and his justice continueth for ever and ever He hath made a memory of his merveilous works a merciful and pitiful Lord he hath given Meat to them that fear him He will be mindful for ever of his testament the force of his works he will shew forth to his people To give them the inheritance of the Gentiles the works of his hands truth and judgment All his commandments are faithful confirmed for ever and ever made in truth and equity He sent redemption to his people he commanded his testament for ever Holy and terrible is his name The fear of our Lord is the beginning of wisdom Understanding is good to all that do it his praise remaineth for ever and ever Glory be to the Father c. Ant. All his commandments are faithful confirmed for ever and ever made in truth and equity Ant. He shall have great delight in his commandments c. PSALM 111. or 112. The Royal Prophet David shews us in this Psalm That none render themselves more worthy of Fame and Glory or leave more happy or longer-lasting Testimonies of themselves to Posterity than those that apply themselves entirely to the Service of God We must also observe That those Blessings which God promiseth to a wise and generous Man in the State of Grace are in this Psalm compared to such temporal Goods as he promised his People in the Old Testament BLessed is the man that feareth our Lord he shall have great delight in his commandments His seed shall be mighty in earth the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Glory and riches in his house and his justice abideth for ever and ever Light is risen up in darkness to the righteous he is merciful and pitiful and just Acceptable is the man that is merciful and lendeth that shall dispose his words in judgment because he shall not be moved for ever The just shall be in eternal memory he shall not fear at the hearing of evil His heart is ready to hope in our Lord his heart is confirmed he shall not be moved till he look over his enemies He distributed he gave to the poor his justice remaineth for ever and ever his horn shall be exalted in glory The sinner shall see and will be angry he shall gnash his teeth and pine away the desire of sinners shall perish Glory be to the Father c. Ant. He shall have great delight in his commandments Ant. The name of our Lord c. PSALM 112. or 113. This Psalm represents unto the Faithful of what Estate or Condition soever they be their Obligation they have to praise God whose Care extends it self over all Creatures according to the Order of his Providence PRaise our Lord ye children praise ye the name of our Lord. Be the name of our Lord blessed from henceforth now and for ever From the rising of the Sun unto the going down the name of our Lord is laudable Our Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens Who is as the Lord our God that dwelleth on high and beholdeth the low things in heaven and in earth Raising up the needy from the Earth and lifting up the poor out of the dung To place him with princes with the princes of his people Who maketh the barren woman to dwell in a house a joyful mother of children Glory be to the Father c. Ant. Be the name of our Lord blessed for ever Ant. But we that live c. PSALM 113. or 114. The Church represents unto the Faithful the Goodness and Mercy of God in having delivered them from the Tyranny of the Devil and by planting amongst them his Gospel and true Worship thereby to withdraw them from Idolatry and the Slavery of Sin She also exhorts them to praise God with as true and fervent a Zeal as the Israelites when he delivered them from the Bondage of Egypt gave them his Law and conducted them into the Land of Promise and there caused a Temple to be built to be therein adored IN the coming forth of Israel out of Egypt of the house of Jacob from the barbarous people Jewry was made his sanctification Israel his dominion The sea saw and fled Jordan was turned backward The mountains leaped as rams and the little hills as the lambs of sheep What aileth thee O sea that thou didst fly and thou O Jordan that thou wast turned backward Ye mountains leaped as rams and ye little hills as lambs of sheep At the face of our Lord the earth was moved at the face of the God of Jacob. Who turned the rock into pools of waters and stony hills into fountains of waters Not to us Lord not to us but to thy Name give the glory For thy mercy and thy truth lest at any time the Gentiles say Where is their God But our Lord is in heaven he hath done all things whatsoever he would The Idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold the works of mens hands They have mouths and shall not speak they have eyes and shall not see They have ears and shall not hear they have nostrils and shall not smell They have hands and shall not handle they have feet and shall not walk they shall not cry in their throat Let them that make them become like to them and all that have confidence in them The house of Israel hath hoped in our Lord he is their helper and their protector The house of Aaron hath hoped in our Lord he is their helper and their protector They that fear our Lord have hoped in our Lord he is their helper and their protector Our Lord hath been mindful of us and hath blessed us He hath blessed the house of Israel he hath blessed the House of Aaron He hath blessed all that fear our Lord the little with the great Our Lord add upon you upon you and upon your children Blessed be you of our Lord which made heaven and earth The heaven of heavens is to our Lord but the earth he hath given to the children of men The dead shall not praise thee O Lord nor all they that go down into hell But we that live do bless our Lord from this time and for ever Glory be to the Father c. Ant. We that live do bless our Lord. At Paris the Anthymn Occurrunt turbae c. is said to these five Psalms A Great number of people carrying flowers and olive-branches went before the Redeemer of the world victoriously and triumphing rendring him all due honour The Nations publish the Greatness of the Son of God crying out Hosanna in the highest The LITTLE CHAPTER taken out of the Epistle to the Philippians chap. 2. The Church shews us the greatness of God's Bounty who to save us was willing his only Son should be charged with all our Infirmities and Evils She farther represents unto us with how much Zeal we are to endeavor to please him thereby to work our Salvation BRethren for this think in
triumphant entry into Jerusalem which was a figure of his glorious Ascension to Heaven having vanquished the Devil and therefore the Church begins this Ceremony with the Canticle which the Hebrew Children sung on this day in honour of our Saviour where we are to observe that the Priest reads it with a low Voice without making the sign of the Cross to mind us that this Action preceded the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ HOsanna to the Son of David or save us we beseech thee O Son of David blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord O King of Israel Hosanna in the highest V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray The Faithful considering how God had opened the mouths of the Hebrew Children to sing a Canticle of Praise to the Honour of his Son Saviour of the World and how he had inspired the People of Jerusalem to go before him with Olive and Palm branches as a sign of those Graces he intended us by his Victory and Triumph over the World and the Devil beseech his Majesty to render us worthy of those Graces and that Salvation which he hath purchased for us by his victorious Death to the end we may reap the accomplishment thereof in eternal bliss by the vertue of his Resurrection O God whom it is justice to love multiply in us the Gists of thy ineffable Grace and as through the Death of thy Son thou hast made us hope for what we believe grant that we may arrive to Eternal Glory according to our desires through the resurrection of thy only Son who liveth and reigneth one God with thee in unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen The Lesson taken out of the 15th and 16th Chapter of Exodus The Church minds us that as the Israelites found refreshment in the desert under the shade of Palm-trees and in the Fountain of fresh Waters they murmured presently after against Moses their leader and notwithstanding God was pleased to surmount their ingratitude with his benefits by showring down Manna In like maner the Jews who would have found their salvation in the honour which they rendred this day to Jesus Christ if they had accompanied it with a lively faith did yet presently after conspire against him who nevertheless was pleased in his bounty to give them his own Body as Bread from Heaven for Food to their Souls which he soon after offered as a Sacrifice to God his Father to expiate the sins of men and heap upon them his Grace IN those days the Children of Israel came into Elim where there were twelve Fountains of Water and seventy Palm-trees and they camped beside the Waters And they set forward from Elim and all the multitude of the Children of Israel came into the desert Sin which is between Elim and Sinai the fifteenth day of the second Month after they came forth out of the land of Egypt And all the Assembly of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the Wilderness and the Children of Israel said to them Would to God we had died by the hand of our Lord in the land of Egypt when we sate over the Flesh-pots and did eat Bread our fill Why have you brought us into this desert that you may kill all the multitude with famine And our Lord said to Moses Behold I will rain you Bread from Heaven let the People go forth and gather that sufficeth for every day that I may prove them whether they will walk in my Law or no. But the sixth day let them provide for to bring in and let it be double to that they were wont to gather every day And Moses and Aaron said to all the Children of Israel At Even you shall know that our Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt and in the Morning you shall see the glory of our Lord. The following Responsory is sung instead of the Gradual taken out of the Eleventh Chapter of St. John THe chief Priests therefore and Pharisees gathered a Council and said What do we for this Man doth many signs If we let him alone so all will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away our Place and Nation Vr. But one of them named Caiphas being the high Priest of that year said to them It is expedient for us that one man die for the people and the whole Nation perish not Therefore from that day they devised to kill him saying And the Romans c. Another Responsory taken out of the second Chaper of St. Matthew JEsus prayed unto his Father on Mount Olivet My Father if it be possible let this Chalice pass from me The spirit indeed is prompt but the flesh weak thy will be done Watch ye and pray that ye enter not tentation The spirit indeed is c. In the mean time the Deacon carries the Book of Gospels to the Altar to testifie that it contains the Word of God and presents Incense to the Priest to bless saying Reverend Father bless this Incense The Priest takes the Incense and putting into the Thurible blesseth it â—avowing by this Benediction that the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God alone humbly beseeching his Grace that his Prayers may ascend as this Incense towards him Be thou bless'd by him to whose honour thou shalt be burnt Then the Deacon upon his knees at the foot of the Altar prepares himself to receive commission from the Priest to publish the Gospel by this Prayer CLeanse O Almighty God my heart and lips who didst purifie with a fiery coal the lips of the Prophet Isaiah and vouchsafe so to purifie me for thy mercies sake that I may worthily declare thy holy Gospel Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Amen Then taking the Book from the Altar he asks the Priest's Blessing Reverend Father bless me The Priest blesseth him OUr Lord be in thy heart and lips that thou mayest worthily publish his Gospel in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen The Deacon kisseth the Priest's hand to testifie that as in the Old Law a Seraphin did purifie the lips of the Prophet Isaiah with a coal of fire so in the New Law it is Jesus Christ represented by the Priest who purifies his mouth He goes to the place appointed for reading the Gospel with the Subdeacon Thurifer and two Acolyts who carry two Tapers lighted before him to signifie the Joy which the Faithful ought to have for this Great Blessing of the Light of Faith He turns towards the People that they may hear the Gospel the Subdeacon holding the Book before him to testifie that what he reads to the People is only what the Priest ordered him Before he reads the Gospel he beseeches God's blessing upon the Assembly to hear his Word worthily saying Our Lord be with you The Assembly reciprocally beseeching God to assist him with his Grace and that
end that together with the Flock committed to him he may come unto life everlasting Through our Lord c. The Lesson taken out of the Prophet Isay Chap. 50. The Church teacheth us by this Prophesie that Jesus Christ who neither had or could commit a sin had not suffered death but that he voluntarily exposed himself thereto taking our sins upon him to free us and make satisfaction for us to the Divine Justice No circumstance of his Passion was concealed from him He foresaw all the hardships and ignominies and though humane nature were against it yet he freely submitted himself to the will of his Father which he also faithfully performed But in suffering for us he hath left an Example and Obligation upon us to imitate him in afflictions with a perfect submission to the will of God and an entire confidence in his bounty IN those days said Isaias The Lord God hath opened my ear and I do not gainsay I am not gone backward I have given my body to the strikers and my cheeks to the pluckers I have not turned away my face from the rebukers and spitters The Lord God is my helper therefore am I not confounded Therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock and I know that I shall not be confounded He is near that justifies me who shall gainsay me Let us stand together who is my adversary let him come to me Behold the Lord God my helper who is he that shall contemn me lo they shall all be destroyed as a garment the moth shall eat them Which of you fears our Lord hears the voice of his servant Who hath walked in darkness and hath no light let him hope in the Name of our Lord and lean upon his God The GRADUAL taken out of 34th Psalm By these Verses as by this Lesson out of the Prophet Isay the Church hints unto us the Miseries which must befal the authors of our Saviour's Death It is moreover a Prayer which our Saviour says to God the Father as well in his own Person as in his Churches forasmuch as concerns himself he asks of his Father to clear his innocence and make known the injustice of his Persecutors As in respect to his Church he teacheth us that by the Peoples praying that their souls may be delivered from their enemies the meaning is that an apprehension of worldly miseries may not make them do such things as are unlawful For though God accomplish his will even before or without being prayed unto either by withdrawing the affliction or by giving courage to his servants patiently to bear it Yet it is his pleasure that men should address unto him by Prayer and Thanksgiving in all their occasions because thereby they reap advantage ARise O Lord and attend to my judgment my God my Lord unto my cause Bring forth the Word and shut up against them that persecute me The TRACT out of the 102 and 78 Psalm The Faithful confessing that their sins render them unworthy of God's favours place all their confidence in his bounty and implore his mercy for his nonour and glories sake since he hath vouchsafed to take upon him the quality of their Saviour O Lord do not unto us according to our sins nor according to our iniquities reward us V. Remember not O Lord our old iniquities let thy mercies quickly prevent us because we are become exceeding poor V. Help us O God our Saviour and for the glory of thy Name O Lord deliver us and be propitious to our sins for thy Name-sake MUNDA COR MEUM c. as before pag. 14. The sequence of the Holy Gospel according to St. John Chap. 12. The Church herein represents Judas unto us who after he had seen so many Miracles after he had wrought some according to the power given him with the other Apostles after he heard so many important truths both of Heaven and Hell after he had been admitted to the Table with Christ after he had received as a special mark of friendship and confidence the Purse to distribute Alms to the Poor was yet so transported with the excess of covetousness as to betray and sell him Whereby we may observe that nothing withdraws so much from our Salvation as our being fixt to the Affairs of this World As on the other side by the example of St. Mary Magdalene we see there is nothing makes us more agreeable to God nor more worthy his protection than works of Charity whereupon three things are observable 1. That Opportunities are offered for us to do Good which we ought not to let slip lest they be lost 2. That we ought not to delay assisting our Neighbour till he be in necessity but endeavour to prevent it 3. That we are obliged so to do good works that we may edifie the good without regard of displeasing the wicked JEsus six days before the Pasche came to Bethania where Lazarus was that had been dead whom Jesus raised and they made him a supper there and Martha ministred but Lazarus was one of them that sate at the table with him Mary therefore took a pound of precious Oyntment and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was fill'd with the odour of the Oyntment One therefore of his Disciples Judas Iscariot he that was to betray him said Why was not this Oyntment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor And he said this not because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and having the purse carried the things that were put in Jesus therefore said Let her alone that she may keep it for the day of my burial for the poor you have always with you but me you shall not have always A great multitude therefore of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus onely but to see Lazarus whom he rais'd from the dead The OFFERTORY out of the 142 Psalm The Church teacheth us that if Jesus Christ who as he is God equal to his Father taking the form of a servant and speaking as such and coming so for our sakes shews us that by permitting Judas his treason he did not his own but his Father's will since naturally we desire to be delivered from pains and sufferings how much more ought we by a just contempt of our own will to endeavour a conformity to the will of God DEliver me from my enemies to thee I have fled teach me to do thy will because thou art my God SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER c. as before pag. 56. The SECRET The Faithful beg God's grace that they may conform entirely to his will and contemn the perishable goods of this world the coveting whereof caused Judas his damnation and by the exercise of the works of Piety whereby Saint Mary Magdalene became sanctified to the end they may reap the Benefits of Christ's Passion represented by this Sacrifice of the Altar which applies the merit
Abraham returned to his young men and they went to Bersabee together and he dwelt there The Church considering that all descended from Abraham according to the Flesh are not true Israelites but only those who in Holy Scriptures are called his Seed that is those who imitate his Faith begs Gods Grace for all the Gentils to imitate the Faith of this great Patriarch so as to reap the effect of the Promises made to him and his Posterity Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves O God the sovereign Father of the Faithful who by the grace of adoption through the whole world multipliest the children of thy promise and by this Paschal Sacrament viz. by the sacrifice of thy Son whereof the Paschal Lamb and the sacrifice of Isaac was a figure makest thy servant Abraham in his stead the Father of all Nations according to thy promise grant that thy people may worthily enter into the grace of their vocation Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. The FOURTH PROPHECY out of the 14th Chapter of Exodus The Church tells the excellency of Baptism and its effects by the wonderful things done for the Israelites the Pillar of Fire which shined before them in the Night and the Cloud which sheltered them from the heat of the Sun in the Day represented the Holy Ghost and the graces which he poureth out upon us The passage through the Red Sea under Moses his Conduct was a figure of Baptism which we receive by the Priest in the Sacramental Water sanctified by Christ's Bloud Pharao represented the Devil and the Egyptians our sins The sudden return of the Waters drowning the Egyptians signifie that our sins are ingulfed in the Waters of Baptism and that coming out of the Font we ought to look upon them as the Children of Israel after they had passed the Red Sea did upon the Egyptians dead on all sides upon the Sands and as they sate upon their Chariots sunk to the Ground IN those days when the morning-watch was come behold our Lord looking upon the Egyptians camp through the pillar of the fire and the cloud slew their army and overthrew the wheels of their chariots and they were born in the depth The Egyptians therefore said Let us fly from Israel for the Lord fighteth for them against us And our Lord said to Moses Stretch forth thy hand upon the sea that the waters may return to the Egyptians upon their chariots and horsemen And when Moses had stretched forth his hand against the sea it returned in the first break of day to the former place and the Egyptians flying away the waters came upon them and our Lord enwrapt them in the midst of the waves And the waters returned and overwhelmed the chariots and the horsemen of all Pharo's army who following were entred into the sea neither did there so much as one of them remain But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the dry sea and the waters were unto them as instead of a wall on the right hand and on the left And our Lord delivered Israel in that day out of the hand of the Egyptians And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore and the mighty hand that our Lord had exercised against them And the people feared our Lord and they believed our Lord and Moses his servant Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to our Lord and said The TRACT taken out of the Eighteenth Chapter of Exodus The Church representing to the Catechumens the Obligation they have being by Baptism freed from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin to sing Canticles of Praise and Thanksgiving to our Lord with much more joy than the Israelites did when they were led out of the Egyptian Servitude and from the Persecution of their Enemies LEt us sing unto the Lord for he triumphed gloriously The horse and his rider hath he cast into the sea He is made a helper and protector to me for salvation V. He is my God and I will honour him my fathers God and I will exalt him V. The Lord is a destroyer of war the Lord is his Name Let us Pray The Church considering that the People of Israel's delivery from the Egyptians Bondage and the promises which God made them was a figure of those Graces which they shall receive who imitating the Faith of Abraham shall become his Children or true Israelites by the Regeneration of Baptism beseeches God that all People may be Regenerated and have the grace of Faith that so they may receive the effects of his Promises Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves O God who makest us see even in our days the miracles wrought by thee in past ages that what thou didst in the delivery of one people from the power of Egypt thou wroughtest for the salvation of the Gentiles through the water of regeneration grant that all the nations of this world may become true children of Abraham and enter into the dignity of being children of Israel Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. The FIFTH PROPHECY taken out of the 54th and 55th Chapter of Isay Wherein the Church presents to us the Promise God made to the Gentiles through his gracious Mercy of the Health-giving Waters of his Word and grace of obtaining for them the heavenly Inheritance and eternal Felicity And first it tells us that if the Eternal Word did not pour forth these Divine Waters into our Souls they would not be able to produce the least Fruit of Justice but would be altogether barren Secondly it teaches us that the Word which issues from Gods mouth when it dilates it self in humane hearts makes no unprofitable return to him that sent it but that it breeds and fructifies abundantly in their hearts that receive it THis is the inheritance of the servants of our Lord and their justice with me saith our Lord. All ye that thirst come to the waters and you that have no silver make hast buy and eat come buy without silver and without any exchange wine and milk Why bestow your silver not for bread and your labour not for satiety Hearing hear ye me and eat that which is good and your soul shall be delighted in fatness Incline your ear and come to me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you the faithful mercies of David Behold I have given him for a witness unto the people for a prince and master to the Gentiles Behold thou shalt call the nation which thou knowest not and the nations that knew not thee shall return to thee because of the Lord thy God and the holy one of Israel because he hath glorified thee Seek ye the Lord whiles he may be found invocate him whiles he is near Let the impious forsake his way and the unjust man his cognitations and return to our Lord and he will have mercy on him And to our God because
in my God They are multiplied above the hairs of my head that hate me without cause Mine enemies are made strong that have persecuted me unjustly then did I pay the things that I took not O God thou knowest my foolishness and mine offences are not hid from thee Let them not be ashamed upon me which expect thee O Lord Lord of hosts Let them not be confounded upon me that seek thee O God of Israel Because for thee have I sustained reproach confusion hath covered my face I am become a foreigner to my brethren and a stranger to the sons of my mother Because the zeal of thy house hath eaten me and the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me And I covered my soul in fasting and it was made a reproach to me And I put hair-cloth upon my garment and I became a parable to them They spake against me that sate in the gate and they sung against me that drank wine But I my prayer to thee O Lord a time of thy good pleasure O God In the multitude of thy mercy hear me in the truth of thy salvation Deliver me out of the mire that I stick not fast deliver me from them that hate me and from the depths of waters Let not the tempest of water drown me nor the depth swallow me neither let the pit shut his mouth upon me Hear me O Lord because thy mercy is benign according to the multitude of thy commiserations have respect to me And turn not away thy face from thy servant because I am in tribulation hear me speedily Attend to my soul and deliver it because of mine enemies deliver me Thou knowest my reproach and my confusion and my shame In thy sight are all they that afflict me my heart hath looked for reproach and misery And I expected somebody that would be sorry together with me and there was none and that would comfort me and I found not And they gave me gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me vineger to drink Let their table be made a snare before them and for retributions and for a scandal Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their back crooked always Pour out thy wrath upon them and let the fury of thy wrath overtake them Let their habitation be made desert and in their tabernacles let there be none to dwell Because whom thou hast strucken they have persecuted and upon the sorrow of my wounds they have added Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity and let them not enter into thy justice Let them be put out of the book of the living and with the just let them not be written I am poor and sorrowful thy salvation O God hath received me I will praise the name of God with canticle and will magnifie him in praise And it shall please God more than a young calf that bringeth forth horns and hoofs Let the poor see and rejoyce seek ye God and your soul shall live Because our Lord hath heard the poor and he hath not despised his prisoners Let the heavens and earth praise him the sea and all the creeping beasts in them Because God will save Sion and the cities of Iuda shall be built up And they shall inhabit there and by inheritance they shall get it And the seed of his servants shall possess it and they that love his name shall dwell in it Ant. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me and the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me PSALM 69. In this and the following Psalm the Church represents unto us how that Jesus Christ when in his Passion he seemed to be overcome and conquered by his powerful Enemies that he then was delivered by his Resurrection from the Power of Death and gloriously ascended into Heaven Thereby shewing unto us partly the Pains the Wicked must endure after the contemptible and unconstant Happiness they have had in this World and partly shewing us what we ought to contemn in this Life and what we must hope for in the next Ant. Let them be turned away backward and blush for shame that will me evils INcline unto my aid O God O Lord make haste to help me Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul Let them be turned away backward and blush for shame that will me evils Let them be turned away forthwith ashamed that say to me Well well Let all that seek thee rejoyce and be glad in thee and let them say always Our Lord be magnified who love thy salvation But I am needy and poor O God help me Thou art my helper and deliverer O Lord be not slack Ant. Let them be turned away backward and blush for shame that will me evils PSALM 70. Ant. My God deliver me out of the hand of the sinner IN thee O Lord I have hoped let me not be confounded for ever in thy justice deliver me and receive me Incline thy ear to me and save me Be unto me for a God protector and for a fenced place that thou maist save me Because thou art my firmament and my refuge My God deliver me out of the hand of a sinner and out of the hand of him that doth against the law and of the unjust Because thou art my patience O Lord O Lord my hope from my youth Upon thee have I been confirmed from the womb from my mothers belly thou art my protector In thee is my singing always I was made to many as a wonder and thou art a strong helper Let my mouth be filled with praise that I may sing thy glory all the day thy greatness Reject me not in the time of old age when my strength shall fail forsake me not Because mine enemies have said to me and they that watched my soul consulted together Saying God hath forsaken him pursue and take him because there is none to deliver O God be not far from me my God have respect to mine aid Let them be confounded and fail that detract from my soul let them be covered with confusion and shame that seek evils to me But I will always hope and will add upon all thy praise My mouth shall shew forth thy justice all the day thy salvation because I have not known learning I will enter into the powers of our Lord O Lord I will be mindful of thy justice only O God thou hast taught me from my youth and until now I will pronounce thy marvellous works And unto ancient age and old age O Lord forsake me not until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come Thy might and thy justice O God even to the highest great marvels which thou hast done O God who may be like to thee How great tribulations hast thou shewed me many and evil and turning thou hast quickned me and from the depths of the earth thou hast brought me back again Thou hast multiplied my magnificence and being turned thou hast
and hath taught me he hath spread a net for my feet he hath turned me backward he hath made me desolate all the day consumed with sorrow NUN The yoke of mine iniquities hath watched they are folded together in his hand and put upon my neck my strength is weakned our Lord hath given me into the hand from which I cannot rise Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God If the Jews deservedly suffered all those Miserie 's foretold by the Prophet Jeremy what Calamities do they not merit for putting to death the Saviour of the World who suffered Death only because he was charged with the Sins of Men and because he would satisfie for us the Rigor of the Justice of God his Father R. Behold we have seen him and there was no sightliness and we were desirous of him he hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried But he was wounded for our iniquities and with the weight of his stripe we are healed He surely hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried with the weight of whose stripe we are healed V. Behold we have seen him and there was no sightliness and we were desirous of him he hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried But he was wounded for our iniquities and with the weight of his stripe we are healed THE SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 71. The Church represents us with the Reign of Solomon as being a Figure of the Reign of Jesus Christ shewing us with what Zeal King David desired the Reign of this Divine Saviour whom he acknowledged to be his Lord and King according to his Divinity as he ought to be his Son according to his Humanity Ant. Our Lord shall deliver the poor from the mighty and the poor which had no helper O God give thy judgment to the king and thy justice to the son of the king To judge thy people in justice and thy poor in judgment Let the mountains receive peace for the people and the little hills justice He shall judge the poor of the people and shall save the children of the poor and he shall humble the calumniator And he shall continue with the sun and before the moon in generation and generation He shall descend as rain upon a fleece and as drops distilling upon the earth There shall rise in his days justice and abundance of peace until the moon be taken away And he shall rule from sea unto sea and from the river even to the ends of the round world Before him shall the Ethiopians fall down and his enemies shall lick the earth The kings of Tharsis and the Islands shall offer presents the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts And all kings of the earth shall adore him all nations shall serve him Because he shall deliver the poor from the mighty and the poor which had no helper He shall spare the poor and needy and he shall save the souls of the poor From usuries and iniquities he shall redeem their souls and their name shall be honorable before him And he shall live and there shall be given him of the gold of Arabia and they shall adore it always all the day they shall bless him And there shall be a firmament in the earth in the tops of the mountains the fruit thereof shall be extolled far above Libanus and they shall flourish of the city as the grass of the earth Be his name blessed for ever before the sun his name is permanent And all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed in him all nations shall magnifie him Blessed be our Lord the God of Israel who doth only merveilous things And blessed be the name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty Be it Be it Ant. Our Lord shall deliver the poor from the mighty and the poor which had no helper PSALM 72. The Church represents unto us by the example of the Sufferances of Jesus Christ the Grace of the New Testament which this adorable Saviour came to declare unto the World appertains to Life everlasting and not this transitory one which passes with the Time wherein God bestows even on the Wicked worldly Felicities to the end that the Rich and the Good should not propose to themselves a Reward of Happiness in this World for such Services they render God She likewise shews that this Truth was declared even to the Saints of the Old Testament She therefore proposes unto us the 72. Psalm wherein the Royal Prophet mentions a Man who repents himself for having served God out of Self-interest not having a just Heart but ever inclined it self to temporal Rewards seeing that the Wicked abounded in the Goods of the Earth and who was much troubled almost to despair thinking God took no care of Human Affairs But these criminal Thoughts being laid aside by the Authority of the Saints he is forced to penetrate into so profound a Secret as with all his Endeavors and Studies he can never discover until he is entred the Sanctuary of God and known his last End that is to say until he hath received the Holy Ghost who instructs him to desire better things and shews him what Pains the Wicked will suffer after they have enjoyed the fleeting and transitory Pleasures of this World Ant. The wicked have thought and have spoken wickedness they have spoken iniquity on high HOw good is God to Israel to them that are of a right heart But my feet were almost moved my steps almost slipped Because I have had zeal upon the wicked seeing the peace of sinners Because there is no respect to their death and stability in their plague In the labors of men they are not and with men they shall not be scourged Therefore hath pride held them they are covered with their iniquity and impiety Their iniquity hath proceeded as it were of far they have passed into the affection of the heart They have thought and have spoken wickedness they have spoken iniquity on high They have set their mouth unto heaven and their tongue hath passed in the earth Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them And they have said How doth God know and is there knowledge in the Highest Lo the sinners themselves and they that abound in the world have obtained riches And I said Then have I justified my heart without cause and have washed my hands amongst innocents And have been scourged all the day and my chastisings in the mornings If I said I shall speak this behold I reproved the nation of thy children I thought to know this thing it is labor before me Until I may enter into the sanctuary of God and may understand concerning their latter end But yet for guiles thou hast put it to them thou hast cast them down whilst they were elevated How are they brought into desolation they have failed suddenly they have perished for their iniquity
to fear but also to love him Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival-day to thee Vow ye and render to our Lord your God all ye that round about him bring gifts To the terrible and him that taketh away the spirit of princes terrible to the kings of the earth Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment PSALM 76. The Church here shews us That if the Faithful of the Old Law acknowledg'd their Sufferings to be occasioned by their Sins and that they deserved the Torments they suffered and that they received no Comfort but by considering the Effects of Gods Bounty in the Conduct of his People whereof there had been great and many Examples given How much more ought the Faithful of the Law of Grace to be comforted in their Afflictions by the Example and Promises of the Son of God our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ considering that what they suffer is nothing if compared to what our Redeemer suffered to take away our Sins and make us happy Then it shews us the Assurance he gives us to obtain by his Merits of God his Father either to avert the Evils of this Life or at least to mitigate them or to enable them to support them or that he wholly frees them from those Calamities and afterwards he raises them to the enjoyment of that Happiness wherein there is no fear of Ill and wherein they cannot lose the Sovereign Good Ant. In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands WIth my voice I have cried to our Lord with my voice to God and he attended to me In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands in the night before him and I was not deceived My soul refused to be comforted I was mindful of God and was delighted and was exercised and my spirit fainted Mine eyes prevented the watch I was troubled and spake not I thought upon old days and the eternal years I had in my mind And I meditated in the night with my heart and I was exercised and I swept my spirit Why will God reject for ever or will he not add to be better pleased as yet Or will he cut off his mercy for ever from generation unto generation Or will God forget to have mercy or will he in his wrath keep in his mercies And I said Now have I begun this is the change of the right hand of the Highest I have been mindful of the works of our Lord because I will be mindful from the beginning of thy merveilous works And I will meditate in all thy works and in thy inventions I will be exercised O God in the holy is thy way What God is great as our God thou art the God that dost merveilous things Thou hast made thy power known amongst peoples thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and Joseph The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee and they were afraid and the depths were troubled A multitude of the sounding of waters the clouds give a voice For indeed arrows do pass the voice of thy thunder in a wheel Thy lightnings shined to the round world the earth was moved and troubled Thy way in the sea and thy paths in many waters and thy steps shall not be known Thou hast conducted thy people as sheep in the hand of Moyses of Aaron Ant. In the day of tribulation I sought God with my hands V. Arise O Lord. R. And judge my cause VII LESSON Out of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians chap. 2. The Church instructs us by the Words of the Apostle St. Paul how on that day Jesus Christ being to leave this World and go unto his Father and that having celebrated the Pasch with his Disciples he instituted at this last Supper he eat with them the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a perpetual Testimony of his Passion and the fulfilling of the Figures of the Old Law and as the greatest Miracle he ever did which he also left in his Church to comfort all the Faithful afflicted by his absence and to ingrave in their Hearts a deeper Impression of that Divine Love which he testified by dying for us In this Seventh Lesson the Apostle treating of the Agapes which were Feasts instituted among the Primitive Christians in imitation of the last Feast our Saviour Jesus Christ made with his Apostles to keep Union among the Faithful he speaks against the Rich who called not the Poor to their Table but came to the Eucharist full of Wine and Meat for according to the ancient Custom every one having taken a small Repast he then came unto those Holy Mysteries But the Council of Laodice held about the Year 364 forbad to celebrate in the Churches this Ceremony of the Agapes for the Irreverences that might be committed and soon after the Apostles time they never communicated but fasting as Tertullian witnesseth ANd this I command not praising it that you come together not to better but to worse First indeed when you come together into the Church I hear that there are schisms among you and in part I believe it For there must be heresies also that they also which are approved may be made manifest among you When you come therefore together in one it is not now to eat our Lords supper For every one taketh his own supper before to eat And one certes is an hungred and another is drunk Why have you not houses to eat and drink in or contemn you the church of God and confound them that have not What shall I say to you praise I you in this I do not praise you The Church represents unto us the Ingratitude and Wickedness of the Jews who endeavoured the Death of our Saviour whilst he even fed them with his own Flesh and gave them his own Blood to drink That also those by receiving it might have eternal Life She likewise admonisheth us to take care that â—e do not crucifie Christ in our own selves as the Jews crucified him on the Cross by profaning and defiling his precious Blood â—â—d by smothering in
out thy face O Lord I will seek Turn not away thy face from me decline not in wrath from thy servant Be thou my helper forsake me not neither despise me O God my Saviour Because my father and my mother have forsaken me but our Lord hath taken me Guide me O Lord in thy way and direct me in the right path because of mine enemies Deliver me not into the souls of them that trouble me because unjust witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living Expect our Lord do manfully and let thy heart take courage and expect thou our Lord Ant. Unjust witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self VERSICLE taken out of the One and twentieth Psalm The Church shews us That the Prophets have with such exactness described every Particular of our Saviour's Passion that they have even mentioned the Division of his Garments amongst the Soldiers V. They have divided my garments among them R. And upon my vesture they have cast lot THE FIRST LESSON Taken out of the Second Chapter of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremy HETH OUr Lord hath meant to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion he hath stretched out his cord and hath not turned away his hand from the destruction and the fore-wall hath mourned and the wall is destroyed together TETH Her gates are fastned in the ground he hath destroyed and broken her bars her king and her princes in the Gentiles there is no law and her prophets have not found vision from our Lord. JOD The ancients of the daughter of Sion have sitten on the ground they have held their peace they have sprinkled their heads with dust they are girded with hair-cloth the virgins of Jerusalem have cast down their heads to the ground CAPH Mine eyes have failed for tears my bowels are troubled my liver is poured out on the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people when the little one and the sucking fainted in the streets of the town Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church represents unto us That 't was through the just Judgment of God that those Calamities befel the Jews which were foretold by the Prophet Jeremy because they offered such Indignities to the Son of God our Lord JESUS CHRIST All my friends have forsaken me and those that laid snares for me have prevailed against me and looking furiously upon me gave me most cruel stripes and gave me vineger to drink He whom I loved hath betrayed me V. They threw me among the wicked and they spared not my soul And looking furiously on me c. II. LESSON LAMED THey said to their Mothers â—here is the wheat and wine 〈◊〉 they fainted as the wounded in the 〈◊〉 of the city when they yielded up the ghosts in the bosom of their mothers MEM. Whereto shall I compare thee or whereto shall I liken thee O daughter of Jerusalem Whereto shall I make thee equal and comfort thee O virgin daughter of Sion For great is thy destruction as the sea who shall heal thee NUN Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee neither have they opened thy iniquity to provoke thee to penance but they have seen false burdens and banishments for thee SAMECH All that passed by the way have clapped their hands upon thee they have hiss'd and mov'd their head upon the daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the city of perfect beauty the joy of all the earth Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church declares unto us the Blindness and Obstinacy of the Jews who could not be brought to Repentance neither by the Exhortations of the Prophet Jeremy and other Prophets nor by the Admonition of Jesus Christ though accompanied by many Miracles nor by those Wonders done at his death that by Repentance they might have avoided those Miseries that threatned them Whereas a Malefactor and a Thief who had never seen Christ do any Miracles and whereof the Jews had been so often eye-witnesses yet persisted in their Wickedness of Crucifying him whilst the Thief considering the Wonders on the Cross publickly acknowledged he was God and confessed his Sins with a true Repentance R. The vail of the temple was rent and all the earth trembled The thief cried from the cross saying Be mindful of me O Lord when thou shalt come into thy kingdom V. The rocks were rent and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints that slept rose And all the earth trembled III. LESSON Taken out of the Third Chapter ALEPH. I The man that see my poverty in the rod of his indignation ALEPH. He hath led me and brought me into darkness and not into light ALEPH. Only against me he hath turned and hath converted his hand all the day BETH He hath made my skin old and my flesh he hath broken my bones BETH He hath built round about me and he hath compassed me with gall and labor BETH In dark places he hath placed as the everlasting dead GHIMEL He hath built round about against me that I go not forth he hath aggravated my fetters GHIMEL Yea and when I shall cry and ask he hath excluded my prayer GHIMEL He hath shut up my ways with square stones he hath subverted my paths Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God RESP. The Church shews us That God being offended at the Ingratitude and Wickedness of the Jews on whom he had bestowed so many Testimonies of his Affection punished them according to their Crimes R. My chosen vine I have planted thee how art thou converted into bitterness that thou shouldst crucifie me and deliver Barabbas V. I have hedged thee and have picked the stones from thee and I have built a tower How art thou converted c. R. My vine c. SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 37. In this Psalm the Royal Prophet presents us with the Duties of a true Penitent which consist First To be sensible of the noisomness of our Sins Secondly To acknowledge that in Justice we deserve all sorts of Punishments and Chastisements since our Sins are so great and so many Thirdly To deplore our Offences with so sensible a Grief that in comparison of that internal Sorrow which we bear in our Souls we contemn all outward Afflictions being prepared against all Adversities Fourthly That when these Troubles befal us we must suffer them patiently and with a quiet spirit Fifthly We must patiently undergo Injuries and Affronts from our Enemies by always keeping a guard on our Tongues and Ears that we may neither understand nor utter any thing passionately Sixthly We must beg of God that the Sufferings we undergo may not be the Effects of his Wrath but the Chastisments from his Father that is That what we suffer may serve for our Correction thereby to be freed from the Torments of Hell At
last we must put all our Hope and Trust in the Bounty and Goodness of God Ant. And they did violence which sought my soul LOrd rebuke me not in thy fury nor chastise me in thy wrath Because thy arrows are fast sticked in me and thou hast fastned thy hand upon me There is no health in my flesh at the face of my wrath my bones have no peace at the face of my sins Because mine iniquities are gone over my head and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me My scars are putrified and corrupted because of my foolishness I am become miserable and am made crooked even to the end I went sorrowful all the day Because my loins are filled with illusions and there is no health in my flesh I am afflicted and am humbled exceedingly I roared for the groaning of my heart Lord before thee is all my desire and my groaning is not hid from thee My heart is troubled my strength hath forsaken me and the light of mine eyes and the same is not with me My friends and my neighbors have approached and stood against me And they that were neer me stood far off and they did violence which sought my soul And they that sought me evils spake vanities and meditated guiles all the day But I as one deaf did not hear and as one dumb not opening his mouth And I became as a man not hearing and not having reproofs in his mouth Because in thee O Lord have I hoped thou wilt hear me O Lord my God Because I said Lest sometimes my enemies rejoyce over me and whilst my feet are moved they speak great things upon me Because I am ready for scourges and my sorrow is in my sight always Because I will declare my iniquity and I will think for my sin But mine enemies live and are confirmed over me and they are multiplied that hate me unjustly They that repay evil things for good detracted from me because I followed goodness Forsake me not O Lord my God depart not from me Attend unto my help O Lord the God of my salvation Ant. And they did violence which sought my soul PSALM 39. The Church according to the Explication of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews chap. 10. do's represent to us in this Psalm with what Fervor and Confidence we ought to expect the Effects of God's Mercy considering that as he would render himself our Benefactor by all ways imaginable so he was not only contented to give us our Being and all things requisite to our Preservation but he would shew us how infinite his Goodness was by the Mystery of our Redemption whereof he made us Partakers by the Torments and Death of our Saviour our Lord JESUS CHRIST who fulfilled the Will of his Eternal Father came into the World and offered himself upon the Cross to satisfie for us to his Divine Justice and to clear us the way to our Justification and that we might give God the Honor of a Sacrifice which is due to him from every Creature as being the most perfect manner of Adoration and Acknowledgment of the Sovereignty of his Being and that which could not always be given him by Victim and other Legal Offerings too distant from his Dignity and that he only permitted them heretofore as Representatives of this Divine Victim of his dear Son who has abolish'd the first Sacrifice to establish this second And thereby we see First How much we are obliged to a Return for that Benefit both by Praises and Thanksgiving Secondly That JESUS CHRIST shews us that in resuming that Figure for us he acted not his own Will but that of his Father How much more then are we obliged to a just neglect of our own Will and to do the Will of God that we may be freed from that Confusion wherein the Wicked must be buried Thirdly By the Prayers which Christ made in his Sufferings he teacheth us That 't is needful to keep our selves always with wonderful vigilancy on our guard and to follow our Prayers with a fervent assiduity to prevent us from falling into Temptations during our Conflict in the continual Dangers of this Life Ant. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul to take it away Expecting I expected our Lord and he hath attended to me And he heard my prayers and brought me out of the lake of misery and from the mire of drags And hath set my feet upon a rock and hath directed my steps And he hath put a new canticle into my mouth a song to our God Many shall see and shall fear and they shall hope in our Lord. Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of our Lord and hath not had regard to vanities and false madness Thou hast done many merveilous things O Lord my God and in thy cogitations there is none that may be like to thee I have declared and have spoken they multiplied above number Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldst not but ears thou hast perfected to me Holocaust and for sin thou didst not require then said I Behold I come In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will my God I would and thy law in the midst of my heart I have declared thy justice in the great church lo I will not stay my lips Lord thou hast known it Thy justice I have not hid in my heart thy truth and thy salvation I have spoken I have not hid thy mercy and thy truth from the great council But thou O Lord make not thy commiserations far from me thy mercy and thy truth have always received me Because evils have compassed me which have no number mine iniquities have overtaken me and I was not able to see They are multiplied above the hairs of my head and my heart hath forsaken me It may please thee O Lord to deliver me Lord have respect to help me Let them be confounded and ashamed together that seek my soul to take it away Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that will me evils Let them forthwith receive their confusion that say to me Well well Let all that seek thee rejoyce and be glad upon thee and let them that love thy salvation say always Our Lord be magnified But I am a begger and poor our Lord is careful of me Thou art my helper and my protector my God be not slack Ant. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul to take it away PSALM 53. The Church proposes unto us a Model of a most perfect Prayer First We must beg nothing of God but what tends to our Salvation Secondly We must beg of him in the Name of our Saviour JESUS CHRIST for there is no other Name given to Man whereby he can be saved Thirdly We must have a firm Faith not mistrusting the Omnipotency of God Fourthly We must regard God as our Judge who renders to every one according to his Actions Fifthly We
putting to death the Redeemer of the World She also admonisheth them to acknowledge their Sins and to beg Gods pardon for them Jerusalem arise and put off thy garments of mirth cover thy self with ashes and haircloth For in thee is slain the Saviour of Israel V. Draw forth tears as a torrent day and night and let not the apple of thine eye besilent Because in thee was slain the Saviour of Israel LESSON III. Taken out of the Fifth Chapter The beginning of the Prayer of the Prophet JEREMY The Prophet prays unto God to have mercy on his People REmember O Lord what is fallen to us behold and regard our reproach Our inheritance is turned to aliens our houses to strangers We are made pupils without father our mothers are as it were widows Our water we have drunk for money our wood we have bought for a price We were led by our necks no rest was given to the weary We have given our hand to Egypt and to the Assyrians that we might be filled with bread Our fathers have sinned and they are not and we have born their iniquities Servants have ruled over us there was none that would redeem us out of their hand In peril of our lives did we fetch us bread at the face of the sword in the desert Our skin was burnt as an oven by reason of the tempests of famin They humbled the women in Sion and the Virgins in the cities of Juda. Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God VERSICLE taken out of the First Chapter of the Prophet Joel The Church having represented unto us the Prayer which the Prophet Jeremy offered unto God to endeavor to avert those Miseries which threatned the City of Jerusalem she likewise shews us in the following Versicles the admonition God gave unto the Jews to do Penance by the Month of the Prophet Joel that they might avoid those Miserie 's their Sins would draw upon them Mourn as a virgin my people girded with sackcloth upon the husband of her youth Because the day of our Lord is at hand a very great and bitter day V. Gird your selves and mourn ye priests howl ye ministers of the altar lie ye in sackcloth Because the great day of our Lord is at hand Mourn as a virgin c. SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 23. The Church yearly commemorating on this Day the Sepulcher of JESUS CHRIST represents unto us That this Sovereign Lord and Creator of all things was that amiable Saviour who out of his Love to us voluntarily suffered Death and Burial that by his Death having delivered us from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin might also by his Resurrection and Ascension open Heaven unto those that lead a Vertuous Humble Innocent and Chast Life Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in THe earth is our Lords and the fulnest thereof the round world and all that dwell therein Because he hath founded it upon the seas and upon the rivers hath prepared it Who shall ascend into the mount of our Lord or who shall stand in his holy place The innocent of hands and of clean heart that hath not taken his soul in vain nor sworn to his neighbor in guile He shall receive blessing of our Lord and mercy of God his Saviour This is the generation of them that seek him of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory Our Lord strong and mighty our Lord mighty in battel Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory The Lord of powers he is the king of glory Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in PSALM 26. The Church declares unto us That we should not fear the Accidents and Miseries of this Life since God is our Safety and Salvation and what help are we nor to expect from him whose only Son was Sacrificed for us And what should we fear since by his Death he has overcome all things that might hurt us and since he has ascended into Heaven there to give us refuge and which now is open to us in all our Miseries and Afflictions since from his Throne of Glory he pours forth upon us his Graces to purifie us conduct us and make us surmount all difficulties and obstacles to our Salvation and to convert our Patience to the shame and confusion of our Enenlies Therefore let us be careful not to render our selves unworthy his Protection and take heed lest the fear of trouble make us commit unlawful Actions We must also most strictly observe his Commandments and wholly apply our selves to his service in hopes of attaining to that Eternal Felicity he has promised us Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living OUr Lord is my illumination and my salvation whom shall I fear Our Lord is the protector of my life of whom shall I he afraid Whilst the shameful approach upon me to eat my flesh Mine enemies that trouble me themselves are weakned and are fallen If camps stand together against me my heart shall not fear If battel rise up against me in this will I hope One thing I have asked of our Lord this will I seek for that I may dwell in the house of our Lord all the days of my life That I may see the pleasantness of our Lord and visit his temple Because he hath hid me in his tabernacle in the day of evils he hath protected me in the secret of his tabernacle In a rock he hath exalted me and now he hath exalted my head over mine enemies I have gone round about and have immolated in his tabernacle an host of jubilation I will sing and say a psalm to our Lord. Hear O Lord my voice wherewith I have cried to thee have mercy on me and hear me My heart hath said to thee my face hath sought thee out thy face O Lord I will seek Turn not away thy face from me decline not in wrath from thy servant Be thou my helper forsake me not neither despise me O God my Saviour Because my father and my mother have forsaken me but our Lord hath taken me Give me a law O Lord in thy way and direct me in the right path because of mine enemies Deliver me not into the souls of them that trouble me because unjust witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living Expect our Lord do manfully and let thy heart take courage and expect thou our Lord. Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living PSALM 29. In this
Psalm the Church tells us that altho' the Wicked think they can do much because they can kill those who love and fear God yet they cannot utterly destroy them for in spite of them they will rise again and triumph over Death and their Persecutions as JESUS CHRIST has assured them by his Resurrection who brought his Enemies to that condition as they had no reason to rejoyce in the Death they had inflicted on him Ant. Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell I Will exalt thee O Lord because thou hast received me neither hast delighted mine enemies over me O Lord my God I have cried to thee and thou hast healed me Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell thou hast saved me from them that go down into the lake Sing to our Lord ye his saints and confess to the memory of his holiness Because wrath is in his indignation and life in his will At evening shall weeping abide and in the morning gladness And I said in my abundance I will not be moved for ever O Lord in thy will thou hast given strength to my beauty Thou hast turned away thy face from me and I became troubled To thee O Lord I will cry and I will pray to my God What profit is in my blood whilst I descend into corruption Shall dust confess to thee or declare thy truth Our Lord hath heard and had mercy on me our Lord is become my helper Thou hast turned my mourning into joy unto me thou hast cut my sackcloth and hast compassed me with gladness That my glory may sing to thee and I be not compunct Lord my God for ever will I confess to thee Ant. Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell VERSICLE taken out of Psalm 63. The Church proposes unto us 1. That altho' JESUS CHRIST had power to raise his one Body from Death to Life yet he begged that favor from God his Father thereby to give us an Example of perfect Submission and Obedience 2. That as JESUS CHRIST by his Resurrection and Ascension was made the source of all Grace and Salvation to those who rendred him a punctual obedience so was he confirm'd the Sovereign Judge to condemn those to Eternal Flames who should die in their Iniquities V. But thou O Lord have mercy on me R. And raise me that I may be thankful for them LESSON IV. Taken out of the Treatise of St. Augustin upon the Sixty third Psalm In this Lesson St. Augustin teacheth us That Jesus being both God and Man suffered only as he was Man It was necessary he should be God that he might reconcile us to God his Father being in the quality of a Mediator between God and Man It was needful he should be Man to the end he might be able to satisfie in all rigor the Justice of God his Father for the Sins of Mankind MAn shall penetrate into the depth of his heart and God shall be exalted They have said Who shall see us They are wearied in searching after wicked Councils Man has penetrated into the wicked Councils and has suffered himself to be taken like a Man for unless he had been a Man he could not have been taken seen whipp'd crucified or died Therefore it was a Man that underwent all these Passions which unless he had been Man could have had no effect upon him For had he not been Man Man had never been delivered Man then penetrated into the depth of the heart that is to say into the Secret of the Heart presenting his Humanity to their sight but concealing his Divinity from them and hiding from them his form of God wherein he was equal to his Father and only permitting to their sight the form of a Servant wherein he was less than his Father RESP. The Church represents unto us That JESUS CHRIST declared his Divinity even in his Death by those Miracles he then did and by his descent into Hell by destroying the Empire of Death and the Devil R. Our Pastor is retired the Fountain of living Water is vanished and the Sun lost its Light at his passage For he is now taken who led the First Man Captive To day our Saviour hath broke both the Locks and Gates of Hell V. He hath destroyed the prisons of Hell and overthrown the Powers of the Devil For he himself was taken who led Captive the First Man LESSON V. In this Lesson St. Augustin declares the Iniquity of the Jews who persecuted JESUS CHRIST even to his Grave TO what excess did their Search and Care transport them and how they fainted in their Searchings That our Lord being dead and buried they should set a Guard over his Sepulcher for they said unto Pilate That Seducer By that name they called our Lord Jesus Christ to the comfort of his Servants when they are called Seducers Therefore they said to Pilate That Seducer said yet living After three days I will rise again Command therefore the Sepulcher to be kept till the third day lest perhaps his Disciples come and steal him and say to the People He is risen from the dead And the last error shall be worse than the first Pilate said to them You have a Guard go guard it as you know And they departing made the Sepulcher sure sealing up the Stone with Watchmen RESP. The Church proposes unto us all the Sufferings of JESUS CHRIST O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like mine V. All ye people behold and see my grief if there be any grief like mine LESSON VI. St. Augustin represents unto us the malice and obstinacy of the Jews who instead of owning the truth of Christs Resurrection whereof they had such certain Testimonies yet they still persisted in their Infidelity running headlong on their own ruin and destruction THey set a Guard of Soldiers to keep the Sepulcher In the mean time the Earth trembled and our Lord arose signalizing his Resurrection by so many Miracles that the very Soldiers who guarded his Body became Witnesses and could have declared it if they had willed to have spoken truth But Avarice which had possessed that Companion-Disciple of Christ had likewise entred the Hearts of those Soldiers who kept the Sepulcher We will give you Money said they and say That whilst ye were asleep his Disciples came and stole him away Truly they failed in their vain Searches Unhappy as ye are What have ye said Where is your Subtleness and Cunning Are ye so blind Have ye so little Sense Are ye so wicked and malicious to utter such Words O unhappy Craft What hast thou said Dost thou forsake so much the Light of Counsel and Piety And art thou so much drowned in Cunning and Wickedness as to say this Do ye say That whilst ye slept his Disciples came and stole him away You produce sleeping Witnesses but rather you have slept your self since you are lost in your vain Search
that end into this World Or why did he speak thus as if what hapned unto him was against his will he who had power to render his Soul to God and to take it again without any ones being able to take it from him These Words therefore of this Psalm represent those who in their Miseries pray unto God to be freed from them Moreover God shews us that his Eternal Father did not free him from the Power of the Jews who scoffed and scorned him to death as before he had saved Noe from the Deluge Lot from the Fire from Heaven Isaac from the Sword that threatned his Head Joseph from a Womans slanderous Accusations and the horror of a Prison Moyses from the Fury of the Egyptians Rahab from the Destruction of his City in Jericho Susanna from false Witnesses Daniel from the Den of Lions the Three young Hebrew Children from the Flames that environ'd them Whereby he instructs us what we are to desire and beg by the Grace of the New Testament and he teacheth us that the End for which we are Christians is not to enjoy Happiness in this temporal Life wherein God often leaves us to the Rage of our Enemies but that 't is the Eternal Life which under the Name of Christians we must endeavour to attain unto considering that he from whom we take that Name was used in such like manner before us Ant. They have divided my garments amongst them and upon my vesture have cast lot GOd my God have respect to me why hast thou forsaken me far from my salvation are the words of my sins My God I shall cry by day and thou wilt not hear and by night and not for folly unto me But thou dwellest in the holy place the praise of Israel In thee our fathers have hoped they hoped and thou didst deliver them They cried to thee and were saved they hoped in thee and were not confounded But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and out-cast of the people All that see me have scorned me they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head He hoped in the Lord let him deliver him let him save him because he will him Because thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb my hope from the breasts of my mother Upon thee I have been cast from the matrice from my mothers womb thou art my God depart not from me Because tribulation is very nigh because there is not that will help Many calves have compassed me fat bulls have besieged me They have opened their mouth upon me as a lion raving and roaring As water I am poured out and all my bones are dispersed My heart is made as wax melting in the midst of my belly My strength is withered as a potsheard and my tongue cleaved to my jaws and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death Because many dogs have compassed me the counsel of the malignant hath besieged me They have digged my hands and my feet they have numbred all my bones But themselves have considered and beheld me They have divided my garments among them and upon my vesture have cast lot But thou O Lord prolong not thy help from me look tward my defence Deliver O God my soul from the sword and mine only one from the hand of the dog Save me out of the lions mouth and my humility from the horns of unicorns I will declare thy name to my brethren in the midst of the church I will praise thee Ye that fear our Lord praise him all the seed of Jacob glorifie ye him Let all the seed of Israel fear him because he hath not contemned nor despised the petition of the poor Neither hath he turned away his face from me and when I cried to him he heard me With thee is my praise in the great church I will render my vows in the sight of them that fear him The poor shall eat and shall be filled and they shall praise our Lord that seek after him their hearts shall live for ever and ever All the ends of the earth shall remember and be converted to our Lord. All the families of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight Because the kingdom is our Lords and he shall have dominion over the Gentiles All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and adored in his sight shall all fall that descend into the earth And my soul shall live to him and my seed shall serve him The generation to come shall be shewed to our Lord and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to the people that shall be born whom our Lord hath made Ant. They have divided my garments amonst them and upon my vesture they have cast lot PSALM 26. The Church declares unto us That we ought not to fear any thing in the Persecutions and Troubles of this Life since God provides for our Conduct and Salvation And what Assistance are we not to expect from him since his only Son was sacrificed for us And what should we fear since by his Death he hath overcome whatever could prejudice us since he hath ascended into Heaven there to give a Refuge and Sanctuary which in all our Sufferings and Necessities is open to us since from his Throne of Glory he pours upon us his Graces to sanctifie us to conduct us to make us surmount all Obstacles to our Salvation and to make our Patience the Shame and Confusion of our Enemies Therefore we must be careful lest we render our selves unworthy of his Protection we must take heed lest the Apprehensions of our Adversities make us commit unlawful Actions we must be very careful to keep exactly his Commandments and employ our selves wholly to serve him in expectation of that eternal Felicity he has promised Ant. False witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self OUr Lord is my illumination and my salvation whom shall I fear Our Lord is the protector of my life of whom shall I be afraid Whilst the harmful approach me to eat my flesh Mine enemies that trouble me themselves are weakned and are fallen If camps stand together against me my heart shall not fear If battel rise up against me in this will I hope One thing I have asked of our Lord this will I seek for That I may dwell in the house of our Lord all the days of my life That I may see the pleasantness of our Lord and visit his temple Because he hath hid me in his tabernacle in the day of evils he hath protected me in the secret of his tabernacle In a rock he hath exalted me and now he hath exalted my head over mine enemies I have gone round about and have immolated in his tabernacle an host of jubilation I will sing and say a psalm unto our Lord. Hear O Lord my voice wherewith I have cried to thee have mercy on me and hear me My heart hath said to thee my face hath sought thee