by a strict examen of our consciences that treating our selves with rigour and severity we may avoid it from God BRethren when you come therefore together in one it is not now to eat our Lord's 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 ye 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 For I received of the Lord that which also I have delivered unto you that our Lord Jesus in the night he was betrayed took bread and giving thanks brake and said Take ye and eat this is my body which shall be delivered for you This do ye for the commemoration of me In like manner the chalice also after he had supped saying This chalice is the New Testament in my blood This do ye as often as ye shall drink for the commemoration of me For as often as ye shall eat this bread and drink this chalice you shall shew the death of our Lord until he come Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread or drink this chalice of our Lord unworthily he shall be guilty of the body and blood of our Lord. But let a man prove himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of the chalice For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself not discerning the body of our Lord Therefore are there among you many weak and feeble and many sleep But if we did judge our selves we should not be judged But whiles we are judged of our Lord we are chastised that with this world we be not damned The GRADUAL taken out of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians Chap. 2. The Church hereby teacheth us that as Christ entred into glory by his suffering to which he voluntarily for the love of us exposed himself so by incorporating himself in us by this Sacrament which he left us on the Eve of his death to preserve the memory of it he would also that we partake in his Sufferings that so we may at length have share in his glorious Resurrection CHrist was made for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross V. For which thing God also hath exalted him and given him a name which is above all names MUNDA COR MEUM c. as before pag. 14. The sequence of the Holy Gospel according to St. John Chap. 13. The Church represents unto us how our Saviour before he instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist washt his Apostles feet first to give us an example of Humility and Charity which we ought to shew to one another secondly to instruct us that to receive the Body and Blood of Christ worthily we must not onely be free and pure from sin but cleansed from the least sins which are figured by the filth upon our feet ANd before the festival-day of Pasche Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should pass out of this world to his Father whereas he had loved his that were in the world unto the end he loved them And when supper was done whereas the devil now had put into the heart of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon to betray him knowing that his Father gave him all things into his hands and that he came from God and goeth to God he riseth from supper and layeth aside his garments and having taken a towel girded himself After that he put water into a bason and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded He cometh therefore to Simon Peter And Peter faith to him Lord dost thou wash my feet Jesus answered and said to him That which I do thou knowest not now hereafter thou shalt know Peter saith to him Thou shalt not wash my feet for ever Jesus answered him If I wash thee not thou shalt not have part with me Simon Peter saith to him Lord not onely my feet but also hands and head Jesus saith to him He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet but is clean wholly And you are clean but not all For he knew who he was that would betray him therefore he said You are not clean all Therefore after he had washed their feet and taken his garments being set down again he said to them Know you what I have done to you You call me Master and Lord and you say well for I am so if then I have washed your feet Lord and Master you also ought to wash one anothers feet For I have given you an example that as I have done to you so you do also Laus tibi Christe CREDO as before pag. 54 55. The OFFERTORY taken out of the 117th Psalm Wherein the Church minds us of the excess of God's bounty and the marvellous effect of his omnipotence in that it was his will that his Son should become man die for us and give himself for our food whereby to unite and incorporate himself with us And though in justice he might have obliged us to have suffered the same torments as he did since he had not undergone them had not we deserved them yet he lays not any obligation upon us thereunto but is pleased to bestow eternal life through the merit of his sufferings upon those who tast not the bitterness provided they do works of Penance exercise Charity and keep his Commandments THe right hand of the Lord hath done valiantly the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER c. until the Secret as before pag. 56 57 58. The SECRET The Priest teacheth us that it is not by any power of man which works upon the things offered on the Altar but that Jesus Christ who wrought them at his last Supper with his Apostles doth now the self-same here We are constituted his Officers and Ministers but it is he sanctifies the Offerings and changing them into his Body and Blood offers them to God his Father And thereupon the Priest beseeches God that his sins and ours may not hinder this Sacrifice from being acceptable as that whereat the Apostles assisted since there is no less in this than in that For it is not a man that doth this instead of Jesus Christ who offered that but it is truly Jesus Christ who does this as he did that GRant we beseech thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God that he may make this Sacrifice acceptable unto thee who commanded his disciples at this day to celebrate it in memory of him Who liveth and reigneth c. The PREFACE as before pag. 60 61 62. The CANON till Communicantes as before pag. 63 c. COMMVNICANTES By vertue of the Union of the Church-Militant with the Triumphant in Jesus Christ and in memory
our Soul the Spirit of his Grace This â—â—orable Saviour is so benign as to feed us with his own Flesh and more for the love of us he offered himself as a Victim Then that Excuse have we if though we receive such Nourishment â—e yet persist in our wicked ways or if in eating the Lamb we leave not being Wolves if in being fed with his Flesh which was as sweet as Lamb we desist not from devouring others as Lions For this Mystery must not only draw us from all Injustice and Sin but also take away all Animosities though never so small for this is a Mystery of Peace and Charity R. I was like an innocent Lamb I was led to be immolated and I did not know it My enemies made counsel against me saying Come let us put wood on his bread and let us root him out from the land of the living V. All my enemies thought evil against me they have spoken ill against me saying Come ye c. VIII LESSON The Apostle treats of the Institution of the Eucharist and shews us that it was instituted to the end that by eating that Bread and drinking that Blood we might always remember him who died and rose again for us FOr I received of our Lord that which also I have delivered unto you That our Lord Jesus in the night that he was betrayed took bread and giving thanks bâ—rake and said Take ye and eat THIS IS MY BODY which shall be delivered for you This do ye for the commemoration of me In like manner also the chalice after he had supped saying THIS CHALICE IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD This do ye as often as you shall drink for the commemoration of me For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice you shall shew the death of our Lord until he come The Church represents unto us how that if we cannot consider Judas his Treason without having great indignation against him who after he had been admitted to the spiritual Table of his Divine Majesty and to that magnificent and terrible Feast and after he had received so many Testimonies of his Friendship yet he delivered and sold his Master by a Kiss Wherefore we must always be careful of our Actions and watch with great solicitude lest we make our selves guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ by betraying him and profaning and violating that Divine Agreement which in our Baptism we contracted with him which we shall do if we receive him with a Mouth full of Impurity and Filth and with a depraved and impure Soul after we have received so great and many Benefits T was Avarice that destroyed Judas and that 's the Precipice from which we must defend our selves It behoveth him who is desirous to Communicate in memory of Jesus Christ who died and rose again for us that he be not only clean from all Impurity of Body and Mind but also that he evidently shews that what he do's is in commemoration of him that died and rose again for us by declaring that he is dead to Sin to the World and to himself and that he only lives for God in our Lord Jesus Christ R. Could you not watch one hour with me who were so resolved to die for me But Judas sleeps not behold how he is coming to betray me into the hands of the Jews V. Why do ye sleep Arise and pray that ye enter not into temptation But Judas sleeps not c. IX LESSON The Apostle shews us after what manner we ought to prepare our selves to receive the Communion and with what diligence â—e ought to examine our Conscience We ought to prepare our selves for the Participation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through a true Repentance proportionable to our Sins In this Penance each one must be severe and rigid to himself that having condemned himself he may not be condemn'd by God Each one must seat himself in the Tribunal of his own Conscience there to act against himself This Judgment being so established in the Heart of Man his Thoughts must be imagin'd to be Accusers his Conscience tho Witness and his Fear the Executioner After which Tears must appear as a kind of Blood trickling from the Soul that confesses her self culpable Also the Image of the last dreadful Day of Judgment must be represented before the Eyes to the end that with dread and Horror we may apprehend the Danger of being cast into eternal Death We must likewise observe according to the Admonition St. Augustin gives us in the 118. Epistle to Januarius That those words of the Apostle For the other Rules I shall establish them when I shall be amongst you by which are understood the Order of the Office of the Blessed Sacrament and the Sacrifice of the Altar such as is now celebrated in the Universal Church THerefore whosoever shall eat this bread or drink the chalice of our Lord unworthily he shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of our Lord. But let a man prove himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that chalice For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself not discerning the body of our Lord. Therefore are there among you many weak and feeble and many sleep But if we did judge our selves we should not be judged But whiles we are judged of our Lord we are chastised that with this world we be not damned Therefore my brethren when you come together to eat expect one another If any man be an hungred let him eat at home that you come not together unto judgment And the rest I will dispose when I come The Church having entertained us with that Divine Banquet which Jesus Christ made on the Vigil of his Passion to his Disciples of his own Body and Blood and having shewed us that this sacred Banquet in which we assist is of the same nature as that wherein his Apostles assisted and that there is nothing less in This than there was in That because it was truly Christ himself who made This as well as it was he who made the other and having instructed us in the due Preparation to receive him worthily She as soon minds us of the Conspiracy of the Jews against Jesus Christ thereby to teach us That there is nothing makes us more firm and vigorous that animates us that encourages and fortifies us more against the Violence of Temptations and Persecutions than the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and that nothing renders us so capable of drinking of the Cup of Sorrow than to drink of the Chalice of our Saviour R. The Elders of the People consulted together how they might by some wile apprehend Jesus and kill him with swords and clubs they came out as it were to a thief V. The Priests and Pharisees consulted together how they might by some wile apprehend Jesus R. The Elders of the People
the end for which we became Christians is not for this temporal life wherein God often delivers us up to persecutors who persecute us even to death but that the Name of Christian entitles us to an Eternal Life considering that he whose Name we bear was treated so for us PSALM XXI O God my God have respect unto me why hast thou forsaken me far from my salvation are the words of my sins My God I shall cry by day and thou wilt not hear and by night and not for folly unto me But thou dwellest in the holy place the praise of Israel In thee our fathers have hoped they hoped and thou didst deliver them They cried to thee and were saved they hoped in thee and were not confounded But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and outcast of the people All that see me have scorned me they have spoken with lips and wagged the head He hoped in the Lord let him deliver him save him because he willeth him Because thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb my hope from the breasts of my mother Upon thee I have been cast from the matrice from my mothers womb thou art my God depart not from me Because tribulation is very nigh because there is not that will help Many calves have compassed me fat bulls have besieged me They have opened their mouths upon me as a lyon ravening and roaring As water I am poured out and my bones are dispersed My heart is made as wax melting in the midst of my body My strength is withered as a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death Because many dogs have compassed me the counsel of the maglignant hath besieged me They have digged my hands and my feet they have numbred all my bones But themselves have considered and beheld me they have divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots But thou Lord prolong not thy help from me look toward my defence Deliver O God my soul from the sword and mine onely one from the hand of the dog Save me out of the lyon's mouth and my humility from the horns of unicorns I will declare thy Name to my brethren in the midst of the Church I will praise thee Ye that fear our Lord praise him all the seed of Jacob glorifie ye him Let all the seed of Israel fear him because he hath not contemned nor despised the petition of the poor Neither hath he turned away his face from me and when I cried to him he heard me With thee is my praise in the great Church I will render my vows in the sight of them that fear him The poor shall eat and shall be filled and they shall praise our Lord that seek after him their hearts shall live for ever and ever All the ends of the earth shall remember and be converted to our Lord. And all the families of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight Because the kingdom is our Lords and he shall have dominion over the Gentiles All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and adored in his sight shall all fall that descended into the earth And my soul shall live to him and my seed shall serve him The generation to come shall be shewed to our Lord and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to the people that shall be born whom our Lord hath made Ant. They have divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they have cast lots This Ceremony is very ancient For St. Gregory mentions it in his Book de Sacramentis and in the sixteenth and seventeenth Councils of Toledo held in the year 693 and 694. in the eighth Canon of the former and in the second of the latter and likewise in St. Eligius Bishop of Noyon who lived in the same Age and treats of it in his eighth Homily ON Good Friday At Prime As before Page 131. At the Third Hour As before Page 136. At the Sixth Hour As before Page 142. At the Ninth Hour As before Page 147. I. N.R.I MASS FOR Good Friday The station in the Church of the Holy Cross of Hierusalem To instruct us that Jesus Christ suffered death upon this day in Hierusalem To the end that this day's Office may be performed with profound humility the Prayers of the None being ended those that officiate come before the Altar and kneeling prostrate themselves on the ground The Acolyts rise and lay a Cloth upon the Altar to represent the Linnens wherein Christ's body was wrapped before he was put into the Sepulcher and also to mind us by this Ceremony of the last Duties paid to our Saviour's body by Joseph of Arimathea and Nichodemus Then the Reader sings the first Prophecy without a title to observe unto us the ignorance and blindness of the Jews who would not understand the truths revealed unto them by the Prophets You may observe also that this Office is begun by Lessons as was done in the Primitive times The LESSON taken out of the sixth Chapter of the Prophet Osee The Church by the words of this Prophet declares unto us the love which God always had for his people either by correcting them to make them return to their duty or by sending Prophets among them who exposed their lives to save them or by sending at last his onely Son who died and rose again the third day to expiate their sins to deliver them from everlasting death and to give them a new life and an eternal felicity THus said our Lord In their tribulation early they will rise up to me come and let us return to our Lord because he hath wounded and he will heal us he will strike and will cure us He will revive us after two days in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight We shall know and we shall follow that we may know our Lord. As the morning light is his coming forth prepared and he will come to us as a shower timely and late to the earth What shall I do to thee Ephraim What shall I do to thee Juda Your mercy as a morning cloud and as the dew passing away in the morning For this have I hewed in the Prophets I have killed them in the words of my mouth and thy judgments shall come forth as the light Because I would mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than Holocausts The TRACT taken out of the third Chapter of the Prophet Abacuc The Church in the foregoing Lesson having taught us how advantageous the coming of Christ was to us shews us in this Tract how painful it was to this Divine Saviour to be born in a manger between two beasts and to be put to death upon the cross between two thieves O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid I considered thy works and trembled V. Thou wilt appear between two beasts
and when thy years shall be accomplished thou wilt make thy self known when the time shall come thou wilt be manifested V. And when my soul shall be troubled thou wilt remember thy mercy even in thy wrath V. God will come from Libanus and the Holy One from the shady and dark mountain V. His glory overspread the heavens and the earth was filled with his praise Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves The PRAYER The people considering on the one side that Judas having received so many testimonies of favour from Jesus Christ after he had been admitted to his Table was yet so blinded with covetousness that he betrayed his Master and God into the hands of the Jews who put him to death upon the Cross and transported with despair fell headlong into Hell on the other side the good thief made sensible by his pains repented himself of his sins and acknowledged our dying Saviour's divinity and put his whole hopes and confidence in him deserved to receive the fruit of his Death and Resurrection they beseech God that they may not approach his Table as Judas did but may obtain the same grace with the penitent thief that so they may reap the advantage of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour O God who hast punished the sin of Judas and rewarded the confession of the repenting thief grant unto us the effect of thy mercy to the end that as our Lord Jesus Christ hath dispensed to each of them at his Passion according to their merit so having destroyed the old man in us the grace to have part with him in his glorious resurrection Who liveth and reigneth one God world without end The LESSON taken out of the twelfth Chapter of Exodus The Church proposes to us in this Lesson the Ceremony of the Jewish Passover thereby teaching us that Jesus Christ having accomplisht the Solemnity of the ancient Pasche celebrated in memory of the deliverance of the people of Israel out of the Egyptian servitude passed to a new Passover which he is pleased the Church should solemnize in memory of the Redemption which he brought unto the world by giving his body and blood instead of the flesh and blood of the Paschal Lamb. The entire and unspotted Paschal Lamb signified that he who as a sacrifice was one day to be immolated for us should be pure and free from all spot or sin The blood of this Lamb wherewith the Gates of the Israelites were sprinkled to prevent the destroying Angel from involving them in the same slaughter with the first-born of Egypt was a sign that the blood of Christ should be shed for the remission of the sins of God's people The injunction of not breaking a bone of the Paschal Lamb signified that not a bone of Christ should be broken upon the Cross to shew the force and power of his divinity As God instituted the Pasche and commanded the Israelites to eat the Paschal Lamb in memory of the Miracles he had done for them in Egypt so his Son Jesus Christ instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood in memory of what he had done for us in his Passion The Jews in eating the Paschal Lamb were in a posture of travellers to mind them that they were upon the point of flying out of Egypt into the land of Palestine and therefore they were standing upright having their shooes on with a staff in their hands and to eat it hastily With how much more diligence and activity ought we to eat the Divine Lamb of the New Law since we are to make a longer Voyage viz. from Earth to Heaven The Jews were not to eat the Paschal Lamb but with unleavened bread to teach us that we cannot eat as we ought our Paschal Lamb whereof theirs was but onely a figure unless we purisie our hearts from all filth becoming as a new paste without leaven that is without sin The Jews did eat the Paschal Lamb with wild Lettice to signifie the grief we ought to have for our sins and the bitterness we must conceive to expiate them whereby to pass hence to heaven The number of persons which the Jews were to call together to eat the Paschal Lamb was a figure of that charity we ought to bear to each other to the end we may worthily partake in this Sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ It was commanded not to eat any thing of this Lamb that was raw to teach us that we are not to eat the body of our Lord without the due preparation which God requires of us It was prohibited to be eaten boiled in water and onely to be eaten roasted to instruct us that our love of God ought to be pure in our hearts whereby to make us worthy to eat the flesh of this Divine Lamb without engaging our affections upon the transient pleasures of this life figured by water in the Holy Scripture The Jews did eat the head feet and entrails of the Paschal Lamb to tell us that we must sincerely and firmly believe not only the divinity of Christ figured by the head but his humanity figured by the feet and all the more hidden mysteries of our faith represented by the entrails The blood of this Paschal Lamb was sprinkled on the two side-posts and upon the upper door-post of the house in form of a cross to signifie that by the cross and blood of Christ we are delivered from the tyranny of the devil and servitude of sin And it was further to signifie that to receive worthily this Sacrament of the Passion of our Saviour we must not onely take it with our mouths but with our hearts designing to imitate him by the practice of good works In fine All that remained of this Paschal Lamb was cast into the fire and burnt to observe unto us that when we find our selves incapable of eating this Sacrifice entirely through weakness of spirit or doubting whether that which we see be the body of our Saviour which the Angels themselves are not able to behold we are not then to continue longer in that doubt but cast it into the fire of the holy spirit that it may be there consumed since our weakness is not able to overcome it If not then when we consider that the things that seem impossible unto us cease not to become possible by the vertue of the Holy Ghost IN those days our Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt This month shall be to you the beginning of months it shall be the first in the months of the year Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel and say to them The tenth day of this month let every man eat a lamb by their families and houses But if their number be less then may suffice to eat the lamb he shall take unto him his neighbour that joyneth to his house according to the number of souls which may suffice to the eating of
to fear but also to love him Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival-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
THE Compleat Office OF THE Holy Week WITH NOTES and EXPLICATIONS Translated out of Latin and French Published with Allowance IHS LONDON Printed for Matthew Turner at the Lamb in High-Holborn 1687. TO THE QUEEN MADAM WITH all possible Respect and some Hopes it will not prove absolutely unwelcom I Humbly lay at Your Majesty's Feet a very good Book but a very ill-suited Present For Devout Ink and Paper to Your Majesty whose Life is it self a Book of Devotion is but a Link of Silver to a Chain of Gold And then a Translation is such a kind of Present to Your Majesty as a bad Copy to one who has an excellent Original 'T is true you are an absolute Mistress of our Language as well as Hearts but you would never Pray in an Vnknown Tongue though there were neither English nor Italian in the World and Translating is but telling you a Story for News which you know already and hear when you please much better told But since what is useless to Your Majesty may be beneficial to your Subjects and a Queen is neither the Greatest nor the most Glorious of your Titles I promise my self that your Charity will condescend to make an Alms of your Name and Patronage and by your countenance to Devotion allure a People fond of making their Court to you to make it in the way most pleasing to Your Majesty straining to follow afar off and be as Devout as they can since few can hope to be as Devout as you 'T is to be hoped this will be the Courtship in fashion now the Times are returned in which the Queens of England are Saints again and the Fruit infinitely great when People find the way to Heaven is the way to be well at Court I was Ambitious to make my Court this way but to my shame so poor a Courtier that I was forc'd to borrow a Present and to make it mine dress'd in a new Language as we alter the property of Plate by a new Fashion I know I have expos'd my unskilfulness in this Trade to the Eye in all England which will the soonest discern it But Your Majesty will have the goodness to reflect that no Translation can express the beauty and force of the Original to suffer the Argument to attone for all Faults and to have some Indulgence for the Passionate Zeal and Profound Respect with which I shall always be MADAM Your MAJESTY'S Most Humble most Faithful and most Dutiful Subject Walter Kirkham Blount THE OFFICE UPON Palm-Sunday Of Holy Water IT has been an Ancient Practice in the Church even among the Primitive Christians for the Priest before Mass at Easter and Whitsontide to sprinkle the People with Water out of the Font blest with the Prayers and Exorcisms the Eve of those Holy Days and there reserved till Holy Oyl was poured therein And to the end the Faithful should not esteem this sprinkling a second Baptism the Church has instituted particular Blessings and Exorcisms of Water and Salt for each Sunday through the Year to instruct us That by this sprinkling she gives us no second Baptism but that she applies her Prayers to obtain of God through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST if we our selves are not the obstacle the grace of true repentance for our sins and a guard from the assaults of the Devil that so we may preserve our selves in that state of innocence we received by Baptism By the Water the Church tells us she prays to God and that we are therein to concur with her to beseech him to purifie our Souls by his Grace as the Water cleanseth our Bodies And by the Salt she represents her Prayer to God wherein we ought also to joyn for obtaining his Grace to preserve our Souls from spiritual corruption as Salt preserves the Body from corporal And as Salt gives an agreeable tast to our Meat so his Grace renders our actions acceptable to his Majesty preserving us from falling into those sins wherewith the Devil might otherwise infect us whereby we may more worthily be assistant at the Holy Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of CHRIST and reap the benefit thereof Every Sunday Water and Salt is prepared in the Sacristy which the Priest blesseth being vested in his Albe or Surplice and with a Stoale The Exorcism and Benediction of the Salt OUr help is in the Name of the Lord. R. Who made Heaven and Earth V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Whereas by the Fall of Adam the Devil has usurpt an Empire over creatures so as to make use of them to the disadvantage of men he is deprived of them again by the Merits of our Redeemer who sanctifies them for our benefit I Exorcise thee O creature Salt by the living God the true God by the holy God by that God who commanded thee to be cast into the Water by the Prophet Elizaeus to cure its barrenness that by this Exorcism thou mayest be made beneficial to the Faithful healthful both to the Bodies and Souls of all that shall use thee and where ever thou art sprinkled thou mayest chase away all Illusions Malice Crafts and Surprises of the Devil and that all unclean Spirits be cast out of him who will come to judge the living and the dead and the World by fire Amen The PRAYER Let us Pray The Priest by signing with the Cross instructs us that the sanctifying of creatures and the graces which we receive thereby are only derived unto us from the merits of the death of Christ He makes the sign of the Cross twice upon the Salt to signifie unto us that the Church prays unto God to preserve us from corruption both of Soul and Body ALmighty and Everlasting God we humbly implore thy infinite clemency that thou wilt vouchsafe out of thy Piety to bless ✚ and sanctifie ✚ this thy creature Salt to the end that all such as make use of it may be sensible of health in Soul and Body and that what shall be either touch'd or sprinkled with it may be preserved from all uncleanness and assaults of the Devil Through our Lord c. The Exorcism and Benediction of the Water The Priest makes the sign of the Cross thrice in this Exorcism and once in the following Prayer to teach us that the Graces we receive by the Merits of Christ's Death are bestowed upon us by the three Divine Persons who are one only God I Exorcise thee O creature Water in the Name of God ✚ the Father Almighty in the Name of Jesus Christ ✚ our Lord his Son and in the Vertue of the Holy Ghost ✚ That by this Exorcism thou mayest dissipate all the Assaults of the Enemy and put the Enemy himself to flight with all his apostate Angels by the power of the same our Lord Jesus Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead and the World by fire Amen The PRAYER Let us Pray O God who for the health of Mankind hast
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
both of Soul and Body WE beseech thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty and Everlasting God to bless and sanctifie this Olive thy creature which thou hast commanded to spring from Wood and which the Dove brought in his mouth returning to the Ark that whoever shall take of it may receive protection both for Soul and Body thou O Lord making it a Remedy for Health and a Sacrament of thy Grace Through our Lord c. Amen Let us Pray The Faithful considering that those blest Palms represent our Union with Christ being delivered from the Tyranny of the Devil and the intercession of the Church which is applied unto us by this Blessing joyn in Prayer with the Church and beg God's protection O God who gatherest together such things as are disperst and preservest what is so gathered together who didst bless the People going forth with Boughs to meet Jesus bless also these Palms and Olive-branches which thy People take in honour of thy Name that where-ever they shall be brought the Inhabitants may be sensible of thy Blessing and freed from all Adversity and thy Right-hand protect those whom Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord redeemed Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen Let us Pray As by the sin of Adam the Devil hath usurpt an empire over creatures which he makes use of to the prejudice of men so is he deprived thereof through the Merits of Jesus Christ who sanctifies them for our benefit And therefore the Faithful considering that by these Branches which the Church blesseth and distributeth this day she represents the Victory which Christ gained over the Devil and our Divine Redeemer's triumph in his glorious Resurrection beseech God to make them able to vanquish the Devil and overcome all Obstacles of their Salvation through the Merits and Grace of our Redeemer with whom we are incorporated so that at last we may partake of his glory O God who through the wonderful order of thy Providence art pleased to make use of insensible creatures to instruct us in the way of our salvation Grant we beseech thee that the devout hearts of thy Faithful may healthfully understand what is mystically designed in the action of this day in which the multitude of Jews being illustrated with a heavenly light went to meet our Redeemer with Boughs of Palms and Olives which they cast under his feet The Palm-branches put us in mind of the Victory he gained over the Prince of Death and the Olive-boughs do in a sort proclaim that the Spiritual Unction is come to us For all that blessed Company understood that Ceremony to signifie that our Redeemer taking compassion of man's misery was to encounter the Prince of Death for the Life of the World and that he was to triumph by dying Therefore he fulfilling the Will of God performed all those things that we might thereby arrive to the knowledge of his Triumphs and unctuous plenitude of Mercy We also firmly believe Lord Holy Father Omnipotent and Eternal God that all hath been fulfilled that was signified And therefore most humbly beseech thee through the same our Lord Jesus Christ that in and by him we whom thou hast vouchsafed to become his members having obtained the victory over Death may also partake in his glorious Resurrection Who liveth and reigneth c. Let us Pray The Faithful beseech God that these hallowed Boughs representing the Happy Reconciliation obtained for us by Jesus Christ with his Divine Majesty may induce them to dispose themselves as worthily to receive the wholsome effects O God who by an Olive-branch didst command a Dove to publish Peace to the Earth vouchsafe we beseech thee to sanctifie with thy Celestial Benediction the salvation of all Through Christ our Lord c. Let us Pray The Faithful considering that by these Palm-boughs the Church represents the conquest we ought to endeavour to obtain over the Devil and by the Olive-branches the Works of Charity we are obliged to practice demand of God his Grace to accomplish what the Church teaches by this Ceremony BLess we beseech thee O Lord these Boughs of Palms or Olives and grant that thy People may testifie the zeal of their Piety by a pious performance of what this day they outwardly profess and triumphing over their Enemies may apply themselves zealously to the Works of Mercy Through our Lord c. Then the Priest sprinkles the Boughs with Holy Water to teach us that we ought to purisie our selves in receiving a Blessing from God and to practice what the Church designs by these Boughs Thou shalt sprinkle me with Hyssop and I shall be cleansed thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow The Priest then incenseth the Boughs to instruct us that all the Blessing comes from God and that we ought to beg that our Prayers may ascend as Incense towards him The PRAYER Whereby we ask God's Grace to prepare our Ways to our Saviour by a lively Faith and good Works V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us pray O God who for our salvation didst send into this World thy only begotten Son that he humbling himself for us might regain us unto thee before whom at his entry into Jerusalem that the Scriptures might be fulfilled a multitude of People spread their Garments with a pious zeal and cast Palms in the way Grant we beseech thee that we may so prepare the way of Faith to him that the stone of offence and rock of scandal being removed our good works may flourish as the branches of a beautiful tree and therein imitate him Who with thee liveth and reigneth c. The Priest gives Palms to the Clergy and People whilst the Quire sing the following Antiphons and Canticle sung by the Children at Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem ANTIPHON THE Hebrew Children spread their Garments in the way and cryed out saying Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord. ANOTHER THE Hebrew Children spread their Garments in the way and cryed out saying Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the Name of our Lord. The Antiphons are repeated till all the Palms are distributed then the Priest in the name of the Faithful beseeches God for his grace that in this Commemoration of his Son JESUS CHRIST'S triumphant entry into Jerusalem they may arrive to the Innocence and Piety of those who pay him all due honour V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray ALmighty Everlasting God who wast pleased that our Lord Jesus Christ should sit upon an Asses Colt and directedst the multitude to spread their Garments and Boughs in the way singing Hosanna in his honour Grant us the grace to imitate their Innocence and to partake of their Merit Through the same our Lord c. Then they go in Procession to represent JESUS CHRIST'S triumphant entry
into Jerusalem and the Priest says Let us go on in peace The Quire answers In the Name of Christ Amen The Antiphon taken out of the 21st Chapter of St. Matthew WHen Jesus drew nigh unto Jerusalem he sent two of his Disciples saying Go ye into the Town that is against you and immediately you shall find an Ass tied and a Colt with her loose them and bring them to me and if any man shall say ought unto you say ye that our Lord hath need of them And they brought the Ass and the Colt and laid their Garments upon them and made him to sit thereon Others spread their Garments in the way others cut Boughs from the Trees and strewed them in the way and those that followed cryed Hosanna blessed is he who cometh in the Name of our Lord and blessed be the Kingdom of David our Father Hosanna in the highest O Son of David have mercy on us Another ANTIPHON THE People hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem they took Palm-branches and went forth to meet him the Children crying aloud This is he who comes to save his People This is our Salvation and Redemption of Israel How great is he whom the Thrones and Dominations meet Fear not Daughter of Sion behold thy King comes unto thee sitting upon an Ass-Colt as it is written Hail King Maker of the World who art come to redeem us ANOTHER SIX Days before the Solemn Pasch our Lord coming to Jerusalem the Children went forth to meet him carrying Boughs of Palms and crying with a loud voice Hosanna in the highest Blessed art thou that comest in the multitude of thy Mercies Hosanna in the highest ANOTHER THE Multitude went with Flowers and Palms to meet the Redeemer and render him triumphant and victorious due honour The Gentils publish the greatness of the Son of God their voices thundring through the clouds the praise of Christ Hosanna in the highest ANOTHER GRant that we may be found faithful with the Angels and Children singing to the triumpher over death Hosanna in the highest ANOTHER A Great Multitude assembled to the Festival cryed out to our Lord saying Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of our Lord. Hosanna in the highest The Procession being come to the Church-Porch the following Hymn is sung in memory of Jesus Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem GLory to thee Eternal King On this great triumphant day Lo we a loud Hosanna sing And with our Garments strew the way Thou art the King of Israel Sprung from the Royal David 's stem Thou cam'st from Heaven with us to dwell Thy captive Subjects to redeem Glory to thee c. The holy Quires of Angels bow And in their Hymns thy Praise proclaim While we and all our world below Kneel and adore the same blest Name Glory to thee c. Thy Sion once with holy Palms Thee their Messias went to meet Behold we now with Prayers and Psalms Prostrate our glad hearts at thy feet Glory to thee c. They by their Songs prepar'd the way Vp to thy humble Throne the Cross While we a happier Ditty pray And in thy Victory rejoyce Glory to thee c. Great King of sweetest clemency Whom all sincere endeavours please As they accepted were may we Thy Favour gain thy Wrath appease Glory to thee c. Then the Priest with the foot of the Cross knocks at the Church-door which is shut to signifie that Jesus Christ through the merit of his Passion hath opened Heaven for us which besore was shut upon the account of our first Parents transgression And to express the sentiments of Joy and Admiration which the Angels had at our Saviour's entry into Heaven represented in the 23d Psalm the Church uses the same words with the Royal Prophet LIft up your Gates ye Princes and be ye lifted up O Eternal Gates and the King of glory shall enter in Those who are within the Church representing the Angels answer Who is this King of glory To whom the Priest knocking again replies 'T is our strong and mighty Lord 't is our Lord mighty in Battel Lift up your Gates ye Princes and be you lifted up O Eternal Gates and the King of glory shall enter in Those within the Church replies again Who is this King of glory The Priest knocking again says The Lord of Powers he is the King of Glory lift up your Gates c. Whereupon those within the Church representing the Angel open the doors saying Who is this King of glory And the Procession goes into the Church singing the following Antiphon to signifie that Christ's solemn entry into Jerusalem was a figure of his triumphant entry into Heaven OUr Lord entering into the Holy City the Hebrew Children foretelling the Resurrection unto Life with Olive-boughs cryed out Hosanna in the highest When the People heard that Christ was coming into Jerusalem they went to meet him with Palms THE MASS FOR Palm-Sunday The Priest coming to the foot of the Altar kneels and bowing makes the sign of the Cross saying Introibo ad altare Dei c. Psal 42. he acknowledgeth with humble respect in the name of the Faithful the Grace received of God through the Merits of Christ's Passion whereof the Sacrifice of the Mass is a representation and by the assistance of the Holy Ghost spiritually to regenerate them and establish them in the Rights of their Heavenly Inheritance which they had forfeited by Sin He seems to be renewed in spirit and in that takes confidence to approach the Altar which in as much as it stands Eastward according to the ancient Order of the Church is a figure of Paradise where God had placed Adam in the state of his Innocency In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen I Will enter unto the Altar of God The Church using the Psalm Judica me Deus c. in their Names who have received Baptism and preserved themselves in the state of Grace thereby received in testimony of the joy they apprehend in that they are become Children of God forbears it now in the beginning of Mass till Holy Saturday this being a time of Sorrow representing the Sufferings of Christ her Spouse and Head Our help is in the Name of our Lord. R. Who made Heaven and Earth Then the Priest confesses himself unworthy of so great a Benefit as well through Original as his Actual Sin and therefore admonisheth the Faithful on whose behalf he prays to joyn with him in repentance and acknowledge their own unworthiness before God I Confess unto Almighty God to the blessed Virgin S. Mary to the blessed S. Michael the Arch-angel to the blessed S. John Baptist to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul to all the Saints and you my Brethren that I have very much sinned in Thought Word and Deed through my Fault through my Fault through my most grievous Fault Therefore I beseech the blessed Virgin S. Mary the blessed S. Michael the
Arch-angel the blessed S. John Baptist the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul all the Saints and you my Brethren to Pray to God for me R. ALmighty God have mercy upon thee and forgive thy sins and bring thee to life everlasting P. Amen I Confess unto Almighty God to the blessed Virgin S. Mary to the blessed S. Michael the Arch-angel to S. John Baptist to the Apostles Peter and Paul to all the Saints and to thee my Father that I have very much sinned in Thought Word and Deed through my Fault through my Fault through my most grievous Fault Therefore I beseech thee blessed Virgin S. Mary the blessed S. Michael the Arch-angel the blessed S. John Baptist Peter and Paul all the Saints and thee my Father to Pray to God for me P. ALmighty God have mercy on you forgive you your sins and bring you to life everlasting R. Amen P. ALmighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon absolution and remission of all our sins Amen This Confession being made the Priest and the Faithful encourage each other in the acknowledgement of God's mercy P. Thou being turned shalt quicken us O Lord. R. And thy people shall rejoyce in thee P. Shew us O Lord thy Mercy R. And give us thy Salvation P. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my cry come unto thee P. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit In this confidence the Priest ascends unto the Altar and says TAke away O Lord our Iniquities that so with a pure heart we may enter into the Holy of Holies Through Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest being at the Altar kisseth it in testimony of reconciliation with Christ and the Church triumphant for the Altar represents Christ crucified and the Reliques upon the Altar the Saints of the Church triumphant incorporated with Christ and says WE pray thee O Lord through the Merits of thy Saints whose Reliques are here and of all Saints that thou wilt please to pardon all my sins Amen After this preparation the Priest begins the Introit of the Mass THE MASS FOR Palm-Sunday The station in the Church of S. John Lateran As in the Old Law it was the custome to bring the Paschal Lamb into Jerusalem four days before the Feast so Jesus Christ of whom the Paschal Lamb was a figure was pleased to come into Jerusalem four days before the celebration of the Festival And therefore the Church representing this Mystery makes to day the station at Rome in the Church consecrated to God in honour of S. John Baptist because he declared unto us that our Saviour was the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the World The Introit taken out of the 21st Psalm As this Day 's Solemnity is a figure of the Victory which Christ gained over the World and the Devil by his Passion and Triumphant Resurrection the Church represents those Mysteries in the Introit of this Mass to teach us that the Resurrection of Christ in as much as it relates to his flesh was not delayed as that of other men but that he was exempted from corruption in the grave triumphing over death and the fury of his persecutors whom the Scriptures compare to Lions in respect of their cruelty to Dogs for their fury and to Unicorns for their pride For every proud and ambitious spirit would command all others as much as in him lies The wicked Jews thought they had done a grand work in that they were able to kill his Body yet had they not power to hurt his Soul they were able to take away a Mortal Life but could not prejudice his Eternal Life which is the onely and true Life and though as the Son of God he were worthy to be heard without Tears or Plaints yet to teach us our Duty by his example he would offer to God his Father most fervent Prayers with Tears and Crys beseeching him not to leave him dead in his grave The Dignity of his Condition the Reverence which he bore his Father whose Honour he repaired by his Death the incomparable Love wherewith his Father cherished him easily prevail for a concession of so just a Request O Lord prolong not thy help from me look towards my defence Save me out of the Lions mouth and my humility from horns of Unicorns PSALM XXI The Church represents unto us the Humility and Obedience wherewith Christ by a transport worthy his love would perfectly fulfil his Father's Will intimating unto us that the sins of men which he took upon him did require that he should be abandoned by his Father to all imaginable pains whereby to make rigorous satisfaction to his Justice yet that these words My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he speaks not in his own person but as in the unhappy infirmity of our flesh which he hath taken upon him and on the behalf of the members of his mystical body whose Groans and Prayers to his Father and himself he foresaw through a propension of humane nature desirous to be freed from Suffering and Death for who can believe our Saviour should desire to avoid Death and Sufferings since he came into the World to that end Or who can imagine he spake in such sort as if that which happened had been against his will who had power to give up his Soul to God and take it again though no man had power to bereave him of it These words then of this 21st Psalm are a figure of such Prayers as shall be addrest to God by men in their afflictions begging to be freed of them GOd my God have respect unto me why hast thou forsaken me far from my salvation are words of my sins O Lord prolong not thy help from me c. Gloria Patri c. is not now said because it is a publick Confession of Faith which the Church omits at this time when she represents the extreme impiety and infidelity of the Jews And Gloria in excelsis is for the same reason forborn The Priest in the name of the Faithful acknowledges the need we all have of the Grace of our Redeemer and repeats thrice the following words addrest to each Person of the Holy Trinity to express the great necessity we have of his assistance Lord have mercy on us R. Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us R. Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us The Priest turns towards the Faithful and beseeches God that he will be pleased to make them worthy of his presence and mercy V. Our Lord be with you The Faithful joyning Prayer with the Priest beg the like Grace for him R. And with thy Spirit The Collect. The Faithful beg of God Grace to imitate the Humility Obedience and Patience of Jesus Christ in all his Sufferings in this life that so they may partake with him in glory of his Resurrection
ALlmighty Everlasting God who hast caused our Saviour to take flesh and to be crucified for Mankind as an example of Humility to be imitated Grant propitiously that we may deserve to have both the Instruction of his Patience and Fellowship of his Resurrection Through the same our Lord c. The Lesson out of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Philippians Chap. 2. The Church represents the Cross unto us as the Ladder by which the Son of God descended from Heaven to the lowest degree of abatement on Earth and by which he ascended to the highest pitch of Glory and the Church teaches us by the example of Jesus Christ that we ought to be in the same disposition both in regard of him and of all man which he had in the work of our Redemption that is that we are to be ready and prepared to divest our selves of Honour Life and Goods for the love of Him and our Neighbours that as Christ was elevated above all Powers of Heaven Earth and Hell we may hope and expect a proportionable recompence after our humiliation BRethren for this think in your selves which also in Christ Jesus who when he was in the form of God thought it not robbery himself to be equal to God but he exinanited himself taking the form of a servant made into the similitude of men and in shape found as man he humbled himself made obedient unto death even the death of the Cross For the which God also hath exalted him and hath given him a Name which is above all Names That in the Name of Jesus every knee bow of the celestials terrestrials and infernals and every tongue confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father The GRADUAL taken out of 71st Psalm The Gradual is a Song wherein the Faithful being instructed by hearing the Epistle read at Mass raise themselves towards God in their holy desires as by certain spiritual degrees and prepare themselves to an attentive hearing of the Gospel and to profit by its Instructions Thus by the Gradual in the Mass the Faithful being taught by the Epistle preceding that by Afflictions and Sufferings in this Life they must gain Heaven according to our blessed Saviour's example they prepare themselves by raising their spirits to comprehend the Passion of our Saviour and to meditate that since the Grace of the New Testament appertains to Life Everlasting and not to this temporary one Christ as man being to declare it to the World ought not to draw a recommendation of it from terrestrial happiness And hence came his Humiliations incomprehensible hence his Passion his Sufferings his Scourgings wherewith he was so inhumanely torn the Spittings by which his Divine Face was so outragiously abused with all the other Injuries and Affronts he suffered 'T was in fine this brought him to the Cross this covered with Wounds his Sacred Body and at last delivered him to Death All those Marvels teach the Faithful what their Piety ought to hope and what recompence to beg of him whose children they are to the end they deceive not their selves in proposing terrestrial happiness as a reward for their Service to God And certainly 't is a signal providence of Grace and Bounty that God gives worldly happiness to the wicked to the end that good men may not place their content in the possession of it whereupon the 72d Psalm whence the Gradual of this Mass is extracted personates a man who repents that he had served God out of interest that not a right heart and expected temporal rewards and who seeing the wicked live in abundance and plenty was so far perplext as almost to think that God had no providence of humane affairs yet casting aside this sinful fancy by the authority of Saints who truly belong to God he is enforced to penetrate into so profound a secret which yet he could not discover with all his labour until he entred into the Sanctuary of God and knew their last end that is till having received the Holy Ghost and obtained the conduct of his Grace he considered the glory prepared by God for his faithful servants and learnt to desire it and understood what shall be the torment of the wicked after these contemptible and fading pleasures which they have enjoyed THou hast held thy right hand and in thy will thou hast conducted me and with glory thou hast received me V. How good is God to Israel to them that are of a right heart but my feet were almost moved my feet almost slipped because I have had zeal upon the wicked seeing the peace of sinners The TRACT taken out of the 21st Psalm This word expresseth it self the words being pronounced and sung in a low and languishing manner drawing the voice as groaning and lamenting whereby to incite us to bewail our sins and ask forgiveness of God Likewise in the Tract of this Mass the Church represents the reason why we ought to have an extream regret for our sins since they obliged our Saviour to suffer death to free and reconcile us by his humility to God his Father from whom we so unhappily estranged our selves by our pride Then the Church teaches us our obligation to give God thanks by these following Verses of the 21st Psalm disposing us to hear attentively the Passion of our Saviour whereof this Psalm prophetically makes mention wherein we ought to observe how our Saviour sometimes speaks in his own sometimes in the person of his members that which speaks of sins only relating to us that which speaks of sufferings only to him as our head who suffered for us Yet in suffering thus for us himself being blameless he put himself in our stead and took upon him our Obligations he made our Debts his own making satisfaction for our Transgression GOd my God have respect unto me why hast thou forsaken me V. Far from my salvation are the words of my sins V. My God I shall cry by day and thou wilt not hear and by night and not for folly unto me V. But thou dwellest in the Holy Place the praise of Israel V. In thee our Fathers have hoped they hoped and thou didst deliver them V. They cryed unto thee and were saved they hoped in thee and were not confounded V. But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and outcast of the people V. All that saw me have scorned me they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head V. He hoped in the Lord let him deliver him let him save him because he afflicts him V. But themselves have considered and beheld me they have divided my garments amongst them and upon my vesture they have cast lots V. Save me from the Lions mouth and my humility from the horns of the Unicorns V. Ye that fear our Lord praise him all the seed of Jacob glorifie ye him V. 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 V. And the justice by which he shall render them just shall be shewed to the people At Paris the Tract being ended the Deacon begs God's grace to read the Passion of his Son so effectually to the Faithful that they may receive wholesome effect thereby CLeanse my heart and lips O Almighty God who didst cleanse the lips of the Prophet Isaiah with a burning coal and vouchsafe through thy gracious mercy to purifie me that I may worthily pronounce thy Holy Gospel Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Then he asks blessing of the Priest V. Reverend Father bless me The Priest blesseth him saying OUr Lord be in thy heart and in thy lips that thou mayest worthily and competently publish his Gospel Amen He incenseth the Book in acknowledgment that Christ is the true Son of God who voluntarily put on humane nature that by his death he might expiate our sins The Acolyts carry the lighted Tapers before the Deacon to signifie the light of Grace and Glory which Christ by his death had merited for the Faithful According to the Roman Directory the Deacon asks not the Priest blessing before his reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ nor says Munda cor meum c nor doth he incense the Book but performs all those Ceremonies afterwards Nor doth the Priest salute the People with Dominus vobiseum c. Our Lord be with you to observe unto us a detestation of perfidious Judas who betrayed our Saviour with a Salute Nor do the People answer Gloria tibi Domine c. Glory be to thee O Lord to express that they do not glorifie Jesus Christ in his Passion Neither are the lighted Tapers carried to signifie that as well upon Earth through the Eclipse of the Sun and Moon the light of the World was extinguished as in Heaven by the Death of our Saviour Lastly The Book is not incensed to mind us that the fervour of Christ's Disciples Prayers was then abated The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew Chap. 26 27. AT that time Jesus said to his Disciples You know that after two days shall be Pasche and the Son of man shall be delivered to be crucified Then were gathered together the Chief Priests and Ancients of the People into the Court of the High Priest who was called Caiaphas And they consulted how they might by some guile apprehend Jesus and kill him But they said Not on the Festival-day lest perhaps there might be a tumult among the people And when Jesus was in Bethania in the house of Simon the leper there came to him a Woman having an Alabaster Box of Precious Oyntment and poured it out upon his Head as he sat at the Table And the Disciples seeing it had indignation saying Whereto is this waste for this might have been sold for much and given to the poor And Jesus knowing it said to them Why do you molest this Woman for she hath wrought a good work upon me for the poor you have always with you but me you have not always for she in pouring this Oyntment upon my Body hath done it to bury me Amen I say to you wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole World that also she hath done shall be reported for a memory of her Then went one of the twelve which was called Judas Iscariot to the Chief Priests and said to them what will you give me and I will deliver him unto you But they appointed unto him Thirty Pieces of Silver And from thenceforth he sought opportunity to betray him And the first day of the Azymes the Disciples cames to Jesus saying Where wilt thou that we prepare the Pasche But Jesus said Go into the City to a certain man and say to him the Master saith My time is at hand with thee do I make the Pasche with my Disciples And the Disciples did as Jesus appointed them and they prepared the Pasche But when it was even he sate down with his twelve Disciples And while they were eating he said Amen I say unto you That one of you shall betray me And they being very sad began every one to say Is it I Lord but he answering said He that dippeth his hand with me in the Dish he shall betray me The Son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him but wo be to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed it were good for him if that man had not been born And Judas that betrayed him said Is it I Rabbi he saith to him Thou hast said And whiles they were at Supper Jesus took Bread and blessed and brake and he gave to his Disciples and said Take ye and eat this is my Body And taking the Chalice he gave thanks and gave to them saying drink ye all of this for this is my Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins And I say unto you I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the Wine until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the Kingdom of my Father And an Hymn being said they went forth unto Mount Olivet Then Jesus said to them All you shall be scandalized in me this night For it is written I will strike the Pastor and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed but after I shall be risen again I will go before you into Galilee And Peter answering said to him Although all shall be scandalized in thee I will never be scandalized Jesus said to him Amen I say to thee that in this night before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice Peter said to him Yea though I should die with thee I will not deny thee Likewise also said all the Disciples Then Jesus cometh with them into a Village called Gethsemani and he said to his Disciples Sit you here while I go yonder and pray And taking to him Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee he began to wax sorrowful even unto death stay here and watch with me And being gone forward a little he fell upon his face praying and saying My Father if it be possible let this Chalice pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou And he cometh to his Disciples and findeth them sleeping and he saith to Peter Even so could you not watch one hour with me Watch ye and pray that ye enter not into temptation The spirit indeed is prompt but the flesh weak Again the second time he went and prayed saying My Father if this Chalice may not pass but I must drink it thy will be done And he cometh again and findeth them sleeping for their eyes were become heavy And leaving them he went again and he prayed the third time saying the self-same word Then he cometh to his Disciples and saith to them Sleep ye now and take rest behold the hour approacheth and
Eternal God this immaculate Host which I thy unworthy servant offer to thee my living and true God for my innumerable sins offences and negligences for all here present and for all faithful Christians living and dead that it may avail me and them to life everlasting Amen Then the Priest puts the Wine and Water into the Chalice saying O God who as a wonderful effect of thy power hast created humane nature and restored it by a greater Miracle Grant us by the Mystery of this Wine and Water to partake of his Divinity who did vouchsafe upon him our humanity namely Jesus Christ our Lord thy Son who being God liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen The Priest offering the Chalice in the midst of the Altar says WE offer unto thee O Lord this Chalice of salvation beseeching thy clemency that it may ascend before thy Divine Majesty as a sweet perfume for our souls health and for the whole worlds Amen WE present our selves before thee with an humble and contrite spirit O Lord accept of us and grant that this sacrifice may be made agreeable this day unto thee O Lord God Blessing the Bread and Wine he offers then says COme Omnipotent Sanctifier and Eternal God and bless this sacrifice prepared for the glory of thy Holy Name Washing his hands and by that Ceremony testifying his care to cleanse his soul he says these following Versicles out of the 28th Psalm I Will wash my hands amongst Innocents And I will compass thy Altar O Lord. That I may hear the voice of praise and shew forth all thy marvellous works Lord I have loved the beauty of thy house and the place of the habitation of thy glory Destroy not O God my soul with the impious and my life with bloody men In whose hands are iniquities their right hand is replenished with gifts But I have walked in my innocency redeem me and have mercy on me My foot hath stood in the direct way In the Churches I will bless thee O Lord. Glory be to the Father c. The Priest having washt his hands bowing at the midst of the Altar silently makes an oblation of the Sacrifice which he is now about to present to the Holy Trinity in memory of the principal mysteries of Christ and in the honour of the chief Saints REceive O Holy Trinity this Oblation which we make unto thee in memory of the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ And in the honour of the ever blessed Virgin Mary St. John Baptist the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of all Saints to their honour and our benefit that they whom we commemorate on earth will vouchsafe to make intercession for us in Heaven Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen The Priest turning towards the Faithful admonisheth them to joyn in Prayer with him that this their common Sacrifice which he is now about may be acceptable to God Pray Brethren that mine and your Sacrifice may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty The People answer O Lord receive this Sacrifice from thy hands to the honour and glory of his Name to our particular benefit and for the good of the whole Church The Priest says in a low voice Amen The SECRET The Faithful beg of God a solid piety and true sence of the Pains and Sufferings of his Son Jesus Christ whereby to be made capable of the benefit thereby obtained for us of life everlasting GRant we beseech thee O Lord that this Oblation made before thy Divine Majesty may obtain us the Grace of Piety and procure us Eternal Happiness Through our Lord c. THE PREFACE That is to say The Beginning of the Canon of the Mass and the General Preparation for the Sacrifice The Priest disposes the Faithful advising them to elevate their hearts to God to disengage them from all the solicitudes of Creatures to begin the Sacrifice with their hearts acknowledging the greatness of God's benefits and in particular those of his Incarnation and Passion of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit V. Lift up your hearts R. We have them lifted up to our Lord. The Priest bids them consider that 't is God alone who puts their hearts into that condition and that therefore they ought to give him publick thanks Let us give thanks to our Lord God The Faithful answer that 't is just and reasonable and according that they do give publick thanks by the Priest and particularly by their inward resentments heartily concurring in what the Priest says It is meet and just The Priest in the name of the Faithful acknowledges the obligation of giving God thanks always and every where for his goodness in vouchsafing that his Son should by the wood of the Cross save Mankind and destroy the Devil As this enemy of Mankind had made use of the Fruit of a Tree to establish his tyranny and ruine man and because we are not capable to make worthy acknowledgments for so inestimable a benefit the Priest joyns with this our Saviour through whom he gives praise to God as also with the Angels Cherubins and Seraphins who praise and adore God with an awful regard through Jesus Christ and unites himself to them in Christ as the common Father and Head of Men and Angels singing that Hymn which the blessed Spirits use in Heaven in honour of God Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Holy Holy Holy and the Canticle which the Children sung at Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem Benedictus qui venit c. Blessed is he that comes c. to testifie the spiritual unity between Angels and Men in praising the Divine Majesty and to express that we ought to be as pure as Angels and innocent as Children to give God Almighty worthy and due praises IT is truly meet and just right and healthful that we always and in all places give thanks to thee O holy Lord Father Almighty Everlasting God who didst ordain the Salvation of Mankind in the Wood of the Cross that Life might be there restored whence Death arose and that he might be conquered by a Tree who had been conquered thereby through Christ our Lord. By whom the Angels praise thy Majesty the Dominations adore thee the Powers tremble the Heavens and the Heavenly Vertues and the blessed Seraphins in one common joy celebrate thy Name amongst whom we beseech thee that our humble Addresses may be admitted saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth The Heavens and Earth are full of thy glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he that comes in the Name of our Lord Hosanna in the highest C. Stella â—â—◠〈◊〉 sâ—â—â—â— THE CANON OF THE MASS OR The RULE and ORDER which the CHURCH observes in celebrating the Sacrifice The Priest in the name of the Faithful makes his address to God the Father and presents this Sacrifice by Jesus Christ his Son as by our
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
to his Church And that this Peace is a reflection of that which he possesses infinitely in the Glory and Bosom of the Holy Trinity and which is fully communicated to the blessed The Priest begs this Peace for the Faithful and prays God that they may never fail of it THe Peace of our Lord abide always with you The People crave the same for him And with thy Spirit Haec Commixtio c. Then the Priest puts this part of the Host into the Chalice to signifie the happy state of the Church in our Saviour's Resurrection and glory after the union of his Body with his Blood and beseeches God to make us partakers of that happiness by vertue of this Sacrament LEt this Commixtion and Consecration of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be unto me and to all that receive effectual to life everlasting Amen Agnus Dei c. As Sin is the onely Obstacle of this Divine Peace and our Bliss the Priest confessing in the name of the Faithful that we never are without sins in this life and that it is onely Christ who blots them out having been pleased to be sacrificed as an innocent Lamb for our attonement with God his Father and to settle this Peace between Heaven and Earth which sin had divided he implores mercy by this act of Adoration taught us by Saint John the fore-runner of our Saviour Behold the Lamb of God taketh away the sins of the world LAmb of God who takest away the sins of the World have mercy on us Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the World have mercy on us Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the World grant us peace In Masses for the Dead instead of saying Have Mercy on us Or Grant us Peace We say Grant them Rest Grant them Eternal Rest Because the dead being no longer in this World amongst us we have no occasion to beg peace with them and they being in a state of Grace where they are in peace and assurance of their salvation it would be in vain to ask God's grace to free them from sin and give them peace assuring them of their salvation we beseech God to deliver them from the pains they endure at present and grant them eternal rest which they expect Domine Jesu Christe qui dixisti c. Peace being the chief disposition of this Sacrament it being the Sacrament of Union and Charity the Priest begs it for the Faithful who are to receive this Holy Communion and acknowledging that he being a sinner deserves not that his Prayers should be heard he humbly beseeches his Majesty to have regard unto his own goodness who has vouchsafed to offer this Peace and to the Faith of the Church which demands it of him O Lord Jesus Christ who didst say unto thy Apostles Peace I leave unto you regard not my Sins but look upon the Faith of thy Church and according to thy pleasure give us Peace and Union Who livest and reignest God for ever and ever Amen At Solemn Mass the Priest having kissed the Altar to signifie that he receives peace from Jesus Christ gives it to the Deacon by a kiss to transmit it to the Faithful Peace be with you The Deacon receiving this Peace testifies his concurrence by his words And with thy Spirit At Masses for the Dead the Pax is not given to the Faithful nor is the foregoing Prayer said because the Faithful do not receive the Communion at those Masses and for other reasons before mentioned The Priest after he has prayed for the Faithful he prays for himself to obtain all requisite dispositions to receive the Holy Eucharist worthily O Lord Jesus Christ Son of the living God who according to thy Father's will the Holy Ghost co-operating by thy death didst give life to the World deliver me by this thy most holy Body and Blood from all my sins and from all evil and making me always obedient to thy commands grant that I be never separated from thee Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest c. GRant O Lord Jesus Christ that this participation of thy Body which I now however unworthy presume to receive be not to my Judgment and Condemnation but through thy mercy may avail to the safeguard of my Soul and Body and likewise as a wholsome remedy Who livest and reignest with God the Father c. Then with bending knee having adored the blessed Sacrament taking the Host in his hands and considering that he is to receive his Creator he puts his trust in his mercy saying I Will take this Heavenly Bread and call upon the Name of our Lord. And representing how acceptable the Centurians humility was to the Son of God where he was pleased to honour his house in imitation of him he professeth himself unworthy of so great a favour and striking his breast he repeats the same words thrice LOrd I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter into my house say but the word and my soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter into my house say but the word and my soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter into my house say but the word and my soul shall be healed In receiving the Body of our Saviour he makes the sign of the Cross with the Host to mind us that 't is the Body of Jesus Christ which hath been exposed to death for our salvation THe Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting Amen In taking the Chalice he gives God thanks for the Benefits he receives by the Communion of the Blood of Christ using these following words out of the 15th and 17th Psalm WHat shall I render to our Lord for all things that he hath given to me I will take the Chalice of Salvation and will Invocate the Name of our Lord. Praising I will Invocate our Lord and I shall be saved from my enemies In receiving the Blood of our Saviour he makes the sign of the Cross with the Chalice representing thereby that it is Christ's Blood which he shed to save us and says THe Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting Amen Then taking Wine into the Chalice to wash his mouth and fingers to the end that the least particle of the Sacrament may not remain thereon and to instruct us of the care we ought to have to preserve our selves in purity he says GRant O Lord what we have taken with our mouth we may receive with a pure mind and that of a temporal gift it may become to us an everlasting remedy In taking the second Lotion he says LEt thy Body which I have received O Lord and thy Blood which I have drank cleave unto my bowels and grant that no stain of sin may remain in me whom thy pure and holy Sacrament hath satiated Who livest and reignest for ever and ever Amen Then the Priest
gives God thanks for the benefits he has received by this Communion in this Antiphon which is called Communion The COMMUNION taken out of the 26th Chapter of St. Matthew Wherein the Church teaches us that Jesus Christ for the love of us would take upon himself our infirmities and frailties and fulfil all things requisite for our salvation according to the will of his Father with excellent order conduct and wisdom to teach us that we ought patiently to suffer for his sake renouncing our own wills and resigning our selves entirely unto God FAther if this Cup cannot pass but that I must drink it thy will be done The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful beseech God's grace that being healed of their sins and having our Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts by virtue of this Holy Sacrifice the representation of his Passion and Death they may have no other will but his that so doing all things agreeable they may thereby work their salvation GRant O Lord by the operation of this Mystery that we may be cleansed from our sins and obtain an accomplishment of our just desires Through our Lord c. Mass being ended the Priest turns towards the Faithful and exhorting them not to make themselves unworthy of God's assistance says Our Lord be with you They answer And with thy Spirit Mass being ended Ita missa est that is You may depart is not said but Benedicamus Domino that is Let us bless our Lord as in all Masses where Gloria in excelsis is not said whereby to admonish the Faithful that these are days of pennance on which 't was the custom formerly to continue in the Church at Prayers some time after Mass Let us bless our Lord. The Faithful answer Thanks be to God The Priest bowing in the midst of the Altar says ACcept O Holy Trinity this Oblation of my servitude and grant that though this Sacrifice be presented thy Divine Majesty by my unworthy hands yet that through thy mercy it may be acceptable to thee and propitiatory for me and all other for whom I have offered it Through Christ our Lord. Then kissing the Altar to receive God's blessing he gives it to the People saying Almighty God Father Son and Holy Ghost bless you Amen Mass being ended the Priest admonishes the Faithful to keep the Union they have with Jesus Christ Our Lord be with you And with thy Spirit Then the Priest reads Saint John's Gospel which relates of the Birth of the Word and the highest Mysteries of Divinity to teach us that the end of this Holy Mystery is to make us happy for all Eternity by a visible participation of the Divinity which Christ communicates under Vells unto us in this life having taken upon him our humanity in his Incarnation and covering himself under the Species of Bread and Wine in this adorable Sacrament to accommodate himself to the weakness of our Mortality The beginning of the Holy Gospel according to St. John The People answer Glory be to thee O Lord. IN the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word This was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was made nothing which was made In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it There was a man sent from God whose name was John This man came for testimony to give testimony of the light It was the true light which lightneth every man that cometh into this world He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not He came into his own and his own received him not because as many as received him he gave them power to be made the sons of God to those that believe in his Name who not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God are born And the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us and we saw the glory as it were of the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and verity The Faithful give God thanks beseeching him not to suffer them to be so unhappy as in their persons to prevent this end of this Divine Sacrifice R. Thanks be to God Saint John's Gospel is always said at the end of Mass unless a double Feast fall upon a Sunday or a Feria which hath a proper Gospel which then is read instead of St. John's Gospel except on the Fourth Sunday in Advent in case it fall on Christmass-Eve On the third Mass upon Christmass-day the Gospel for Twelfth-day is read At private Masses on Palm-Sunday the Gospel for the Blessing of Palms is read and all the Lent no Gospel proper of the Vigils are used THE MASS FOR MUNDAY IN Holy Week The Station to St. Praxede Church To teach us by the example of St. Praxede that those who employ themselves in burying of Christ's members and in other works of Piety shall partake of the Merits of Mary Magdalene commended in this day's Gospel for her provident burial of our Saviour in anointing him with precious Persumes The INTROIT taken out of the 34th Psalm Whereby the Church represents unto us the Prayer which Jesus Christ offered up to God the Father when he suffered death for the salvation of Mankind wherein he begs that his Persecutors should not triumph over his death but that when they should think themselves victorious in that they were able to put him to death he would discover their weakness unto them and manifest his power in restoring him to that life wherein we shall have a share JUdge O Lord them that hurt me overthrow them that impugn me take Armour and Shield and rise up to help me O Lord who art the strength of my salvation PSALM XXXIV BRing forth the sword and shut up against them that persecute me Say to my soul I am thy salvation Judge O Lord c. KYRIE ELEISON c. as before pag. 36. The Faithful considering that Jesus Christ by his sufferings hath passed to life beseech God by the Merits of his Son's Passion that they may participate in his life and salvation COLLECT ALmighty God who knowest us unable to subsist through our own infirmity among so many evils grant that we may respire by the Merits of thy Son's Passion Who liveth and reigneth one God in the unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen Against the Persecutors of the Church WE beseech thee O Lord admit being appeased the Prayers of thy Church that all Adversities and Errors being destroyed it may serve thee in secure liberty Through our Lord c. For the Pope O God the Pastor and Governour of all Faithful thou being merciful favourably respect thy Servant N. whom thou hast raised to the dignity of Chief Pastor of thy Church Grant him we beseech thee in Word and Example to profit those whom he hath charge over to the
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
of it to them GRant omnipotent God that being purified by the vertue of these Sacrifices we may arrive with the greater purity to their fountain Through our Lord c. The SECRET Against the Persecutors of the Church PRotect O Lord those that assist at these Mysteries that intending holy things they may serve thee both in soul and body Through our Lord. Or for the Pope REceive O Lord graciously these our offerings and guide by thy continual grace thy Servant N. whom thou hast advanced to be Chief Pastor of thy Church Through our The Preface and Canon of the Mass c. is until the Communion as before pag. 60. unto pag. 79. The COMMUNION taken out of the 34th Psalm The Church telling us the evil the Jews drew upon themselves in their crucifying Jesus Christ instructs them the punishment those deserve who receiving the Sacrament of the Altar unworthily make themselves guilty of prophaning the Body and Blood of Christ committing that frequently in their hearts which the Jews onely once perpetrated upon Mount Calvary LEt them blush and be ashamed together that rejoyce at my evils let them be clothed with confusion and shame that speak malicious things against me The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful beg of God grace to receive this Holy Sacrament worthily to the end they may reap the benefit of Christ's Passion GRant O Lord that thy holy Mysteries may inspire us with a divine fervour that in celebrating them we may also be delighted with the fruit of them Through our Lord c. POST-COMMUNION Against the Persecutors of the Church O Lord our God we beseech thee to preserve those from falling through humane frailties whom thou hast vouchsafed to a participation in this Holy Communion Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Or for the Pope PRotect us O Lord we beseech thee by the participation of this Divine Sacrament and strengthen thy Servant N. whom thou hast advanced to be Chief Pastor of thy Church that he and the Flock committed to his charge may attain Eternal Life Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. As the Post-Communion is a Prayer which the Priest says for those who have communicated so the Church adds another for those that do not communicate lest they want the suffrages when they are most subject to the assaults of the Devil in exercises of penance as also to obtain grace for those that have received the blessed Sacrament A Prayer over the People Humble your selves and bow down your heads to God O God who art our salvation afford us thy succour and grant that we may solemnize the approaching Feasts in memory of those Benefits wherewith thou hast been pleased to refresh us Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son c. All the rest as before pag. 75. THE MASS FOR TUESDAY IN Holy Week The station at St. Priscas-Church That the Cross of Christ may triumph in that very place where lately the Heathens had built their Prime Temple and that where the Gentiles adoring Hercules his Idol and been seduced from the Worship of the True God by putting confidence in their own strength there the Christian Church should withdraw men from self-love to the love of their Redeemer who being God was pleased to take upon him our frail nature and partake of our infirmities to reconcile us by his humility to God the Father from whom through Pride we had so far seperated our selves Likewise the station is this day in Rome at St. Priscas-Church by whose example she being but a Virgin of the age of Thirteen underwent great Torments for the Faith of Christ we may be moved to suffer for his love The INTROIT taken out of the 6th Chapter of the Apostle St. Paul to the Galathians and out of the 66th Psalm The Church teaches us by the example and words of the Apostle St. Paul that we ought to look upon the Cross of Christ as our only glory for by it we were delivered from the Tyranny of the Devil and raised from the Death of Sin as we shall be raised from our corporal death By it Christ confers the Life of Grace upon us in this World as he will hereafter give us the Life of Glory in Eternal Bliss 'T is true that to glory in the Cross of Christ we must suffer many hardships but then how great is the glory prepared by God for the just who suffer with patience what will their felicity be but a Crown in Heaven in recompence for their Vertues in this Pilgrimage and immortal incomprehensible Rewards for short and temporal sufferings The compleat consummation of their happiness shall be at the Day of Judgment when Christ raising them from death to life will inanimate them all with his happy life and holy spirit as all the members of one body are inspirited and enlivened by one soul BUT it behoveth us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our salvation life and resurrection by whom we are saved and delivered PSALM LXVI As the Sacrifice of the Cross is an effect of God's mercy so his grace whereby we come to the knowledge of this inestimable benefit and to make our selves worthy to reap the advantage of it is an effect of his goodness and mercy which we ought to pray for GOD have mercy on us and bless us illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy on us Nos autem c. Kyrie eleison c. as before pag. 36. The COLLECT The Faithful beseech God that they may receive the fruit of the Passion of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ ALmighty and Everlasting God grant us thy grace so to celebrate the Mysteries of the Passion of our Saviour that through thy mercies we may reap the benefit Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Ecclesiae tuae quaesumus c. as before pag. 84. Or for the Pope Deus omnium as before pag. 85. The Lesson out of the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 11. The Church in this Lession which describes the Jews conspiracy against the Prophet Jeremy by figure represents unto us the suffering of Jesus Christ under that nation and the evils they drew upon themselves by that excess of wickedness Let us observe how the Prophet threatens them with the punishments prepared for them not through hatred or malice but in zeal to God's service considering their reprobation as decreed by Divine Providence being so revealed unto him IN those days saith Jeremias O Lord thou hast shewed me and I have known thou hast shewed me their studies And I as a mild lamb that is carried to a victim And I knew not that they devised councels against me saying Let us cast wood on his bread and rase him out of the land of the living and let his name be mentioned no more But thou O Lord of Sabaoth which judgest justly and provest the reins and the hearts let me see thy revenge of them for to thee I have revealed
were now dead And sending for the Centurion asked him If he were now dead And when he understood by the Centurion he gave the body to Joseph And Joseph buying sindon and taking him down wrapped him in the sindon and laid him in a monument that was hewed out of a rock And he rolled a stone to the door of the monument The OFFERTORY taken out of the 139th Psalm The Church teacheth us that when we beg of God to be freed from the persecution of our enemies to pray as our Saviour prayed that God's will and ours might be fulfilled KEep me O Lord from the hand of a sinner and from unjust men deliver me SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER until the Secret as before pag. 56 57 58. The SECRET The Church having taught us in the Gradual of this Mass to have recourse unto God by Fasting and Prayer in our afflictions and representing by the notice our Saviour gave his Disciples that the hour of his Passion approached though 't was himself and not his Disciples that was to suffer nevertheless it was not for himself that he said Watch and Pray but onely for them lest they should fall into temptation The Faithful must consider that if the Apostles were not secure even whilest our Saviour was suffering how much more ought they to fear failing whilest themselves are in affliction whereupon amongst the many tentations wherewith they are surrounded they beseech God to give them the grace to Fast and attend to Prayer in such manner that they may reap the benefit of our Saviour's Passion by vertue of the Sacrifice of the Altar which it represents unto them and by which its merits is applied unto them if their sins prevent not GRant O Lord we beseech thee that these Sacrifices which we celebrate with wholsome Fasting by an holy Institution may repair our nature Through our Lord c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Protege nos as before pag. 90. Or for the Pope Oblatis c. as before pag. 90. The Preface and Cnaon till the Communion as before pag. 60 to 79. The COMMUNION taken out of the 68th Psalm The Church instructs us that the Jews not seeing visibly our Saviour's deliverance as one sunk under the weight of their tyranny they being ignorant of his Passion and Resurrection understood not that by his passing hence to immortal glory he made a passage for us from the old to a new life he having never lived in sin was not in a captivity to quit what he was not guilty of THey spake against me that sate in the gate and they made songs against me who drank wine but I made my Prayer to thee O Lord it is a time of thy good pleasure O God in the multitude of thy mercy The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful pray to God that they may cast off the old and put on a new life by vertue of this Sacrament which represents unto us this happy change in the mystery of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ applying its merits unto us SAnctifie us Almighty God by thy Sacraments that we may receive a cure for our sins and life everlasting Through our Lord c. Against the Persecutors of the Church O Lord our God we beseech thee to preserve those from falling through humane frailties whom thou hast vouchsafed to a participation in this Holy Communion Through our Lord c. Or for the Pope PRotect O Lord we beseech thee by the participation of this Divine Sacrament and strengthen thy Servant N. whom thou hast advanced to be Chief Pastor of thy Church that he and the flock committed to his charge may attain Eternal Life Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. A Prayer over the People Let us Pray Humble your selves and bow down your heads to God LEt thy Mercy O Lord cleanse us from the corruption of the old man and give us a new spirit Through our Lord c. All the rest as before pag. 79. THE MASS FOR WEDNESDAY IN Holy Week The Station to St. Mary Major To teach us that the Son of God being impassible and immortal as to his divinity could not subject himself to sufferings and death but only according to that flesh which he took of the holy Virgin Mary The INROITT taken out of the 2d Chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians and out of the 101st Psalm The Church instructs us with how much considence we ought to address our Prayers to God in the name of his Son Jesus Christ either in respect of his love for us having suffered death to redeem us or for his omnipotence being the same God with his Father whom all creatures ought to adore The Angels are thereunto obliged for though Christ died not for them yet mankind being thereby redeemed they reap some advantage being reconciled unto them after the enmity and separation which sin had caused between them and for that by this Redemption of man the loss and fall of the Angels was repaired The Devils are obliged by force being overcome and trodden under foot by him But mankind hath a singular obligation he having redeemed them to give them a Kingdom and most accomplisht felicity IN the Name of Jesus let every knee bow of things in Heaven of things in earth and of things under the earth because our Lord became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father PSALM CI. O Lord hear my Prayer and let my cry come unto thee KYRIE ELEISON c. as before pag. 36. Let us Pray V. Let us bend our knees R. Raise up your selves COLLECT The Faithful out of a pious confidence implore by their Prayers God's mercy through the Merits of his Son's Passion GRant we beseech thee O Almighty God that we who are incessantly afflicted through our excesses may be delivered by the Passion of thy only begotten Son who liveth and reigneth one God with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen The Lesson out of the 62d and 63d Chapter of the Prophet Isay The Church putting us in mind of Christ's Passion represents also unto us at the same time the Glory of his Resurrection to instruct us that his Divinity having never been separated from his Humanity he onely suffered because it was his will and that he made use of his sufferings to appear with the greater lustre in his Resurrection And thereupon in this Lesson his glorious Resurrection is set forth and his departure from Jerusalem the capital City of Judea which is compared for its infidelity to Bosra and Idumen carrying the marks of his Passion upon his Body wherewith his Divinity was clothed as in a Garment And under this figure of the defeat of the Idumeans and delivery of the people of Israel the Church represents to us the victory Jesus Christ gained over the World and the Devil 's securing his flock from their tyranny
and from the servitude of sin THis saith our Lord Tell ye the Daughters of Sion Behold thy Saviour cometh behold his reward is with him and his work before him Who is this that cometh from Edom with died garments from Bosra this beautiful one in his Robe going in the multitude of his strength I that speak justice and am a desender to save Why then is thy clothing red and thy garments as theirs that tread in the Wine-press I have trodden the Press alone and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me I have trodden them in my fury and have trodden them down in my wrath and their bloud is sprinkled on my garments and I have stained all my raiment For the day of revenge is in my heart the year of my redemption is come I looked about and there was no helper I sought and there was none to aid and my arm hath saved and my indignation it self hath helped me And I have trodden down the people in my fury and have inebriated them in my indignation and have drawn their strength down to ground I will remember the mercies of our Lord the praise of our Lord for all things that our Lord hath rendred to us The GRADUAL out of the 68th Psalm The Church having represented our Saviour in the precedent Lesson triumphing over his enemies in his glorious Resurrection presents him unto us in this Gradual in the extremity of his Passion begging of his Father to be delivered from it To instruct us that he prays not for himself to be delivered from his pains and from death for how should he beg for himself to be freed from this hour wherein he should die for us since he came voluntarily upon Earth to that end being able by his own strength to rescue himself and give up his Soul to God and take it again But his Prayer was on our behalf to teach us in afflictions to have recourse to God to deliver us if it be his will or to give us strength to bear them patiently Likewise Jesus did not pray to be freed from his pains and death because he had a will to suffer but he askt to be delivered from the corruption of the Sepulchre by a speedy and glorious Resurrection To teach us by his Passion what we ought to contemn in the course of this life and by his resurrection what we ought to hope and pray for TUrn not away thy face from thy Servant Because I am in tribulation hear me speedily V. Save me O God because waters of affliction are entred into my Soul I stuck fast in the mire of the depth and there is no sure standing Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us pray The faithful beseech God that by the merits of his Son's Passion they may partake in the glory of his Resurrection O God who wert pleased that thy Son should suffer death for us upon the Cross that so the power of the enemy of mankind might be abated grant unto us thy servants that we may partake of his glorious Resurrection Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Ecclesiae tuae c. as before pag. 84. Or for the Pope Deus omnium c. as before pag. 85. The Lesson out of the Prophet Isay ch 63. The Church teacheth us that the mystery of Gods Incarnation is so full of astonishment his Sufferings so outrageous and his Death so ignominious that the Prophet Isay durst not publish them lest men should not believe them After this Prophet hath foretold many of the torments to be endured by this man of God he teacheth us first that our sins were the cause of his sufferings by which he was to satisfie for us to his Fathers justice Secondly that he offered himself to these pains as a voluntary Victim for our salvation and would suffer death thereby to purchase life for us Thirdly that in compensation of this his humility and sufferings he is raised above all Creatures in Heaven sitting on the right hand of God his Father Fourthly that God his Father hath bestowed upon him all those for his children who are predestinated to glory as the precious off-spring of his bloud which he so freely shed that even he was pleased to wash those in it that put him to death according to the Prayer as he made even when he was nailed on the Cross between the two Thieves IN those days said Isaias Who hath believed our hearing and the arm of our Lord to whom is it revealed And he shall come up as a young Spring before him and as a Root from a thirsty ground There is no beauty in him nor comliness and we have seen him and there was no sightliness and we were desirous of him Despised and most abject of men a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity and his look as it were hid and despised whereupon neither have we esteemed him He surely hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carried and we thought him as it were a Leper and strucken of God and humbled But he was wounded for our iniquities he was broken for our sins the discipline of our peace was upon him and with the wait of his stripes we are healed All we have strayed as Sheep every one hath declined into his own way and our Lord hath put upon him the iniquity of all us He was offered because himself would and opened not his mouth As a Sheep to slaughter was he led and as a Lamb before his Shearer he shall be dumb and shall not open his mouth From distress and from judgment he was taken up Who shall declare his Generation because he is cut out of the Land of the living For the wickedness of my people have I strucken him And he shall give the impious for his burial and the rich for his death Because he hath not done iniquity neither was their guile in his mouth And our Lord would break him in infirmity If he shall put away his Soul for sin he shall see seed of long age and the will of our Lord shall be directed in his hand for that his Soul hath laboured he shall see and be filled In his knowledge the same my just servant shall justifie many and he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I distribute unto him very many and he shall divide the spoils of the strong for that he hath delivered his Soul unto death and was reputed with the wicked and he hath born the sin of many and hath prayed for the transgressiors The TRACT taken out of the 101st Psalm The Church tells us that Jesus Christ in the time of his Passion offered to God his Father most fervent Prayers with tears and groans beseeching him not to leave him under the power of death which he suffered onely for his love and for the salvation of the faithful signified by Sion His dignity his innocence this very act of
together at that sight and saw the things that were done returned knocking their breasts And all his acquaintance stood afar off and the women that had followed him from Galilee seeing these things ANd behold a man named Joseph who was a Senator a good man and a just he had not consented to their council and doings of Arimathea a city of Jewry who also himself expected the Kingdom of God This man came to Pilate and asked the body of Jesus And taking it down wrapped it in sindon and laid him in a monument hewed of stone wherein never yet any man had been laid The OFFERTORY taken out of the 101st Psalm The Church represents unto us how our Saviour in his Passion became a figure of his Martyrs who desiring to be freed from death by humane instinct and as it were forsaken by him for a time in that he granted not that unto them whilst they suffered which they might seem to desire by their natural inclinations might repeat from the bottom of their hearts those words full of love and piety which our Saviour as an example of these generous champions spoke himself Father if it be possible let this cup of sufferings pass from me that I taste it not but let thy will be done not mine O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come unto thee turn not thy face from me c. SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER till the Secret as before pag. 56 57 58. The SECRET The Faithful meditating upon our Saviour's Passion beseech God to grant them desires and resentments of love and duty and to excite us the rather we must confess our own sms and reflect that they were the cause of our Saviour's Crucifying Secondly We must consider the eternal torments which we have merited that so we may with consent undergo any torments in life Thirdly Let us contemplate that we shall have an eternal recompence whereunto we aspire by the grace of Jesus Christ and confess that all the afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared to the future Glory Fourthly We must call to mind all the pains our Saviour indured for us having frequently in our thoughts how much his Divine Majesty suffered for us his unprofitable servants should not without confusion to our selves be unwilling to suffer but readily and cheerfully for our benefits undergo these temporal light pains ACcept O Lord we beseech thee this Offering and grant that we may receive with pious affections and resentments that which we celebrate in memory of the Passion of our Lord thy Son Through the same Jesus Christ c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Protege nos c. as before pag. 90. Or for the Pope Oblatus c. as before pag. 90. The Preface Canon c. till the Communion as before from 60 to 70. The COMMUNION out of the 101st Psalm The Church tells us that in receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which represents to us his Passion and as it were incorporates us with him we ought to imprint in our hearts a lively apprehension of this adorable Saviour who being presented upon the Cross with Gall and Vinegar to drink besought God his Father with abundance of tears and loud crys to grant us life everlasting in participation of his Sufferings and Resurrection I Mingled my drink with tears because lifting me up thou hast thrown me down and I withered away like grass but thou O Lord endurest for ever Thou rising up shalt have mercy on Sion because it is time to have mercy on it The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful beseech God to withdraw their irregular affections from these worldly fading goods and to make them apprehend how as they are Christians their happiness is not to be placed in this temporal life wherein God oftentimes delivers them up unto persecutions even unto death But that they are to regard Eternity to which the Name of Christian entitles them Therefore they are to consider that he whose Name they bear was so treated before them to teach them by his example to contemn this world and to aspire Celestial Blessings which he by the Merits of his Death and Passion hath opened unto them GRant O Almighty God we beseech thee that we may with a holy confidence believe that thou hast opened a passage for us to Eternal Life by the Temporal Death of thy Son represented in these Adorable Mysteries Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Against the Persecutors of the Church Quaesumus Domine c. as before pag. 91. Or for the Pope Haec nos quaesumus as before pag. 91. Let us Pray Humble your selves and bow down your heads to God LOok down O Lord we beseech thee upon this thy Family for which our Lord Jesus Christ doubted not to be betrayed into the hands of the wicked and so undergo the torments of the Cross Who liveth and reigneth with thee c. All the rest as before pag. 79. 〈◊〉 Hollar focit UPON THURSDAY IN Holy Week AT PRIME Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Credo c. Deus in adjutorium is not here said to mind us that Jesus Christ was abandoned by God the Father to sufferings and death Nor is any Hymn used to instruct us that the Jews had dishonoured God by putting his Son to death PSALM LIII In this Psalm the Church proposeth unto us a certain model of perfect Prayer First We ought to beg of God what may conduce to our salvation Secondly We ought to ask it in the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ for there is no other Name given to men by which they can be saved Thirdly We must have a firm faith in God's omnipotence Fourthly We are to look upon God as our Judge who gives to every man according to his works and therefore the confidence wherewith we pray is grounded upon the testimony of our conscience that it is not guilty of any thing which may render us unworthy to present our selves before his Divine Majesty Fifthly We must place all our confidence in God's mercy in the verity of his promises and not in our merits Sixthly We are to beg the grace to love justice so that no persecution whatever may cause us to swerve from it Seventhly We must not desire punishment upon the wicked out of hatred or revenge but out of charity for their correction as long as there is hopes of their amendment and to the end that others by their chastisements may fear to imitate them and that the empire of sin being overcome God alone may reign in this world Eightly We ought to beg that the adversities and misfortunes of this life may not deject us nor prosperity charm our senses and affections but that we may rely upon God and glorifie him Ninthly And to glorifie God as we ought we must offer up our selves to him in the spirit of sacrifice and annihilation that is of Pennance Tenthly The service and duty we offer up to God must
pronounce thy word because all thy Commandments are equity Let thy hand be to save me because I have chosen thy Commandments I have coveted thy salvation O Lord and thy law is my meditation My soul shall live and shall praise thee and thy judgments shall help me I have strayed as a sheep that is lost seek thy servant because I have not forgotten thy Commandments The Church teacheth us that it is by Jesus Christ God sought us even then when as yet we sought him not in following Jesus Christ his Son whom he hath established a Mediatour between himself and us we must therefore run in such manner as that we may attain to him we must observe the end of our progress and course where he hath fixed his which is to be obedient even unto death V. Christ become obedient for us even unto death Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 6. THE PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag. 130. The General Absolution Upon Holy Thursday in the Morning according to the good and laudable custom of France the General Absolution is given in the great Hall at the King's Court where his most Christian Majesty with many Princes and his whole Court are present First begins a Sermon the Bishop in his Robes accompanied with his Clergy gives the Absolution and all upon their knees sing the Miserere mei Deus with the Verses and Prayers following This Ceremony is a sign of the Sacramental Absolution which heretofore was given to those sinners who had done Penance in the Lent And this day is also called Absolution Thursday because Penitents are then absolved and admitted to participate of the Eucharist it being that day on which Jesus Christ instituted it and thereby the Church shews us that at present she inflicts not so severe Penances now as formerly yet she teaches them to do fruits worthy of Penance that they may be admitted to participate of this Holy Sacrament on this day whereon Christ our Saviour began by his Passion the Work of our Redemption to God his Father LOrd have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Pater noster c. And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen V. O Lord deal not with us according to our sins R. Nor yet reward us according to our iniquities V. O Lord remember not our past offences R. But let thy mercies soon prevent us V. Turn thy face towards us though a little R. And graciously hear thy servants V. O Lord save thy servants and thy handmaids R. Trusting in thee O my God V. Be unto them O Lord a Tower of strength R. Against the assaults of the enemy V. Send them O Lord thy help from thy holy place R. And out of Sion protect them V. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray HEar O Lord our Supplications and graciously regard me who in the first place have need of thy mercy and as thou hast been pleased to chuse me by thy grace not for my merit to be thy Minister in this action Grant that I may faithfully acquit my self of the Charge comitted to me and co-operate by our ministring the effect of thy bounty Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God for ever Amen Let us Pray WE beseech thee O Lord grant thy servants grace to do fruits worthy of penance that having obtained pardon for their sins they may be resetled pure and clean in thy Church from the integrity of which they have gone astray Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. Amen Let us Pray O Lord I beseech thy Majesty that out of thy bounty thou wilt be pleased to give thy pardon to these thy servants confessing their sins and offences and to loosen the bonds of their past crimes who didst carry upon thy shoulders the strayed sheep back to thy fold and hast graciously heard the prayers of the publican look down also favourably upon these penitents and incline unto their petitions that by their perseverance in confessing and tears they may obtain what they desire and being readmitted to a participation of thy holy Altar they may have fresh hopes of Eternal Glory Who livest and reignest c. Let us Pray O God who of thy goodness hast created and of thy mercy repaired mankind and by the blood of thine onely Son hast redeemed man deprived of eternal life through the malice of the Devil Grant a new life to these penitents thy servants whose death thou desirest not And as thou forsakest not even those who go astray receive those who return to repentance O Lord mercifully regard the tears and sighs of thy servants heal their wounds stretch forth thy helping hand to them cast down before thee to the end thy Church may not lose any part of its body lest thy flock be lessened lest the enemy insult over the loss of thy family lest those who have been regenerated by the wholsome water of baptism fall into a second death We therefore O Lord offer up unto thee our most humble Prayers we shed the tears of our hearts before thee in testimony of our regret Pardon those that confess unto thee to the end that through thy mercy they may escape condemnation at the last judgment Let them be ignorant of that which terrifies in darkness of torments in flames and grant that returning from their errours to the path of justice they may not hereafter receive new wounds but that they may remain entire and perpetual in that which thy Grace has conferred and thy Mercy restored By the same our Lord Jesus Christ c. Amen The Bishop then takes the Crosier and stretching his right hand over the People says Let us Pray OUr Lord Jesus Christ who by giving up himself and shedding his immaculate blood did vouchsafe to take away the sins of the whole world and who said to his Disciples and in them to their successours among whom thou art pleased to make me one though unworthy Whatsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven may he vouchsafe through this my Ministry by the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary his Mother of St. Michael the Archangel of the Apostle St. Peter to whom the power of binding and loosing was given and of all Saints by vertue of his sacred blood shed for the remission of sins to grant you absolution of all your offences negligently committed in thought word or deed and that after you are quit from the bonds of sin he will please to restore you to the Kingdom of Heaven Who with God the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for ever and ever Amen ALmighty God grant
is God V. The love of Jesus Christ hath united us V. Let us rejoyce and praise him V. Let us fear and love the living God V. And love one another with a sincere heart Then the Antiphon is repeated Where charity and love is there is God V. When therefore we are assembled V. Let us beware we are not divided in mind V. Let all quarrels and contentions cease V. And let Christ be among us Then the Antiphon is repeated the third time Where charity and love is there is God V. Grant that we may see with the blessed V. Thy face in glory O Christ our Lord. V. There to enjoy a happy and immense joy V. For ever and ever Amen Then the Superior or he that washes the feet of others washeth his hands wipes them and putting on his Coap he stands upright with his head bare says Pater noster c. V. And lead us not into temptation R. But deliver us from evil V. Thou hast enjoyned O Lord R. That thy Laws be exactly observed V. Thou hast washed thy Disciples feet R. Despise not the work of thy hands V. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray GRant O Lord we beseech thee that we may worthily discharge this our duty and since thou vouchsafest to wash thy Disciples feet despise not the work of thy hands which thou hast commanded us to retain and imitate that as we here cleanse all filth from our Bodies so thou wilt be pleased to free our Souls from all sins Which we beseech thee to grant us who livest and reignest God for ever and ever Amen THE MASS FOR THURSDAY IN Holy Week The station in the Church of St. John of Lateran This day in Rome the station is in this Church because the Pope did formerly bless the Holy Oyls there upon this day The INTROIT The Church representing to us in this Mass how our Saviour instituted the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist it being the Eve of his Passion as a perpetual Monument and to apply the fruit of it unto us she teacheth us by the example and words of Saint Paul that we ought to look upon the Cross of Christ as our onely glory for it is by its vertue that we are freed from the tyranny of the Devil that we are raised from death It is by it that Jesus Christ grants from corporal death of sin as we must be raised to the life of grace in this world as he will hereafter he will when he pleases give us the Life of Glory in Everlasting Bliss 'T is true that to glory in the Cross of Christ we must suffer much But what will that glory be which God hath prepared for the patience of the just what will their happiness be when for their vertues in this exile he shall give them crowns in heaven for short and temporary pains immortal and incomprehensible rewards The consummation of their felicity will be at the day of judgment when Jesus Christ after he hath raised them again shall inanimate them with his happy life and spirit as all the members of one body are filled and enlivened by one soul BUt we ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our Salvation Life and Resurrection and by whom we are redeemed and saved PSALM LXVI As the Sacrifice of the Cross is an effect of God's Mercy so his Grace whereby we are enlightened to acknowledge this inestimable benefit and whereby we are made worthy to reap the fruit of it is an effect of his Bounty and Mercy which we ought to beg of him GOd have mercy upon us and bless us illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy upon us But we ought to glory c. KYRIE ELEISON LOrd have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us All the rest as before pag. 30â— As the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is a Consequent and Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God on this day whereon our Saviour instituted this most venerable Sacrament the Church commands that Hymn to be sung which the Angels did sing at his Birth GLory be to God in the Highest and on Earth peace to men of good will We praise thee we bless thee we adore thee we glorifie thee we give thanks to thee for thy great glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely begotten Son Jesus Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father who takest away the Sins of the World have mercy on us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father have mercy on us For thou onely art Holy Thou onely art the Lord Thou onely O Jesus Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father Amen The Bells are rung during the Gloria in excelsis but are not rung again till Holy Saturday to teach us that the preaching of the Gospel and the voice of those who ought to excite others to follow Christ were silent during this Passion-time The COLLECT The people considering on the one side that Judas having received so many Testimonies of Favour from Jesus Christ after he had been admitted to his Table was yet so blind with covetousness that he betrayed his Master and God into the hands of the Jews who put him to death upon the Cross and transported with despair fell headlong into Hell On the other side the good thief made sensible by his pains repented himself of his sins and acknowledged our dying Saviour's divinity and putting his whole hopes and confidence in him deserved to receive the fruit of his Death and Resurrection They beseech God that they may nor approach his Table as Judas did but may obtain the same Grace with the penitent thief that so they may reap the advantage of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour O God who hast punished the sin of Judas and rewarded the confession of the repenting thief grant unto us the effect of thy mercy to the end that as our Lord Jesus Christ hath dispensed to each of them at his Passion according to their merit so having destroyed the old man in us he will grant us grace to have part with him in his glorious Resurrection Who liveth and reigneth one God world without end This Prayer is only said The Lesson out of the first Epistle of the Apostle St. Paul to the Corinthians Chap. 11. 1. The Apostle blames them for their disorder in their Feasts called Agapae as we have explicated before 2. He treats of the institution of the Eucharist and teacheth us that Christ did institute this Sacrament to renew in us the memory of his incomparable love restified by his dying for us 3. He shewed how we ought to prepare our selves worthily to receive this Adorable Sacrament
praise come from our tongue Amen And when they are come to the place provided for the blessed Sacrament the Deacon upon his knees receives it from the Priests and puts it upon the Altar The Priest being upon his knees incenseth and placeth it in the Tabernacle and returning saith Evensong in the Quire The original of this Custome comes from the ancient reserving some part of the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ for the next day's Communion no Consecration being then made as St. Gregory teacheth in his Book of the Sacrament ON THURSDAY IN Holy Week At EVEN-SONG Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM CXV The Church presents unto us the confidence we must have in God in Afflictions and Persecutions patiently bearing what he shall please to lay upon us beseeching his Majesty that we may die the death of the just that death which is precious in his eyes that death which may secure us from a second death that death which renders the dead happy because they died in our Lord. And if he shall please to deliver us from evil and dangers the Church proposes some sentiments of gratitude and fidelity we ought to conceive in our hearts and the obligation which nevertheless we have not to be less careful and sollicitous that we be not oppressed by God's benefits in not making a right use of them as we are by our sins in not quitting and leaving them as we are bound to do Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I Believed for which I spake but I was humbled exceedingly I said in my excess every man is a lier What shall I render to our Lord for all things that he hath rendred to me I will take the chalice of salvation and will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord before all people precious in the fight of our Lord is the death of his saints O Lord because I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Thou hast broken my bonds I will sacrifice to thee the host of praise and I will invocate the Name of our Lord. I will render my vows to our Lord in the sight of all his people in the courts of the house of our Lord in the midst of thee O Jerusalem Ant. I will drink the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of our Lord. PSALM CXIX The Church exhorts the Faithful to consider how insupportable the labours are we suffer in this life and how horrible the troubles are which accompany that repose wherewith the world would have us contented to the end that we may acknowledge true content to be found onely in God the sole centre of repose and reaâ— good and that we likewise stir up in our selves a fervent desire to enjoy him speedily bewailing our so long detention in the pilgrimage of this life Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I speak to them they impugned me without cause WHen I was in tribulation I cried to our Lord and he heard me Our Lord deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue What may be given thee or what may be added unto thee to a deceitful tongue The sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of desolation Wo is to me that my sojourning is prolonged I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar My soul hath been long a sojourner With them that hated peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause Ant. With those who did hate peace I was peaceable when I spake to them they impugned me without cause PSALM CXXXIX The Royal Prophets shews us how to have recourse to God in Afflictions and Persecutions by considering his Justice and Mercy neither permitting any sin to pass unpunishable nor good works unrewarded that he can either divert sweeten give strength to support or absolutely free from the burden of the miseries of this liâ—â— and that after this he can raise men to the fruition of that bliss where no ill can interrupt nor the sovereign good be lost Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men DEliver me our Lord from the evil man from the unjust man rescue me Which have devised iniquity in their heart all the day they did appoint battles They have whet their tongues as that of a serpent the venome of asps is under their lips Keep me O Lord from the hand of the sinner and from unjust men deliver me Who have devised to supplant my steps the proud have had a snare for me And they have stretched out ropes for a snare they have laid a stumbling block for me near the way Our Lord Lord the strength of my salvation thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle Yield me not our Lord from my desire to the sinner they have devised against me forsake me not lest they perhaps be proud The head of their compass the labour of their lips shall cover them Coals shall fall upon them thou shalt cast them down into fire the miseries they shall not stand up A man full of tongue shall not be directed in the earth evils shall take the unjust man into destruction I have known that the Lord will do the judgments of the needy and the revenge of the poor But as for the just they shall confess unto thy Name and the righteous shall dwell with thy countenance Ant. Deliver me our Lord from evil men PSALM CXL In this Psalm the Holy Prophet teacheth us to acknowledge and confess our sins sincerely that so we may obtain the comforts and blessings of God in the traverses of this life we must examine and put a bridle upon our tongue we must order our words with prudence and discretion we must be sincere in our hearts and discourse hating the vain praises and compliances of flatterers and sinners and taking in good part the meek reprehensions of the just in short we must stir up in our souls an aversion and horror against sin practising patience in afflictions and putting our trust in God Ant. Keep me from the snare which they have set for me and from the scandals of those that work iniquity LOrd I have cried to thee hear me attend to my voice when I shall cry to thee Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight the elevation of my hands as evening sacrifice Set our Lord a watch to my mouth and a door round about my lips Decline not my heart into words of malice to make excuse in sins With men that work iniquity and I will not communicate with the chief of them The just shall rebuke me in mercy and shall reprehend me but let not the oyl of a sinner fat my head Because yet also my prayer is in their good pleasures their judges are swallowed up joyned to the rock They shall hear my words because they have prevailed as the grosness of the
they pierced Before the reading of the rest of the Gospel the Deacon says the Prayer Munda cor meum as before but asks not the Priest's Blessing to note unto us that the Author of all Blessings is dead Nor are the Candles lighted whereby to signifie that as the Eclipse of the Sun and Moon so likewise in the heavens all light was extinguished at the death of our Lord. Nor is the Book incensed to tell us that the fervour of the Disciples Prayers was also cool'd ANd after these things Joseph of Arimathea because he was a disciple of Jesus but secret for fear of the the Jews desired Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus And Pilate permitted He came therefore and took away the body of Jesus Nicodemus also came he that at the first came to Jesus by night bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about an hundred pounds They took therefore the body of Jesus and bound it in linnen clothes with spices as the manner is with the Jews to bury And there was in the place where he was crucified a garden and in the garden a new monument wherein no man yet had been laid There therefore because of the Parasceve of the Jews they laid Jesus because the monument was hard by The Passion being ended Publick and Solemn Prayers are said not onely for the whole Church and all its Members but also for Infidels and all sorts of people in imitation of our Saviour who upon the Cross prayed even for his enemies and executioners to shew that he shed his blood for the whole world You are to observe that before each Prayer the Church minds the people to joyn in prayer with her wishing them to bow their knees to represent the respect and the humility wherewith we are to address unto God For the whole Church LEt us pray my beloved Brethren for the whole Church of God that our Lord God will vouchsafe to give it Peace maintain it in Union and preserve it through the whole Earth subjecting the Princes and Powers of this World unto it and that granting us the grace to lead this life in peace and tranquillity we may glorisie God the Father Almighty Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who hast revealed thy glory in Jesus Christ to all Nations preserve the works of thy mercy that thy Church spred through the whole world may firmly persevere in the confession of thy Name Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Or for the Pope LEt us pray also for our Holy Father the Pope that our Lord God who hath elected and seated him in the Order of Episcopacy will give him health for the good of his Church and the benefit of his People Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God upon whose judgment all things are founded hear graciously our Prayers and in thy goodness preserve our Bishop whom thou hast appointed to guide us that the Christian people be governed by thy Authority may more and more encrease in faith under so great a Prelate Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the Orders of the Church LEt us pray also for Bishops Priests Deacons Subdeacons Acolyts Exorcists Readers Porters Confessors Virgins Widows and for all God's holy people Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God whose Spirit sanctifies and governs the whole Church hear the Prayers we address unto thee for all Orders that by the assistance of thy grace they may all serve thee faithfully Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the King LEt us pray also for our King Defender of the Faith that God will please to reduce all barbarous Nations to his command and grant us perpetual peace Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God in whose hands all Powers and Rights of Kingdoms are graciously look upon this Kingdom that those Nations who put confidence in their brutish fierceness may be supprest by the power of thy right hand Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the Catechumens LEt us pray also for the Catechumens that our Lord God will open the ears of their hearts and the gate of his mercy that having received remission of all their sins and being regenerated by Baptism they may be incorporated with us in our Lord Jesus Christ Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who daily encreasest thy Church with new children encrease in our Catechumens faith and understanding that being regenerated in the waters of Baptism they may be entred into the society of thy adopted children Through c. Amen For all sorts of Necessities LEt us pray my beloved unto God the Father Almighty that he will please to cleanse the world from all sorts of Errors cure our Diseases divert Famine open Prisons dissolve the bonds of Captives grant a safe return to Pilgrims restore health to the sick and to sea-faring men a secure arrival to their haven Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who art a comfort to the afflicted and a strength to those that labour grant that the Prayers of all those who shall call upon thee in affliction may be heard by thee that they may be sensible with gladness of the assistance of thy mercy in their necessities Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For Hereticks and Schismaticks LEt us pray also for Hereticks and Schismaticks that our Lord God will deliver them from all error and vouchsafe to recall them into the bosom of our Holy Mother the Catholick Apostolick Church Let us pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who savest the whole world and desirest not the death of a sinner regard those souls in mercy seduced by the deceit of the devil that all Hereticks and others going astray quitting all malice may rectifie their hearts and return to the unity of the truth Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For the Jews LEt us pray also for the perfidious Jews that our Lord God will withdraw the vail from their hearts that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ We say not here Flectamus genua to signifie the horrour of the outrages committed upon our Saviour at his Passion kneeling unto him in derision but the following Prayer is said Let us Pray ALmighty and Everlasting God who refusest not thy mercy even to the perfidious Jews hear the Prayers we pour forth for the blindness of this people that they arriving to the light of thy truth which is Jesus Christ may be cleared from their darkness Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Amen For the Pagans LEt us pray also for the Pagans that Almighty God will take away all wickedness from their hearts that quitting their Idolatry they may convert themselves
to the true living God and to his only Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Let us Pray Let us bend our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who willest not the death of sinners but rather that they should be converted and live graciously hear our Prayers and freeing them from their Idolatry admit them into thy holy Church for the honour and glory of thy Name Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Adoration of the Cross This Adoration is not terminated in the wood of the Cross but in Jesus Christ fastened thereon The Ceremony is very ancient For besides that it is set forth in the Roman Order and in St. Gregory's Book of the Sacraments St. Paulinus Bishop of Nola the immortal Ornament and Native of Bourdeaux living in the Fourth Age mentions it in his 11 Epistle to Severus Sulpicius The publick Prayers being ended the Priest puts off his Casuble and takes the Cross to represent Jesus Christ naked and loaded with his Cross Then he uncovers it at three several times to shew us how the Gospel was spred first in a little corner of Judea and for that cause the Priest begins to unvail the Cross on the right side and beneath the Altar singing BEhold the Wood of the Cross And the Quire answers R. Come let us adore Secondly The Gospel was preached publickly to the Jews figured by the right side of the Altar and therefore the Priest coming to the right corner of the Altar uncovers the right arm and the head of the Crucifix saying again Behold the Wood of the Cross The Quire answering R. Come let us adore Thirdly The Gospel was preacht to the whole world and therefore the Priest goes to the middle of the Altar and uncovers the Crucifix entirely saying Behold the Wood of the Cross whereon the Saviour of the World is fastened The Quire answer again R. Come let us adore Then the Priest puts the Cross in a convenient place for the people he first beginning this Ceremony in three times kneeling according to the ancient custom in the Roman Order And after the Priest the rest of the Clergy and people follow in the same manner During the Ceremony the Trisagion is sung both in Latine and Greek being taken from the Grecians as you may read in the first Session of the Council of Chalcedon mentioned by Nicephorus in his 14th Book and 46th Chapter and by it the Church offers to our meditation that Christ dying for us according to his humanity is the living invincible and immortal God by his Natural and Divine Person Then the following Verses are sung taken out of the Prophets and particularly out of Michaeas which contain the just reproaches our Saviour made to the Jews for their ingratitude MY people what have I done to thee or in what have I molested thee Answer me V. Because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour V. Agios O Theos Sanctus Deus O Holy God V. Agios Ischyros Sanctus fortis Holy and strong God V. Agios Athanatos Eleison imas Sanctus immortalis miserere nobis Holy and immortal God have mercy on us V. Because I led thee through the desart forty years and fed thee there with Manna and brought thee into a good soil thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour Agios O Theos c. as before V. What ought I to do more and have not done I have planted thee my most beautiful vine and thou art become very bitter unto me in my thirst thou gavest me vinegar to drink and with a launcet thou hast pierced thy Saviour's side Agios O Theos as before V. My people what have I done to thee or in what have I molested thee Answer me V. For thy sake I struck Egypt in their first-born and thou hast delivered me to be scourged My people c. I brought thee forth of Egypt having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea and thou hast delivered me over to the princes of the priests My people c. V. For thee I opened the sea and with a launce thou hast pierced my side My people c. V. I went before thee in a pillar of the cloud and thou hast brought me to the palace of Pilate My people c. V. I nourished thee with Manna in the desart and thou hast struck me with bussets and whips My people c. V. I gave thee wholsom water to drink from the rock and thou hast given me to drink vinegar and gall My people c. V. For thy sake I have struck the kings of the Chananites and thou hast struck my head with a reed My people c. V. I gave thee a royal scepter and thou hast set upon my head a crown of thorns My people c. V. I have raised thee with great strength and thou fastened me on the cross The ANTIPHON The people by their adoring the Cross testifie their horrour of the Jews impiety and ingratitude and considering how Christ triumphed over death by his glorious Resurrection to make us partakers of his glory they render him thanks O Lord we adore thy Cross we praise and glorifie thy Holy Resurrection for by the Wood of the Crofs the whole World is filled with joy PSALM LXVI The Faithful beg of God that he will make them capable to receive the benefit of his Passion and Resurrection GOd have mercy upon us and bless us Illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy on us Ant. O Lord we adore thy Cross c. After this Crux fidelis and the Hymn Pange lingua are sung HAil Holy Cross to thee we bow To whose blest fruit our lives we ow Our earth bears no such tree Dear are the nails and dear the wood On which our dear Lord shed his blood 'T was Heaven that planted thee Come then my soul and gladly sing The happy combate of our King Which on this Cross he sought Where he the all-victorious Lamb Sin Death and Hell it self o'recame And our full safely wrought V. Hail Holy Cross to thee we bow To whose blest fruit our lives we ow Our earth bears no such tree V. He saw with pity our sad fate When our first-parents rashly ate Of that unhappy tree He saw and markt the deadly wound And soon this sovereign Balsam found To save our souls by thee V. Dear are the nails and dear the wood On which our dear Lord shed his blood 'T was Heaven that planted thee V. This way our cure required as fit That Heaven 's high wisdom should out-wit The dire black art of hell And from the source of all our bane A powerful Antidote should be tane The poison to expell Hail Holy Cross c. V. When the blest time was fully come The Father from his glorious home Sent his Eternal Son He that created Heaven and Earth Of a poor Virgin took his Birth And our frail flesh put on V. Dear are the nails
and then returning up to the Altar he kneels to the blessed Sacrament after that bowing himself with his hands joyned before the Altar he says WE present our selves O Lord before thee in the spirit of humility and repentance and therefore we beseech thee that this Sacrifice may be agreeably accomplisht by us this day The Priest kisseth the Altar and kneels down then turning to the People he desires them to joyn in Prayers with him to God that he will please to accept this Offering of Wine and Water in memory of the Bloud and Water which ran out of our Saviours side And this Offering is a kind of Sacrifice in that it is joyned with the Consecrated Hoast which represents the bloudy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ PRay Brethren that this my Sacrifice which is also yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty And to observe unto us that this Oblation is only a representation of the bloudy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that no unbloudy Sacrifice is celebrated this day Suscipiat Dominus is not answered And thereupon also there is no Consecration this day because the memory of Christs Passion is only celebrated as it actually had past Nevertheless that we may not be deprived of participating the fruit of his Passion being incorporated anew with him the Body of this our Divine Saviour is reserved the day before but not the Bloud for fear of Accidents Let us Pray PRAECEPTIS c. The faithful beg of God that they may be made worthy to reap the benefit of the Passion of his Son Jesus Christ in receiving his Body in the same Prayer which Christ himself taught us giving them confidence to call him our Father as he made himself our Brother to teach us that we cannot fail of any thing having an Omnipotent Father BEing taught by our Saviour's Commands and led by Divine Institution we are bold to say Our Father which art in Heaven where you shine in greater glory and whereunto thou art pleased that we should raise our thoughts Hallowed be thy Name Acknowledged and Adored Thy Kingdom come The Empire of thy Grace in this World and of the next Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread The precious Body and Blood of thy Son which is daily consecrated thy Grace and all things necessary for us in the course of this life And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors And lead us not into temptation The People to testifie their concurrence with the Priest in this Prayer answer But deliver us from evil From sin from the snares of this world the flesh and the devil And to shew that this Prayer is pronounc'd in the name of all it is answered Amen LIBERA c. The Priest considering that there is no greater evil nor more contrary to the Holy Communion than that which may trouble and destroy the Peace and Union of Christians beseeches God to deliver us by the Merits of Jesus Christ by the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin of the Apostles and all the Saints and to grant us that Peace and Union which we ought to have with our Saviour and with the other Members of his Church which he signifies by breaking the Hoast and dividing it into three parts That part which he puts upon the Patten signifies the faithful in this life that which he retains in his Hand the faithful that are in Purgatory and that which he breaks the blessed DEliver us O Lord we beseech thee from all evils past present and to come and grant us peace in these our Duties by the intercession of the ever-glorious Virgin Mary Mother of God of thy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul of St. Andrew and all the Saints that being assisted by thy gracious mercy we may be free from all sin and secure from all dangers Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ who liveth and reigneth God with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever The faithful concurring with the Priest answer Amen No Incense is used at this Elevation to signifie that on this day the Jews refused all honour due to God nor are the Bells rung to mind us of the Disciples silence and astonishment After the Deacon hath uncovered the Chalice and the Priest divided the Hoast into three parts over the Chalice he puts the least particle into the Chalice which represents the Estate of the blessed and the other two parts upon the Patten without saying any thing or making the sign of the Cross omitting Pax Domini c. Haec commixtio c. Agnus Dei c. Domine Jesu Christe qui dixisti c. Domine Jesu Christe Pili Dei vivi c. to express unto us that the wholesom effect of Christs Passion and the reconciliation of Men with God was not compleated till after his Resurrection Nor is the Pax given about for the same reason as also to shew our aversion to Judas his traiterous kiss The Priest says the Prayer following to beg of God a disposition requisite for the worthy receiving of the Eucharist GRant O Lord Jesus Christ that this participation of thy body which now though unworthy I intend to receive may not turn to my judgment and condemnation but through thy mercy may be a protection and and a wholsom medicine to my soul and body Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen And having kneeled to adore the Sacrament taking the Hoast between his hands considering he is to receive his God he puts all his confidence in his mercy saying I Will take the Celestial Bread and will call upon the Name of our Lord. And calling to mind how acceptable the Centurion's humility was to the Son of God when he would have honoured him with a visit in imitation of him he protests himself unworthy so great a favour and knocking his breast useth the same words LOrd I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my soul shall be healed When he receives the Body of our Lord he makes the sign of the Cross with the Hoast calling to his mind that 't is that Body which Christ exposed to death to save us THe Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my Soul to Life Everlasting Amen The Priest having taken the Body of Christ the Deacon uncovering the Chalice drinks that piece of the Hoast put into the Chalice together with the Wine therein without saying any thing or making the sign of the Cross to signifie the Wine is not consecrated The Sub-deacon pours wine and water into the Chalice to wash his singers that so the least piece of the
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
fixed in a triangle which he lights one after another to instruct us that the Light of the Gospel which Jesus Christ hath brought unto us is the work of the blessed Trinity to whom we are to render thanks And therefore advancing towards the Altar he thrice repeats Behold the light of Christ The Faithful answer R. Thanks be to God The Deacon disposing himself to receive Commission from the Priest to give God thanks for the favour done us in freeing us from the Tyranny of the Devil and the Slavery of Sin by the Death and Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ whereof the Jewish Pasch was a figure asks his blessing Vouchsafe Father to bless The Priest blessing him saith OUr Lord be in thy lips that thou mayest worthily and competently declare the praises of his Pasch In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Then the Deacon taking the Censor out of the Acolyts hands incenseth the Book thrice in honour of the Holy Trinity which the light of the Gospel revealed unto us as we are taught by Jesus Christ And inviting the Faithful to give God thanks for the Victory which his Son Christ Jesus gained over the Devil and for the favour done unto them by drawing them from darkness and servitude of sin by the light of the Gospel represents unto them that their joy ought to be common to them and to the Angels who rejoyce to see that their number lessened by the fall of Lucifer and his complices is filled up again by humane nature renewed and repaired by Jesus Christ Then the Deacon acknowledging his own unworthiness joyns in Prayer with the Church MAy the angelical troops now rejoyce may the divine mysteries be celebrated with a holy joy may the sound of a comfortable trumpet publish the victory of so great a King and may the whole earth be sensible of the blessing it had by the splendour of the the Eternal King who freed it from that darkness which overspread the whole World May our Mother the Church rejoyce also at the glympse of so resplendent light and may this place resound with the voices of this Congregation And therefore I beseech ye my beloved Brethren here present who enlightened with the admirable splendour of this holy light joyn with me and call upon our Merciful and Almighty God to the end that as he hath been pleased not through my merits to advance me to the number of his Levites so shedding the beams of his light upon me he will give me grace to perfect the praise of this Paschal Candle Through c. Amen The Benediction and Praise of the Paschal Candle is very ancient for this Ceremony is mentioned in Prudentius his Hymn who lived in the fourth Age and St. Gregory Nazianzenus and St. Ambrose Then the Deacon prepares the Faithful to celebrate this Ceremony worthily with him advising them to lift up their hearts to God and to quit all affections to Creatures acknowledging the grace they have received of God by the Light of his Gospel which is represented by the Candle Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit R. Lift up your hearts The Faithful being in the disposition he requires answers We have raised them towards our Lord. Then the Deacon bids the Faithful consider that God so disposed their hearts therefore that they should give publick thanks Let us give thanks to our Lord. The Faithful answer that it is just and reasonable and according they give publick thanks by the Deacon and particular resentments of their hearts by following in their minds the words which the Deacon uses R. It is meet and just The Deacon exhorts the Faithful to give God thanks for that in this Night by the glorious Resurrection of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Merits of his Death he had freed us from the Tyranny of the Devil and from the Bondage of Sin wherein our first Parent by his sin had involved us and for that by the light of his Gospel he had conducted us to the Kingdom of Heaven which he had promised to his faithful Servant as he delivered the Israelites out of the Captivity of Egypt causing a Pillar of Fire to lead them into the Land of Promise IT is truly meet and just that with all affections of our heart and soul and with the ministry of our voice we glorifie the invisible God Father Almighty and his onely Son our Lord Jesus Christ who hath paid Adam's death for us to his Eternal Father and by shedding his innocent blood hath blotted out the hand-writing of our old sins whereby we are subjected to death For these are the Paschal Feasts wherein the true Lamb is immolated and the gates of the Faithful consecrated by his blood This is that night wherein first thou madest our forefathers the Children of Israel to pass the Red Sea dry-foot This is that night which dissipated the darkness of sins by the light of a pillar of fire This is that night which separating through the whole World those that believe in Jesus Christ from the vices of this age and from the darkness wherein sinners are ingaged restores them to grace and associates them to sanctity This is that night wherein the chains of death being broken Christ ascended Conquerour from Hell For it would not have availed us to have been born unless Christ had been pleased to redeem us O God how admirable is thy bounty towards us how inestimable thy charity who didst deliver up thy Son to redeem thy slave O certain necessary sin of Adam to make us sensible of the excess of God's love towards us since it hath been effaced by the death of Jesus Christ O happy fault that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer O truly happy night which alone deserved'st to observe the time and moment of Christ his rising from the dead This is that night of which it is written in the 178th Psalm The night shall shine as the day and the night is my illumination in my delights therefore the sanctification of this night banisheth all crimes washeth away all offences restores to innocence those that had been lost makes glad the afflicted reconciles hatred and enmities restores peace and union and humbles empires Here the Deacon puts the five grains of blest Incense in form of a Cross into the Candle not yet lighted which signifies the dead Body of our Saviour teaching us how adorable the wounds were which he received on the Cross where he offered up himself a Sacrifice for us to God his Father whereof the Evening Sacrifice was a figure in the Old Law and the Sacrifice of the Altar is a representation of it in the Evangelical Law Then the Deacon lighting the Candle which then becomes a figure of Christs Body risen again acknowledges the advantage we have received by his Resurrection REceive then O Holy Father from us on this happy night the Evening-Sacrifice of
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
of blessed Spirits pray for us St. John Baptist pray for us All ye Holy Patriarchs pray for us St. Peter pray for us St. Paul pray for us St. Andrew pray for us St. John pray for us All ye Holy Apostles and Evangelists pray for us All ye Holy Disciples of our Lord pray for us St. Stephen pray for us St. Laurence pray for us St. Vincent pray for us All ye Holy Martyrs pray for us St. Sylvester pray for us St. Gregory pray for us St. Augustine pray for us All ye Holy Bishops and Confessours pray for us All ye Holy Doctors pray for us St. Anthony pray for us St. Bennet pray for us St. Dominick pray for us St. Francis pray for us All ye Holy Priests and Levites pray for us All ye Holy Monks and Hermits pray for us St. Mary Magdalene pray for us St. Agnes pray for us St. Cecily pray for us St. Catherine pray for us St. Agatha pray for us St. Anastasia pray for us All ye Holy Virgins and Widows pray for us All ye Men and Women Saints of God make intercession for us Be merciful unto us spare us O Lord. Be merciful unto us graciously hear us O Lord. From all evil O Lord deliver us From all sin O Lord deliver us From everlasting death O Lord deliver us Through the mystery of thy holy Incarnation O Lord deliver us Through thy coming O Lord deliver us Through thy Nativity O Lord deliver us Through thy Baptism and Holy Fasting O Lord deliver us Through thy Cross and Passion O Lord deliver us Through thy Death and Burial O Lord deliver us Through thy Holy Resurrection O Lord deliver us Through thy admirable Ascension O Lord deliver us Through the coming of the Holy Ghost the comforter O Lord deliver us In the Day of Judgment O Lord deliver us We sinners do beseech thee to hear us Here the Priest with his Ministers accompanying him go into the Sacristy to vest themselves for the celebrating of Mass the Litanies in the mean time being continued by the Quire That thou spare us we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to govern and preserve thy Holy Church we beseech thee to hear us That thou vouchsafe to preserve our Apostolick Prelate and all Ecclesiastical Orders in Holy Religion we beseech thee to hear us That thou vouchsafe to humble the enemies of thy Holy Church we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to give Peace and true Concord to Christian Kings and Princes we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to comfort and keep us in thy Holy Service we beseech thee hear us That thou render eternal good things to our benefactors we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to give and preserve the fruits of the earth we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe to give eternal rest to all Faithful departed we beseech thee hear us That thou vouchsafe graciously to hear us we beseech thee hear us Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world spare us O Lord. Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world hear us O Lord. Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy on us O Lord. Christ hear us Christ graciously hear us The Litanies being ended the Priest with his Attendance come to the foot of the Altar where he makes his Confession then he ascends the Altar and kissing it incenseth it as usually In the mean time Kyrie-Eleison is sung as before pag. 36. And as the Glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ crowned the Mystery of his Incarnation the People testifie their joy and acknowledgments in singing the Canticle which the Angels used when this Divine word became Man Gloria in Excelsis c. as before pag. 167. You are to observe that this days Mass belongs to the following Night for it was the custom formerly to celebrate this Service at Night and the People were wont to watch till Midnight expecting the hour in which our Saviour rose again And likewise that there is no introit said to intimate unto us that as yet Christs Resurrection was not manifested unto Men. Gloria in Excelsis is said to observe unto us the Joy conceived by the Angels the first Witnesses of Christs Resurrection wherefore they begin to ring out the Bells The COLLECT The Priest beseeches God that having made the new Baptized partakers of the Merit of his Resurrection by raising them from the death of sin he will please to preserve them in the Life they have new received Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O God who hast illustrated this Night by the glorious Resurrection of our Lord conserve the Spirit of Adoption given unto those new Children of thy Church that being renewed both in mind and body they may serve thee with a pure heart through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Colossians Chap. 3. The Church instructs Christians to look upon themselves as Persons revived by Jesus Christ and in this quality they ought not to place their hopes and affections upon this World but that Heaven is their Country where they should converse and dwell in Spirit that they raise up themselves to the Right Hand of God where our Redeemer sits They must be as it were dead to the World and not live but to God alone The life of grace works in them what the Root does invisibly in Trees for as the Trees in Winter seem dead their life being only preserved in their Roots hid under ground but at Spring this hidden life makes them wax green again and resume all their beauties So during this life the Faithful are as in a state of death because they apply not themselves to the exterior attentions of this because they renounce the delights thereof the satisfactions of the flesh and all visible things their life is hid with Jesus Christ in God that is they live not but to God alone by the grace of Christ and what they must be appears not as yet till the Spring-time of Eternity shall succeed the Winter of this present Life that is when Jesus Christ shall come to judge all men Their life which was hidden in Jesus Christ as in their Root will make them flourish for all Eternity and all that was corruptible in them will become incorruptible and all that was mortal will put on immortality glory and splendor BRethren if you be risen with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God Mind the things that are above not the things that are upon the Earth For you are dead and your life is with Christ in God when Christ shall appear your life then you also shall appear with him in Glory The Priest invites the People to praise the Blessed Trinity for the graces poured upon them by the vertue of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by
saying thrice Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia The Quire concurring with the Priest in like acknowledgments repeats Alleluia thrice also and enlarge their Praises by the following verse of the hundred seventeenth Psalm V. COnfess ye to our Lord because he is good because his Mercy continueth for ever Then the Tract is said out of the 116 Psalm Then the Tract is said taken out of the 116 Psalm To acknowledge with thanks the Obligation we have to God for calling us to the Heavenly Inheritance by the Resurrection of his Son and to testifie our desire of corresponding to our Vocation according to the instruction given us by St. Paul in the Epistle of this days Mass PRaise our Lord all ye Gentiles praise him all ye People V. Because his Mercy is confirmed unto us and his Truth remains for ever Munda cor meum c. as before pag. 14. No Tapers are carried when the Gospel is read to note unto us that Christs Resurrection who is the True Light of the World was not as yet manifested to men But Incense is used to represent the Perfumes prepared by the three Maries to anoint our Saviours Body The sequence of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew Chap. 28. Wherein the Church teaches us how Jesus Christ manifested his Resurrection and with what Charity and Zeal we ought to celebrate the memory of it in imitation of those Holy Women whose Piety is proposed unto us in this Gospel IN the evening of Sabbath which dawneth upon the first of the Sabbath came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulcher And behold there was made a great earthquake For the Angel of our Lord descended from Heaven and coming rolled back the stone and sate upon it And his countenance was as Lightning and his garment as Snow And for fear of him the watchmen were frighted and became as dead And the Angel answering said to the Women fear not you For I know that you seek Jesus that was crucified He is not here for he is risen as he said Come and see the place where our Lord was sate And going quickly tell ye his Disciples that he is risen and behold he goeth before you into Galilee there you shall see him Lo I have fore-told you The Credo is not said because the Neophytes came to recite it when they received their Baptism but the Priest says Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray Nor is the Offertory said because the Neophytes not being yet of the Fraternity did not as yet make any Oblations SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER c. until the Secret as before p. 56. The SECRET The Priest in the name of the Faithful begs Gods grace that he may worthily celebrate the Mysteries of the Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ and thereby receive its wholsom effects REceive O Lord we beseech thee the Prayers of thy People with the Oblations of these Hoasts that the Paschal Mysteries which we celebrate being wholesom unto us may by thine assistance obtain us life everlasting Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Then the Priest in the name of the Faithful acknowledges their obligations to give God continual Thanks in that he raised Jesus Christ again whereby to revive and give us Life Everlasting And protesting himself unworthy to discharge this Duty he sings that Hymn which the Angels Thrones and Dominations use in Heaven to God's Honour Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus and the Canticle Benedictus qui venit c. which the Children sung at Christs Triumphant entry into Hierusalem to testifie the Spiritual Union of Angels and Men to praise the Divine Majesty and to confess that we ought to have the Purity of Angels and Innocence of Children to praise God as we ought IT is truly meet and just right and wholesom O Lord that at all times we set forth thy praises But more especially in this Night wherein Jesus Christ our Paschal Lamb was immolaâ—â—d For he is the true Lamb who hath taken away the sins of the World who by dying hath destroyed our death and by rising again hath restored life And therefore with Angels and Arch-angels with the Thrones and Dominations together with the Celestial Host we sing this Hymn of thy Glory without end saying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God of Sabbath The Heavens and Earth are full of thy Glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he that comes in the name of our Lord Hosanna in the highest The CANON to Communicantes as before pag. 63 c. The Priest by vertue of the Union of the Church Militant with the Triumphant and in memory of this Sacred Night wherein our Saviour rose again beseeches God to supply the defect of his Prayer he now makes for his Protection by the Merits and Suffrages of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Apostles Martyrs and of all the Saints PArtaking of the same Communion and celebrating the Solemnity of this blessed Night wherein our Saviour rose again according to the flesh and in the first place honouring the memory of the ever glorious Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ of the blessed Apostles and Martyrs Peter and Paul Andrew James John Thomas James Philip Bartholomew Matthew Simon and Thaddeus Linus Cletus Clement Xystus Cornelius Cyprian Lawrence Chrysogonus John and Paul Cosme and Damian and of all thy Saints by whose Merits and Prayers grant that in all things we may be guarded with thy Holy Protection through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Amen HANC IGITVR OBLATIONEM The Priest spreads his hands over the Hoast and Chalice to testifie to God that he Offers up and Sacrificeth himself joyntly therewith begging four things First that he will please to accept this Oblation Secondly to grant us Peace Thirdly to deliver us from Eternal Damnation Fourthly to place us among the Elect. WE therefore beseech thee O Lord to receive graciously this Offering of our Servitude and of thy whole Family which we present unto thee also for those whom thou hast vouchsafed to regenerate by Water and the Holy Ghost granting them remission of all their sins giving us Peace in these our days and preserving us from Eternal Damnation to command us to be reckoned among thy Elect Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen All is said as before till you come to Agnus Dei. The Pax is not given nor Agnus Dei said which is wont to beg of God the wholsom effect of this Holy Kiss because the Neophytes not having as yet Communicated are not owned for Brethren and were not admitted to this Holy Kiss of Peace And because Peace is the principal disposition of this Sacrament which is the Sacrament of Union and Charity the Priest begs it of God for the Faithful who prepare themselves to receive the Holy Communion and acknowledging himself unworthy that his Prayers should be heard beseecheth his Majesty that he will have regard to his Goodness wherewith he presented Peace unto us in commanding us to seek
it by the Faith of the Church which asks it O Lord Jesus Christ who didst say to thy Apostles Peace I leave unto you my Peace I give unto you regard not my sins but rather look upon the Faith of thy Church and grant it that Peace and Union which may be according to thy will who livest and reignest God for ever and ever Amen The Priest having prayed for the Faithful prays for himself to obtain a disposition requisite to receive the Eucharist worthily O Lord Jesus Christ Son of the living God who by thy Fathers Will and by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost by thy death hast given life to the whole World deliver me by this thy Holy Body and Bloud from all my sins and from all evil make me a true observer of thy Commandments and that I be never separated from thee who being God livest and reignest for ever Amen O Lord Jesus Christ let not this participation of thy Body which I though unworthy now presume to receive be to my Judgment and Damnation but through thy Mercy a wholesom Medicine to my Infirmities who being God livest and reignest with God the Father in the Unity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen After he hath kneeled to adore the Blessed Sacrament taking the Host into his hands and considering that he is to receive his God he puts all his confidence in his Mercy saying I Will take the Bread of Heaven and will call upon the name of our Lord. And representing to himself how acceptable the Centurion's Humility was to the Son of God when he would have honoured him with a Visit in imitation of him he protests himself unworthy of so great a favour and striking his breast repeats the same words thrice LOrd I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my Soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my Soul shall be healed Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof only say the word and my Soul shall be healed In receiving the Body of our Lord he makes the sign of the Cross with the Hoast calling to his memory that it is the Body which Jesus Christ exposed to death to save us THE Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my Soul to Life Everlasting Amen In taking the Chalice he gives God thanks for the advantages he receives by the Communion of the Bloud of Christ by those words of the 117 and 118 Psalm WHat shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits to me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of our Lord. In singing his praises I will call upon our Lord and I shall be safe from mine enemies When he receives the Bloud of our Lord making on himself the sign of the Cross with the Chalice and meditating that it is the Bloud which Jesus Christ would shed to save us he says THe Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my Soul to Life Everlasting Amen Whilst he takes Wine in the Chalice to wash his mouth and fingers that so the least particle of the Sacrament may not remain there and to shew the care he must take to preserve himself in Purity he says this Prayer GRant O Lord that we may receive that with a pure heart which we have taken by our mouths and that of a Temporal Gift it may become an Eternal Remedy unto us In taking the second Absolution he says LEt thy Body O Lord which I have received and thy Bloud which I have drunk cleave unto my bowels and grant that the least spot of sin may not remain in me who have been satiated with thy pure and holy Sacraments who livest and reignest world without end Amen Neither Communion nor Post-Communion is said because the Neophytes did not receive at this Mass But the Priest to give God Thanks for the Benefits we have received by the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ uses that Thanksgiving which the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of our Saviour did for the whole Body of the Church Secondly to testifie that we ought not to be less sensible of the Benefits received from God by the Merits of his Son than the Saints of the Old Testament to whom God had revealed them the Church says the 116 Psalm Thirdly the Church teaches us that in commemorating the Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ we ought to present unto our Saviour the perfumes of our Prayers and Good works in imitation of the Charity and Zeal of those good Women who came to his Sepulcher at Day-break with their Persumes to pay him the Duty of their Piety And therefore the Antiphon is taken out of the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia PSALM CXVI PRaise our Lord all ye Gentiles praise him all ye people Because his mercy is confirmed on us and his truth remains for ever Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning and now and ever and world without end Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Another ANTIPHON out of the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew IN the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn in the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the Sepulcher Alleluia The Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary Luke 2. The Church in this Canticle represents us with an Abridgment of the Promises and Mysteries of the Salvation and teaches us that as the Son of God became Man to repair by his Humility what Adam had lost by his Pride he was pleased to chuse the Blessed Virgin to be his Mother for the accomplishing this great work in regard of her Humility MY soul doth magnifie our Lord. And my spirit hath rejoyced in God my saviour Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is his Name And his mercy from generation unto generations to them that fear him He hath shewed might in his arm he hath dispersed the proud in the conceit of their heart He hath deposed the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble The hungry he hath filled with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away He hath received Israel his child being mindful of his mercy As he spake to our fathers to Abraham and his seed for ever Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning and now and ever world without end ANTIPHON In the end of the Sabbath as before pag. 304. The Incense puts us in mind of the Piety of these Holy Women who carried Perfumes to our Saviours Sepulcher And the Church beseeches God that our Prayers may ascend as this Incense unto him Our Lord be with you R. And
with thy spirit Let us Pray The Church begs of God the wholsom effect of the Passion and Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ POur forth upon us O Lord the Spirit of thy Charity that those who are satiated with thy Paschal Sacraments through thy goodness may have but one heart and one will Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The Priest coming to the end of the Mass turns to the Faithful exhorting them not to render themselves unworthy of Gods Assistance saying Our Lord be with you The Faithful answer wishing him the like R. And with thy spirit Then the Priest tells the People that Mass being ended they may retire saying You may withdraw Mass is ended Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia The Faithful answer Thanks be to God Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia All the rest as before pag. 80 81 82. At EVEN-SONG Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia The Antiphon as before pag. 304. out of the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew The Canticle of the blessed Virgin out of the 2d Chapter of St. Luke As also the Antiphon in the end of the Sabbath c. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray Spiritum nobis Domine c. as before p. 305. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us bless our Lord. Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Thanks be to God Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Pray for the Writer UPON THE SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ AT PRIME Pater noster c. Ave Maria Credo c. INcline unto my aid O God R. O Lord make hast to help me Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning be now and ever world without end Amen Alleluia Deus in Nomine tuo as before 132. Beati immaculi c. as before 133. Retribue te as before 135. Then the following Antiphon is said This is the day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O Lord God Almighty who hath caused us to come to the beginning of this day save us this day by thy power to the end that this day we fall into no sin but that our words may ever proceed and our thoughts and works may be directed to execute thy justice Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit R. Let us bless our Lord. R. Thanks be to God In the Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches the Martyrology is read and then the Priest says V. Precious in the sight of our Lord. R. Is the death of his Saints The blessed Virgin Mary and all Saints make intercssion for us to our Lord that we may obtain to be assisted and saved by him who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever Amen V. Incline unto my aid O God R. O Lord make hast to help me Which is repeated three times and then is said Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. V. Lord have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us V. Pater noster c. In a low voice until V. And lead us not into tempation R. But deliver us from evil V. O Lord look upon thy servants and upon thy works and guide their children R. And let the splendour of the Lord our God shine upon us and direct the works of our hands upon us and direct the work of our hands Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. Let us Pray VOuchsafe O Lord God King of Heaven and Earth this day to direct and sanctifie rule and govern our hearts and bodies our senses speeches and deeds in thy Law and in the works of thy Commandments that here and ever we may deserve to be safe and free by thy assistance O Saviour of the world Who livest and reignest world without end Amen V. Vouchsafe Father to bless R. Almighty God dispose our days and actions in thy holy peace This short Lesson is taken out of the Third Chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians IF then ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God set your affections on things above not in things on earth But O Lord have mercy on us R. Thanks be to God V. Our help is in the Name of our Lord. R. Who made Heaven and Earth V. God bless us R. God bless us The BENEDICTION O Lord bless and defend us from all evil and bring us to Life Everlasting and make the Souls of the Faithful departed rest in peace At the Third Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Deus in adjutorium as before pag. 348. Alleluia Legem pone c. as before pag. 136. Memor esto c. as before p. 138. Bonitatem fecisti c. as before p. 140. Then this following Antiphon is said Ant. This day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray O God who this day opened unto us by thy only begotten Son the entrance to Eternity through his victory over death vouchsafe by thy mercy to grant those Petitions which thy prevenient grace inspires Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with thee livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen At sprinkling Holy Water As formerly the Church was accustomed to Baptize the Catechumens upon the Eves of Easter and Whit-Sunday The Priest being to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar on Easter-day and Whit-Sunday did consider them ready to approach the Altar pure and holy all their sins being effaced by the Sacrament of Baptism And therefore he besprinkleth them with Water out of the Font as hath been said to admonish them to be careful to preserve themselves in that Innocence which they received by Baptism and to teach them that they have been entirely purified from all their sins which is not to be doubted with failing in our Faith The Ant. Asperges me is not said nor the Psalm Miserere which signifie the sins wherewith we are defiled and from which we ought to be cleared But instead of Asperges me he says the following Ant. Vidi Aquam which represents the Excellency of the Waters of Baptism which Jesus Christ instituted to wash away the sins of Men by vertue of the Bloud which he shed and this was signified to us by the Water which issued with Bloud from his side which he called his Temple in the 2d Chapter of St. John and was figured in the 38th and 47th Chapters of the Prophet Ezechiel I Saw waters issuing forth of
the temple on the right side Praise to God And all who were sprinkled with this water were saved and they shall say Praise to God praise to God The Priest begs of God that the Angel of his great Council our Saviour Jesus Christ who descends from Heaven by the Consecration of these Divine Mysteries will assist all those of his Church with his healing Grace that being purified they may worthily present themselves before his Majesty V. O Lord shew unto us thy mercy Praise be to God R. And give us thy salvation R. O Lord hear my Prayer And let my cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us Pray VOuchsafe O Lord Holy Father Almighty and Everlasting God to hear us and send us from Heaven thy Holy Angel to defend sustain protect visit and guard us all that here inhabit Through Christ c. Amen ON EASTER-DAY At MASS The station in the Church of St. Mary Major At Rome the Station is this day at our Ladies Church to represent unto us that no Creature had so great a share in the Glory of our Saviour's Resurrection as the Blessed Virgin because the Body of this adorable Saviour risen again was formed in her Womb and as by her Faith she merited to be the Mother of our Saviour in his Incarnation so by the same Faith she merited to receive all those advantages due unto her as a Mother in the glorious Resurrection of her Son The INTROIT taken out of the 138th Psalm The Church teaches us that Christs Humanity was not separated from his Divinity neither in his Death nor Resurrection and that nothing happened in the marvellous work of our Redemption but by order of the Divine Providence whose Judgments are incomprehensible 'T was Gods will that his only Son should become Man suffer Death and rise again to the end that having by his death expiated the sins of Men which subjected them to death he gave them hopes of Resurrection by his own and of following him their Head and Leader into Glory whither he went before to establish them there with him I Am risen and yet I am with thee Praise God Thou hast put thy hand upon me Praise God Thy knowledge is wonderful Praise God praise God PSALM CXXXVIII In this Psalm the Church instructs us that there is not any Man so Holy who can represent himself before God at the Resurrection without trembling and dread of his Judgments That Christ was the only Person not apprehensive of them being absolutely assured that he was free from all that could be offensive to the Divine Eye that only knows perfectly all that is in Man LOrd thou hast proved me and hast known me thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up Kyrie eleison c. as before pag. 36. And as our Saviours Glorious Resurrection crowns the Mystery of his Incarnation The Faithful testifying their joy and acknowledgments by singing that Canticle which the Angels used when the Divine Word became Man to the end to praise God for this great work which gave to his Majesty a perfect Adorer and to Men a Sovereign Mediator who reconciles them by his Divine Grace unto him and settles Peace between Heaven and Earth which Sin had broken Gloria in Excelsis Deo c. as before pag. 167. The COLLECT The Faithful beg of God that as Christs Humanity being united to his Divine Person by an Hypostatick Union was never separated from his Divinity so that being united to Jesus Christ as to their Head by the Union of his Grace may never be divided from his Majesty but being freed from Death and Sin conquered by Christ they may follow him as their Guide into the state of Glory whither he is gone before them to establish them there with him Let us Pray O God who this day hast opened to us by thy only begotten Son the entrance to Eternity through his victory over death vouchsafe by thy mercy to grant those Petitions which thy preventing grace inspires Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ who with thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God for ever and ever Amen The Lesson out of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians and Fifth Chapter The Church instructs us that we are to dye unto sin that so we may be capable of the benefit of Jesus Christs Resurrection That is to say that as Jesus Christ dyed and by dying destroyed that flesh which in appearance was Criminal and as he extinguished that sin which was not in him but because he would take it upon him to satisfie the Divine Justice so we must put off the Old Man which truly is a sinner and putting on the New destroy sin which is truly ours to live the life of Grace which the life of Glory will follow if we be united as perfectly with Jesus Christ as the condition of our Mortality permits To entertain us in this new life of Grace given us by the Merits of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ This Divine Saviour was pleased by an excess of love to give himself unto us for our Spiritual Nourishment figured by the Paschal Lamb. This Lamb immolated in the Ancient Law was the Jewish Pasch and Jesus immolated on the Cross is our Pasch The Jews were not to eat the Paschal Lamb but with unleavened Bread yet since it was but a figure of Jesus Christ who gives himself in the new Banquet whereunto he calls us far more excellent than their Pasch we ought to purifie our hearts from the old leaven that is from our former sins and instead of Malice and Iniquity we there must lodge Innocence and Truth being obliged to be as new Paste without Leven that is without sin BRethren purge the old leven that you may be a new paste as you are azyms for our Pasch Christ is immolated therefore let us feast not in old leven nor in the leven of malice and wickedness but in the azym of sincerity and truth The GRADUAL taken out of the 117th Psalm The Church representing unto us how Jesus Christ hath by his Death freed us from the Tyranny of the Devil and Servitude of Sin and how by his Resurrection hath given us here a new Life and Glory hereafter expressed her resentments and joy in the same words which the Royal Prophet used in expectation of this day revealed unto him by God according to St. Chrysostome in his Homily upon this day THis is the day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it V. Confess ye unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth for ever Alleluia Alleluia V. Jesus Christ who was our Pasch hath been immolated The Church by the following Prose tells us that our sins and the Devil being vanquished by Jesus Christ we have cause to sing Songs of Praise with more joy than the Israelites when they had passed
the Red Sea and beheld the Egyptians on all sides stretcht out upon the Sands and their Chariots drowned in the bottom of the Sea The PROSE BRing all ye dear-bought Nations bring Your richest Praises to your King That spotless Lamb who more than due Paid for his Sheep and those Sheep you That Innocent Son who wrought your peace And made his Father's anger cease Life and Death together fought Each to a strange extream were brought Life died but soon revived again And even by death's self has slain Say happy Magdalen O say What didst thou see these by the way I saw the Tomb of my dear Lord I saw himself and him ador'd I saw the Napkin and the Sheet That bound his Head and wrapt his Feet I heard the Angels witness bear Jesus is risen he 's not here Go tell his followers they shall see Thine and their hope in Galilee They Lord with faithful heart and chearful voice We on thy glorious rising day rejoyce O thou whose conquering pow'r o'recame the grave By thy victorious grace us sinners save Amen Alleluia Munda cor meum as before pag. 14. The Sequence of the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark Chap. 16. MUNDA COR MEUM c. as before pag. 14. Wherein the Church relating what happened at our Saviours Sepulcher at his Resurrection teacheth us what we ought to do to prepare our selves for the celebrating worthily this Solemnity and then proposes to us the advantages we reap 1. This Gospel teacheth us that the three Maries went early in the Morning with Perfumes to seck Jesus Christ in his Sepulcher The Example of these Holy Women tell us our obligation of going to seek for Christ in his Sepulcher as soon as we are enlightned with his grace That is in the Sacrament of Penance which is the figure of it there to bury our sins making a stock of Good Works signified by the Perfumes 2. These Holy Women had the happiness to see the Angels to teach us that the Souls which seek Christ with Holy desires and the Odour of Vertues have a particular assistance from the Blessed Spirits 3. The Angel appeared to these Holy Women in white as a token of Innocence and Joy to tell us with what purity and joy we are to solemnize the Resurrection of our Lord. This Joy is common to us with the Angels who rejoyce because the void places of their Hierarchies are replenished and we ought to rejoyce for that by its vertue we are raised in this World from the death of sin to a life of grace and we receive a pledge of happy Immortality whereunto we aspire 4. The Angel appeared sitting on the right hand which signifies that by Christs Resurrection we are called to possess Spiritual Blessings expressed in Holy Scripture by the right hand 5. These Holy Women were surprised with fear at their arrival but afterwards were emboldned by the Angel To teach us that Souls which seek God carefully and are toucht with a Holy fear which is the first gift of the Holy Ghost are confirmed with Celestial consolations 6. The Angel recommended to these Holy Women to publish our Saviours Resurrection namely to St. Peter to shew us the Providence which God hath for true Penitents and the hope he gives them to partake of the Glory of his Sons Resurrection AT that time Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome brought spices that coming they might anoint Jesus And very early the first of the Sabboths they came to the monument the sun being now risen And they said one to another Who shall roul us back the stone from the door of the monument And looking they saw the stone rouled back for it was very great And entring into the monument they saw a young man sitting on the right hand covered with a white robe And they were astonished who said to them Be not dismayed You seek Jesus of Nazareth that was crucified he is risen he is not here behold the place where they laid him But go tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee there you shall see him as he told you CREDO as before pag. 54 55. The OFFERTORY taken out of the 75th Psalm The Church represents unto us that if the Earth trembled at Christs Resurrection and that all present were astonished at his going forth of his Tomb when he came in Mercy to men how much more cause have we to fear and tremble when we consider the severity of his Justice at his coming to examine us a Judge whose Judgments are so piercing that he sees into the most secret corner of our hearts yea what our selves cannot discover when at the general Resurrection he shall come to Judge the living and the dead in such Majesty and Power that the Heavens and all the Elements will be reduced to a condition of Horror and Terror This fear of Gods Judgment when it is joyned to the hope we have through his Mercy to reap the Fruit of our Saviours Resurrection makes our hopes the more beneficial THe earth trembled and was still when God arose in judgment Alleluia Suscipe Sancte Pater c. till the Secret as before pag. 56. The SECRET The Priest begs of God on the behalf of the Faithful to give them the grace to celebrate worthily the Mysteries of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ so that they may reap its wholsom effects ACcept O Lord we beseech thee the Prayers of thy People with the Oblation of these Hosts that these Paschal Mysteries which we celebrate may be wholesom and by thy assistance availing us to obtain Life Everlasting Through our Lord Jesus Christ c. The Preface till Vere dignum justum est c. as before pag. 60 c. The Priest in the name of the Faithful acknowledges the Obligation we have of giving continual thanks to God for Christs Resurrection whereby to raise us again to Life Everlasting and confessing that of himself he cannot worthily acquit this Duty he joyns with the Angels Thrones and Dominations and the rest of the Celestial Spirits who in Heaven sing incessantly Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus and the Canticle which the Children sung at Christ's Triumphant entry into Jerusalem Benedictus qui venit c. as a testimony of the Spiritual Union between Men and Angels in praising his Divine Majesty and to confess that the Purity of Angels and Innocence of Infants is required to praise God worthily IT is truly meet and just right and wholesom O Lord that at all times we set forth thy praises But more especially in this Night wherein Jesus Christ our Paschal Lamb was immolated who hath taken away the sins of the World who by dying hath destroyed our death and by rising again hath restored life And therefore with Angels and Archangels with the Thrones and Dominations together with the Celestial Host we sing this Hymn of thy Glory without end saying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God of Sabbath The
habitation which thou hast wrought O Lord. Thy sanctuary Lord which thy hands have confirmed our Lord shall reign for ever and ever more For Pharao on horseback entred in with his chariots and horsemen into the sea and our Lord brought back upon them the waters of the sea But the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst thereof Ant. Lord thou hast exhorted thy people to put their trust in thee and thou hast comforted them with thy holy grace ANTIPHON taken out of the Fifty third Chapter of the Prophet Isaie The Church having represented unto us under the Figure of the Delivery of the Israelites from the Captivity of Egypt God's Bounty in freeing us from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin by the Merits of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ She now shews in this Antiphon after what manner he bought us to wit by voluntarily sacrificing himself for us Ant. He was offered because himself would and he carried our sins PSALM 148. The Church in the following Psalms shews us the Obligation we have to praise God and to give him Thanks that he has created us and redeemed us from the Slavery of Sin by his only Son and for the Care he has to preserve us and deliver us from the Temptations Persecutions and other Miscries of this Lise and for the Promise he has made us of Life everlasting PRaise ye our Lord from the heavens praise ye him in the high places Praise ye him all his angels praise ye him all his hosts Praise ye him sun and moon praise him all ye stars and lights Praise him ye heavens of heavens and the waters that are above the heavens let them praise the name of our Lord. Because he said and they were made he commanded and they were created He established them for ever and for ever and ever he put a precept and it shall not pass Praise our Lord from the earth ye dragons and all the depths Fire hail snow ice spirit of storms which do his word Mountains and all little hills trees that bear fruit and all cedars Beasts and all cattel serpents and feathered fowls Kings of the earth and all peoples princes and all judges of the earth Young men and virgins old with young let them praise the name of our Lord because the name of him alone is exalted The confession of him above heaven and earth and he hath exalted the horn of his people An hymn to all his saints to the children of Israel a people approaching unto him PSALM 149. SIng ye to our Lord a new song let his praiâ—â— be in the church of saints Lord â—â—â—el be joyful in him that made him and let the children of Sion rejoyce in their king Let them praise his name in quire on timbrel and psalter let them sing to him Because our Lord is well pleased in his people and he will exalt the meek unto salvation The saints shall rejoyce in glory they shall be joyful in their beds The exaltations of God in their throat and two-edged swords in their hands To do revenge in the nations chastisements among their peoples To bind their kings in fetters and their nobles in iron manacles That they may do in them the judgment that is written This glory is to all his saints PSALM 150. PRaise ye our Lord in his holies praife him in the firmament of his strength Praise ye him in his powers praise ye him according to the multitude of his greatness Praise ye him in the sound of trumpet praise ye him on psalter and harp Praise ye him on timbrel and quire praise ye him on strings and organ Praise ye him on well-sounded cymbals praise ye him on cymbals of jubilation Let every spirit praise our Lord. Ant. He was offered because himself would and he carried our sins The Chapter and Hymn are here omitted The Chapter is not here said to shew us that the Jews profited themselves nothing from the Instructions of the Prophets The Hymn is also here omitted to shew that the Honor due to God was violated through the Wickedness of the Jews and Persidiousness of Judas which the Fortieth Psalm represents unto us by the Treason of Achitophel V. The man whom I loved and in whom I confided R. Who did eat my bread betrayed me through great perfidiousness ANTHYMN taken out of the Twenty sixth Chapter of St. Matthew Ant. But the Traytor gave them a sign saying Whomsoever I shall kiss that is he hold him Canticle of Zachary taken out of the First Chapter of St. Luke The Church proposes unto us this Canticle of Sr. John Baptist's Father to represent unto us the greatness of Gods Bounty and the excessive Baseness of the Jews because God sent them not only his Prophets to declare unto them the Coming of his Son the Redeemer of the World but likewise his Forerunner to advertise them he was now come and to shew them him Yet were they so unhappy as to blind themselves and in stead of owning and acknowledging him they by a most persidious Treachery put him to death BLessed be our Lord God of Israel because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people And he hath erected the horn of salvation to us in the house of David his servant As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that are from the beginning Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us To work mercy with our fathers and to remember his holy testament The oath which he sware to Abraham our father that he would give to us That without fear being delivered from the hand of our enemies we may serve him In holiness and Justice before him all our days And thou child shalt be called the prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of our Lord to prepare his ways To give knowledge of salvation to his people unto remission of their sins Through the bowels of the mercy of our God in which the Orient from on high hath visited us To illuminate them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to direct our feet in the way of peace All the Tapers being extinguished saving one shews us that the Light of Faith wherewith the Prophets enlightned the Jews was extinguished in them by putting to death the Saviour of the World The Church also represents unto us by that one Taper left lighted during the singing of the foregoing Canticle that JESUS CHRIST whom St. John declared to be the true Light though he died according to his Humanity yet always lived according to his Divinity Ant. And the Traytor gave them a sign saying Whomsoever I shall kiss that is he hold him Here the lighted Taper is hid to shew that the Divinity of CHRIST was concealed in his Humanity according to which he suffered himself to be delivered into the Hands of the Jews by a most profound and incomprehensible Obedience V. Christ was made for us
obedient unto death Here following they kneel and say Our Father c. Miserere mei Deus as before p. 65. A PRAYER To beg God's Mercy towards us for the Sufferings and Death of his Son Jesus Christ LOok down O Lord we beseech thee upon this thy Family for which our Lord Jesus Christ doubted not to be betrayed into the hands of the Wicked and so undergo the Torments of the Cross who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost world without end Amen By the Noise is represented the Commotion of the Jews in apprehending JESUS CHRIST After which the lighted Taper is taken from under the Altar to signifie the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST According to the Custom of Paris the Anthymn of Benedictus being repeated they kneel down and two Clerks go behind the Altar where the lighted Taper was set which represented JESUS CHRIST the true Light of the World and there they sing with the rest of the Quire the following Versicles to express the Sighs and Moans of the Women that accompanied our Lord JESUS CHRIST to his Passion and to excite in our Hearts the Affections and Sentiments of Piety in meditating on the Sufferances of JESUS CHRIST The Clerks Lord have mercy on us The Quire Lord have mercy on us The Cl. Lord have mercy on us spare thy servants Christ our Lord became obedient unto death for us The Qu. Lord have mercy on us The Cl. Who camest into the world to suffer for us The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Who hast said by the mouth of the prophet Osee chap. 13. I will be thy death O Death The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Whose Hands being stretched on the Cross didst draw all the world unto thee The Qu. Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Meek Lamb to whom the Wolf gave a mortal Kiss The Qu. Lord have mercy on us The Cl. And thou wouldst thy self be bound to free us from the Bonds of Death The Qu. Jesus Christ have mercy on us The Cl. Life died on the Wood of the Cross and triumphed over Hell and Death The Qu. Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Spare thy servants Christ our Lord became obedient unto death for us The Cl. Even to the death of the Cross Miserere mei c. as before p. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quaesumus c. as before p. 80. AT COMPLINE They neither say Jube Domne Benedicere nor give the Blessing to shew us that the Author of all Blessing is dead The Lesson is likewise omitted to represent unto us that the Preaching of the Gospel and the Voice of them who ought to instruct others to follow JESUS CHRIST did cease during his Passion Nor is our Lord's Prayer repeated to signifie the Trouble and Forgetfulness of the Disciples of our Saviour After the Confession and Absolution the Psalm Cum invocarem c. is said as before p. 14. But the Hymn is omitted at the end to declare that through the Impiety of the Jews the Honor due to God was violated The Chapter is not said to shew us that the Jews did not profit by the Instructions of the Prophets Nunc dimittis c. is said as before p. 20. to represent the Perfidiousness and Ingratitude of the Jews who were so blind and obstinate as not to acknowledge the Saviour of the World Then is said the following Versicle V. Christ became obedient unto death for us After this Versicle the Pater noster c. is repeated to instruct us in our Duty to pray and watch against all the Accidents of this Life Miserere mei Deus as before p. 65. Respice Quaesumus as before p. 80. THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON Holy-Thursday FOR THE FRIDAY AT MATTINS FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 2. The Royal Prophet describes the Persecutions which the Jews and Gentiles raised against the Messias and his People 2. He describes the Eternal and Temporal Generation of the Messias and the Extent of his Dominion over the whole Earth what Obstacle soever the Persecutors could do against it 3. He represents the Punishments wherewith God threatens the Wicked For so the Apostle St. Peter explicates this Psalm in the Fourth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Ant. The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and against his Christ WHy did the Gentiles rage and peoples meditate vain things The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and against his Christ Let us break their bonds asunder and let us cast away their yoke from us He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them and our Lord shall scorn them Then shall he speak to them in his wrath and in his fury he shall trouble them But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy hill preaching his precept The Lord said to me Thou art my Son I this day have begotten thee Ask of me and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance and thy possession the ends of the earth Thou shalt rule them in a rod of iron and as a potters vessel thou shalt break them in pieces And now ye kings understand take instruction you that judge the earth Serve our Lord in fear and rejoyce to him with trembling Apprehend discipline lest sometimes our Lord be wrath and you perish out of the just way When his wrath shall burn in short time blessed are all that trust in him Ant. The kings of the earth stood up and the princes came together in one against our Lord and his Christ PSALM 21. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST pronounced the first Words of this Psalm when he was fastned to the Cross and they contain the Prophecy of his bitter Passion And the Royal Prophet having represented the Pains and Sufferings of the Son of God then speaks of his Glory and Empire and at last shews us the Advantages that accrue unto the Faithful and for which they ought to render Thanks unto God This Divine Saviour who could not be guilty having put himself in our place incurred our Obligations contracted our Debts and satisfied for our Crimes Likewise this Psalm presents unto us That the Sins of Men wherewith he had loaded himself deserved that his Father should abandon him to all imaginable Misery that thereby he might satisfie the Rigor of his Justice in all things and if he addressed this Complaint My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me it was not in his own Person he spoke it but in the Person of this wretched Infirmity of the Flesh wherewith He was clothed 't was in the Person of the Members of his Mystical Body foreseeing the Desires and Demands they would offer to his Father and himself by an inclination of Nature and by a Human Motion of being delivered from Torments and Death For What did our Saviour desire to be delivered from Sufferings aad Death who came only to
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
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
must put our chiefest Confidence in the Mercy of God and in the Truth of his Promises and not in our own Merits Sixthly We must demand his Assistance and Grace so to love Justice as that no Persecution may sever us from it Seventhly We are not to beg Punishments for the Wicked through any Motive of Hate or Revenge but through a Motive of Charity that they might mend whilst there was the least hope of their Correction and that by their Punishments others might avoid their Crimes and that Sin being thus destroyed God alone might reign in the World Eighthly We must also beg That as the force of the Evils of this Life may no way shake our Courage so the Allurements of Prosperity may not charm our Senses and Affections but that we may wholly adhere to God and glorifie him Ninthly That we may glorifie God as we ought we must offer our selves unto him in a Spirit of Destruction and Sacrifice that is in a Spirit of Penance Tenthly The Service we offer unto God must be free and not servile or constrain'd God must be served with a full and entire Affection Eleventhly We must likewise acknowledge we cannot have this Will unless the Grace and Spirit of God deliver us from our Evils therefore with our whole heart we must beg it of him Ant. Strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul O God save me in thy name and in thy strength judge me O God hear my prayer with thine ears receive the words of my mouth Because strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul and they have not set God before their eyes For behold God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul Turn away the evils to mine enemies and in thy truth destroy them I will voluntarily sacrifice to thee and will confess to thy name O Lord because it is good Because thou hast delivered me out of all tribulation and mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies Ant. Strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul V. False witnesses have risen up against me R. And iniquity hath lied to it self IV. LESSON Taken out of the Treatise of St. Augustin on the Sixty third Psalm In this Lesson the Church represents unto us That JESUS CHRIST being our Chief has taught us not only by his Words but also his Example how we are to surmount our present Calamities and to hope after the future Goods by shewing us that what Power soever our Persecutors have to kill this mortal Flesh yet they cannot hurt the Soul if being assisted by the Grace of God she be not overcome with their Malice and consent to do Evil. There is this difference 'twixt CHRIST's and our Sufferings that ours depends not always on our own Will It is necessary that we one day must die which being due to our Sins is of Necessity and Justice But JESUS CHRIST did not suffer Torments and Death because he would and when he would and after that manner as it pleased him and being the same God with his Eternal Father he could not die and remain always equally in his Glory Secondly By his Sufferings and Death he hath merited and acquired to us Life everlasting but by our Sufferings and Death we can neither merit nor acquire it unless it be in him and by him and with him MY God thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant from the multitude of them that work iniquity Let us now consider our Chief Many Martyrs have suffered such Torments but none with so much splendor as the Chief of Martyrs for their Sufferings received Lustre from his He was defended from the Fury of the Wicked both by God's and his own protection 'T was he defended his own Flesh and this Human Nature wherewith he was clad for he was the Son of Man and the Son of God The Son of God because of his Form God being of the same Essence with his Eternal Father The Son of Man because he took on him the Form of a Slave having power to separate his Soul from his Body and to resume it again what could his Enemies then do against him They killed his Body but his Soul they could not touch Be attentive Our Lord was not contented to exhort the Martyrs only with his Words but would also fortifie by his Example RESP. The Church confirms us by the Words of JESUS CHRIST in what St. Augustin hath taught us in the precedent Lesson That this Divine Saviour suffered neither Torments nor Death because that he would when he would or after what manner he desired R. As to a thief are you come out with swords and clubs to apprehend me I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you did not lay hands on me V. And when they had laid hands on JESUS he said to them I was daily c. V. LESSON The Church represents unto us the Ingratitude and Impiety of the Jews who after having received so many Benefits from the Saviour of the World seen him purifie the Leprous make the Lame to walk cured all Sicknesses drive Devils out of possessed Bodies multiply the Loaves of Bread appease the Tempest raised the Dead to Life after having heard his Heavenly Doctrine whereof he made them Partakers both by his Words and Actions they not only were so obstinate as to draw no Advantage or the least Acknowledgment from them but even crucified him on an infamous Cross whereon they even exulted over him with extreme Insolency persuading themselves through a stubborn blindness that he was not the Son of God or the Saviour of the World because he suffered Death and yet the Prophets shewed most evidently unto them what hapned in his Passion YOu know what was the Assembly of the wicked Jews and what the Multitude of them that work Iniquity But what was that Iniquity 'T was that they would kill our Lord Jesus Christ I have shewed you said he so many good works and for which of them will you kill me He comforted the Sick amongst them he cured their Infirmities he preached unto them the Kingdom of Heaven he shewed them the Enormities of their Crimes that they might hate them but not the Doctor that cured them But in stead of acknowledging the good he did them by these wholesom Remedies so great was their Ingratitude that as if tormented with a burning Fever they were so transported against this charitable Doctor who came only to cure them that they studied how to destroy him as if thereby they would try whether he were true Man and could die or whether he were any thing above Man and would not permit his own Death We find their Discourse on this Subject in the Book of Wisdom To a most shameful Death say they let us condemn him for there shall be respect had unto him by his words for if he be the true Son of God he
will deliver him RESP. The Church shews us That the Miracles done at the Death of our Lord JESUS CHRIST and which the Prophets foretold of him were most evident Testimonies to the Jews to have acknowledg'd him to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World who had power to render up his Soul to his Eternal Father and to take it again so as none could bereave him of her 'T is therefore that being nailed on the Cross he pronounced the Twenty first Psalm which describes his Passion and gives the Reason of it to wit That by his Sufferings and Death he might satisfie God's Justice for the Sins of Mankind wherewith he was charged and that by his Example he might instruct us that we are not to become Christians only to enjoy this temporal Life but that the Name Christian must make us Pretenders to Life everlasting R. Whilst the Jews crucified Jesus darkness covered the earth and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice My God why hast thou forsaken me And bowing his head gave up the ghost V. And Jesus crying with a loud voice said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And bowing down his head c. VI. LESSON In this Lesson the Church shews us how the Jews put JESUS CHRIST to death THey have sharpned their Tongues as a Sword Let not the Jews say We have not killed Christ for certainly 't was therefore they delivered him into the Hands of Pilate the Judge that so they might seem guiltless of his Death For when Pilate said unto them Do ye your selves put him to death they answered 'T is not lawful for us to kill any one Thus they would retort on the Judge the Injustice of their own Crime But how could they deceive God who is the true Judge 'T is certain that what Pilate did made him partake of their Guilt but in comparison of the Jews he is far more innocent for he did what he could to deliver him out of their Hands And therefore having first caused him to be scourged he shewed him unto them not that he scourged our Lord out of design to persecute him but thereby a little to appease their Rage that by their beholding him so cruelly whipped they might be satisfied and desist from demanding his Death And this he did But when they still persisted ye all know he washed his Hands before them and said That he had nothing to do with it and was cleansed from the guilt of his Death yet he put him to death and if he be guilty for having condemn'd him against his will are they innocent who forced him to it By no means Because Pilate pronounced Sentence against him and commanded him to be crucified he is guilty of his Death And ye O Jews have put him to death and how have ye put him to death With the Sword of your Tongues For ye have sharpned your Tongues and soaked them in his Blood when ye exclaimed against him saying Crucifie Crucifie RESP. The Church shews unto us That the Prophet Jeremy in his twelfth Chapter did foretel this Insolence of the Jews against the Saviour of the World who was willing to suffer this Outrage that thereby he might obey the Decree of God's Providence R. I have delivered my beloved Soul into the Hands of the Wicked and my Inheritance became unto me as a Lion in the Wood The Enemy cried out against me saying Let us assemble and make haste to devour him They have set me in the remotest of the Wilderness and all the earth wailed over me because he was not found that would acknowledge me or do me good V. Men without mercy have risen up against me and they have not spared my Soul Because he was not found that would acknowledge me or do me good R. I have delivered my beloved Soul c. THIRD NOCTVRN PSALM 58. or 59. In the Person of David the Church represents unto us CHRIST persecuted by the Jews and by them put to death yet that he begged from his Father that he would not suffer these wicked People who like mad Dogs were enraged against him to triumph in his Death but that by a quick Resurrection he would deliver him from their Hands shewing thereby what we are to contemn in the Course of this Life and what to hope for in all Eternity and making us acknowledge that all our Merits and all the Good we do is the pure effect of God's Mercy towards us and that when he crowns our Deserts he in reality crowns but his own Gifts 2. The Church shews us the Chastisements God inflicted on the Persecutors of his Son by banishing them out of their own Country depriving them of all Honors Power and Authority and by dispersing them over the whole World like Slaves Vagabonds and the Out-cast of all People Ant. From them that rise up against me defend me O Lord because they have taken my soul DEliver me from mine enemies O my God and from them that rise up against me defend me Deliver me from them that work iniquity and from bloody men save me Because loe they have taken my soul the strong have fallen violently upon me Neither is it mine iniquity nor my sin O Lord without inquity have I run and gone directly Rise up to meet me and see and thou O Lord the God of powers God of Israel attend to visit all nations have no mercy on all that work iniquity They will return at evening and they shall suffer famin as dogs and shall compass the city Behold they will speak in their mouth and a sword in their lips because who hath heard And thou O Lord wilt scorn them thou wilt bring to naught all nations I will keep my strength to thee because thou art my receiver my God thy mercy shall prevent God will shew unto me concerning mine enemies kill them not lest sometimes my peoples forget Disperse them in thy strength and depose them my protector O Lord. The sin of their mouth the word of their lips and let them be taken in their pride And for cursing and lying they shall be talked of in consummation in wrath of consummation and they shall not be And they shall know that God will rule over Jacob and over the ends of the earth They shall be turned at evening and shall suffer famine as dogs and shall compass the city They shall be dispersed to eat and if they be not filled they will murmur also But I will sing thy strength and will exalt thy mercy in the morning Because thou art become my receiver and my refuge in the day of my tribulation My helper I will sing to thee because thou art God my receiver my God my mercy Ant. From them that rise up against me defend me O Lord because they have taken my soul PSALM 87. This Psalm is a Prophecy of the Passion Burial and Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST wherein the Royal Prophet represents unto us the
Sufferings this Divine Saviour was to undergo to satisfie the Rigor of the Justice of his Father and that for the Sins of Man wherewith he had loaded himself Then having described his Burial he proposes to us the Prayer he was to offer to his Eternal Father to demand of him his Resurrection not only for himself for being equal with his Father he had no need of Prayers that he might not be left in the Power of Death who alone was free among the Dead and had power to leave his Soul and take her again but for us that he might make us Partners with him of his New Life and give us an Example of perfect Patience and Submission to the Will of God Then he shews us the Advantage we receive by the Resurrection of our Saviour making us acknowledge that our Faith had been fruitless if it had remained in the Sepulcher for then our Sins had not been taken away Death is the Effect of Sin so that if our Saviour had not conquered Death it might have been said he had not triumphed over Sin Ant. Thou hast made my familiars far from me I was delivered and came not forth O Lord the God of my salvation in the day have I cried and in the night before thee Let my prayer enter in thy sight incline thine ear to my petition Because my soul is replenished with evils and my life hath approached to hell I am accounted with them that descend into the lake I am become as a man without help free among the dead As the wounded sleeping in the sepulchers of whom thou art mindful no more and they are cast off from thy hand They have put me in the lower lake in the dark places and in the shadow of death Thy fury is confirmed upon me and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me Thou hast made my familiars far from me they have put me abomination to themselves I was delivered and came not forth mine eyes languished for poverty I cried to thee O Lord all the day I stretched out my hands to thee Wilt thou do merveils to the dead or shall physicians raise to life and they confess to thee Shall any in the sepulcher declare thy mercy and thy truth in perdition Shall thy merveilous works be known in darkness and thy justice in the land of oblivion And I O Lord have cried to thee and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Why dost thou O Lord reject my prayer turnest away thy face from me I am poor and in labors from my youth and being exalted humbled and troubled Thy wraths have passed upon me and thy terrors have troubled me They have compassed me as water all the day they compassed me together Thou hast made friend and neighbor far from me and my familiars because of misery Ant. Thou hast made my familiars far from me I was delivered and came not forth PSALM 93. In this Psalm we are taught neither to repine at the Prosperity of the Bad nor to be troubled at the Afflictions of the Just for God being Omnipotent and Sovereignly Good being the Creator and chief Master of all things would suffer no Ill in his Works were he not sufficiently Powerful and Good to extract some Good even from Evil it self He has thought fit that 't is better to draw Good from Bad than not to permit Evil. Wherefore since we can no more doubt of his Power than Bounty we must patiently support all Ills that befal us and believe that the Will of God is more beneficial for us than our own Will or Desires can be Let us then consider the Assistance he gives his faithful Servants and the Rewards he promises unto them and let us regard the Torments he prepares for the Wicked Ant. They will hunt after the soul of the just and will condemn innocent blood OUr Lord God of revenges the God of revenges hath done freely Be exalted thou that judgest the earth render retribution to the proud How long shall sinners O Lord how long shall sinners glory Shall they utter and speak iniquity shall all they speak that work injustice Thy people O Lord they have humbled and thine inheritance they have vexed The widow and the stranger they have slain and the pupils they have killed And they have said The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob understand Understand ye foolish in the people and ye fools be wise at sometime He that planted the ear shall he not hear or he that made the eye doth he not consider He that chastiseth nations shall he not rebuke he that teacheth man knowledge Our Lord knoweth the cogitations of men that they be vain Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct O Lord and shalt teach out of thy law That thou mayst give him quietness from the evil days till a pit be digged for the sinner Because our Lord will not reject his people and his inheritance he will not forsake Until justice be turned into judgment and they who are near it are all that are right of heart Who shall rise for me against the malignant or who shall stand with me against them that work iniquity But that our Lord hath holpen me within very little my soul had dwelt in hell If I said My foot is moved thy mercy O Lord did help me According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart thy consolations have made my soul joyful Doth the seat of iniquity cleave to thee which makest labor in precept They will hunt after the soul of the just and will condemn innocent blood And our Lord became my refuge and my God the help of my hope And he will repay them their iniquity and in their malice he will destroy them the Lord our God will destroy them Ant. They will hunt after the soul of the just and will condemn innocent blood VERSICLE taken out of Psalm 108. The Church having presented unto us in the precedent Psalm she Comfort we receive in our Sufferings by considering the Power and Goodness of God who created us preserves and assists us with his holy Protection She admonisheth us in these following Versicles to consider the great Love God had for us since he delivered his only Son to death for our Salvation So that by the Example of his Son our Saviour we might be more powerfully fortified in the Persecutions and Miseries of this Life V. They have spoken against me with deceitful tongue R. And with words of hatred they have compassed me and they have impugned me without cause VII LESSON Out of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews chap. 4. The Church teacheth us That the Reason why the Son of God would become Man and bear all our Infirmities even to die for us was that thereby he might open the Heavens to us and so enable us to enter into the Repose of eternal Tranquillity And to enjoy so great a Benefit we must live conformably
are the punishments of our Sins and those of JESUS CHRIST are the effects of his Love towards us that thereby he might open Heaven for such as honor him with a sincere Heart as the good Thief did who beholding JESUS CHRIST hanging on the Cross all torn with stripes overwhelmed with shame and confusion drinking Gall covered with Spirtle and so outragiously scoffed at by all the People yet was he no ways scandaliz'd but on the contrary publickly acknowledged he was God he silenced his fellow Malefactor who cursed this Innocent he confessed his Sins he discoursed after a wonderful manner of the Resurrection and prayed JESUS CHRIST who expired on the Cross to be mindful of him when he came into his Kingdom Ant. The one thief said to the other We indeed justly receive worthy of our doings but what hath this man done Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom The Psalm Deus Deus meus ad te de luce vigilo c. as before p. 69. CANTICLE OF HABACCUC Chap. 3. The Prophet Habaccuc represents unto us under the Figure of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Captivity of Babylon and Egypt the deliverance of the Faithful by our Saviour JESUS CHRIST from the slavery of Sin and tyranny of the Devil Ant. When my soul shall be troubled O Lord thou shalt be mindful of mercy LOrd I heard thy hearing and was afraid Lord thy work in the midst of years quicken it In the midst of years shalt thou make it known when thou art angry thou wilt remember mercy God will come from the south and the holy One from mount Paran His glory shall cover the heavens and the earth is full of his praise His brightness shall be as the light horns in his hands there is his strength hid Before his face shall death go and the devil shall go forth before his feet He stood and measured the earth he beheld and dissolved the Gentiles and the mountains of the world were broken The hills of the world were bowed by the ways of his eternity For iniquity I saw the tents of Ethiopia and the skins of the land of Median shall be troubled Why wast thou angry with the rivers O Lord or was thy fury in the rivers or thine indignation in the sea Who wilt mount upon thy horses and thy chariots salvation Raising thou wilt raise up thy bow the oath to the tribes which thou hast spoken Thou wilt cut the rivers of the earth The mountains saw thee and were sorry the gulf of water passed the depth gave his voice the height lifted up his hands The sun and the moon stood in their habitation in the light of thine arrows they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear In fretting thou wilt tread down the earth in fury thou wilt astonish the Gentiles Thou wentest forth the salvation of thy people salvation with thy Christ Thou struckest the head out of the house of the impious thou hast discovered the foundation even to the neck Thou hast cursed his scepters the head of his warriors them that came as a whirlwind to disperse me Their exultation as his that devoureth the poor in secret Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses in the midst of many waters I heard and my belly was troubled at the voice my lips trembled Let rottenness enter in my bones and swarm under me That I may rest in the day of tribulation that I may ascend to our girded people For the fig-tree shall not flourish and there shall be no spring in the vines The work of the olive-tree shall deceive and the fields shall not yield meat The cattel shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls But I will joy in our Lord and will rejoyce in God my Jesus God our Lord is my strength and he will make my feet as of the harts And upon my high places he the conqueror will lead me singing in psalms Ant. When my soul shall be troubled O Lord thou shalt be mindful of mercy ANOTHER ANTHYMN The Church sets before us the Example of the good Thief that by his Example we must have recourse unto Christ in all afflictions and hope for Eternal Goods which by his Death he has merited for us Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom PSALM Laudate Dominum de coelis c. as before p. 74. VERSICLE taken out of Psalm 142. The Church represents unto us the Blindness and Insolency of the Jews who having put JESUS CHRIST to death glorified therein as if they had vanquished him and destroyed his Power for they believed not he would triumph over Death by a speedy Resurrection He hath set me in obscure places R. As the dead of the world AT BENEDICTUS ANTHYMN The Church hath shewed us how Iniquity hath lied against it self for the Jews Maugre all their Power were enforced to publish JESUS CHRIST to be their true King and whereas they thought by the punishment of the Cross to have destroy'd his Kingdom they have thereby more powerfully established it They put over his head his cause written This is JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS The Canticle of Zachary Benedictus c. as before p. 78. V. Christ made himself for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross Pater noster c. Miserere c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus as before p. 80. AT COMPLINE As before p. 82. V. Jesus Christ made himself for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross Pater noster c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus c. as before p. 80. THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON Holy-Friday FOR SATURDAY AT MATTINS FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 4. This Psalm declares unto us that we cannot raise up our selves to love and seek after the true good whilst our Hearts are loaded with the weight and cares of this World and that being but once enlightened with the Grace of God we then begin to afflict our selves in the secret of our Soul and being touch'd to the very bottom of our Hearts we then offer to his Majesty all our past life and for the future resolve by his assistance entirely to change it Then our Lord begins to make us relish his Sweets ad Delights and to heap on us all Joys Then we find in that Sovereign Good another Wine and another Oyl than they below do so as we neither repine at the prosperity of the Wicked nor fear their Malice having all our confidence in God Ant. In peace in the self-same I will sleep and rest WHen I invocated the God of my justice heard me in tribulation thou hast enlarged to me Have mercy on me and hear my prayer Ye sons of men how long are you of heavy heart why love you vanity and seek lying And know ye that our Lord hath made his
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
RESP. By the following Versicles taken out of the Fifty seventh and Fifty third Chapter of the Prophet Isay the Church represents unto us That if the Jews were unhappy in having so ill treated and not acknowledged the Saviour of the World we who believe in him are not less faulty and unhappy unless we consider what this Divine Saviour suffered for us and thence draw some benefit to our selves Behold how the Just perisheth and there is none that considereth in his heart and men of mercy are gathered away because there is none that understandeth for at the face of malice is the Just gathered away V. As a Lamb before his shearer he shall be dumb and shall not open his mouth From distress and from judgment he was taken up And his memory shall be in peace Behold how the just perisheth c. THIRD NOCTVRN PSALM 53. This Day the Church commermorating CHRIST in his Sepulcher makes the words in the Fifty third Psalm to express the Prayer this Divine Saviour made unto his Father as being our Chief and Mediator thereby begging of him a quick Resurrection to triumph over Death and destroy the Empire of Sin Ant. God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul O God save me in thy name and in thy strength judge me O God hear my prayers with thine ears receive the words of my mouth Because strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul and they have not set God before their eyes For behold God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul Turn away the evils to mine enemies and in thy truth destroy them I will voluntarily sacrifice to thee and will confess to thy name O Lord because it is good Because thou hast delivered me out of all tribulation and mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies Ant. God helpeth me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul PSALM 75. The Church represents unto the Faithful who are figured by the People of Israel how JESUS CHRIST dying for us in Jerusalem was there buried there he arose again and there he established his Church calling thither all the Nations of the Earth to the knowledge of the true God and there reconciling us to his Eternal Father and uniting us by the tie of Charity that we might not be at Variance with any but in Peace with every one It is from thence that he began to enlighten us with the Light of his Grace to make us contemn the transitory Goods of this World which the Wicked enjoy but as in a Dream and which must vanish when they die The Church represents us this Divine Saviour triumphing over the Wicked and proposes unto us the severity of his Justice in the last Judgment when he shall come to judge the living and the dead with such Majesty and irresistible Power that all the Heavens and Elements shall be filled with horror and despair to the end that the terror of the threats of that last Judgment might not only prevent the stubbornness and boldness of Sinners and secure the innocency of the Just even amongst the Wicked but also that the Wicked fearing the Torments wherewith God punisheth Offences might at the same time as they dread the punishment for their Sins be restrain'd from sinning and by an internal motion be incited to call upon the goodness of God who changes their Mind and by an admirable effect of his powerful Grace cleanses the corruption and malice of their Will and reduces them not only to fear but also to love him Ant. And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival day to thee Vow ye and tender to our Lord your God all ye that round about him bring gifts To the terrible and him that taketh away the spirit of princes terrible to the kings of the earth Ant. His place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion PSALM 87. This Psalm is a Prophecy of the Passion Burial and Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST wherein the Royal Prophet represents unto us the Sufferings which this Divine Saviour was to undergo to satisfie the rigor of the Justice of his Father and that for the Sins of Man wherewith he had loaded himself Then having described his Burial he proposes unto us the Prayer he was to offer to his Eternal Father to demand from him his Resurrection not only for himself for being equal to his Father he had no need of Prayers that he might not be left in the power of Death who alone was free among the Dead and had power to leave his Soul and take her again but for us that he might make us partners with him of his new Life and give us an Example of perfect patience and submission to the Will of God Moreover it shews us the advantage we receive from the Resurrection of our Saviour making us to acknowledge that our Faith had been fruitless if he had continued in his Sepulcher for then our Sins had not been taken away Death is an effect of Sin so that had not our Saviour vanquished Death it could not have been said he had triumphed over Sin Ant. I am become as a man without help free among the dead O Lord the God of my salvation in the day have I cried and in the night before thee Let my prayer enter in thy sight incline thine ear to my petition Because my soul is replenished with evils and my life hath approached to hell I am accounted with them that descend into the lake I am become as a man without help free among the dead As the wounded sleeping in the sepulchers of whom thou art mindful no more and they are cast off from thy hand They have put me in the lower lake in the dark places and in the shadow of death Thy fury is confirmed upon me and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me Thou hast made my familiars far from me they have put me abomination to themselves I was delivered and came not forth mine eyes languished for poverty I cried to thee O Lord all the day I stretched out my hands to thee Wilt thou do merveils to the
dead or shall physicians raise to life and they confess to thee Shall any in the sepulcher dâ—â—â—e thy mercy and thy truth in perdition Shall thy merveilous works be known in darkness and thy justice in the land of oblivion And I O Lord have cried to thee and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Why dost thou O Lord reject my prayer turnest away thy face from me I am poor and in labors from my youth and being exalted humbled and troubled Thy wraths have passed upon me and thy terrors have troubled me They have compassed me as water all the day they compassed me together Thou hast made friend and neighbor far from me and my familiar because of misery Ant. I am become as a man without help free among the dead V. His place is made in peace R. And his habitation in Sion LESSON VII Taken out of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap. 9. The Church teacheth us by those words of the Apostle That the Mediator of the Old Testament who was the High-priest was not able to cleanse Mens Souls from their Sins nor to open Heaven for them either by the quality of his Priesthood of the Old Law or by the nature of the Sacrifice and Testament The High-Priest of 〈◊〉 was a Sinner like other Men he entred only into the maâ—â—â—â— Sanctuary and into a Tabernacle built by the Hands of Men he only offered Calves and other lawful Victims unto God and they could only receive from him Temporal Blessings It was therefore needful to have a Mediator of the New Testament and that was JESUS CHRIST who being both God and Man could not sin and was the Source and Fountain of all Sanctity Who by Sacrificing himself purified us by his one Blood with an Interior and Spiritual Purity delivering us from our Sins to make us in a condition to render God a truly faithful Service and entring into the true Sanctuary that is into Heaven and into the Bosom of God his Father he profered us to him and made us by his Will and Testament Partakers and Heirs of his Heavenly Inheritance CHrist assisting an high priest of the good things to come by a more ample and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand that is not of this creation neither by the blood of goats or of calves but by his own blood entred in once into the holies eternal redemption being found For if the blood of goats and of oxen and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled sanctifieth the polluted to the cleansing of the flesh How much more hath the blood of Christ who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God cleansed our conscience from dead works to serve the living God RESP. The Church minds to give thanks unto JESUS CHRIST for vouchsafing us his Mercy and Sacrificing himself on the Cross for our Salvation We must also abhor the Wickedness of the Jews who to satisfie their Malice put to Death this Divine Saviour R. The kings of the earth have risen up and the princes are assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ V. Why have the nations raged and the people meditated vain things Against the Lord and against his Christ LESSON VIII The Apostle instructs us That the Death which our Mediator was willing to suffer was to repair those Prevarications committed during the Old Testament and to render us capable of the effects of the Divine Promises of the New Testament and this founded on the natuere of the Testament For in the first place JESUS CHRIST being willing to give unto Man a New Testament it was also but requisit that it should be firm and unalterable the which to render it 't was necessary he should die for the Wills and Testaments of Men take no effect till after their Death for whilst they live they may either change or absolutely cancel them Secondly The New Testament was to correspond with the first neither was the Fire given without the effusion of Blood as appears in Exod. chap. 24. ANd therefore he is the mediator of the new testament that death being a mean unto the redemption of these prevarications which were under the former testament they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance For where there is a testament the death of the testator must of necessity come between for a testament is confirmed in the dead otherwise it is yet of no value whilst the testator liveth Whereupon neither was the first certes dedicated without blood RESP. The Faithful consider that the Jews put this Divine Testator to a most Ignominious Death who came to give them by his last Will and Testament a Heavenly Inheritance if by their Impiety and Ingratitude they had not made themselves unworthy it They likewise consider that as the Jews had no power to put our Saviour to Death but because he would himself so in voluntarily dying he triumphed over Death R. I am accounted with them that descend into the lake I am become as a man without help free among the dead V. They have put me in the lower lake in the dark places and in the shadow of death I am become as c. LESSON IX In this Lesson the Apostle represents unto us That in the Old Testament the Purifications were made by the shedding of Blood without which the Remission of Sins had not been given since it is that which is the confirmation of all Alliance FOr all the commandment of the law being read of Moyses to all the people he taking the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet-wooll and hyssop sprinkled the very book also it self and all the people saying This is the blood of the testament which God hath commanded unto you The tabernacle also and all the vessel of the ministery he in like manner sprinkled with blood And all things almost according to the law are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood there is not remission RESP. In the Old Law in the Seventeenth Chapter of Leviticus God Commanded that the Blood of Victims should be covered to shew unto us that it was an effect of his Bounty that he vouchsafed to receive the lives of Innocent Beasts instead of that of Sinners But on the contrary the Jews instead of covering the Blood of JESUS CHRIST that is instead of acknowledging the excess of his Bounty wherewith God would that his Son who was the God of Man should die for them who deserved Death and that he should die on the Cross even for their Salvation who nailed him thereon But they instead of repenting themselves or being confounded for having put to Death their Saviour they moreover persecuted him even in his Sepulcher And this it is which the Faithful consider in the following Versicles R. Our Lord being buried his monument was sealed rolling a stone against the mouth of the monument setting soldiers who might guard it V. The chief priests came unto Pilate
and asked of him setting soldiers who might keep him R. Our Lord being buried AT LAUDS The Church tells us That to receive benefit from CHRIST's Death we must have a hearty and true Repentance ANTHYMN taken out of the Thirteenth Chapter of the Prophet Osee Ant. I Will be thy death O death thy bit will I be O hell PSALM 50. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 65. ANTHYMN taken out of the Twelfth Chapter of the Prophet Zachary The Church having declared unto us That JESUS CHRIST suffered Death to fulfill the Commands of his Father and to accomplish the Predictions of the Prophets She now represents us the grief the Converted and Penitent Jews had for having been of the number of those who put him to Death She also minds us to acknowledge the obligation we have to mortifie our selves to sigh and weep for having by our Sins contributed to his Death They shall lament him with lamentation as it were upon an only begotten because our innocent Lord is slain PSALM 42. The Church offers us the Prayer JESUS CHRIST made unto God his Father which declares the difference 'twixt his Sufferings and Death and ' twâ—â— the Death and Sufferings of Men. Their Deaths and Sufferings are the Punishments due to their Sins But JESUS CHRIST who is Sanctity it self and the Fountain of all good he only suffered Death because himself would and charged himself with our Iniquities that he might deliver us and satisfie the rigorous Justice of God his Father Then the Church shews us That God made his Light and Truth shine in this Divine Saviour by making his Innocency appear by the Wonders and Miracles that happened at his Death and by his glorious Resurrection from his Tomb and afterwards by his destroying of Jerusalem and by casting the reprobate Jews in everlasting Perdition JUdge me O God and discern my cause from the nation not holy from the unjust and deceitful man deliver me Because thou art God my strength why hast thou repelled me and why go I sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me Send forth thy light and thy truth they have conducted me and brought me into thy holy hill and into thy tabernacles And I will go into the altar of God to God which maketh my youth joyful I will confess to thee on the harp O God my God Why art thou sorrowful O my soul and dost thou trouble me Hope in God because yet I will confess to him the salvation of my countenance and my God Ant. They shall lament him with lamentation as it were upon an only begotten because our innocent Lord is slain Ant. Behold all ye people and see my grief The Psalm Deus Deâ—â—â—eus as before p. 69. Ant. From the gate of hell deliver my soul O Lord. The Canticle of Ezechias Isa 38. Under the Figure of Ezekias's Malady from which he was deliverd by God at the intercession of the Prophet Isay which signifies the health of God The Church represents unto us the deplorable condition whereinto Human Nature was reduced through Sin from which we are freed through the Grace of our Lord JESUS CHRIST She also admonisheth us to render our humble Thanks to the Divine Majesty I Have said In the midst of my days shall I go to the gates of hell I have sought the residue of my years I have said I shall not see our Lord God in the land of the living I shall behold man no more and the inhabiter of rest My generation is taken away and is wrapped together from me as the tent of shepherds My life is cut off as by a weaver whilst I yet began he cut me off from morning until night thou wilt make an end of me I hoped until morning as a lion so hath he broken all my bones From morning until evening thou wilt make an end of me As a young swallow so will I cry I will meditate as a dove Mine eyes are weakned looking on high Lord I suffer violence answer for me What shall I say or what shall he answer me whereas himself hath done it I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul Lord if mans life be such and the life of my spirit in such things thou shalt chastise me and shalt quicken me Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter But thou hast delivered my soul that it should not perish thou hast cast all my sins behind my back Because hell shall not confess to thee neither shall death praise thee they that go down into the lake shall not expect thy truth The living the living he shall confess to thee as I also this day the father shall make the truth known to the children O Lord save me and we shall sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of our Lord. Ant. From the gate of hell deliver my soul O Lord. Ant. O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like unto mine Psalm Laudate Dominum de coelis c. as before p. 74. V. My flesh shall rest in hope R. And thou shalt not give thy holy One to see corruption AT BENEDICTUS ANTHYMN THe women sitting at the monument lamented weeping for our Lord. THE CANTICLE OF ZACHARY Benedictus c. as before p. 78. V. Christ was made obedient for us unto death even the death of the cross R. Wherefore God hath exalted him and given him a name above all names Pater noster c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus c. as before p. 80. FOR SATURDAY IN Holy-Week AT COMPLINE Jube Domine c. as before p. 12. to p. 19. The Chapter and Hymn are omitted The Chapter is not said to signifie That after the Resurrection the Blessed will need no farther Instructions in their Estate of eternal Blessedness which is represented by the Chapters of Divine Offices The Hymn is also omitted to shew That after the Resurrection they praise not God in Heaven with such Hymns as they sang unto him in this World but that they will praise him after another manner Ant. And in the evening of the Sabaoth THE CANTICLE OF SIMEON Luke 2. NOw thou dost dismiss thy servant O Lord according to thy word in peace Because mine eyes have seen thy salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Even as it was in the beginning and now and ever and world without end Amen Ant. And in the evening of the Sabaoth which dawneth on the first of the Sabaoth came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulcher Alleluiah V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit Let us pray VIsit we beseech thee O Lord this Habitation and repel far from it all Snares of the Enemy Let thy Holy Angel dwell therein to preserve us in Peace and thy Blessing be upon us for ever Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy spirit V. Let us bless our Lord. Alleluiah Alleluiah R. Thanks be to God Alleluiah Alleluiah THE BLESSING V. THe Almighty and Merciful Lord the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Bless and keep us Amen THE ANTHYMN OF THE HOLY VIRGIN O Queen of Heaven rejoyce Alleluiah For he whom thou deservest to bear Alleluiah hath risen as he said Alleluiah Pray unto God for us Alleluiah V. Rejoyce and be glad O Virgin Mary Alleluiah R. Because our Lord hath truly risen Alleluiah Let us pray O God who by the Resurrection of thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ hast vouchsafed to make glad the world Grant we beseech thee that by his Mother the Virgin Mary we may receive the Joys of Life eternal Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen V. The Divine Help always remain with us R. Amen Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Credo in Deum c. FINIS
the greatness of this Benefit and to preserve the memory of it God hath commanded that whereas before we reckoned the years from the Creation of the World from henceforth we should compute them from this deliverance to make us understand thereby that the delivery of Man from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin which the bringing of the Children of Israel out of the Egyptian Bondage was a figure of is not less considerable yea is more advantageous to us than our Creation IN those days our Lord said unto Moses and Aaron in the Land of Egypt this month shall be to you the beginning of months it shall be the first in the months of the year Speak ye to the whole assembly of the Children of Israel and say to them the tenth day of this month let every man take a Lamb by their Families and Houses But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the Lamb he shall take unto him his Neighbour that joyneth to his House according to the number of souls which may suffice to the eating of the Lamb. And it shall be a Lamb without spot a Male of a year old according also to which rite you shall take a Kid. And you shall keep him till the fourteenth day of this month and the whole multitude of the Children of Israel shall Sacrifice him at even And they shall take of the bloud thereof and put upon both the Posts of the Houses wherein they shall eat him And they shall eat the flesh that night rosted at the fire and unleavened bread with wild lettice You shall not eat thereof any thing raw nor boyled in water but only roasted at the fire the head with the feet and entrails thereof you shall devour and you shall not break one bone of him Neither shall there remain any thing of him until morning If there be any thing left you shall burn it with fire And thus you shall eat him You shall gird your reins and you shall have shooes on your feet holding staves in your hands and you shall eat speedily For it is the Phase that is the passage of our Lord. The Church begs of God the grace for us to reap the benefit of our Redemption and to concur with it in such sort that we may acknowledge it to crown all the other works of his Bounty either in creating or adding conveniences to our better Being or advantages for our conservation Let us Pray Let us bow our knees R. Lift up your selves ALmighty and Everlasting God who arâ— wonderful in the dispensation of all thy Works grant that those whom thou hast Redeemed may be sensible that the Creation of the World in the beginning of time was not a greater marvel than that which happened of later days in the immolation of Jesus Christ our true Pasch who being God liveth and reigneth for ever Amen The TENTH PROPHECY taken out of the 3d. Chapter of Jonas The Church by the example of the Ninivites instructs the Catechumens to fear God so soon as they have the happiness to know him and to reverence him as soon as they begin to contemplate him through Faith and that it avails them not to have known him if they continue the same affections they had before they knew him That the Catechumens and those who are baptized have the same Hopes the same Recompences the same fear of Judgment and the same necessity of Repentance For though it be certain that those who present themselves to be Baptized shall receive all the benefits of Gods Mercy that is an entire Absolution of all their sins they must nevertheless take care to dispose and make themselves worthy by a sincere Repentance Baptism is the accomplishment and seal of Faith and this Faith takes its beginning from that of Penance AND the word of the Lord was made to Jonas the Prophet the second time saying Arise and go to Ninive that I shall speak to thee And Jonas arose and went into Ninive according to the word of our Lord And Ninive was a great City of three days journey And Jonas began to enter into the City one days journey and he cryed and said as yet fourty days and Ninive shall be subverted And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a Fast and were clothed with sackcloth from the greater to the lesser And the word came to the King of Ninive and he rose up out of his Throne and cast away his garment from him and was clothed with sackcloth and sate in ashes And he cried and said in Ninive from the mouth of the King and of his Princes saying Men and Beasts and Oxen and Cattel let them not tast any thing nor feed and let them not drink water And let Men and Beasts be covered with sackclothes and cry to our Lord in strength and let every man convert from his evil way and from the iniquity that is in their hands Who knoweth if God will convert and forgive and will return from the fury of his wrath and we shall not perish And God saw their works that they were converted from their evil way and our Lord had mercy on his people The Church beseeches God to give his grace to all her Members to have the same Faith and Piety as they have all the same Hope and the same Recompence in proportion to their Merits Let us Pray Let us kneel R. Lift up your selves O God who hast united several Nations in confession of thy Name give us both the will and power to do what thou commandest that thy People who are called to partake of thy Eternity may have the same faith of Spirit and Piety in their actions Through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen The ELEVENTH PROPHECY taken out of the 13th Chapter of Deuteronomy The Church exhorts the People to keep the Law of God so to avoid the evils threatned to those that break it IN those days Moses wrote the Canticle and taught it the Children of Israel And our Lord commanded Josue the son of Nun and said take courage and be strong for thou shalt bring the Children of Israel into the land which I have promised and I will be with thee Therefore after that Moses wrote the words of this law in a volume and finished it he commanded the Levites that carried the ark of the covenant of our Lord saying take this book and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of our Lord your God that it may be for a testimony against thee For I know thy contention and thy most stiff neck Whiles I yet live and go in with you you have done always contentiously against our Lord how much more when I shall be dead Gather to me all your ancients by your tribes and your doctors and I will speak these words in their hearing and will invocate against them heaven and earth For I know that after my death you will do wickedly and will decline quickly
from the way which I have commanded you and evils shall come upon you in the latter times when you shall do evil in the sight of our Lord to provoke him by the works of your hands Moses therefore spake in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song and finished even to the end The TRACT taken out of the 32th Chapter of Deuteronomy Wherein the Church represents the benefits which we reap from the terror of the Menaces of Gods Law not only to this end that audacity to sin may be prevented and Innocency assured even among the wicked but also that the wicked terriffed with the pains wherewith God in his justice corrects sin so that the aversion which they have from Chastisement preventing them from sinning may be a kind of inward motion incited to invoke Gods bounty who changes their spirit and by an admirable effect of his Grace heal the corruption and malice of their Will and induces them both to fear and love him HEar you heavens what things I speak the earth hear the words of my mouth V. My doctrine grow together as rain my speech flow as the dew V. As it were a shower upon the grass because I will invocate the Name of our Lord. V. Give magnificence to our God the works of God be perfect and all his ways judgments V. God is faithful and without iniquity just and right The Church begs of God that the terror of the menaces in the Law may prevent the People from sin and make them fear and love his Majesty whereby they may obtain Eternal Salvation Let us Pray Let us kneel R. Lift up your selves O God who raisest the humble and givest courage to the just who wouldest by thy servant Moses teach this people by singing thy holy Canticle that the repetition of thy Law might be our instruction make thy power appear to all nations justified by thee and allaying their terrour by an holy joy grant that all their sins being effaced through thy mercy the terrour of those pains menaced by thee may turn to their good and salvation Through our Lord Jesus Christ The TWELFTH PROPHECY taken out of the 3d Chapter of Daniel The Church represents to the Catechumens and to the Faithful that by the example of the three young Hebrews they ought to give proof of their Faith and courage in being ready to suffer Martyrdom for the Glory and Honour of God and incessantly praise him in the midst of most violent Persecutions IN those days Nabuchodonosor the king made a statue of gold in height of sixty cubits in breadth of six cubits and he set it in the field of Dura of the province of Babylon Therefore Nabuchodonosor the king sent to call together the nobles the magistrates and judges dukes and tyrants and rulers and all the princes of the countreys that they should come together to the dedication of the statue which Nabuchodonosor the king had erected Then were the nobles gathered together the magistrates and judges the dukes and tyrants and the great men that were placed in the regiments and all the princes of the countrey to come together to the dedication of the statue which Nabuchodonosor the king had set up And the crier cried mightily to you people and tribes and tongues it is said in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet and pipe and harp of the dulcimer psaltery and and symphony and all kind of musical instruments falling adore ye the golden statue which Nabuchodonosor the king hath set up But if any man shall not adore prostrate he shall the self-same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire After this therefore forthwith as all the people heard the sound of the trumpet the pipe and harp of the dulcimer and psaltery of the symphony and of all kind of musical instruments all the people tribes and tongues falling adored the golden statue which Nabuchodonosor had set up And forthwith in the very same time men of Chaldee coming accused the Jews and said to Nabuchodonosor the king King live for ever Thou O king hast made a decree that every man which shall hear the sound of the trumpet pipe and harp of the dulcimer and psaltery of the symphony and of all kind of musical instruments prostrate himself and adore the golden statue And if any man do not prostrate on the ground and adore that he be cast into a furnace of burning fire There are therefore men of Jewry whom thou didst appoint over the works of the province of Babylon Sidrach Misach and Abdenago these men O King have condemned thy decree thy God 's they worship not and the golden statue which thou hast erected they adore not Then Nabuchodonosor in fury and in wrath commanded that Sidrach Misach and Abdenago should be brought who immediately were brought before the king And Nabuchodonosor the king pronouncing said unto them Indeed Sidrach Misach and Abdenago do not you worship my gods and the golden statue that I have set up do not you adore Now therefore if you be ready in what hour soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet the pipe the harp of the dulcimer and psaltery and symphony and of all kind of musical instruments prostrate your selves and adore the statue which I have made But if you adore not the self-same hour ye shall be cast into the furnace of burning fire and what God is there that shall deliver you out of my hand Sidrach Misach and Abdenago answering said to king Nabuchodonosor We must not answer thee concerning this thing For behold our God whom we worship can save us from the furnace of burning fire and out of thy hands O King deliver us But if he will not be it known to thee O king that we worship not thy gods and the golden statue which thou hast erected we adore not Then was Nabuchodonosor replenished with fury and the look of his face was altered upon Sidrach Misach and Abdenago and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated And commanded the strongest men of his hosts to bind the feet of Sidrach Misach and Abdenago and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire And forthwith those men being bound with their breeches and head-attire and shooes and garments were cast into the furnace of burning fire For the commandment of the king did urge and the furnace was heated exceedingly Moreover the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach Misach and Abdenago But these three men Sidrach Misach and Abdenago fell in the mids of the furnace of burning fire bound together And they walked in the mids of the flame praising God and blessing our Lord. Flectamus genua is not said here to mind us that these three young Hebrews would not kneel before the Statue of Nabuchodonosor as Christians ought not to adore the vanities of this World Let us Pray