They that repay evil things for good did back bite me because I followed goodnesse Forsake me not O Lord my God depart not from me Incline unto my helpe O Lord God of my salvation Glory be to the Father c. Psalme 50. HAve mercy on me O God according to thy great mercy And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquities Wash me hencefourth from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Because I doe know my iniquity and my sin is alwayes against me To thee only have I sinned and have donne evill before thee that thou maist be justified in thy words and maist overcome when thou art judged For behould I was conceived in iniquities and my mother conceived me in sin For behould thou hast loved truth the uncertaine and hidden things of thy wisdome thou hast made manifest to me Thou shalt sprincle me with hysope and I shall be cleansed thou shalst wash me and I shall be made whiter then snow To my hearing thou shalst give joy and gladnesse and humbled harts shall rejoyce Turne away thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities Create a cleane hart in me O God and renew a right spirit in my bowels Cast me not away from thy face and thy holy spirit take not away from me Render unto me the joy of thy salvation and confirme me with a principall spirit I will teach the unjust thy wayes and the impious shall be converted unto thee Deliver me from blouds O God the God of my salvation and my tongue shall exalt thy justice Thou O Lord shalt open my lips and my mouth shall declare thy praise Because if thou wouldest have had sacrifice I had verily given it with whole-burnt-offerings thou wilt not be delighted A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit a contrite and humble hart O God thou wilst not dispise Deale favorably O Lord in thy good will with Syon and let the walls of Hierusalem be built up Then shalt thou accept sacrifice of justice oblations and whole-burnt-offerings then shall they lay calves upon thine altar Glory be to the Father c. Psalme 101. O Lord heare my prayer and let my cry come unto thee Turne not away thy face from me in what day soever I am in tribulation incline thine eare to me In what day soever I shal call upon thee heare me speedily For my dayes have vanished as smoke and my bones are withered as a dry-burnt fire-brand I am smitten as grasse and my hart is withered for I have forgotten to eate my bread For the voyce of my groning my bonne hath cleaved to my flesh I am become like a pelican of the wildernesse I am become as a night raven in the house I have watched and am become as a sparow solitary in the house toppe All the day did my ennemies upbraide me and they that praised me sware against me For I did eate ashes as bread and mingled my drink with weeping At the face of the wrath of thy indignation for that lifting me up thou hast throwne me downe My dayes have declined as a shadow I am withered as grasse But thou O Lord endurest for ever and thy memoriall in generation and generation Thou rising up shalt have mercy on Syon for the tyme is come Because the stones thereof have pleased thy servants and they shall have pitty on the earth thereof And the Gentils shall feare thy name O Lord and all the Kings of the Earth thy glory For our Lord hath builded Syon and he shall be seene in his glory He hath had respect to the prayer of the humble and he hath not dispised their petition Let these things be written in an other generation and the people that shall be created shall praise our lord Because he hath looked fourth from his high holy place our Lord from Heaven hath looked upon the earth That he might heare the gronings of the fettered that he might loose the children of them that are flayne That they may shew fourth the name of our Lord in Syon and his prayse in Hierusalem In the assembling of the people togeather in one and kings to serve our Lord. He answered him in the way of his strength shew me the fewnesse of my dayes Call me not back in the halfe of my dayes thy yeares are unto generation and generation In the beginning O Lord thou hast founded the earth and the Heavens are the workes of thy hands They shall perish but thou art permanent and they shall all wax old as a garment And as a vesture thou shalst change them and they shall be changed but thou art the selfe same and thy yeares shall not faile The children of thy servants shall inhabit and their seede shall be directed for ever Glory be to the Father c. Psalme 129. FRom the depthes I have cryed to thee O Lord Lord heare my cry Let thine eares be intent to the voyce of my petition If thou shalt observe iniquities O Lord Lord who shall sustayne it Because with thee there is propitiation and for thy law I have expected thee O Lord. My soule hath expected in his word my soule hath hoped in our Lord. From the morning watch even until night let Israel hope in our Lord. Because with our Lord there is mercy and with him plentifull redemption And he shall redeeme Israel from all his iniquities Glory be to the Father c. Psalem 142. LOrd heare my prayer with thine eares receive my petition in thy truth heare me in thy justice And enter not into judgment with thy servant because no man living shall be justifi'd in thy sight Because the enemie hath persecuted my soule he hath humbled my life in the Earth He hath set me in obscure places as the dead of the world and my spirit is in anguish upon me with in me my hart is troubled I was mindfull of old dayes I have meditated in all thy workes in the facts of thy hands did I meditate I have stretched forth my hand to thee my soule is as earth without water unto thee Heare me quickly O Lord my spirit hath fainted Turne not away thy face from me and I shall be like to them that descend into the lake Make me heare thy mercy in the morning because I have hoped in thee Make the way knowne to me wherein I may walke because I have lifted up my soule to thee Deliver me from mine enemies O Lord to thee I have fled teach me to doe thy will because thou art my God Thy good spirit will conduct me into the right way for thy names sake O Lord thou wilt quicken me in thy equity Thou wilst bring forth my soule out of tribulation and in thy mercy thou wilst destroy mine enemies And thou wilst destroy all that afflict my soule because I am thy servant Glory be to the Father c. The Antiphone Remenber not O Lord our or our Parents offences Neither take
tyme to heare Masse represent to your selfe that you are called to accompany the B. Virgin S. Jo. Evangelist and holy Magdalen to mount Calvary there to assist at that dreadfull sacrifice which this doth so truly represent and that togeather with the Priest you now are going to offer it upon the Altar to the Eternall Father for the whole cath Church as also for your owne necessities and for all others both living and dead for whom you are bound to pray The Priest ascending up to the Altar with that great crosse upon the back of the vestment may renew in us a lively memory of that heavie Crosse which Jesus Christ did beare upon his wounded shoulders to mount Calvary there to pay that deare and painfull ransome for our sin And the crowne or tonsure of the Priest may represent to us that crowne of sharp thornes which was beaten upon our Saviours head Admire here his infinit love and mercy to ungratefull Man The exteriour and interiour disposition required to assist at the holy sacrifice of the Masse THe Priest now approaching to the Altar we must procure a right interiour disposition by stirring up in our harts an actuall sorrow and contrition for our sins and renouncing all affection to them therby to purify our soules from that foule blemish which might render our devotion unpleasing to God 2. We ought there to behave our selves with all exteriour reverence and very carrefully to avoyde all needlesse words and lookes still keeping the eyes of our soule firmely fixed upon the Altar and our minds wholy busied with devout attention upon those holy mysteries of the life and death of Jesus Christ which in this sacrifice of the Masse is so truly represented unto us A forme of directing our intention before Masse in forme of prayer O Sacred Trinity accept this holy sacrifice of the most precious body and blood of our Lord Jes Chr. in union of that most holy sacrifice which our divine Redeemer offered in his last supper and upon the Crosse I offer it to thee by the hands of the Priest First to the honour and eternall glory of thy divine Majesty In acknowledgment of thy supreame excellency and dominion over us and our subjection and dependance upon thee as also in perpetuall commemoration of the death and passion of our most mercifull Redeemer Jesus Christ 2. in honour and increase of glory to all the B. spirits in the Church triumphant And for the suffering soules in Purgatory And in particular for the soules of N. N. 3. In eternal gratitude for all thy gracious benefits bestow'd on me thy ungratefull creature and in satisfaction for my sins and for those of all the faithfull as well living as dead And finally for the obtayning of such or such a grace And in particular for N. N. And for all those for whom I am wont and bound to pray To obtayne rest to the dead and to the living grace to know to love and to glorify thee perfectly in this world and happily to enioy thee in the other for all Eternity Amen An advertisment WHat finally I doe here recommend to all is that with devout attention they religiously accompany the Priest and make serious reflection upon each my stery in order yet very briefly endevoring to stirr up some fervent and pious affection or holy aspiration wherby to move their harts to a divine and ardent love of so mercifull a God and to detest all sin which so very highly offends him A DEVOUT EXERCISE FOR HEARING MASSE BOTH WITH TRUE PIETY AND MUCH INSTRUCTION From the rising of the sunne leven to the going downe in every place there is sacrificing and there is offered in my name a cleane oblation Malach. 1. cap. ver 11. A prayer before Masse O Most clement Father of mercy who hast bestowd not only once thy dearly beloved sonne to dye upon a Crosse for Mans Redemption but wouldest that his oblation so infinitly acceptable unto thee should daily be renued in thy Church to increace in us the fruit therof Grant us we beseech thee so attentively and reverently to be present at this so adorable a mystery of thy piety that we may be able to ataine the participation therof through Christ Jesus our Lord and only Redeemer Amen At the Priest's ascending to the Altar and there opening the booke THe Priest ascending to the Altar and having placed the Chalice he openeth the booke To signify that the mysteries of our faith lay shutt up in dark shadowes and obscure figures in the old law till Jesus Christ there represented by the Priest layd them open to us in their true substance and verity Rejoyce with gratitude for our enjoying the law of grace and stirr up a firme beleefe of all those holy mysteries of Mans Redemption by Christs bitter death and Passion which are here to be represented to us in the holy Masse At the Priests descending to the lowest stepp and beginning with the signe of the Crosse and saying the Confiteor c. THe Priest descends to the lowest stepp and there begins in making the signe of the Crosse To shew that we had no other hope nor remedy for our reconciliation to God but by the merits and sacred passion of Jesus Christ who died for us upon the Crosse At the Confiteor stirr up true sorrow and detestation for your sins as a preparation to appeare with more purity and profound humility in Gods divine presence at all those sacred mysteries represented there to us at the holy sacrifice of the Masse At the Priests ascending and kissing the Altar THe Priest ascending he kisseth the Altar as a symbole of reconciliation and peace made betwixt God and Man by the precious blood and bitter passion of Jesus Christ For which indevour to stirr up due love and gratitude At the Introite and Kyrie elysons THe Introite is so called because at high Masse it is sung whilst the Priest is comming to the Altar It represents the sighs and longing desires of the Patriarckes for the Messias comming As also doe the Kyrie and Christe elysons At which let us humbly crave the needfull visit of Gods grace for our soules as also his mercy and gracious pardon of all our sins Of Gloria in excelsis Dominus vobiscum and the prayer JOy here at our divine Redeemers birth and at his choyce of so poore so meane and so suffering a manner We must learne to contemne all worldly pompe and vanity and that the only true way to beatitude is that of mortification humility and proper abjection The Priest salutes the people with Dominus vobiscum to stirr up their attention before he begins the prayer to the end that their petitions therin may be more gratefull to God And he saith Oremus before the prayer to desire the people to joyne their prayers and intentions with his to obtayne those necessities which our holy mother the Church recommends to be prayd for therby At the Epistle and
in as much onely as they advance me towards this end or divert me from it The Conclusion LEt us conclude this meditation with this truth that if we will dye the death of the just we must live their life also since the true meanes to obtayne a good death is to lead a good life And as there is nothing more precious nothing more to be desired then a good death so there is nothing more miserable nothing more to be dreaded then an ill one In a businesse of so high importance the most secure way is to live every day as though we were to dye before it expire alwayes keeping our affections so disengag'd from earthly things as if we were really at the point of death where all that is not God will appeare but smoake and vapour A most profitable Exercise to prepare our selves for death Vpon the moment of death depends Eternity THe day we make this Exercise as soone as we awake we are to enter into the thoughts of death and consider it as the last of our life Preparation WE are to imagine our selves sicke in our bed even to extremity and that our good Angel comes by Gods command to declare to us the irrevocable sentence of our death saying as Isay said to Exechias put thy affaires in order for thou shalst dye Prostrate at the foote of the Crucifix or before the B. Sacrament let us implore from the bottome of our hart grace and light from the holy Ghost the assistance of the B. Virgin of the saintes our Patrons and our good Angel and then make the following acts An act of Resignation 1. MY hart is ready O God my hart is ready not my will but thyne be done in me upon me and by me now and in all Eternity O God eternall immense and infinite who art abundantly sufficient to thy selfe and hast no need of thy creatures what matter is it whither I live or dye so as I accomplish thy holy will in which onely my true life consists Let not then my will bo done but thyne O my God Confession of our ovvne nothing 2. TO the end to acknowledg the dependance I have upon thee my soveraine Creator and openly to confesse before Heaven and Earth that thou art onely he who is and that I am that vile Creature who is not I embrace with all humble submission the destruction of this corruptible being and am content that by death it returne to the nothing from whence thou hast taken it Restitution of our beeing to God 3. O My Soveraine Creator I desire to restore thee the beeing which thou hast given me and to this effect I accept death in such manner as may most please and glorify thee Dispose then of thy Creature and destroy this body of sin in punishment of the offences it has committed against thy divine Majesty Let this carth returne to earth but let my Spirit which is created after thy image and likenesse returne to thee Acknowledgement of the Soveraine dominion of God 4. O My God although I must dye by necessity yet I desire by submission to render my death voluntary and am glad that in punishment of the ill use I have made of the free will thou hast given me it shall put me into a state wherin I shall be no more able to resist that Soveraine Dominion which thou as lawfull Lord of all creatures hast over me Acceptation of death in punishment of our sins 5. SInce death O my God is the punishment thou hast ordayned for sin with an humble hart and entire submission to thy most just decree and à Spirit of penance I accept it togeather with all the paines humiltations and privations which accompany it in satisfaction for all those offences which I have committed against thy awfull Majesty Oblation of our life to God 6 REceive Omy Saviour the oblation I make of my body and life which I offer and immolate to thy divine Majesty as a sacrifice and burnt offering unite it to that which thou hast offerd upon the Crosse for me and consume it with the fire of thy divine love Desire to render to Iesus death for death 7. O My divine Jesus since that the love of me has caus'd thee to dye upon the Crosse for my salvation is it not reasonable that for the love of thee I should accept death with a good hart to the end to recompence as farre as I am able that which thou hast suffered for me O why have I not a thousand lives that to this end I might lay them downe all and thereby testify that thou art my God Spirituall Confession Humbling our selves profoundly at the feete of Jesus Christ as if he were present in his holy Humanity we ought to accuse our selves to him of all our sins taking a short review of them but especially of those which are most notable in consequence wherof we may excite our soule to a lively and loving repentance for them An act of Contrition O My God prostrate before thy Soveraine Majesty I most humbly crave pardon as well for all my contempts and abuses of thy holy graces as for the sins I have committed since the very day of my birth in thought word and deed I retract and disavow them yea from the bottom of my hart I renounce them and wish I had never committed them not in regard of the paines which they merit but because I have offended thy infinit goodnesse which deserves to be infinitly lou'd and serv'd by all Creatures O that my hart were capable of an infinit griefe wherwith to expiate them But to supply what is wanting in me O my God accept that which my Saviour has sufferd in the garden of Olives and upon the Crosse for the sins of the whole world and particularly for me Accept also to this end the griefe and contrition of all the saintes cleanse me from my secret sins and pardon me those which I have committed in others O my Lord despise not an humble and contrite hart which expects pardon of thy mercy alone Thou hast said that whensoever a sinner shall truly grieve for his sins thou wilt no more remember his iniquities And if be thy pleasure to prolonge my life I make a sinne purpose by thy grace to amende my faults especially such and such and will endeavour to satisfy for what is past Having made this act we may receive the absolution which Jesus Christ the Soveraine Priest gives us by applying to our selves his divine merits after which let us contemplate him saying to us as he did to S. Mary Magdalen thy sins are forgiven thee goe in peace Say the Psalme Miserere mei Deus c. in the Spirit of true penance Aspirations to the three divine Persons O Eternal Father since thou hast so lou'd the world as to give us thyne only Sonne ought not I to hope for salvation from thy mercy Thou hast not given him to condemne us but to save us and