Mediator for the whole Church for the Pope for our Bishop for our King and for all faithful Catholicks WE therefore most merciful Father humbly beseech thee through thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord to accept and bless these ✚ Gifts these ✚ Presents these ✚ Immaculate Sacrifices which in the first we offer unto thee for thy Holy Catholick Church to which thou wilt please to grant peace and preserve and maintain in unity through the whole World with the Pope N. thy servant and our Prelate N. and our King N. with all Orthodox Believers of the Catholick Apostolick Faith Then the Priest makes a particular Commemoration of the living for whom he intends to offer his Sacrifice REmember O Lord all thy servants Men and Women Here he makes mention of those for whom he prays in particular And all such especially as are here present whose Faith and Devotion is known unto thee for whom we offer and who offer to thee for themselves or friends this Sacrifice of Praise for the Benefit of their Souls in hope of health and salvation and pay their vows unto thee the Eternal Living and True God The Priest by the vertue of the union of the Church militant with the triumphant in Jesus Christ beseeches God that he will please to supply the defect of his present Prayers imploring protection by the Merits and Suffrages of the most blessed Virgin of the Apostles Martyrs and all Saints PArticipating in the same Communion and Commemorating chiefly the ever glorious Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ the blessed Apostles and Martyrs Peter and Paul Andrew James John Thomas James Philip Bartholomew Matthew Simon and Thadeus Linus Cletus Clement Xistus Cornelius Cyprian Laurence Chrysoganus John and Paul Cosmas and Damianus and of all Saints by whose Merits and Prayers be pleased to grant that in all things we may be protected by thee Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest spreads his hands over the Host and Chalice in testimony that he offers up himself to God together with this Sacrifice begging four things 1. That he will please to accept of this Offering 2. That he will grant us Peace 3. That he will deliver us from Everlasting Death 4. That he will place us amongst the blessed WE beseech thee O Lord therefore graciously to accept this oblation of our servitude as likewise of thy whole Family granting us Peace in our days and preserving us from Eternal Death place among thy Elect. Through Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest beseecheth God to receive and bless this Offering so as that he will please to accept of it and that it may become the Body and Blood of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ to expiate our sins and reconcile us to his Majesty WE beseech thee O God that thou wilt be pleased to make this Oblation blessed approved effectual reasonable and acceptable that it may be made unto us the Body and Blood of thy most beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ The Consecration After this Prayer the Priest comes to the principal action of the Sacrifice and commemorates all that Christ did or said when he instituted this Holy Sacrament and therefore after his example he blesseth and consecrateth the Bread in the same manner WHo the day before his Passion took the Bread into his holy and venerable hands and lifting his eyes towards heaven to thee his God and omnipotent Father to thee giving thanks he blessed broke and gave to his Disciples saying Take and eat ye all of this FOR THIS IS MY BODY The Elevation of the Host. Here the Priest after he hath upon his knees adored the Body of Jesus Christ he lifts it up to be seen and adored by the Faithful and to mind them that Christ's Body was elevated upon the Cross The Consecration of the Blood of Jesus Christ. He blesseth and consecrateth the Wine as Christ consecrated it turning the Wine into his Blood whereby he established and ratified his New Testament and signed the New Alliance he contracted with us to continue for ever IN like manner after he had supt taking this excellent Chalice into his holy and venerable hands giving thee also thanks he blessed it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take and drink ye all of this FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD OF THE NEW AND EVERLASTING TESTAMENT a Mystery of Faith WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS This as often as you shall do you shall do in memory of me The Elevation of the Chalice And then adoring the Blood of our Saviour he elevates it for the same reason as he did the Body And as he offers this Holy Sacrifice in the Person of Christ in whose stead he hath celebrated this mysterious Consecration so is it done in the Name of the Church in honour of the three Mysteries of the Son of God viz. Of his Passion which we account from the Hour of his Conception till his Death of his Resurrection and Ascension The Signs of the Cross which the Priest makes over the Host after Consecration design unto us the particular manner of his immolation WHerefore O Lord we thy servants and the sanctified people also being mindful both of the blessed Passion of the same Christ thy Son our Lord and of his Resurrection as also of his glorious Ascension into Heaven we offer unto thy most excellent Majesty of thy Gifts bestowed upon us A pure Host a holy Host an immaculate Host the Holy Bread of Eternal Life and Chalice of Perpetual Salvation The Priest beseeches God to accept of this Sacrifice in memory of Abel's Sacrifice of Abraham's and Melchisedeck's which were only Figures of this WHich we beseech thee propitiously to regard and to receive this Holy Sacrifice and Immaculate Host as thou wert pleased to receive the Gifts of thy just Child Abel and the Sacrifice of our Patriarch Abraham as likewise that which thy High Priest Melchisedeck offered unto thee Supplices te rogamus Jesus Christ communicates his Substance to the blessed in Heaven without Veil or Sacraments though he communicates himself sacramentally to men on earth and as the wicked are indifferently mixt with the just upon Earth it happens that the wicked receive the Communion in distinctly with the just but it is otherwise in Heaven where the Son of God communicates himself only to the Saints And hereupon the Priest on the behalf of the Faithful asks God's grace that Jesus Christ who in the Holy Scriptures is called the Angel of the Great Council and of the New Testament will give himself unto them under the shadow of this Holy Sacrament as he gives himself to the blessed without veil on the sublime and celestial Altar in the bosom of his Divinity that is to say that as all those are worthy who receive Christ in Heaven as being Saints so he would please to furnish all these with such his blessings and celestial gifts as may enable
of this day wherein the Son of God was betrayed into the hands of the Jews to expiate our sins the Priest beseeches God that he will be pleased to supply the defect of the Prayers he makes to implore his protection by the merits and suffrages of the blessed Virgin the Apostles Martyrs and of all Saints PArticipating in the same Communion and Celebrating the Solemnity of this Blessed Day wherein our Saviour Jesus Christ was betrayed for us and in the first place honouring the memory of the ever glorious Virgin Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostles and Martyrs Peter and Paul Andrew James John Thomas James Philip Bartholomew Matthew Simon and Thaddaeus Linus Cletus Clement Xistus Cornelius Cyprian Laurence Chrysogonus John and Paul Cosme and Damian and all the other Saints Through whose Prayers and Merits vouchsafe to grant us in all things the help of thy protection by the same Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest executing the Command which Christ this day gave his Disciples and their Successours to celebrate these Holy Mysteries in memory of him spreads his hands over the Host and Chalice to testifie to God that he offers and sacrifices himself joyntly therewith begging four things 1. That he will please to accept of this Offering 2. To grant us Peace 3. To deliver us from Eternal Damnation 4. To place us amongst the Elect. WE beseech thee therefore graciously to accept this Oblation of our and of thy whole families Duty which we present unto thee in solemnizing this present day whereon our Lord Jesus Christ ordained his Disciples to celebrate the Mysteries of his Body and Blood beseeching thee to grant us Peace in these our days and preserving us from Eternal Damnation to seat us among thy Elect Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest begs of God that he will accept and so bless this Oblation that it may be found good reasonable and agreeable that it may become the Body and Blood of his Son our Lord to expiate our sins and reconcile us to his Majesty WHich Oblation O God we beseech thee to make in all things blessed allowed approved reasonable and acceptable that it may be made to us the Body and Blood of thy beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ The CONSECRATION After this Prayer the Priest comes to the principal Action of the Sacrifice and commemorates all that Christ did or said when he instituted this Holy Sacrament and following his example he blesseth and consecrateth in this manner WHo the day before his Passion for us and for the whole world that is this day took bread into his holy and venerable hands and lifting up his eyes towards heaven to the God his Father Almighty giving thee thanks he blessed brake and gave it unto his disciples saying Take eat ye all of this FOR THIS IS MY BODY All the rest till the Communion as before pag. 66 c. Thou must observe that the Kiss of Peace is not given at this time at this Day 's Mass to mind us of the horrid traiterous Kiss of Judas This Day the Priest consecrates two Hosts reserving one for the morrow when there is no consecration He reserves also some Particles for the sick in case of necessity and drinks up all the Blood and before the Ablution of his Fingers he puts the reserved Host into another Chalice which the Deacon covers with the Patten and Pall. Then he spreads the Veil over it placing it in the midst of the Altar and having given the Communion he finishes the rest of the Mast The COMMUNION taken out of the 13th Chapter of St. John The Church teacheth by the Example and Command of Jesus Christ to become humble and charitable to be pure and free from the least sins figured by the filth of our feet that so we may worthily receive the Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ OUr Lord Jesus after he had supped with his Disciples washt their feet and said unto them Know ye what I have done unto you bring your Lord and Master I have given you an example That you should do as I have done unto you The POST-COMMUNION As the participation of the Body and Blood of Christ is a kind of figure of our Eternal Bliss in that we are fed under the Veil of the Sacrament with the same Food which the blessed without Veil or Sacrament enjoy in Heaven we beg of God the grace to receive in Heaven that wholesom effect the mystery whereof we celebrate on Earth GRant we beseech thee O Lord our God that being refresht with thee life-giving food we may receive by thy grace in Everlasting Bliss that which we celebrate in this mortal life Through Christ our Lord. Amen All the rest as before pag. 175 c. except that Ita Missa est is said instead of Benedicamus Domino because that Gloria in Excelsis was said in this Mass This day a proper place is prepared in some Chappel or Altar of the Church to expose the Chalice and reserved Host as we said before pag. 175. Then Mass being ended the Tapers are lighted and Procession begun The Subdeacon vested carries the Cross The Priest that did celebrate putting off his Vestment puts on a white Coap and standing upright before the Altar he puts Incense into the two Thuribles without a Blessing Afterwards kneeling he incenseth the blessed Sacrament thrice and taking the Chalice with the blessed Sacrament from the hands of the Deacon which he covers with the ends of the Veil that hangs upon his shoulders he goes under the Canopy with the Deacon and Subdeacon The two Acolyts incense the blessed Sacrament till they come to the place provided singing this following Hymn during the Procession SIng O my Tongue devoutly sing The glorious Bodies mystery And of that precious Blood the King Of Nations poured forth to free The World from a disastrous doom O blessed fruit of noblest womb On us bestow'd for us thy birth He from a Virgin did proceed And be conversant on earth Till he had sowed the Gospel-seed The time of his prolonged stay He clos'd in an admirable way He on the final supper night Among his brethren taking seat And well observing the ancient rite Touching the laws prescribed mete Gave to the twelve his chosen band Himself for food with 's proper hand The Incarnate Word by words he said Turned into flesh substantial bread And wine the blood of Christ was made Though sense found nothing altered This to confirm in hearts sincere There needs no more if faith be there To this great Sacrament therefore Let 's give the prostrate Worship due And may the ancient Rite no more Take place but yield it to the new Let faith in Jesus Christ supply The senses insufficiency To Father and the Son let 's bring Triumphant praises let 's aspire Their honour power and bliss to sing While benedictions fill the Quire To him that from both is sprung Let equal
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
Sacrament may not remain to teach us how careful we ought to be to preserve our selves in purity he says this Prayer GRant O Lord that what we have taken with our mouth we may receive with a clean heart and that of a Temporal Gift it may become unto us an Eternal Remedy And all the rest that is said in ordinary Masses wherein Consecration is made is omitted to signifie that in this days service there is no Consecration nor are the accustomed Prayers said for those that partake in the consecrated things ON FRIDAY IN Holy Week The same Even-song is said as before till you come to Magnificat At MAGNIFICAT Antiphon The Church at the end of this days Office entertains us with the bitter drink which the Executioners presented to our Saviour even at his expiring when he cried I thirst to make us acknowledge the servent Charity he had for us not desiring less fervently our Salvation then he had thirsted in his flesh and signifying by some of those his last words and at the most remarkable moments of his life that his desire of our Salvation is the consummation of all our Mysteries WHen Jesus had taken vinegar he said It is finished and bowing down his head he gave up his ghost V. Christ was made obedient for us unto death even the death of the Cross Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Miserere mei I eus c. as before pag. 6. The PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag. 130. FOR SATURDAY IN Holy Week At Prime As before Page 131. At the Third Hour As before Page 136. At the Sixth Hour As before Page 142. At the Ninth Hour As before Page 147. AT MASS The station in the Church of St. John Lateran This day in Rome the Station is at S. John Lateran's because formerly the Pope was accustomed there to bless the Fonts and solemnly administer Baptism The Altars are made ready and the Canonical hours said but no Tapers lighted till the beginning of Mass in the mean time without the Church fire is struck out of a Flint and Coals alighted therewith The Prayer of the None being ended the Priest in his Albe with a stole and pluvial of a violet colour accompanied with his Ministers goes before the Church-gate there to bless the new fire the Sub-deacon carrying the Cross and the Acolyts Holy Water the Thurlble without fire the Box with Frankincense and five Grains of Incense in a Bason for the Paschal Candle The unlighted Candles signifie that the Old Law hath been fulfilled and consummated by Jesus Christ The new fire from the flint without teaches us that Jesus Christ figured by the flint-stone is come to infuse the fire of his Divine Love into the World by his Death which he suffered without the Walls of Jerusalem desiring that it may enlighten our hearts as he himself testifies in the 12th Chapter of Saint Luke And the Church begs of God in the following Prayer when the new fire is blest V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O God who by thy Son the corner-stone of thy Church hath bestowed upon thy faithful the fire of thy splendour sanctifie for our use this new fire drawn out of the flint stone and grant us thy grace during this Paschal Feast to be so inflamed with celestial desires that we may arrive with pure hearts to the solemnity of thy Eternal Glory Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen As God leading the People of Israel out of the Egyptian Bondage under the conduct of Moses did enlighten them with a Pillar of Fire to bring them into the Land of Promise So the faithful now beg of God that having delivered them from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin through his Son Jesus Christ he will please so to enlighten them with his Grace that they may enter into Heaven according to his promises Let us Pray O Almighty Father never-failing Light Creator of all light bless this light which is sanctified and blest by thee who enlightenest the whole World that we may be thereby enlightened and inflamed And as thou didst carry a light before Moses going out of Egypt so also be pleased to illuminate our hearts and senses that we may at length arrive to Life and Light Everlasting Through Christ our Lord Amen Let us Pray O Lord Holy Father Omnipotent Eternal God vouchsafe to co-operate with us who bless this fire in thy Name and in the Name of thy Son our Lord and of the Holy Ghost and assist us against the fiery darts of the enemy enlightening us with thy heavenly grace Who livest and reignest with the same thy only begotten Son and the Holy Ghost God for ever and ever Amen The fire being blest the Priest also blesseth the five grains of Incense to represent the persumes which the devout Women brought to our Saviours Sepulcher and being fixt to the Paschal Candle they represent the five wounds in our Saviours Body the scars whereof he would retain after his Resurrection This blessing is performed to signifie that God by the Merits of Jesus Christ his Son who brought the light of his Grace to the World sanctifies all Creatures which the Devil makes use of to draw us into sin and that by the Merits of this our Saviour the Church applies her blessings and prayers against the assaults of the Devil that in all places we may make a right use of them And therefore in former Ages this Ceremony was used the Night following at the Midnight Mass about which time Christ rose again to mind us of the new light of the World received by his Resurrection O God Almighty pour forth we beseech thee thy abundant blessings upon this Incense and renewing the world by an invisible regeneration enlighten this night that not onely the Sacrifice which is offered this night may shine by a secret mixture of thy splendour but also that in whatever place any part of the Mystery of this sanctification shall be brought all surprise and malice of the Devil being chased away the vertue of thy Majesty may be assisted Through Christ our Lord. Amen Then the Priest puts Incense into the Censor and blesses it protesting by this blessing that adoration is due to God alone and beseeches him that his prayers may rise as Incense unto him BE thou blest by him in whose honour thou shalt be burnt Then the Priest sprinkles the Incense and new fire with the Holy Water to shew us that we ought to cleanse our selves of our sins that we may be capable of the new light which Christ hath brought to the World and therefore he saith THou shalt sprinkle me O Lord with hyssop and I shall be cleansed thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow Then the Deacon putting on a white Dalmatick to represent the Angels who declared Christs Resurrection takes a Cane whereunto three small Candles are
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