they walk in an excellent way and that they shall not fail at last to arrive to drink water from the fountain In this recollection the Soul retires the exercise of its faculties from these exterior things and in such a manner abhors them that tho unawares she shuts the bodily eyes not to behold them that so those of the Soul may see so much better Accordingly who walks by this way almost always in Prayer keeps his eyes shut and it is an admirable custome for many things because it is as it were a forcing ones self not to observe these things below This shutting the eyes happens only in the beginnings of such recollections for afterwards its needless since then we must use more force upon our selves to open them The Soul at such a time seems to fortify her self at the bodies charge i. e. in withdrawing from it its Spirits and leave it all alone and much enfeebled and thence to draw provisions and maintainance against it And although this power of retiring the faculties in the beginning is not perceived because it is not much for in this recollection there are degrees of more and less yet if it be once brought into a custome although at the first it causes some trouble because the body replies and disputes the business not perceiving that it destroys it self in not yielding to and suffering such a conquest if I say this for some days be used and we force our selves to it the gain thereof will be manifest and we shall afterward perceive that in the beginning of Prayer the Bees will presently repair to their Hive and enter there-into to make Honey and that without any diligence or trouble of ours because so it hath pleased God that by that former time of forcing our selves the Soul and the Will hath merited to be endowed with such a command as that in only intimating to them and no more that she would withdraw them the faculties obey her and retire unto her And although after a while they return to go forth again yet much is gained that thus they have been retired because they now go abroad only as slaves and subjects nor do that mischief in it as formerly and when the Will again recalls them they come with more readiness till after many of these Re-entrances of the Soul into it self it at length please the Lord that they should fix there altogether in a contemplation more perfect §. 103. And this which I have said although it appear obscure yet who will put it in practice shall easily understand it c. And since it so much concerns us not to go on in our Devotions slowly let us discourse a little how we may inure our selves to so good a way of proceeding in them Let us therefore make account that within us there stands a Palace of most rich workmanship its Edifice consisting all of Gold and precious Stones in fine every way such as is suting to so great a Lord and that you are in part the cause that this Edifice is such as indeed it is for there is no Fabrick at all of so great beauty as a Soul pure and replenished with vertues which by how much greater they are so much greater is the lustre of those precious Stones and that in this Palace lodgeth that great King who is pleased to make himself your guest and that he is there seated in a Throne of the greatest value which is your Heart This will seem at the first to you but a thing impertinent that I should make such a fiction to make you understand it yet it may help much you especially c. Again Chapter 29th She proceeds thus on the same subject The Soul 's entring within her self into this Paradice together with her God and locking the door after her against all things which are in the world Ye may know that it is not at all a thing super-natural but that it depends on our Will and that we are able to do it with that help of God without which we are able to do nothing at all not so much as to have of our selves one only good thought For this is not a silence of the faculties but a shutting them up within themselves §. 104. Many ways we go on in acquiring it both by dis-busying our selves from all other things that we may interiourly thus joyn our selves unto God and in business also by retiring sometimes into our selves tho it be but for a moment This remembring my self that I have such a companion within me is of great help and that which I only aim at is that we procure to stand with him whom we are speaking to without turning our backs upon him for no other thing than turning our backs seems it to me to stand in discourse with God and be thinking on many vanities All the damage comes from not understanding that most truly he stands near us and not a far off from us But how far is he from us if we go to seek him in Heaven The Lord teach this to those of you who do not know it I confess for my self that I never knew what it was to pray with any affection until the Lord taught me this way And I have always found so much benefit of this Custome and manner of recollection within
is the Blood of this Covenant See Exod. 24. ch Heb. 8.7 c. Heb. 10.29 12.24 comp Luk. 22.20 This Holy Ceremony being a Sacrament a Seal an Obsignation of the pardoning all former offences between the parties that were at difference and of our reconciliation with God and admittance to the hopes and lawful enjoynments of all his Blessings spiritual corporal temporal eternal Rom. 4.11 Matt. 26.28 §. 151. 4. Eucharistical 4. Being the Christians Eucharistical Sacrifice answering the Jews peace or thank-offering 1. By which Rite we commemorating Christ through whom all blessings descend to us Eph. 2.18 3.12.21 Jo. 14.13 Eph. 3 4.6 Col. 3.17 Rom. 1.8 Heb. 13.15 unto the father do bless and give him thanks for all persons and things c. 2. Then by eating and partaking of which as the Jews and also Idolaters by eating of theirs therefore the eating of the Heathens Sacrifices was always most strictly forbid the Israelites Exod. 34.15 Numb 25.2 Psal 106.18 Ezech. 18.6 we are admitted as it were to the table of our God to eat of his bread Lev. 11.6 3.11 and to amity communion fellowship with him 1. Cor. 10.14 to 22. 3. By partaking and eating of which Sacrifice being the Body and Blood of Christ we are admitted also to communion with the Son and mystically incorporated into him who is the second Adam from Heaven 1. Cor. 15. made members of his body flesh of his flesh c. and this not in a metaphor but in a great mystery Eph. 5.32 And then from being partakers of the Body become also partakers of the Spirit of Christ 1. Cor. 6.17 and see the Spirit specially conferred in the Eucharist 1. Cor. 12 13. and by it eternal life conveyed to us c. Jo. 6.58 comp 63. by which relation he becomes now obliged to nourish and cherish us c Eph. 5.30 and from partaking of the nature and spirit of this second Adam the heir of all things Heb. 1.2 Col. 1.16 become now Sons of God also as he Heirs of Eternal life as he c. as by the first Adam we were of eternal death See 1. Cor. 12 13. Eph. 4.24.5.29 c. 1. Cor. 6.19.15.17.19 Jo. 17.21.23 4.14.6.56 57. comp 1. Cor. 10.17 18 24. 4. By eating and partaking of which one bread we also become one bread amongst our selves 1. Cor. 10.17 and have Communion with all the Saints of God and partake both of the glory and benefit and service in their prayers charity sufferings c. of all the rest of the members of Christ's Body and of all the family of God as well that in heaven as that upon earth Eph. 3.15 Heb. 12.23 Col. 7.20 Eph. 2.19 Phil. 3.20 §. 152. The Christians Passover 5. Being the Christians Passover answering to and at the same time instituted instead of the Israelites Paschal Lamb the Christians breaking bread and cup of blessing or thanksgiving for these two are all one 1. Cor. 10.16 being like theirs then at that solemnity we giving thanks also at the celebration of it as they then for that in Aegypt for our everlasting redemption by the sprinkling upon us of the blood of the Lamb of God from Satan and the destroying Angel 1. Cor. 5.7 §. 153. Our duty of homage for the use of God's Creatures 6. The Christians Oblation of bread and wine and anciently other fruits or as now alms of money instead of them presented now upon God's table tho this charity far more punctually and plentifully observed in the primitive times being answerable to those customes under the law of bringing to the Lord at the Passover the first fruits Levit. 23.10.14.16 By which Oblation we acknowledging him the Lord and Doner of all good things and praising him for all the good works of the Creation do sanctify for the future the use of his Creatures do procure the continuance and increase of them to us See Deut. 16.19 1. Cor. 10.16 and all this only through Jesus Christ By whom being the natural Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 we now begin to have a new right our former being lost in Adam's fall to the Creatures before unclean unto us and defiled also with sin 1. Tim. 4.3 Rom. 14.14 Tit. 1.15 Psal 8.7 Luk. 11.41 but now sanctified through God's Word Prayer Thanksgiving and giving Alms of them done especially now at the Eucharist whilst to the unclean all things remain still unclean 1. Cor. 7.14 But then besides all those former benefits of the Creation these Symbols are at this time more specially set forth for a thankful remembrance unto God for the precious death of Christ and all other benefits of our Redemption 1. Cor. 3.21 comp 23. §. 154. The Symbol of our Resurrection and Immortality 7. Being the Christians Viaticum answering to the fruit of the Tree of life in Paradise and to the Manna and Rock-water in the Wilderness which were types of it 1. Cor. 10.2 3 4. 12 13. The particular nourishment instituted since our ejection out of Paradise for the prèserving of the Body and Soul unto everlasting life and for a particular pledge and assurance of our Resurrection Hence by Conc. Nicen. called Symbola Resurrectionis and hence that form used generally in the Church Custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam See Jo. 6.32.35.40 c. For the Son the second Adam that is a quickning Spirit 1. Cor. 15.45 hath life in himself Jo. 5.26 and therefore he that eateth him also liveth by him Jo. 6.57 §. 155. The Symbol of our Christianity 8. Being instituted for a perpetually sensible Anniversary or Memorial unto us of our Saviour's passion and donation then of himself for and also to us so to confirm our faith and hope in him and love to him and our belief of our being all united together in and amongst our selves thereby to take away all differences and encrease our love one to another As likewise for a perpetual publick external mark of the Christian profession to distinguish them from all other sects and false religions 9. Finally to summe up what is said Being the chief means worthily received of obtaining remission of sins increase of the Spirit any particular spiritual or temporal blessing or deliverances for our selves or for others All these being to be obtained only through Christ Jo. 11.46 who is in the Eucharist offered as our own to God the Father by us this given i. e. to the Father for you Luk. 22.19 And again who is in the Eucharist by the Father and by himself given to us with all the privileges that belong unto him for with him are freely given us all things else Rom. 8.29 According to the which the primitive times observed a powerful efficacy in the Sacrament for working many wonderful mercies and deliverances to God's servants Again as impetratory for mercies so this Cup of Blessing 1. Cor. 10.16 which the Priest blesseth This Cup of Salvation Psal 116.12.13.17 being the most special thanksgiving most acceptable and well pleasing
forewarned us like a thief at a time when we are asleep and think less of it than at other times we do Now this imagined great distance still from our death chiefly ariseth from every ones reckoning his own end only from deficiency of nature which yet not one of 1000 dyes of and not from accidental distempers when as most commonly this our lamp goes out either choaked with its own nourishment or violently extinguished by some external accident before its Oyl is half consumed And since nothing is more common then example of this in others on every side what self love and dotage is it to promise our selves a better destiny till we also surprized become the like example to others 23. And consider likewise and think with your self how many are dying in that very time you are thinking and meditating of it 24. 2 When this time shall come your impotency and unfitness from your fears your pains and many times the want of your senses that will then be to order either the matter of your Soul or of your worldly affairs to do any thing with sufficient devotion or prudence and also your friends at that time hiding from you as much as they can the danger of your sickness Nay your self perhaps when decumbent under the stroke of death yet removing it a far off still and certainly presuming being loath to imagine the worst of a recovery only because some few so sick have not dyed of whom your unkind friends will not be wanting to mind you also because your self formerly have recovered 25. For exciting your resolutions and affections Indeavour to make the same judgment of things for the present and to have the same opinion now of your sins of the world and its pleasures and its cares and your designs in it and what you imagine you should in such a case at such a time purpose now resolve upon 26. Prepare your self for that terrible and dreadful hour in some of those Duties set down before 27. Avoid not but use and seek out all the sad memorials of death that may be as visiting Hospitals the sick sore and putrifying dying persons hearing their speeches their groans looking on the skeletons of the dead frequenting funerals Making many reflections on the passing of time decays of your own Body or other mens c. Remembring often Eccl. 7.2 3 4. Repeating often the 90 Psalm Recalling to mind and keeping a Catalogue sometimes to be reviewed of your friends and acquaintance deceased Considering what they were did are Thus much for Sickness and Death §. 169. For Consideration of the General day of Judgment some more particulars may yet be added Consider 1. That that is the proper day of justice and wrath as the present is of Grace and Mercy See Rom. 2.5.8 9. 2. Thes 1.7 8. Rev. 11.18 6.16 Luk. 18.7 2. Cor. 5.11 God's justice upon sin by Christ's Mediation being delayed till that time that many might come to repentance 2. Pet. 3.9 and these his present temporal punishments being inflicted chiefly not for vengeance but for other ends either for their good that suffer or other mens that behold it Therefore the present called our day Luk. 19.42 2. Cor. 6.2 wherein our free will doth as it pleaseth That the day of the Lord 2. Pet. 3.10 1. Thes 5.2 wherein removing this free power we yet enjoy God will gather out of his Kingdome all things that offend and all that do iniquity and cast them into the furnace Matt. 13.41 2. The dreadful signs that shall be then of God's wrath and the terribleness of the appearance of that day beyond all other terrors and the alteration of Heaven and Earth and putting out of the Sun before the sitting in judgment Rev. 20.11 comp 12. tho not till after the resurrection 1. Thes 4.16 See 2. Pet. 3.10.12 Psal 18.7 c. Nahum 1.3 c. Esai 30.27 c. Matt. 24.29 c. Rev. 20.11 Joel 3.2.12 c. to 17. Zechariah 14.4 Luk. 21.36 3. As the Bodies of the righteous raised in great beauty and glory so those of the wicked in great filthiness and deformity 4. The horrible fear and trembling of the wicked then living Matt. 30. Luk. 21.25 26. Rev. 1.7 6.16 11.18 Rev. 1.7 this day coming upon them when full of sin and security Matt. 24.12.38 Luk. 18.8 21.35 1. Thes 5.3 2. Thes 2 3. And of the Souls of the formerly dead then being brought out of their prisons 1. Pet. 3.19 and reunited to their loathsome companion the Body Now to be sentenced together with the devil to eternal torments whom also we may suppose deprecating as the Devils Luk. 8.31 5. The confidence and joy of the righteous then living and of the Souls of the dead then coming out of the place of rest and bliss and reunited to their Bodies their Bodies carefully gathered up and brought together by the Angels and such as they are described 1. Cor. 15.42 c. 2. Thes 1.10 both these being then caught up in the clouds and having their ascension like our Saviour's and meeting the Lord coming in his Glory with his Blessed Angels to Judgment in the air 1. Thes 4.17 Luk. 21.28 1. Jo. 2.28 1. Cor. 7.7 2 Tim. 4.8 Tit. 2.13 1. Thes 5.4 2. Pet. 3.12 whom we may suppose singing together as in Rev. 19.6 7 8. 6. A particular appearance and examination of all the Sons of Adam assembled together Sodom and Gomorrah in Abraham's time then confronting Corazin and Bethsaida in Christ's time c. And every one giving account of himself to God the Counsels of all their hearts being made manifest and secrets divulged Rom. 14.10.12 1. Cor. 4.5 Matt. 10.15 Rev. 20.12 Rom. 2.16 Ecclesiastes 12.14 7. Books kept containing all mens works then brought forth and opened Rev. 12.20 In which how many sins never thought of for Repentance shall be then brought to our Remembrance for Condemnation And besides them a peculiar Book of life called also a Book of remembrance Mal. 3.16 being not of actions but only of names i. e. of those who have here served and pleased God that none of them might be forgotten or unrewarded in that day All the rest who are not writ in that happy book being abandoned to eternal destruction Exod. 32.32 33. Phil. 4.3 Rev. 3.5 20.15 Luk. 10.20 Jo. 10.28 29. 8. The manifestation at that time of God's just judgment the manner whereof is set down by St. Paul Rom. 2. from 6. to 17. verse which shall be upon no other point but down-right according to works Rom. 2.6 Rev. 20.12 Matt. 16.27 c. In which works words Matt. 12.37 Jud. 15. and thoughts Rom. 2.16 are contained According to works either those that men have persevered in without any repentance of them at all or where any repentance of them hath been which cancels all the work before it Ezech. 18.21 22. according to the works done after it whether these be good or whether they be evil which being evil
Heavens which to all of them is but one is all of it unto every one of them Then behold because the more pleasure ariseth from the variety of the Object not all these Stars of an equal magnitude but after that nothing seems addible to the splendor of the first yet continual ascendent degrees in this sphere of glory and other yet higher lights far transcending the former in their lustre yet so as the glory of the highest is also challenged and owned by the lowest as all being but the same Body without all schisme or knowledge of envy no more than the foot doth the higher place or offices of the hand or the eye Behold then here a rising Throne 1. Of an innumerable company of the common People of Saints yet all glorious in Majesty Advanced above them caeteris paribus the Quire of pure Virgins that have remained holy in Body as well as Spirit 1. Cor. 7.34 See 1. Cor. 6.13 Rev. 14.4.1 Above these higher yet Holy Confessors Above them the White Army of Martyrs Yet higher the Society of the Luk. 13.28 Holy Prophets Matt. 10.41 Evangelists Patriarchs Apostles Luk. 22.28 with their Seats round about the throne of God Rev. 44. Higher yet the Blessed Virgin Mother of God and the most highly favoured amongst all Creatures Luk. 28.30 Then see the domestick attendance of the Almighty Beside his Throne Rev. 5.11 that winged Host of heavenly Ministers all distinguished in a wonderful Order Angels Arch-Angels Powers Dominions Thrones Cherubims Seraphims And the seven Spirits of God the seven Lamps of Fire burning always before the throne always standing in his presence Zach. 4.10 Rev. 4 5. 5 6. Luk. 1.19 Dan. 10.13 Rev. 1.4 8.2 Lo yet higher in the midst of the Throne of the Almighty Rev. 5 6. above all the family of Heaven and Earth sitting on the right hand of the Majesty in the highest far above every name that is named not only in this world but in the world to come Eph. 1.21 Upon whose Vesture is written King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 at whose name the knees of all things bow c. Phil. 2.10 Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him 1. Pet. 3.22 to whom it was an honour to see him and who had a great desire to look into the mystery of his Redemption being God manifested in the flesh in whom the manifold wisdome of God before hidden was made known unto them by the Church And lastly who gave them a nearer and more honourable relation unto the Divinity being now gathered together with us into one Body under him their Head 1 Pet. 1.12 1. Tim. 3.16 Eph. 3.10 Col. 1.20 2.10 Behold this Person I say not an Angel but a Man Jesus our Glorious Redeemer making us now equal to those perfect Spirits our flesh nature image above them Him glorious and admired by all his Saints in that day 2. Thess 1.10 Described Dan. 10.6 Rev. 1.13 14. Rev. 4.8 Shining as fine mettal burning in a Furnace his countenance as the Sun shining in his strength Blessed are they of whom in that day of his Glory he will not be ashamed And lastly see the employment and action of this heavenly Quire mixed of Men and Angels but under the presidence of a man 'T is perpetual musick and singing new Hymns of Victory and Triumph Rev. 5.8 9. 14.3 15.3 Every day a Sabbath and they in it resting from all labour and celebrating Divine Service Never ceasing all this long day of Eternity for there is no night Apoc. 21.15 22.5 from their Doxologies holy holy holy c. They rest not day and night saying c. Apoc. 4.8 for what can they do that are always ravished with joy but always praise the Author thereof falling down and worshipping Rev. 5.14 and casting down their Crowns before the Almighty with a Dignus es c. in admiration of his wisdome and thankfulness for this their happiness Rev. 4.11 Ravished with the sight of their God and burning with an equal love one toward another O how shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land Psal 137.4 O si vidisses sanctorum in coelo coronas perpetuas c. Scribe lege canta geme tace ora sustine contraria Digna est his omnibus majoribus praeliis vita aeterna Kempis 3. l. 47. c. §. 172. V. HEADS for the Meditation on the BENEFITS of Almighty God to YOU and to all MANKIND V. Psal 40 5. Many O Lord c. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee 1. First consider the greatness of his person his infinite majesty glory beauty power wisdome mighty works helping your thoughts with some description or vision of him in the Old or New Testament This consideration of his greatness with a little reflection on your vileness Psal 8. 3 4. 144.3 4. 113 5 6 7. 1. Chron. 16 17. will make much for aggrandizing of any favours from him such a one to such a one as you 2. Consider his Benefits His Creating you so perfect in Body and Soul In his own image and likeness The noblest but one of all his other Creatures 3. Creating all other Creatures for your use and in them abundant sufficiency for all your needs Even the Angels more excellent than you for your guard Heb. 1.14 and protection 4. Preserving you thus created in your being Act. 17.28 5 Giving you 1 many particular deliverances and preservations temporal from many evils happening to others as diseases poverty many casual and quotidian dangers c. Here calling diligently to mind any misery lying upon any of your acquaintance and remembring that your sins have also perhaps more deserved it thanking God that you are preserved from it 6. 2 Many particular blessings temporal denied to many others as health riches honour long life c. he having provided all necessaries for you and doing good to you all the while that you have done nothing but offended him even perhaps as long as those Psal 95.10 7. 3 Deliverances and preservations spiritual from the Devil and his evil Angels day and night seeking your destruction and that by the continual defence of the Good From many great temptations Preserving you in your right wits Keeping you from despair 8. 4 Blessings Spiritual such as follow Memorandum in these four last That you exact of your memory a very particular account Reviewing very narrowly your life past passing orderly through your childhood youth from the time of your first remembrance and confessing unto him §. 173. 1. Giving you laws wherein he only commanded you things exceeding beneficial and forbad you things exceedingly hurtful to your publick and private good Laws not grievous but an easy yoke and a light burthen 1. Jo. 5.3 Matt. 11.30 to those that are exercised therein Teaching you in all things out of his infinite wisdome what you should do and what you should refrain and giving you within you a vigilant and tender Conscience to accuse
Governour and the Holy Ghost ever illuminating and sanctifying the members thereof With which Church was always established the same Covenant of Grace in Christ the same Sacraments for the substance the same way of Salvation under the same precepts through the like obedience and sufferings upon the same promises and threats of the same rewards and punishments See Heb. 11. Hence ever since the fall we find in the sacred Story as one Generation the Children of Works and born after the flesh as Cain Lamech Cam Canaan Aegypt Babylon c. so another the Children of Faith first Abel Martyr then Seth Father of the whole Race Enos Enoch Noah Shem Abraham to whom the Gospel was more fully preached and the Covenant of Faith published 430 years before the promulgation of the Law c. See all these things prosecuted at large in the forementioned Discourse §. 185. The Love and Power of the Father and the Son VII HEADS for Meditation on the several Offices and Benefits to MANKIND of the HOLY-GHOST The Holy-Ghost the Eternal Spirit of God The intimate Communion and Love of the Father and the Son the Finger of God the Strength and Power of the Father as the Son is the Wisdome of the Father the omnipotent worker of all that which the Father decrees and which the Son the word of the Father commands §. 186. The Spirit of Promise The Holy-Ghost the Holy Spirit of Promise who as the Son was a long time the Promise of the Father to this lower world so after the exhibition of our Saviour this Holy Spirit was a further promise unto it both of the Father and of the Son and at last upon the departure of the Son came down from heaven to abide and dwell with us here on earth in our Lord's absence until his second coming who as the Son was sent by the Father into the world to glorify the Father and to teach men what he had received and heard from the Father so the Holy Spirit descended to glorify the Son and to teach and bring to our remembrance to confirm and bear witness here on earth to all things that were taught and heard and received from the Son who was here pleased not only to be cohabitant with us but an inhabitant within us and vouchsafed to lodge in our persons as the Son did before to dwell in our nature making these our Bodies now the Temples of the Holy-Ghost By whom also both the Father and the Son do dwell with us and in us who put the last hand unto the great affair of our Salvation finishing the internal work thereof upon us in our Sanctification as our Saviour did before the external for us in our Redemption §. 187. The Spirit of Regeneration The Holy Ghost the Spirit of Regeneration who by his unspeakable power doth work the strange work of our second Nativity who is the seed of God by whom we are new Creatures by whom we are begotten and born again born of God and made partakers of the Divine Nature and Sons of God who is the heavenly principle derived into us from the second Adam Lord from Heaven conveying into our Soul Holiness and into our Body Immortality and Life as the flesh we received from the first Adam conveyed unto us sin and death Who being the same Spirit in us that also is in Christ is the bond of that mystical union between Jesus the Head and us the members and between us and all other fellow-members making all Christians but one and the same Body of the same temper of the same inclinations of one heart and one mind amongst our selves and with the head as being all actuated and moved by one and the same Spirit §. 188. The Spirit of Illumination The Holy-Ghost conveying its gracious Influences and Effects both into our Souls and into our Bodies Into our Souls both in our Vnderstanding and Memory and in our Will and Affections In our Vnderstanding and Memory The Spirit of Illumination who being the Spirit of God and knowing all the deep things of God as a man's Spirit doth the things of a man when as we by Adam's fall do remain miserably blinded and darkned in our Vnderstanding doth reveal unto us all the supernatural mysteries of our Redemption and Salvation and produceth in us a lively faith and credence of things not seen who beareth witness within us to all the doctrine of Christ to the truth of the Gospel and to all the promises and threats thereof by whom it is that we call Jesus Lord who is the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all Truth by whose unction we know all things beneficial to us and are every one taught of God from whom those who are his more diligent and worthy servants receive manifold revelations visions illuminations both in things of spiritual and temporal concernment both for their own edification and the edification of others knowledge of the mysteries of Religion and of the deeper sence of the word of God knowledge of things to come of the secrets of the heart of things done in absence and at the remotest distance The word of Wisdome and Counsel the gift of Eloquence and powerful perswasion Wisdome in Offices and Governments The Holy Spirit distributing unto men these several Gifts as seemeth good unto him and fit for the work wherein he imploys them And all our science being much perfecter and directed to nobler ends when this conferred by the Holy Spirit §. 189. The Spirit of Love Toward God The Holy Ghost in our Will and Affections the Spirit of Love Of Love first toward God and also towards our Neighbour Towards God who doth inflame us with an impatient love of God and things Divine who according to the promise under the Gospel writeth all God's laws in our heart and inclineth our will to obey his Commandments no more out of constraint and fear but out of choice and affection who dictateth to us all our acceptable prayers to and acceptable praises of God and leadeth the greater proficients in God's service into a perfect contemplation of and union with him Elevating them with rapts and extasies and consuming the Soul with the flames of Divine Love §. 190. Towards our Brethren The Holy-Ghost the Spirit of love to our Neighbour Who doth enflame us with a most ardent love towards our Brethren whose blessed fruits are love peace long-suffering gentleness goodness meekness by whom the Saints are rendred kind not envying not vaunting themselves above others not seeking their own not easily provoked thinking no evil bearing all things believing all things hoping all things enduring all things Who teacheth us to keep our Saviour's new Commandment of Love and bestoweth on us this most excellent gift of Charity §. 191. The Spirit of Corporal Parity and Mortification The Holy-Ghost conferring its gracious effects and influences as on the Soul so on the Body In it The Spirit of Mortification and Chastity Who continually warreth against
obtain pardon and forgiveness of all our sins We sinners c. That the receiving thy Body and Blood may not be to us to judgment and condemnation but to life and salvation and that worthily receiving thy Body and Blood we hunger nor thirst any more nor dy eternally We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lord. That through the worthy participation of thy Body and Blood thou in us and we in thee may abide for ever and that as many as eat of this Bread may be made one in peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lord. That in innocence we may compass thine Altar O Lord and together with thy unspotted Sacrifice offer up our selves a living holy and acceptable Sacrifice to God We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lord. That whom we believe to be in this holy Mystery really present tho veiled under the external elements we may behold at length with open face in everlasting glory We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lord. Son of God who takest away the sins of the world Hear us good Lord. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Have mercy on us He gave us food from heaven Man did eat Angels Bread Our Father which art Heaven c. O Lord hear our Prayers And let our cry come unto thee Let us pray WE adore thee O Lord Jesus with a true and lively faith in the Sacrament of the Altar with thy body and soul thy flesh and blood by the ineffable power of thy wisdome and goodness really present who at thy departure out of this world to the Father left us this Sacrament as a pledge of thy love that by a new and admirable way thou mightst still remain with us whose delight is to be with the Sons of men Cleanse our souls we beseech thee from all our sins and infirmities and feed them with the crums which fall from thy table that we may be filled with the marrow and fatness of thy heavenly blessings Come unto us dear Saviour and heal our sinful souls feed the hungry and refresh the weak Deliver us from all evil make us always adhere to thy commandements and never suffer us to be separated from thee Who livest and reignest one God world without end Amen O God who in this admirable Sacrament hast left us a memorial of thy Passion grant us we beseech thee so worthily to reverence the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood that we may daily find in us the fruit of thy Redemption Who livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen WE adore thee O Saviour of our Souls eternal word of the Father true Sacrifice offered for the sins of the whole world O most precious treasure replenished with all delight the resting place of pure and clean hearts O Angelical viand O Celestial bread O Eternal word of the Father which art for us made flesh and yet remainest God in the self same person We confess Thee most undoubtedly true God and Man consecrated in a most miraculous manner on our Altars to be there given to us and offered to thy Father for us Thou art the assured hope and only Salvation of sinners Thou art the Sovereign restorative of those that languish and the inexhaustible treasure of the poor distressed Pilgrims Hallowed be thy name O most sweet Saviour Jesus Christ may all thy Creatures sing forth praises and thanksgivings unto thee for the love wherewith thou tendrest our welfare by descending from heaven and offering up thy pure and innocent Body on the Cross for our Redemption Hallowed be thy name most blessed Jesus that after thy Resurrection and Ascension since thou wast to ascend into heaven there to sit at the right hand of the Father thou vouchsafest to leave us the self same immortal Body as a memorial of thy departure and a pledge of thy infinite love thou bearest us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy on us and grant us thy peace refresh our Souls with this spiritual and heavenly food and comfort us continually with thy graces that neither in life nor death we may depart from thee nor be deprived at any time of thy celestial benedictions who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost in all Eternity Amen O Most loving Father who sparedst not thy own Son but deliveredst him to death for us all who if we ask thee Bread will not give us a Stone or for an Egg a Scorpion Behold we offer up unto thee Eternal Father this Lamb thy only Son and the infinite merits of his Sacrifice performed on the Cross and beseech thee to give us this day our daily bread bread for the body and all necessaries for this present life whereby we may be the better enabled to serve thee but especially the bread of our Souls the gifts and graces of thy Holy Spirit and whatsoever is necessary to strengthen them lest we faint in the way that we are walking in toward our heavenly country where we shall be abundantly satisfied with the pleasures of thy heavenly table who livest and reignest with the Son and the Holy Ghost one God for ever and ever Amen O Most bountiful Father who givest us from heaven the corn of thine Elect and bread of Life who hast sowed them on earth and laid them up in the Granary of thy Church for the feeding of thy children Grant us frequently to be refreshed with this bread yea spiritually at least to receive it daily which is so useful for us every day and that we may be sustained by this heavenly Viaticum in this our Pilgrimage that in the strength of that food we may travel on to the Mount of God by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen O Father of Mercies and God of all Consolation who in the abundance of thy infinite Charity hath given us thy only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but inherit eternal Life and that our necessities may be relieved out of the immense treasure of his Merits Behold me a wretched Sinner tho called by thy mercy into the Society of your Son now also partaking of his Body and Blood and therefore at this instant embracing him in my Breast and possessing him as my very self and what 's intimately united to me And as such in union of that love wherewith heretofore He gave himself for us on the Altar of the Cross and now communicates himself to us in the Sacrament of the Altar I offer Him to thee with all his merits and virtues to thine everlasting praise and glory that thou may'st be perfectly pleased in him and that we who by no action of our own can by the merits and patronage of thy most beloved Son may be compleatly acceptable to thee I present thee O Holy Father with that entire Charity Religion Humility Meekness