vengence of our sins The Litanies of the Saints LOrd have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Christ heare us Christ graciously heare us God the Father of Heaven Have mercy upon us God the sonne Redeemer of the world Have mercy upon us God the Holy Ghost Have mercy upon us Holy Trinity one God Have mercy upon us Holy Mary Pray for us Holy Mother of God Holy Virgin of Virgins S. Michael Pray for us S. Gabriel S. Raphael All yee holy Angels and Archangels All yee holy Orders of blessed spirits S. John Baptist All yee holy Patriarcks Prophets S. Peter S. Paul S. Andrew S. James S. Philip. S. Bartholomew Pray for us S. Mathew S. Simon S. Thadey S. Mathias S. Barnabe S. Luke S. Marke All yee holy Apostles and Evāgelists All yee holy Disciples of our Lord. All yee holy Innocents S. Stephen S. Laurence Pray for us S. Vincent S. Fabian and Sebastian S. John and Paule S. Cosme and Damian S. Geryase and Protase All yee holy Martyrs S. Sylvester S. Gregory S. Ambrose Pray for us S. Augustin S. Hierosme S. Martin S. Nicolas All yee holy Bishops and Confessors All yee holy Doctors S. Antony S. Benet S. Bernard S. Dominick S. Francis All yee holy Priests and Levits All yee holy Monkes and Eremits S. Mary Magdalen S. Agatha S. Lucy S. Agnes Pray for us S. Cicily S. Chatherine S. Anastasia All yee holy Virgins and widowes All yee Men and Woemen Saints of God Make yee intercession for us Sonne of God We beseech thee to heare us Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Spare us O Lord. Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Heare us O Lord. Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Have mercy vpon us Christ heare us Christ graciously heare us Vouchsafe O Almighty God that we honouring the memory of thy blessed Saints thou grant us by their intercession the desired abundance of thy mercy through Christ Jesus our Lord Amen O God whose proper it is alwayes to have mercy and to spare receive our petition that the tender mercy of thy piety may mildly absolve us and all thy servants whom the chayne of sin doth binde Amen Heare we beseech thee O Lotd the prayers of thy supplicants and pardon the sins of them that confesse to thee that thou being unto us benigne maist in like manner give us pardon and peace Shew with clemency O Lord thy unspeakable mercy unto us that thou both acquit us of our sins and deliver us from the paines which for them we deserve O God who by sin art offended and by penance art pacified mercifully respect the prayers of thy people making supplication to thee and turne away the scourges of thy āger which for our sins we deserue Haue mercy on all sinners sweet Jesu I beseech thee turne their vices into vertues and make them true observers of thy law and lovers of thee bring them to blisse in everlasting glory Have mercy also on the soules in Purgatory for thy bitter passion sake I beseech thee and for thy glorious name Jesu O holy Trinity one true God have mercy on me Your prayer ended dispose your selfe in recollection of mind to bed and putting of your cloathes consider how fast the tyme is comming on and is perchaunce much neerer then you imagin when you shall be vncloathed of all but a poore winding sheet to be covered with earth which your bedcloathes covering you doe represent as also the ensving sleepe doth your death and your bed the grave where laying downe your selfe commende both your body and soule vnto God saying as did Iesus Christ upon the Crosse recommending your soule to the Eternall father in these sacred words Into thy hands O Lord I recommend my spirit In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I laye me downe to rest he blesse me defend me and bring me to life everlasting Amen Save us good Lord wakeing and keepe us sleeping that we may watch with Christ and rest in peace Amen God the Father blesse me Jesus Christ defende me the vertue of the holy Ghost illuminate and sanctify me this night and ever more Amen O Angel of God who art my keeper me by the supernal piety committed to thy charge keepe and defend this night from all peril of body and of soule Amen And lastely with a fervent aspiration to God conclude saying O deare Jesu the everlasting repose of thyne elect when will the happy houre come that my soule may without end receiue her rest in thy eternall glory And herevpon with an act of the love of God compose your selfe to sleepe When awakeing in the night IF you awake in the night endeavour to make an elevation of your hart to God by some ejaculatory prayer as O good Iesu be to me Iesus and save me or O deare Iesu that I may know thee and that J may know my selfe vpon which words S. Augustin was wont to spend whole nights in pious contemplation As also did S. Francis in these other not unlike O who art thou my divine Lord and who am I or say O Eternal God when shall I love thee with my whole hart and soule and if I were at this very instant now to dye am J in the state to obtayne thy gracious mercy or the like And then without any further application of mind compose your selfe againe to sleepe Holy cogitations wherof some one being chosen at the end of your evening or morning prayer may serve as a subject for a vertuous employment of your minde when either you cannot sleepe or for all the day following at such tymes as best leasure shall give occasion to make some good Reflection there upon Of the true end of Man MAn is made to love and to serve God and thereby to obtayne his owne Beaitude Our very hart assures us of this certaine truth which being made for God it findes no quiet rest but only in that its proper center thou hast created us O Lord for thy selfe saith S. Augustin and our hart is unquiet untill it repose in thee Yea plaine experience makes it manifest for neither could Alexander the great be content with his glorious conquest of the world togeather with all other temporall felicity nor Salomon with all which his soule could either possesse or desire for the full content both of his body and mind all which in the end he confessed to be but vanity and affliction of spirit And Alexander did no lesse who weeped when he was tould that there were no more worlds for him to conquer the satisfaction of what he had done gave him so smale content We being therfore made only for God let us be only his and give our selves entierly to him performing what according to our end we are made for For as the suune is made to give light the fier to heate and salt to season to which end should they
passions and therfore we must not rest only in our prayer as in the end of our work for perfection consists not in much consolation or sweetnesse or sensible gust in our prayer but in that perfect victory over our selfe over our passions and unruly affections as is said nor in the sublimest prayer but in that which with a pure intention doth syncerely seeke the encreace in Gods divine love our owne aduanement in vertu with true resignation to the wil of God and a perfect contempt and abnegation of our selves renouncing all curiosity of Spirit and self satisfaction by it for otherwise we seeke not God so much as our selves and our owne interest and therfore no marvaile if we doe not finde him The certaine markes and most evident signes of false and meere counterfeit prayer THe first marke If our manners and conversation be nothing amended 2. If there be great levity and vanity in our actions 3. If great remisnesse in obligations of piety 4. If our care and diligence be small to avoyde evill occasions and the causes of our most habituall sin 5. If we presume to be now arrived to a high degree of prayer or aspire to visions revelations or extaces c. Or to the like favours in the passive way 6. If passions beare sway in vs. 7. If mortification seeme harsh and vnpleasant 8. If our senses be petulant and wanton 9. If to temptations we make but a weake and carelesse resistance 10. If labour and employment be ircksome to vs. 11. If the yoake of Gods law seemes heavy and his counsels unsupportable 12. If we finde our selves lasie and listlesse to all spirituall affaires 13. If worldly puntillios of honour and temporall respects goe nearest to our hart and affection 14. If holy Crosses patience and obedience seeme bitter and unpleasing 15. If we neglect and misregard or not respect nor esteeme the advise of our superiour and ghostly Fathers 16. If finally we carry our selves carelesly and negligently in the amendment and correction of such faults as apparently are knowne to us for such These are all evident markes and most assured signes of evill counterfeit and false devotion and naughty prayer which we ought with all speed and industry resolutely to amende and change The Litany of our Lord and divine Saviour Iesus LOrd have merecy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Jesus heare us Lord Jesus graciously heare us God the Father of Heaven Have mercy upon us God the sonne Redemer of the world Have mercy c. God the holy ghost proceeding from the Father and the sonne Have Holy and glorious Trinity three persons and one God Have mercy Jesus sonne of the living God have Jesus splendor of the Father Jesus brightnesse of Eternal light Jesus king of glory Have mercy Jesus the sunne of justice Jesus sonne of the Virgin Mary Jesus whose name is called wonderfull Have mercy upon us Jesus the mighty God Jesus the Father of the world to come Have mercy upon us Jesus the Angel of the great counsel Jesus most powerfull Jesus most patient Jesus most obdient Have mercy Jesus milde and humble of hart Jesus lover of chastity Jesus our Love Jesus the God of peace Jesus the Author of life Jesus the example of vertues Jesus the zealous seeker of soules Jesus our God Have mercy upon us Jesus our Refuge Jesus the Father of the poore Jesus the Treasore of the faithfull Jesus the good shiphard Jesus the true light Jesus the Eternall wisdome Jesus all-infinite goodnesse Jesus the way the truth and the life Jesus the ioy of Angels Have c. Jesus Maister of the Apostles Jesus the teacher of the Evangelists Jesus the strength of Martyrs Jesus the light of Confessors Jesus the purity of Virgins Jesus the Crowne of all Saints Have mercy upon us Be propitious unto us Speare us Lord Jesu Be propitious unto us Spare c From all sinne Lord Jesu deliver us From thy anger From the deceipts and snaires of the Divel From the spirit of fornication From perpetuall death From all neglect of thy holy inspirations Lord Jesus deliver us By the mystery of thy most holy incarnation By thy Nativity Lord Jes deliv us By thy Infancy By thy divine life By thy labours and trauells By thy Agony and Passion By thy Crosse and dereliction By thy unspeackable paines and languishings Lord Jesus c. By thy death and buriall By thy glorious Resurrection By thy Assention into Heaven By thy incomparable joyes By thy Eternall glory Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Spare us Lord Jesu Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Haue mercy c. Jesu heare us Lord Jesu graciously heare us Let us pray O Lord Jesus Christ who hast said unto us aske and you shall receive seeke and you shall find knock and it shall be opned unto you grant we beseech thee upon this our most humble petition the effect of thy divine love that we may love thee with our whole hart and never cease from thy praises nor from glorifying thy holy name O most loving and our divine Redeemer Jesus worke in us the perpetuall love to geather with the feare of thy sacred Humanity which thou hast annointed and sanctifi'd by the vnion of thy Deity that we may be evermore subiect and obedient to thee since thou doest never leave those destitute of thy grace whom thou hast establisht in the solidity of thy love who with the Father and the Holy ghost liveth and rayneth God world without end Amen The Litany of our B. Lady of Loretto LOrd have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Christ heare us Christ graciously heare us God the Father of Heaven Have mercy upon us God the sonne Redeemer of the world Haue mercy upon us God the Holy ghost Holy Trinity one God Have mercy upon us Holy Mary Pray for us Holy Mother of God Holy Virgin of Virgins Mother of Christ Mother of Divine grace Most pure Mother Most chast Mother Undefiled Mother Untouched Mother Lovely Mother Pray Glorious Mother Mother of our Creatour Mother of our Saviour Most prudent Virgin Venerable Virgin Renowned Virgin Powerfull Virgin Mild and meeke Virgin Faithfull Virgin Pray Myrrour of Justice Seate of Wisdome Cause of our joy Spirituall vessel Honorable Vessel Vessel of devotion Pray Mysticall Rose Strong Tower of David Solid Tower of ivory Goulden habitation Arke of Covenant Gate of Heaven Morning starr Pray Health of the sick Refuge of Sinners Confortresse of the afflicted The Helpe of Christians Queene of Angels Queene of Patriarkes Queene of Prophets Queene of Apostles Queene of Martyrs pray Queene of Confessors Queene of Virgins Queene of all Saints Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world Spare us o Lord. Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world Heare us o
incarnation of Christ thy sonne the Angel declaring it may be brought by his holy Crosse and Passion unto the glory of his Resurrection through the same Christ our Lord Amen The soules of the faithfull through the mercy of God rest in peace Amen Be mindfull to say this holy devotion thrice every day In the morning in gratefull memory and adoration of that divine Mystery of the glorious Resurrection of our Redeemer Iesus Christ At midday in memory and adoration of his bitter death and Passion And at the Evening in memory and adoration of the Incarnation of the sonne of God in the wombe of the pure and immaculate ever Virgin Certaine generall advertisments much conducing to Christian perfection THinke often upon the moment of this life whereon depends Eternity Call frequently to minde that thou art placed in this world for no other end but that by serving God to save thy soule Remember that thou art alwayes in the presence of God and raise often thy hart unto him Observe not the imperfections of other persons but think rather of mending thy owne Judge rashly of no body nor give any willing care unto the detractor Let no drynesse nor barrenesse in devotion cause you to omitt any accustomed exercise of piety Doe all your actions with a pure intention for the glory of God When you heare the clock to strike stirr up sorrow for your sins beseeching God to have mercy on your soule at the dreadfull houre of death Be not singular in your exteriour devotion least some inward vanity may outwardly appeare thereby Neglect not divine inspirations which God shall give for the amendment of your most habitual and daily sins When you are assaulted with any dangerous temptation crosse your hart in token that you humbly crave Gods grace and disavow the sin which that ill thought suggests to you Be not forward to contradict others and if you be contradicted grow not angry thereat but only mildly make answere that so is your opinion Remember that there is but one Heaven which if we seeke it in this world we shall not find it in the other Vertue and true resignation to the will of God consists not in words but in real deeds and actions An Evening Exercice for Prayer before bed IT being now tyme for your repose retyre your selfe to the place of prayer and in the presence of God devoutly upon your knees there adore his divine Majesty acknowledging your owne unworthinesse render him most humble thankes for all his gracious benefits beseech him to preserve you that night from all sin And sixing the interiour sight of your soule upon Gods infinit greatnesse and Majesty and upon your owne basenesse abjection and indignity say as in the morning Exercise In the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Amen Blessed be the holy and undevided Trinity now and for ever more Amen Our Father c. Halle Mary c. I beleeve in God c. I confesse me to Almigthy God c. all as in the morning prayer Almighty God have mercy upon us and all our sins being forgiven bring us to everlasting life Amen Omnipotent and mercifull Lord give unto us pardon absolution and remission of all our sins Amen I most humbly thanke thee my great God who hast created me of nothing and redeemd me with thy precious blood made me a member of the Catholick Church and graciously provided for me all necessaries both for body and soule For all which as also for thy so frequent heavenly inspirations Sacraments and sacrifices as also for so many other meanes for my salvation from the bottome of my hart and with all the powers of my soule I render thee my loving God most humble thankes beseeching all the holy Quires of Angels and all the blessed Saints in thy celestiall kingdome that they vouchsafe to supply my deficiency in praising adoring magnifying and extolling this thy great mercy and infinit goodnesse owards me Almighty and everlasting God I yeeld thee most harty thankes for that thou hast vouchsafed of thy great mercy and goodnesse to preserve me this day from all evill And I also beseech thee for thy bitter death and passion most mercifully to forgive me a wretched sinner all my offences which I have this day committed by thought word and deede and hereafter to preserve and keepe me from all danger as well of body as of soule to the end I may rise againe in health to praise thy glorious name and joyfully to serve thee in thankesgiving with a chast body and cleane hart Amen O Lord God and my heavenly Father for as much as by thy divine ordinance the night approacheth and tyme requireth that we give our selves to bodily rest I yeald unto thee most harty thankes for thy great love vouchsafing to preserve me this day from the danger of all enemies to give me my health to feede me and afford me all necessaries for the comfort of this my mortall life I most humbly beseech thee for thy blessed sonne Jesus his sake that thou wilt mercifully forgive me all that I have this day committed against thy fatherly goodnesse by thought word or by deed and that thou wilt vouchsafe to shadow me this night under the safe winges of thy Almigthy power and defend me from Sathan and all dangerous assaults that neither he not any of his ministers have power either over my body or soule But that although my body enjoyeth sleepe yet my soule may watch unto thee delight in thee and ever more praise thee that when the comfortable light of the day returneth according to thy good appointment I may rise againe with a faithfull soule and undefiled body and so afterwards behave my selfe all my life according to thy blessed will and commandment by casting away the workes of darknesse and putting on the armour of light that men seeing my good workes may be mooved to glorify thee my heavenly Father who with thy only begotten sonne our loving Saviour and the holy Ghost livest and reygnest one true and everlasting God world without end Amen A Prayer to our B. Lady and to her divine Sonne O Benigne and mercifull Virgin Mother most meeke most mild and gracious obtaine for us O B. Lady grace and strength to withstand and overcome all our enemies ghostly and bodily visible and invisible that after the course of this short life we may by thy gracious help attayne everlasting life in the kingdone of Heaven where wee may with thee O Virgin ever more dwell and with all the holy Angels Archangels Patriarcks and Prophets Apostles and Martyrs Confessors and Virgins worship glorify and magnify our divine Redeemer and thee O sacred Virgin in everlasting blisse without end Amen O Lord Jesus Christ the glory of the Father the orient beauty of eternal light and bright mirrour wihout spot or deformity I humbly beseech thee by thy sacred divinity to grant me this night chastity of minde cleanesse
tyme to heare Masse represent to your selfe that you are called to accompany the B. Virgin S. Jo. Evangelist and holy Magdalen to mount Calvary there to assist at that dreadfull sacrifice which this doth so truly represent and that togeather with the Priest you now are going to offer it upon the Altar to the Eternall Father for the whole cath Church as also for your owne necessities and for all others both living and dead for whom you are bound to pray The Priest ascending up to the Altar with that great crosse upon the back of the vestment may renew in us a lively memory of that heavie Crosse which Jesus Christ did beare upon his wounded shoulders to mount Calvary there to pay that deare and painfull ransome for our sin And the crowne or tonsure of the Priest may represent to us that crowne of sharp thornes which was beaten upon our Saviours head Admire here his infinit love and mercy to ungratefull Man The exteriour and interiour disposition required to assist at the holy sacrifice of the Masse THe Priest now approaching to the Altar we must procure a right interiour disposition by stirring up in our harts an actuall sorrow and contrition for our sins and renouncing all affection to them therby to purify our soules from that foule blemish which might render our devotion unpleasing to God 2. We ought there to behave our selves with all exteriour reverence and very carrefully to avoyde all needlesse words and lookes still keeping the eyes of our soule firmely fixed upon the Altar and our minds wholy busied with devout attention upon those holy mysteries of the life and death of Jesus Christ which in this sacrifice of the Masse is so truly represented unto us A forme of directing our intention before Masse in forme of prayer O Sacred Trinity accept this holy sacrifice of the most precious body and blood of our Lord Jes Chr. in union of that most holy sacrifice which our divine Redeemer offered in his last supper and upon the Crosse I offer it to thee by the hands of the Priest First to the honour and eternall glory of thy divine Majesty In acknowledgment of thy supreame excellency and dominion over us and our subjection and dependance upon thee as also in perpetuall commemoration of the death and passion of our most mercifull Redeemer Jesus Christ 2. in honour and increase of glory to all the B. spirits in the Church triumphant And for the suffering soules in Purgatory And in particular for the soules of N. N. 3. In eternal gratitude for all thy gracious benefits bestow'd on me thy ungratefull creature and in satisfaction for my sins and for those of all the faithfull as well living as dead And finally for the obtayning of such or such a grace And in particular for N. N. And for all those for whom I am wont and bound to pray To obtayne rest to the dead and to the living grace to know to love and to glorify thee perfectly in this world and happily to enioy thee in the other for all Eternity Amen An advertisment WHat finally I doe here recommend to all is that with devout attention they religiously accompany the Priest and make serious reflection upon each my stery in order yet very briefly endevoring to stirr up some fervent and pious affection or holy aspiration wherby to move their harts to a divine and ardent love of so mercifull a God and to detest all sin which so very highly offends him A DEVOUT EXERCISE FOR HEARING MASSE BOTH WITH TRUE PIETY AND MUCH INSTRUCTION From the rising of the sunne leven to the going downe in every place there is sacrificing and there is offered in my name a cleane oblation Malach. 1. cap. ver 11. A prayer before Masse O Most clement Father of mercy who hast bestowd not only once thy dearly beloved sonne to dye upon a Crosse for Mans Redemption but wouldest that his oblation so infinitly acceptable unto thee should daily be renued in thy Church to increace in us the fruit therof Grant us we beseech thee so attentively and reverently to be present at this so adorable a mystery of thy piety that we may be able to ataine the participation therof through Christ Jesus our Lord and only Redeemer Amen At the Priest's ascending to the Altar and there opening the booke THe Priest ascending to the Altar and having placed the Chalice he openeth the booke To signify that the mysteries of our faith lay shutt up in dark shadowes and obscure figures in the old law till Jesus Christ there represented by the Priest layd them open to us in their true substance and verity Rejoyce with gratitude for our enjoying the law of grace and stirr up a firme beleefe of all those holy mysteries of Mans Redemption by Christs bitter death and Passion which are here to be represented to us in the holy Masse At the Priests descending to the lowest stepp and beginning with the signe of the Crosse and saying the Confiteor c. THe Priest descends to the lowest stepp and there begins in making the signe of the Crosse To shew that we had no other hope nor remedy for our reconciliation to God but by the merits and sacred passion of Jesus Christ who died for us upon the Crosse At the Confiteor stirr up true sorrow and detestation for your sins as a preparation to appeare with more purity and profound humility in Gods divine presence at all those sacred mysteries represented there to us at the holy sacrifice of the Masse At the Priests ascending and kissing the Altar THe Priest ascending he kisseth the Altar as a symbole of reconciliation and peace made betwixt God and Man by the precious blood and bitter passion of Jesus Christ For which indevour to stirr up due love and gratitude At the Introite and Kyrie elysons THe Introite is so called because at high Masse it is sung whilst the Priest is comming to the Altar It represents the sighs and longing desires of the Patriarckes for the Messias comming As also doe the Kyrie and Christe elysons At which let us humbly crave the needfull visit of Gods grace for our soules as also his mercy and gracious pardon of all our sins Of Gloria in excelsis Dominus vobiscum and the prayer JOy here at our divine Redeemers birth and at his choyce of so poore so meane and so suffering a manner We must learne to contemne all worldly pompe and vanity and that the only true way to beatitude is that of mortification humility and proper abjection The Priest salutes the people with Dominus vobiscum to stirr up their attention before he begins the prayer to the end that their petitions therin may be more gratefull to God And he saith Oremus before the prayer to desire the people to joyne their prayers and intentions with his to obtayne those necessities which our holy mother the Church recommends to be prayd for therby At the Epistle and
repent with my whole hart and soule for having so grievously offended thee whom I truly love above all things what soever I constantly resolue by thy helping grace carrefully to avoyde all occasions of my grevious sins ād from the bottome of my hart I blisse and adore thy great goodnesse for affording me so happy and secure à meanes by this holy Sacrement to make my blessed peace and reconciliation by grace and pardon againe with thee who hath so long and often tymes preserved me from Hell For which I having nothing wherby to shew in gratitude I offer to thee O Eternall Father the bitter death and Passion with all the sacred merits of thy divine sonne Jesus of his immaculate Virgin Mother and of all the blissed Saints and Angels of Heaven to praise and magnify thy mercy and great goodnesse unto me for all Eternity A prayer before Confession REceive my Confession O most benigne and clement lord Jesus the only hope for the salvation of my soule give unto me I beseech thee contrition of hart and teares to my eyes that both day and night I may bewaile all my negligences with humility and purity of hart Let my prayer o lord approach neere in thy sight If thou shalt be angry against me what helper may I seeke who will have mercy on my iniquities remember me o Lord who didst call the woman of Canaan and Publican to repentance and didst receive Peter weeping O Lord my God accept my prayers O good Jesu Saviour of the world who gavest thy selfe to the death of the Crosse that thou mightest save sinners regard me a wretched offender calling upon thy name and take not such heed to my wickednesse that thou forget thy mercy And though I have committed wherby thou maist condemne me yet thou hast not lost that wherby thou art wont to save us Spare me therfore O Lord my Saviour and have mercy on my sinfull soule loose the bands therof heale the wounds Lord Jesu I most humbly beseech thee Shew me thy face and I shall be safe Send fourth therfore o most loving Lord through the merits of the most pure and ever Virgin Mary thy immaculate mother and of all thy blessed Saints and Angels send fourth thy light into my soule which may shew unto me truly all my defects which it behooveth me to confesse and which may help and teach me to expresse them fully and with a contrite hart who with the Father and the holy Ghost liveth and rayneth one everlasting God Amen This done next goe and cast your selfe upon your knees with a reverent and humble hart as if at the feet of Jesus Christ in the person of his Vicar the Priest there conceiving your selfe as a criminel before your judge and as wholy depending upon Gods mercy not having any thing to alleage in your owne behalfe but a guilty conscience deserving eternall punishment raise all your hope in an humble confidence of his mercy and sacred merits of Jesus Christ detest your sin wherby you have offended so good and so gracious a God and crave humbly grace to amende You having asked your ghostly Fathers benediction and said your Confiteor til mea culpa c. then accuse your selfe plainly humbly and intirely and with all confidence and freedome endevour to lay open to him wherinsoever you can conceive or doubt to have greevously offended God for this freedome in confession takes away all scruple of conscience and gives a great peace and tranquility to the soule which is farr to be preferd before the greatest felicity in the world Finally you having confest all and said the rest of your Confiteor Then harken attentively to what the Priest shall say to you without any further searching into your conscience but take with humble submission the advertisments which he shall then give you as there the substitute of Jesus Christ And performe faithfully what he shall ordaine you either by way of counsel or penance This done retyre your selfe with a recollected mind to give humble thankes unto God and with feeling piety and devotion say this followinge prayer after your Confession A prayer out of F. Granada exciting in the soule compunction and sorrow for our sins O only sonne of God how great and ineffable are the blessings I have receiud ' from thee thou hast produced me of the dust and slime me of the earth thou hast created my soule out of nothing according to thy image and likenesse thou hast endued me with understanding memory and will thou hast given me a free will togeather with all my members and senses to the end that by their meanes I might know and love thee Thou hast conserved me in the narrow prison of my mothers wombe to the end I might not dye without the saving water of holy baptisme After so many sins as I have multiplid against thee thou hast had long patience with me even to this houre whilst many others lesse guilty then my selfe whom thou hast not so long expected to repentance are peradventure at present tormented in Hell Besides this o my Lord thou hast vouchsafed to make thy selfe Man and to converse amongst Men for my sake For me thou wouldest suffer grievous afflictions a bitter agony sorrow of soule and a bloody sweate Thou wouldst be apprehended bound struck spit upon injured blaspheamd ' buffeted thou wouldst be clad at one tyme in a white robe at an other in a red one in mockery For me thou wouldst be beaten scourgd crownd with thorns struck with a reede upon thy sacred head thou wouldst be blindfoulded condemned to death and dragged to the place of execution with a heavy crosse upon thy back to which crosse thou wouldst be fastned with hard and-ruged nailes thou wouldst be placed betweene two theeves and numbred amongst the wicked Call and vinagar was presented to thee for thy last draught and finally thou wouldst loose thy life by a most cruell death In this manner o my Lord and with these sufferings hast thou redeemed me and yet I most ungratefull for so great benefits have many tymes crucified thee againe by my sins wherby I have merited that all thy Creatures should rise up against me and in thy name take revenge upon me for these injuries Moreover what shall I say of the fearefull abuse I have made of thy Sacraments those blessed remedies which thou hast ordaynd ' me with thy most precious blood Thou hast washt and receiud me in holy Baptisme as one belonging to thy selfe there thou hast adopted me thy sonne there thou hast consecrated me as thy temple Thou hast anointed me as a Priest as a King and as a souldier who ought incessantly to fight against thy enemy There thou hast espoused my soule to thy selfe and adorn'd her with all the ornaments requisite to so high a dignity What have I done with all these jewels What care have I taken to conserve such immense riches thou hast adopted me thy sonne and I have rendred
say with a devout and repentant hart this following prayer A devout Prayer after Confession O Soueraine Creator of all things I a most vile and ungratfull sinner prostrate before thy sacred feet in true griefe and harty sorrow for all may haynous Trespasses wher with I have so grievously offended my Lord and Maker and for which thou hast vouchsafed to endure so cruell torments upon the Crosse I confesse my great ingratitude deare Lord for all thy innumerable benefits and for having thus mercifully spared me so long persisting in my sinfull courses and contempt of thy divine commandements and blessed will for which in stead of casting me into Hel as I most justly deserved thy boundlesse goodnesse hath expected me to penance and amendment of my life For which o how often hast thou knockd at the dore of my hart by thy heavenly inspirations how often hast thou prevented me with blessings allured me with comforts drawne me with favours Yea forced me many tymes by crosses and afflictions to seeke unto thee and yet neither hath my flinty hart been mollifid ther with nor my will reclaymed But behould now at last o my ungratfull soule the grievousness of this thy sin and pierce my obdurate hart o divine Redeemer with contrition and detestation of the foulness of all my detestable offences for which unworthy I am to be called thy creature or whom the earth should beare much lesse afford so plentifully all conveniences for humane life to me upon whom even nature it selfe ought rather to take just vengance of my great contempt and odious sin O mercifull Father how many by thy righteous judgment are now burning in the eternall flames of Hel for a lesse number of sins then those of myne who might have been Saints in Heaven had they received so great a measure of thy gracious mercies as I have donne But now o mercifull Father of all pittie and compassion in unfeyned sorrow and remonse of conscience for all my misdeeds I prostra to at thy feet most humbly beseech thy pardon looke on me o loving Lord a wretched sinner with the eye of mercy as thou didst on the pentitent Publican the repentant Magdalen and the Apostle who thrice denied thee vouchsase once more to admit me againe unto thy gracious favour Lord worke that speedily in me for which cause thou hast so long spared me and to which from all Eternity thou hast ordayned me But woe is me who have refused to bestow my hart on thee who wouldst have made it a temple and habitation for thy owne aboad which I have sacrilegiously defiled with so much impiety and made it but as a stew of unpure thoughts But I confesse all this my grievous wickednesse to thee my God of all piety and therefore will not dispaire but throw my selfe into the sea of thy infinit mercy for as my sins be numberlesse so are thy mercies endlesse O Most loving Father if thou wilst thou canst make me cleane heale the wounds of my soule Remember sweet Lord thy comfortable promisse to us pronunced by thy Prophet thou hast committed folly with many lovers yet returne thou againe to me and I will receive thee Great confidence this gives me O Lord and with my whole hart I returne to thee I am that defiled soule that prodigall child that unfaithfull servant who have separated my selfe from thee I have forsaken thee o fountaine of living waters and diged to my selfe cisterns which will hould no water I have fedd upon empty husks with the swyne which could not satiate my hunger But what is past let it be cancelled o gracious Lord and forgot I bessech thee and for the tyme to come let there be an eternal covenant betwixt us that thou wilt vouchsafe to be my mercifull Father and that I againe may be for everthy obedient and faithfull child I aske deare Lord neither riches honours nor long life but this one only thing alone which I will never cease to crave that from this present instant untill the dreadfull houre of my death I may never more offend thy heavenly Majesty nor defile my conscience with any mortall sin Grant me this my humble suite for the merits and bitter death and Passion of thy only and dearely beloued sonne Jesus my divine Redeemer to whom with thee and the holy Ghost three persons and one euer living God be all honour and glory now and for evermore Amen I beseech thee Lord Jesu let this my Confession be gratefull and acceptable to thee by the merits of the blessed Virgin thy Mother and all thy glorious Saints and whatsoever hath been wanting unto me now and at other tymes of the sufficiency of Contrition of the purity and integrity of Confession let thy piety and mercy supply and according to the same vouchsafe to accompt me more fully and perfectly absolved in Heaven who liuest and raignest world without end Amen A Reflection IT may here finally be observed as it happens ofentymes that the sick man dies because he makes not use of the Phisition concealing his disease and not following his order and davise so many a soule doth perish for not making use of his spirituall phisition by the holy Sacrament of Confession The great benefit whereof were it but well considered we should not so much neglect the incomporable benefits which are to be reaped thereby For being duly frequented it expiats the guilt of all sin and changeth the eternall paine which was due to mortall sin into temporall It purifies our soules and renders them gratefull to God By infusion of grace and guifts of the holy Ghost It greatly strengthens as against all evill temptations and gives great quiet to our couscience All which but scriously considered who will neglect frequently to make vse of so souveraine a good For is there any that had he but a plant in his garden of so rare a vertue as if but weekely taken should cure all diseases and preserve him in perfect he alth would he neglect to make use therof undoubtedly he would not Let us then for the eternall health of our soule doe what we ould most diligently performe for the meere temporall health of our body OF THE HOLY COMMVNION Come ye to him and be illuminated and your faces shall not be counfounded Psal 35.6 A preparatory instruction disposing to the holy Communion IF it be requisit that a Chrifstian come well prepared and with due disposition to any Sacrament it ought to be doubtlesse with greatest care and diligence to this of the holy Eucharist it contayning the divine Author himselfe both of all Sacraments and grace And therfore to be received with all purity and devotion to receive the great fruit and benediction therby For as he who receives it worthely becomes the habitation and temple of God who replenisheth him with all abundance of grace so who receives him unworthely receives according to the Apostle his owne damnation and judgment It doth therfore greatly import him
which I was created and be therby united with thee here by grace and by glory in Eternity Amen A prayer before the B. Sacrament or before Communion I Adore thee O true bread of Angels the God of life the eternal Fathers spendor and Heavens beauty Behould one here present before thee full both of feare and confidence I approach by thy command in true simplicity of hart and firme beleefe truly confessing that thou art both God and Man here present in this most holy sacrament to which I approach O lord as an infirme to the phisition of life as one defiled to the fountaine of mercy as one blind unto eternal light and as in great want and needs to the Monarch of heaven and earth O my hope my only health my glory and all my content vouchsafe to rejoyce the hart of thy poore servant which burnes with desire to receive thee into my poore and unworthey habitation yet please to blisse it as thou didst that of little Zachee Alas my Lord it is most unworthy as being so very uncleane yet thou comming for the salvation of sinners into this world disdaynedst not to be borne in a stable amongst brute beasts vouch safe now likewise I beseech thee and for my salvation sake dispise not the uncleane manger of my soule full of brutall and vnbridled passions returne once more to foule leapers and converse againe with Publicans as thou didst in this world or rather O my omnipotent God descend once more into Hell for so alas I ought to call my darke my miserable and tormented soule But seeing that such is thy mercy as whersoever thou vouchsafest to enter thou never failest there to leave markes of thy grace and much benediction I confide my loving Lord that thou wilst doe the like to me Enter therfore vnder this my poore roofe and render it worthy of thy presence purge it of all impurities discipate the obscurity of its darkenesse replenish it with thy divine light and adorne it with the guifts of the holy Ghost Thou knowst well deare Lord my want as one poore and naked before thee much press'd with great hungar and misery but thou being the bread of life comfort my sighing sobbs dismisse me not fasting from thy delicious table least I faint in this my pilgrimage but rather graunt that fortifi'd by thee I may with holy Elias arrive to the mountaine of eternal felicity I most humbly beseech thee my mercifull and clement God and by this thy incomparable charity wherof thou givest so great a testimony by thy loving institution of this most blessed Sacrament I beseech thee to grant me grace to receive it with true contrition and sorrow for all my sins with feare and due reverence with devotion and faith fervour love and convenient purity to so sublime a mystery and grant also I beseech thee that I may receive not only the Sacrament of this thy precious body but therewithal the grace and vertue of the Sacrament for the supporting my weakenesse for the healing my infirmities for the confirming my hope for the suppressing my passions for the fortifying my faith for the inflaming my love to enlighten my understanding to be my companie in banishment and spirituall nourishment to my soule and finally to the end that by the help of this celestiall food of my soule I may be united transformed and made all one in will and desire with thee who livest and raignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen A prayer to obtayne a fervent love towards God our neighbour and our enemies O Mercifull and divine Redeemer Jesus who hast washt us with thy precious blood and given thy selfe to death for us thou hast been reputed with the wicked and most cruelly wounded for our iniquities breused and abused for our offences and by thy stripes hast made us whole I beseech thee O Lord for this thy ineffable mercy and charity to powre into my hart the unquenchable heate of thy heavenly grace so that the fire of thy charity may perpetually burne and worke within me and that there may alwayes grow in me such a continuall chast and nover failing affection of pitty benevolence and piety as extendeth it self to all creatures through the love and contemplation of thee Fill O Lord I beseech thee my soule my senses and desires with fervent and perpetuall charity that in all things and above all I may most hartely love thee and that according to thy good will and pleasure I may love my neighbour in thee and for thee Grant me grace I humbly beseech thee that with all my hart I may to thy glory love search and advance the salvation profit and commodity of every one Grant me O Lord to love mine enemies with sincerity both in word and truth take from me all bitternesse of mind wrath anger disdayne envie and whatsoever is against or contrary to pure and sincere charity so that in all sincere simplicity of hart I may have a good opinion of all may judge no Man rashly but love every one in thee with holy and harty affection and that I may shew them both in words and workes all sweetnesse all clemency and true love A prayer that we may receive the B. Sacrament before our death O Almighty and most merciful Lord I praise and give thee most humble thankes for having so graciously made me severall tymes partaker of that divinly great mistery of thy holy Sacrament and therby to be fortifi'd and greatly comforted with thy blessed presence O heavenly Father let every tongue blesse thee let every creature laud thee for this souveraine guift of thy divine bounty for which with them I also offer and present to thee my God all the praises of the Angels and of all the Elect which alreadie doe or ever shall enjoy thee in Eternity And I beseech the Ordeare Jesu the gracious Redeemer of my soule that at the houre of my death thou wilst vouchsafe to visit me with this thy gracious presence in this most blessed Sacrament and by thy grance prepare my soule I beseech thee by a faithfull and contrite confession wherby to make it a pleasing habitation for thee true God and Man my loving Saviour Forgive my former many trespasses by the sacred merits of thy bitter death and passion and that I may end this my mortall life in the finall perseverance of thy grace O God omnipotent have mercy on me for the love of thy deare sonne Jesus the life of all that shall be saved O Jesu equal God with the Father and the holy Ghost conserve and keepe me in thy grace suffer me not to be drawne from thee through any subtile persuasion of my ghostly enemy O Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Sonne the comforter of the elect and inspirer of all good guifts replenish my hart with all charitable desires and heavenly inspirations necessary for my salvation Grant this O holy Trinity for the bitter
Lord Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world Have c. Christ heare us Christ graciously heare us Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Our Father which art in Heaven c. Let us pray O God of unspekable mercy who hath vouchsafed for our sakes to me made not only Man but the sonne of Man and wouldst have a woman to be thy Mother on Earth who from all Eternity hadst God to be thy Father in Heaven Grant we may celebrate her memory most devoutly venerate her Maternity most syncerly and be most humbly subject to her most excellent dignity who hath conceived Thee of the Holy Ghost hath brought Thee fourth of her wombe remaying a pure Virgin and to whom thou hast most humbly pleased to be subject heare on Earth who art the only begotten sonne of God our Lord Jesus Christ who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and rayneth world whithout end Amen DEfend we beseech Thee o Lord by the intercession of the ever Virgin Mary this thy family from all adversity and prostate before Thee with all our hartes protect us favorably from the snare of our enemies Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy only sonne who liveth with Thee in the vnity of the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen Finis Soli Deo Honor Gloria 10. May 1669. COurteous Reader bookes of this nature not being easily permitted to be printed at home no diligence of the corrector can avoyde the many faults which the Printer not understanding our langage must needs be very subject to committ His ignorance deserves your pardon and my paynes your prayers which I doe hartely crave Submitting intirely all the rest to the correction of the holy Cotholik Church Hopeing that if this little Manuel be used wiht the like intention whrewith it was composed the fruit will be not unanswerable to his desire who is a harty and true well wisher of the greatest happinesse to your dearest soule THE DOCTORS APPROBATION I Vnder vvitten Doctor of Divinity in the Vniversity of Paris have read ouer a little booke intitled a MANNVEL OF THE POORE MANS DEVOTION c. composed by VV.C. In vvhich I finde nothing contrary to the Catholike Apostolike and Roman faith or good manners but rather much that inciteth Christians to the true practise of solide piety and Devotion In vvittnesse vvheroff I have hereunto sett my hand this 2. day of Feb. 1669. F. GAGE Libellum Anglo idiomate scriptum à viro piissimo pariter ac Nobilissimo D. VV. C. sacerdote Anglo compositum optimis Instructionibus Meditationibus Orationibus plenum magna cum delectatione per legi in quo nihil nisi valde orthodoxum Christianae vitae ac Religiouis profectum quaerentibus maximè vero Neophytis vtilissunum deprehendi sapit porro authoris sui pietatem maximam ac viâ—ae integritatem quippe qui genetis splendorem quo maximè inter Anglos fulget virtutum suarum splendore excellere videatur Quamobrem bono Catholicorum Anglicanae diâ—ionis consulens hunc prelo dignissimum censeo ut ibi aliquos reperiat imitatores qui omnes vbique reperiet approbatores Datum Parisiis die 10. Decembris an restaurarae salutis 1669. I. MOLLONY sacrae Theologiae Facultatis Parisiensis Doctor A TABLE Of the chief contents in this Manuel A morning Exercice of holy prayer Page 3. The Angelus Domini for morning Noone and Evening pag. 14. Advertisments much conducing to Christian perfection pag. 15. An eveing Exercise for prayer before bedd pag. 17. King David his 7. Penitentiall Psalmes With the Litaniy of the Saints pag. 27. The true end of Man pag. 49. Of gratitude due to Iesus Christ p. 51. Our maine affaire is to save our soules pag. 53. Of Gods divine presence pag. 54. We ougth to distrust our selves p. 55. Against detraction and calumny p. 57. Of flying the oecasion of sin pag. 59. The small number of the Elect. p. 61. Of suffering persecution for justice sake pag. 63. Mans life subjct to innumerable miseries pag. 65. Reflection upon the word of Eternity pag. 68. The signification of Priestly Ornaments And of the other Ceremonies and divine Mysteries of the Masse pag. 71. A devout Exercise for hearing Masse with true profitt and piety p. 103. Spirituall advises of S. Theresa conducing to live happily with God and Man pag. 131. Pious Reflections for embracing vertue and flying vice which may be used as the subject of so many profitable Meditations pag. 136. Of the Sacrament of Confession p. 175. A table of sins helping the memory for a generall Confession pag. 180. An Act of Contrition pag. 196. A prayer before Confession pag. 197. A prayer exciting compunction for our sins pag. 20â— An Examen of Conscience for such as often frequent the Sacrament of Penance pag. 209. A devout prayer after Confession pag. 214. Of the Holy Communion pag. 221. Prayers before the Holy Communion pag. 230. A preparatory meditation hofore the holy Communion pag. 238. Prayers after the holy CoÌ„munion pag. 238. The Canticle of the 3. Children pag. 243. The Canticle of Zachary pag. 243. The B. Virgins Canticle of Magnificat pag. 247. The Himne of S. Ambrose and S. Augustin in thankes giving to God at his conversion pag. 248. The Psalme 148. wherein all creatures are invited to praise God pag. 251. A Meditation of thankes giving after Communion pag. 253. An Exercise for practising acts of the most necessary vertues pag. 256. Holy maxims pronounced by Iesus Christ much different from the maxims of the world pag. 293. Devout prayers to be said at convenient oportunity as each shall best make choyce p. 298. Of Aspirations and jaculatory prayers pag. 346. Of Meditation pag. 358. Matter of Meditation for each day in the weeke pag. 363. An Exercise preparatory to death With the recommendation of the soule in English pag. 379. An abridgment of the afore-said exercice which may bee used every day pag. 441. An appendix containing a touch stone of true and false prayer pag. 444. The Litany of our Saviour Iesus pag. 451. The Litany of our B. Lady p. 465. The faults escaped in printing the courteous Reader vvill easily both correct and pardon
of hart simplicity of spirit and sincere purity of body and soule O sweet and most mercifull Jesu mortify in me all vices and disordered motions and unruly passions take away from me whatsoever is unlawfull inordinate or unpleasing in thy sight and give me a hart according to thyne owne right simple pure and godly and deliver and keepe me from all sin O most loving Jesu I offer unto thee my body my senses and all the powers of my soule and whatsoever I am to be moderated kept governed and possest by thee O good Jesu preserve me from all vicious vaine and proud cogitations unchast affections grant that I may sincerely seeke thee alone and that in thee only I may take my rest Amen A Prayer to our good Angel O Blessed Angel who art my keeper deefnd aide and guard me from all invasions and assaults of the devil wheresoever I be either wakeing or sleeping drive away from me all the temptations of Sathan and thou by thy prayers obtayne at the hands of the Almighty that he may have no place in me Amen A briefe examen of Conscience before going to bed FIrst place your selfe in the presence of God Crave his grace that you may call to minde such sins as you have committed that day 2. Examen wherin you have offended God from whom you have received so many gracious benefits 3. Detest your sin and be hartely sorry for having offended so good and so loving a God 4. Make a full and firme purpose to sin so no more with hope in Gods mercy and Christs merits to obtayne pardon resolving to confesse and to doe your pennance for the same Finally we must endeavour to put our selves in that state wherein we would gladly be found at the houre of our death by producing the holy acts of Faith of Hope of Charity and of true Contrition for all our sins by this or some such like act of true harty Contrition as followeth An Act of Contrition MY God my Saviour and my Judge I repent with my whole hart and soule for having offended thee who art infinitly good and souverainly loving and amiable therefore hencefourth I will love and honour thee above all things whatsoever and most firmely purpose thy holy grace assisting me never mortally to offend thee but to confesse and performe my imposed penance confiding in thy infinit mercy and in the sacred merits of the bitter death and Passion of thy dearely beloved sonne Jesus my divine Redeemer that thou wilst graciously forgive me These 7. Penitential Psalmes of David are not placed here as part of the evening prayer before bed But that after the act of contrition you may take one or more of them most moveing you to repentance for sin according to each ones leasure and devotion Antiph Remember not Lord our or our parents sins neither take vengence of our offences King David his seaven penitentiall Psalmes shewing his great griefe and sorrow after he had sinned with Bersabee Psal 6. LOrd rebuke me not in thy fury nor chastise me in thy wrath Have mercy on me O Lord because I am weake heale me Lord because my bones be troubled And my soule is disquieted exceedingly but thou O Lord how long Turne thee O Lord and deliver my soule save me for thy mercy Because there is not in death that is mindfull of thee and in hell who shall confesse to thee I have labored in my mourning I will every night wash my bed I will water my couch with teares Myne eye is troubled for fury I have waxen old among all myne enemies Depart from me allyee that worke iniquities because our Lord hath hard the voyce of my weeping Our Lord hath hard my petition our Lord hath received my prayer Let all my enemies be asshamed and very sore troubled let them be converted and asshamed very speedily Glory be to the Father and to the Sonne c. Psalme 31. BLessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins be covered Blessed is the man to whom our Lord hath not imputed sin neither is there guile in his spirit Because I held my peace my bones are inveterated whilst I cryed all the day Because day and night thy hand is made heavy upon me I am turned in my anguish while the thorne is fastned I have made my sin knowne to thee and my injustice I have not hid I said I will confesse against me my injustice to our Lord and thou hast forgiven the impiety of my sin For this shall every holy one pray to thee in tyme convenient But yet in the overflow of many waters they shall not approach to him Thou art my refuge from tribulation which hath compassed me my joy deliver me from them that compasse me I will give thee understanding and will instruct thee in the way that thou shalst goe I will fasten myne eyes upon thee Doe not become as a horse and mule which have no understanding In bit and bridle bind fast their jawes that approch not to thee Many are the scourges of a sinner but mercy shal compasse him that hopeth in our Lord. Be joyfull in our Lord and rejoyce yee just and glory all yee right of hart Glory be to the Father c. Psalme 37. LOrd rebuke me not in thy fury nor chastise me in thy wrath Because thy arrowes are fastned in me and thou hast confirmed thy hand upon me There is no health in my flesh in respect of thy wrath my bones have no peace in respect of my sins Because myne iniquities are gone over my head and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me My scarres are putrid and corrupted because of my foolishnesse I am become miserable and made crooked even to the end I went sorrowfull all the day Because my loynes are filled with illusions and there is no health in my flesh I am afflicted and am humbled exceedingly I rored for the groning of my hart Lord before thee is all my desire and my groning is not hid from thee My hart is troubled my stength hath forsaken me and the light of mine eyes and the same is not with me My friends and my neighbours have approached and stood against me And they that were neere me stood farr of and they did violence who sought my soule And they that sought me evils spake vanities and meditated guiles all the day But I as deafe did not heare as one dumbe not opening his mouth And I became as a man not hearing and not having reprehension in his mouth Because in thee O Lord have I hoped thou shalst heare me O Lord my God For I have said least sometymes my ennemies rejoyce over me and whilst my feete are moved they speake great things upon me Because I am ready for scourges and my sorrow is in my sight alwayes Because I will declare my iniquity and wil thinke for my sin But mine enemies live and are confirmed over me and they are multipli'd that hate me vnjustly
They that repay evil things for good did back bite me because I followed goodnesse Forsake me not O Lord my God depart not from me Incline unto my helpe O Lord God of my salvation Glory be to the Father c. Psalme 50. HAve mercy on me O God according to thy great mercy And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquities Wash me hencefourth from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Because I doe know my iniquity and my sin is alwayes against me To thee only have I sinned and have donne evill before thee that thou maist be justified in thy words and maist overcome when thou art judged For behould I was conceived in iniquities and my mother conceived me in sin For behould thou hast loved truth the uncertaine and hidden things of thy wisdome thou hast made manifest to me Thou shalt sprincle me with hysope and I shall be cleansed thou shalst wash me and I shall be made whiter then snow To my hearing thou shalst give joy and gladnesse and humbled harts shall rejoyce Turne away thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities Create a cleane hart in me O God and renew a right spirit in my bowels Cast me not away from thy face and thy holy spirit take not away from me Render unto me the joy of thy salvation and confirme me with a principall spirit I will teach the unjust thy wayes and the impious shall be converted unto thee Deliver me from blouds O God the God of my salvation and my tongue shall exalt thy justice Thou O Lord shalt open my lips and my mouth shall declare thy praise Because if thou wouldest have had sacrifice I had verily given it with whole-burnt-offerings thou wilt not be delighted A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit a contrite and humble hart O God thou wilst not dispise Deale favorably O Lord in thy good will with Syon and let the walls of Hierusalem be built up Then shalt thou accept sacrifice of justice oblations and whole-burnt-offerings then shall they lay calves upon thine altar Glory be to the Father c. Psalme 101. O Lord heare my prayer and let my cry come unto thee Turne not away thy face from me in what day soever I am in tribulation incline thine eare to me In what day soever I shal call upon thee heare me speedily For my dayes have vanished as smoke and my bones are withered as a dry-burnt fire-brand I am smitten as grasse and my hart is withered for I have forgotten to eate my bread For the voyce of my groning my bonne hath cleaved to my flesh I am become like a pelican of the wildernesse I am become as a night raven in the house I have watched and am become as a sparow solitary in the house toppe All the day did my ennemies upbraide me and they that praised me sware against me For I did eate ashes as bread and mingled my drink with weeping At the face of the wrath of thy indignation for that lifting me up thou hast throwne me downe My dayes have declined as a shadow I am withered as grasse But thou O Lord endurest for ever and thy memoriall in generation and generation Thou rising up shalt have mercy on Syon for the tyme is come Because the stones thereof have pleased thy servants and they shall have pitty on the earth thereof And the Gentils shall feare thy name O Lord and all the Kings of the Earth thy glory For our Lord hath builded Syon and he shall be seene in his glory He hath had respect to the prayer of the humble and he hath not dispised their petition Let these things be written in an other generation and the people that shall be created shall praise our lord Because he hath looked fourth from his high holy place our Lord from Heaven hath looked upon the earth That he might heare the gronings of the fettered that he might loose the children of them that are flayne That they may shew fourth the name of our Lord in Syon and his prayse in Hierusalem In the assembling of the people togeather in one and kings to serve our Lord. He answered him in the way of his strength shew me the fewnesse of my dayes Call me not back in the halfe of my dayes thy yeares are unto generation and generation In the beginning O Lord thou hast founded the earth and the Heavens are the workes of thy hands They shall perish but thou art permanent and they shall all wax old as a garment And as a vesture thou shalst change them and they shall be changed but thou art the selfe same and thy yeares shall not faile The children of thy servants shall inhabit and their seede shall be directed for ever Glory be to the Father c. Psalme 129. FRom the depthes I have cryed to thee O Lord Lord heare my cry Let thine eares be intent to the voyce of my petition If thou shalt observe iniquities O Lord Lord who shall sustayne it Because with thee there is propitiation and for thy law I have expected thee O Lord. My soule hath expected in his word my soule hath hoped in our Lord. From the morning watch even until night let Israel hope in our Lord. Because with our Lord there is mercy and with him plentifull redemption And he shall redeeme Israel from all his iniquities Glory be to the Father c. Psalem 142. LOrd heare my prayer with thine eares receive my petition in thy truth heare me in thy justice And enter not into judgment with thy servant because no man living shall be justifi'd in thy sight Because the enemie hath persecuted my soule he hath humbled my life in the Earth He hath set me in obscure places as the dead of the world and my spirit is in anguish upon me with in me my hart is troubled I was mindfull of old dayes I have meditated in all thy workes in the facts of thy hands did I meditate I have stretched forth my hand to thee my soule is as earth without water unto thee Heare me quickly O Lord my spirit hath fainted Turne not away thy face from me and I shall be like to them that descend into the lake Make me heare thy mercy in the morning because I have hoped in thee Make the way knowne to me wherein I may walke because I have lifted up my soule to thee Deliver me from mine enemies O Lord to thee I have fled teach me to doe thy will because thou art my God Thy good spirit will conduct me into the right way for thy names sake O Lord thou wilt quicken me in thy equity Thou wilst bring forth my soule out of tribulation and in thy mercy thou wilst destroy mine enemies And thou wilst destroy all that afflict my soule because I am thy servant Glory be to the Father c. The Antiphone Remenber not O Lord our or our Parents offences Neither take
they meane Acts of the love of God WHo am I my Souveraine Creator and who art thou who thus imposest so expresly on me a commande to love thee was it not sufficient for thee my God to permit me so to doe and was it not thy abundant goodnesse to permit thy selfe to be belou'd by so poore and so wretched a hart as mine and with thy grace ther unto to enable me Wherfore seeing that is thy commande my God I will obey and though a wretch and unworthy sinner I here in thy presence protest that I will love thee with my whole hart and with my soule and force And from hencefourth I chuse thee for ever to be the chiefe and Souveraine object af all the purest affections of my hart the accomplishment of whose blessed will I preferr before all that is in Heaven or Earth yea and my dearest life I would hold most gladly employd to testify this my love and due homage vnto thee O deare Jesu king of eternall beauty and heavenly glory I will no other inheritance but the O divine keeper of my soule take thou possession of this my hart wich was created for thee and pierce it with a thousand wounds of pure love that I may sweetly languish with wholsome sorrow for my having so much offended thee Acts of Faith OOmnipotent and Eternall God who hast given me an understanding to knowe thee and a wil to love thee I here protest before thy souveraine Majesty that with a firme faith I doe beleeve what thy holy Church inspired by the holy Ghost proposeth to be beleeved to which I intirely submit as being reveled to her by thee which therfore I embrace professe and by thy grace shall persever in it untill my dying day And I doe utterly disclayme and disavow what thy beloued spouse the holy Catholik Church condemns This is the faith which I professe and wherin I desire to be found at the hour of my death and at that dreadfull day of dome to be judgd by it accordingly Acts of Hope ALl my hope and considence is in thy mercy my loving God and in the sacred merits of my divine Redeemer Iesus by whom I hope for remission of my sins and humbly trust in his great goodnesse to continue in thy grace to my lives end and to praise and glorify him with thee o eternall Father and with the holy Ghost for all Eternity this my hope is laid up in my bosome Iob. 19. And although through humane fralty I daily offende thee yet I hope most gracious Lord by thy divine assistance to amende and to gaine more strength and constancy against my ghostly enemies O Lord of infinit mercy to whom a sorrowfull ād repentinge hart is alwayes a greatefull sacrifice although the multitude of my fins and great ingratitude might tempt me to despaire yet certaine I am my mercifull God that a contrite and humble hart thou wilt not dispise Psal 50. Acts of Adoration WIth the profundest and most humble respect of my soule prostrate both in hart and body before thy souveraine Majesty ô Omnipotent and eternall God I adore and acknowledge thee my souveraine Lord both of my life and beeing who can againe reduce me to that nothing out of which thou first createdst me and who by thy meere boundlesse goodnesse hast preserved me from it till this present day I render thee ô Lord all adoration and homage as thy submissive and humble creature depending intirely upon thy blessed will and pleasure And considering that what honour I am able to render to the merit of thy infinit Deity is so inconsiderable to supply that great defect I offer to thee the adoration which eternally thy Saints and Angels shall ever render to thee and my great desire is that all the creatures of Heaven and Earth may blesse adore and glorify thee with endlesse praise for all Eternity Acts of thankes giving and gratitude I Have merited nothing accordinge to the effect of thy great liberality to me ô my great God nor is there any thing in me which could move thee to bestow so great and many benefits both of body and soule on me who am so farr vncapable to render thee due thankes for having created redeemed preserved and calld me to the happy way for my salvation Thou hast given me o Lord reason both to know and serve thee and what daily favours hast thou conferd on me from how many perils of body and soule hast thou carefully by thy fatherly providence preserud me how great spirituall benefits hast thou bestowd on me by the merits of the bitter death and passion of my most loving Redeemer Jesus how often hast thou nourisht my soule at the sacred table with the bread of Angels wherby to give true force and grace to serve thee O how often hast thou awaked me from the mortall drousinesse of sin by thy heavenly grace and prevented me by thy holy inspirations from grievously offending thee Accept o heavenly Father in stead of my defect all the acceptable workes which Jesus Christ my loving Saviour hath offered to thee for me take this in my acknowledgment of due gratitude for these thy gracious benefits bestow'd on me and grant that all my life may be a continuall thankes giving to thy divine Maiesty to whom only is due all honour glory praise and benediction for ever and ever without end Acts of Love towards our Enemies THou hast taught me o God of all love both by thy word and example to love my enemies yea the whole practise of thy divine life well appears to have been a continuall exercise of doing good for evill as also was thy death the souveraine sacrifice to expiate their sins O grant me grace I beseech thee herein to imitate thy charity and to observe this thy holy commande Forgive therfore sweet Jesus I beseech thee all those that persecute and doe me any injury grant them finall repentance of all their sin̄es and after a happy persevetance in thy grace to enjoy thee in eternall blisse Acts of Humility I Acknowledge and before thee my God doe confesse that of my selfe I am a pure nothing neyther any thing could I doe My extraction is from nothing and my inheritame and proper share is only weackenesse sin and misery It is thou o Lord who hast drawne me from my nothing wherrin without thy meere goodnesse I had continued for all Eternity and thither should I againe returne wer 't not thy powerfull hand which continually preserves me from it All this I now acknowledging for truth what greater follye can ther be then to flatter my selfe with vaine esteeme nay lett me but passe yet one stepp further onn and consider my innumerable sins committed against this souveraine Majesty ought not I then to confesse my ill deserving the least of these thy so gracious benefits I doe acknowledge to my great confusion and thy glory that I neither have deserved thy consolation nor from thy creatures
but thine be done Grant sweet Jesus even for thy bitter passion's sake that I may performe what by thy grace I have thus resolved humbly fervently faithfully constantly that my ghostly enemy may never have any just cause to reproach me for my infidelity therein Amen Acts to be made in tyme of affliction or of trouble either in body or minde O Father of mercy and God of all consolation it being now the houre ordayned by thy divine pleasure that I should suffer I blesse and adore thy holy name desiring to persevere in that due fidelity which I owe thee I most humbly submit my selfe to the divine order of thy holy will as well in all griefe and paine as in my consolation and joy I acknowledge and doe freely confesse that the least sin which I have committed against thee deserves farr greater punishment And therfore I most humbly thanke thee O mercifull Lord for thy so lovingly and so very favorably chastising me And notwithstanding all the repugnance nature feeles herein with a most willing hart I accept thy correction and most willingly submit to it in what manner soever it shall please thee to dispose of me and I will alwayes sincerely say with my divine Redeemer thy will be done not myne Grant me the patience O heavenly Father by the sacred merits of thy deare sonne Jesus which shall be necessary for my well suffering and then accomplish in me what shall be to thee most pleasing For to thee I doe intirely abandon my body my soule my goods my life yea all I have into the hands of thy fatherly providence to the end that both for tyme and Eternity thou dispose of me according to thy blessed will and pleasuro Acts of mildenesse and meeknesse THou O my Lord who art the true peace thou lovest to rest in a quiet mild and gentle hart Grant me I beseech thee this thy beloved vertue wherby I may truly banish from my hart all disquiet and impatience therby to enjoy true solid content of mind for the meeke shall delight in abundance of peace Vouchsafe O Lord that I may learne this lesson of thee who commandest me to be milde and humble of hart therby to find true rest unto my soule for as no quarrel can be fixt upon a pleasant countenance and cheerefull minde so also courteous language and gentle hehaviour will conque the greatest enemy the conversation of such a Man is gratfull to every company and yealds both comfort and content to all for nothing is more pleasing then is a sweet milde and peacible humour nor is there any thing more offensive and displeasing then is a froward peevish and impatient nature Acts of Mortification THou knowest right well my God that such is the corrupt inclination of Man that it incits him continually to sin and keeps him as tossed with the contrary waves of unruly passions unlesse by needfull mortification he make vertuous resistance thereunto Grant therfore to me a true mortifi'd spirit wherby to subject the flesh to the spirit my passions to reason and my reason intirely unto thee But oh how farr am I from enjoying this holy vertue who give so great scope to my unruly passions to my disordered affections as also to my proper judgment and will Grant me Lord Jesu that I may shew this vertue unto others much rather by practise then by faire promissing words and that I may put a carefull watch both over my senses affections and passions of hatred chollar feare or love c. and finally to mortify my unruly will and to submitt my judgment in all things to thy divine will and pleasure Acts of the vertue of Patience NO vertue is more necessary then holy Patience we being almost continually in occasions for the practise of it and by the helpe therof we surmount the greatest difficulties wheras an impatient Man refusing sinfully to submit to Gods decrees who is the Author of all our sufferings in as much as they cannot be resisted he is most unreasonnable and by that meanes he begins his Hell even in this present world And as that Man is of all others living the most happy who is of all others the most patient so on the contrary he is most miserable who is most impatient Thy heavenly grace therefore O loving God enable me to practise this so great a vertue and to avoyde the contrary which is so dangerous a vice Vouchsafe O gracious Lord that I may but well reslect upon thy long great patience in suffering my perverse and many sins against thee And secondly conceave how justly I have deserved to suffer farr greater evils without comparison and them too eternally And therefore what afflictions soever shall befall me I resolve by thy holy grace to suffer patiently for thy sake and in hopefull expiation for my sin Acts of Perseverance IT is upon Perseverance my God on which depends the assurance of salvation all former resolutions and good purposes whatsoever without it were but lost labour and in vaine for he only that persevers shall be crowned with victory and will save his soule which is a reward indeed sufficient to encourage us to give the present moment of an uncertaine life for so never-ending a Blisse O happy perseverance which winns such a glorious crowne and without it to small purpose it would be with Judas well to begin the holy practise of vertue unlesse by the help of mortification we shall persever to the end Yea our damnation would be much the greater for our neglect of Gods holy grace Strengthen my soule O my souveraine Redeemer with this happy vertue of perseverance in holy patience and conformity in all adversity as well as in prosperity in sicknesse as in health in poverty as in wealth in contempt and calumny as in prosperity and praise or heighest favours from Men. For our beginning well is the effect of Gods grace but our not persevering is sinfull neglect and deeply deserveth punishment O what cause of horrour and just feare have I to conceive for my so great inconstancy in persevering in so many good purposes and pious resolutions which thy great goodnesse my loving God hath vouchsafed so frequently to inspire me with I falling from luke warme to be key-cold and thence unto totall neglect of what I was bound to doe But thou my mercifull Lord although thy great mercy hath thus long expected me with much patience for my amendment yet further presumption may justly draw upon me thy wrath and my endlesse punishment which he prevent who hath payd with his most precious blood soe deare a ransome to satisfy the justice of his Eternall Father with whom and the holy Ghost three divine persons and one living God be benediction and glory and wisdome and thankes-giving honour and power and strength for ever and ever Amen A Collection of some few holy maximes pronounced by the sacred mouth of Iesus Christ wherby the vertuous soule may see how different they
in as much onely as they advance me towards this end or divert me from it The Conclusion LEt us conclude this meditation with this truth that if we will dye the death of the just we must live their life also since the true meanes to obtayne a good death is to lead a good life And as there is nothing more precious nothing more to be desired then a good death so there is nothing more miserable nothing more to be dreaded then an ill one In a businesse of so high importance the most secure way is to live every day as though we were to dye before it expire alwayes keeping our affections so disengag'd from earthly things as if we were really at the point of death where all that is not God will appeare but smoake and vapour A most profitable Exercise to prepare our selves for death Vpon the moment of death depends Eternity THe day we make this Exercise as soone as we awake we are to enter into the thoughts of death and consider it as the last of our life Preparation WE are to imagine our selves sicke in our bed even to extremity and that our good Angel comes by Gods command to declare to us the irrevocable sentence of our death saying as Isay said to Exechias put thy affaires in order for thou shalst dye Prostrate at the foote of the Crucifix or before the B. Sacrament let us implore from the bottome of our hart grace and light from the holy Ghost the assistance of the B. Virgin of the saintes our Patrons and our good Angel and then make the following acts An act of Resignation 1. MY hart is ready O God my hart is ready not my will but thyne be done in me upon me and by me now and in all Eternity O God eternall immense and infinite who art abundantly sufficient to thy selfe and hast no need of thy creatures what matter is it whither I live or dye so as I accomplish thy holy will in which onely my true life consists Let not then my will bo done but thyne O my God Confession of our ovvne nothing 2. TO the end to acknowledg the dependance I have upon thee my soveraine Creator and openly to confesse before Heaven and Earth that thou art onely he who is and that I am that vile Creature who is not I embrace with all humble submission the destruction of this corruptible being and am content that by death it returne to the nothing from whence thou hast taken it Restitution of our beeing to God 3. O My Soveraine Creator I desire to restore thee the beeing which thou hast given me and to this effect I accept death in such manner as may most please and glorify thee Dispose then of thy Creature and destroy this body of sin in punishment of the offences it has committed against thy divine Majesty Let this carth returne to earth but let my Spirit which is created after thy image and likenesse returne to thee Acknowledgement of the Soveraine dominion of God 4. O My God although I must dye by necessity yet I desire by submission to render my death voluntary and am glad that in punishment of the ill use I have made of the free will thou hast given me it shall put me into a state wherin I shall be no more able to resist that Soveraine Dominion which thou as lawfull Lord of all creatures hast over me Acceptation of death in punishment of our sins 5. SInce death O my God is the punishment thou hast ordayned for sin with an humble hart and entire submission to thy most just decree and à Spirit of penance I accept it togeather with all the paines humiltations and privations which accompany it in satisfaction for all those offences which I have committed against thy awfull Majesty Oblation of our life to God 6 REceive Omy Saviour the oblation I make of my body and life which I offer and immolate to thy divine Majesty as a sacrifice and burnt offering unite it to that which thou hast offerd upon the Crosse for me and consume it with the fire of thy divine love Desire to render to Iesus death for death 7. O My divine Jesus since that the love of me has caus'd thee to dye upon the Crosse for my salvation is it not reasonable that for the love of thee I should accept death with a good hart to the end to recompence as farre as I am able that which thou hast suffered for me O why have I not a thousand lives that to this end I might lay them downe all and thereby testify that thou art my God Spirituall Confession Humbling our selves profoundly at the feete of Jesus Christ as if he were present in his holy Humanity we ought to accuse our selves to him of all our sins taking a short review of them but especially of those which are most notable in consequence wherof we may excite our soule to a lively and loving repentance for them An act of Contrition O My God prostrate before thy Soveraine Majesty I most humbly crave pardon as well for all my contempts and abuses of thy holy graces as for the sins I have committed since the very day of my birth in thought word and deed I retract and disavow them yea from the bottom of my hart I renounce them and wish I had never committed them not in regard of the paines which they merit but because I have offended thy infinit goodnesse which deserves to be infinitly lou'd and serv'd by all Creatures O that my hart were capable of an infinit griefe wherwith to expiate them But to supply what is wanting in me O my God accept that which my Saviour has sufferd in the garden of Olives and upon the Crosse for the sins of the whole world and particularly for me Accept also to this end the griefe and contrition of all the saintes cleanse me from my secret sins and pardon me those which I have committed in others O my Lord despise not an humble and contrite hart which expects pardon of thy mercy alone Thou hast said that whensoever a sinner shall truly grieve for his sins thou wilt no more remember his iniquities And if be thy pleasure to prolonge my life I make a sinne purpose by thy grace to amende my faults especially such and such and will endeavour to satisfy for what is past Having made this act we may receive the absolution which Jesus Christ the Soveraine Priest gives us by applying to our selves his divine merits after which let us contemplate him saying to us as he did to S. Mary Magdalen thy sins are forgiven thee goe in peace Say the Psalme Miserere mei Deus c. in the Spirit of true penance Aspirations to the three divine Persons O Eternal Father since thou hast so lou'd the world as to give us thyne only Sonne ought not I to hope for salvation from thy mercy Thou hast not given him to condemne us but to save us and
At the nostrills I also most humbly crave pardon O my God for the excessive pleasure I have sought and taken in perfumes and sweet odours and for my too much nicenesse and impatience in ill ones which I have so sensually avoyded To satisfy for this vouchsafe to apply to me the merit of those ill odours which thou didst daigne to smell in the Stable and upon mount Calvary At the Mouth O My Saviour Jesus Christ pardon me the infinit number of fins which I have committed both in words and in excesse of eating and drinking expiate them O my God by applying to me the merit of thy divine prayers preaching and holy fastings At the hands Pardon me my divine Jesus so many evill and unprofitable actions which I have done and all the pleasure and delight I have sought to satisfy my sense of feeling and to this end apply to me the merit of those holy actions and divine miracles which thou hast wrought with those sacred hands which were nayld to the hard wood of the Crosse At the feete O My God from the bottome of my hart I beseech thee to pardon all the stepps I have employ'd either unpromably or with evill intentions apply to me in satisfaction for these faults the merit of those sacred stepps which thou hast trodden barefoot with so much wearinesse especially in carrying the Crosse After Extreame unction we may make these following acts in a spirit of penance 1. O my God to the end to satisfy thy divine justice as farre as I am able and with my whole being to make reparation for my faults I accept death with all my hart and rejoyce that my soule shall be separated from my body in punishment of the sins I have committed in preferring my corrupt inclinations before thy holy will 2. And that this body in punishment for its pride and ambition shall be hidden in the earth and trodden under foote 3. And that in satisfaction for the inordinate love I have borne it and the excessive care I have had to give it ease and pleasure it shall returne to corruption and become the nourishment of wormes 4. And for the inordinate affection I have borne to the Creatures and the abuse I have made of them I am glad to be depriu'd and separated from them 5. And for my forgetfulnesse of thee O my God during my life I accept that which will be had of me after my death 6. And for having used all my senses to offend thee I accept and effer thee the privation I must now suffer of the use of them 7. And in punishment for all the vaine complacence I have had for the creatures I submit my selfe by death to be the object of their hatred and horrour The approach of death LEt us heare our Good Angel saying to us Math. 15 as to the Virgins in the Gospel Behould the Bridegroome is comming goe fourth to meete him Preparing our selves comming with the burning lampe of charity in our hands we may say with David I Was glad when it was said to me we will goe into the house of our Lord. O my Lord God of Hosts how amiable are thy tabernacles my soule longs after them My soule thirsts after the fountaine of life when shall I come and appeare before thy face As the thirsty hart longs after the fountains of water so ô my God my soule longs after thee O how ardent is my desire to be delivered from this body to the end to be with Jesus Christ Vnion to Iesus Christ dying O my divine Jesus grant that my paines may be united to thyne that my agony and death may be sanctifi'd by thyne and that I may partake of those holy dispositions wherein thy sacred soule was in the last moment of thy life to which with my whole hart I unite my selfe to supply those which are wanting in me I abandon my selfe to thee to the end to suffer for thy love the paines of death even as great and as long as thou shalst please And I disavow all the imperfections which the violence of my sicknesse may cause me to commit Recourse to the B. Virgin and the Saintes O Holy Virgin Mother of my Lord and Saviour refuge of sinners be now my Advocate employ thy power for me to the most holy Trinity O Mary Mother of grace Mother of mercy receive me at the houre of my death and defend me from the enemy Shew thy selfe to be a mother and obtayne that he who for my salvation would vouchsafe to be thy sonne and be borne of thee may also receive me by thee O all yee Saints and Blessod spirits intercede now for my soule and assist me in this extremity to the end I may obtayne victory over my enemies Great S. Joseph and my holy Patrons and Protectors assist me Blessed S. Michael fight for me O glorious Angel my deare gardian defend me from the ambushes of my enemies and forsake me not in this last passadge Then addressing our sselves to God we may say FTernall Father looke upon me in the face of thy deere sonne Jesus Christ who has spilt his blood for my salvation Have pitty on me according to thy great mercy and pardon my sins for the glory of thy name O my God enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight no Man living can be justifi'd O my divine Jesus interpose thy Crosse and Passion betwixt thy iudgment and my soule My God my Lot is in thy hands save me O my Lord I have hoped in thee I shall not be confounded for ever An act of Adoration to the most holy Trinity O Most holy and individed Trinity I adore thee with my whole hart and now and for all Eternity unite my selfe to all those adorations and praises which the most holy humanity of my Saviour Jesus christ his most glorious Mother and all the Saints and blessed spirits render thee and shall render thee eternally in Heaven I offer thee all the sacrifices of this most sacred humanity which are already offerd and which shall be offerd even to the day of judgment upon all the Altars in the world in satisfaction for my sins and in gratitude for all thy divine benefits Those who make use of the Recommendation of the soule may remember to make this conclusion after it And then may be said Subvenite Sancti Conclusion of this exercise An act of entire resignation or abandon of our selves to God O My God I abandon my soule entirely and without reservation to thy divine judgments I submit my selfe to them from the bottome of my hart I adore and reverence them now and in all Eternity as most just and equitable Spirituall expiration Houlding the Crucifix in our hand we may say these words MY God my Creator and my Redeemer behould I come to thee because thou callest me receive me into the bosome of thy mercy And kissing with tender affection the wounds of the Crucifix we may at
thy servant as thou hast delivered holy Job from his sufferings Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast delivered Isaac from being immolated by the hand of his Father Abraham Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast delivered Lot from Sodome and from the flames which burnt it Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast deliveeed Moyses from the hand of Pharao king of Egipt Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast delivered Daniel from the denne of Lyons Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast delivered the three children from the fiery furnace and from the hand of the wicked king Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast delivered Susanna from the false accusations of the Elders Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast delivered David from the hands of king Saul and Golias Amen O Lord deliver the soule of thy servant as thou hast delivered S. Peter and S. Paul out of prison Amen And as thou hast delivered the most holy Virgin and Martyr S. Tecle from three cruell torments so vouchsafe to deliver the soule of this thy servant and make him rejoyce with thee in the eternall possession of heavenly riches Amen Commendamus tibi WE commend to thee o Lord the soule of thy servant N. and beseech thee O Lord Jesus Christ Saviour of the world that as thou hast vouchsafed most mercifully to descend from heaven for it so thou wilt not refuse to place it in the bosome of the Patriarches Acknowledge O Lord thy creature who was not created by any strange Gods but by thee the only true and living God For as there is no God like thee so there are no workes like thyne O Lorde make his soule rejoyce in thy presence and remember not his old sinnes and excesses which the heate or fury of his inordenate desires have caused him to committ for although he hath transgressed yet he hath not denyed the Father sonne and holy ghost but beleeud and reteynd a zeale for thy glory and faithfully adord thee the God and Creator of all things Delicta iuventutis REmember not O Lord we beseech thee the offences of his youth and his ignorances but according to thy great mercy be mindfull of him in the brightnesse of thy glory open heaven to him and lett the Angels rejoyce at his entrance O Lord receive thy servant into thy kingdome Let S. Michael the Archangel who has merited to be prince of the heavenly host receive him let the Angels of God come fourth to meete him and conduct him to the holy citty of the heavenly Hicrusalem let the B. Apostle S. Peter to whom thou hast committed the keyes of the kingdome of Heaven admitt him let S. Paul the Apostle who was found worthy to be a vessel of election assist him let S. John the shaft and beloved Apostle of God to whom the secret of Heaven were reveald intercede for him let all the Apostles to whom God has givē a power of binding and loosing pray for him let all Gods Saints and elect who have suffered torments in this world for the name of Christ intercede for him to the end that being freed from the bonds of the flesh he may arrive at the glory of the heavenly kingdome by the merits of the same Jesus Christ our Lord who with the Father and the Holy ghost lives and raynes for ever and ever Amen If the soule continue in her agony the psalme 117 Confitemini here for sett downe may be reheared and also the 188. Psalme beati immaculati which is omitted here because of its length The soule going out of the body the subvenite is to be recited SUccour speedily O Saintes of God hasten yee Angels of our Lord receive this soule and offer it up in the sight of the most high Jesus Christ who has cal'd thee receive thee and let the Angels carry thee into Abraham bosome eternall rest give her O Lord and let perpetuall light shine upon her Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Our Father c. From the gate of Hell O Lord deliver this soule Let her rest in peace Amen O Lord heare my prayer And let my cry come to thee We commend to thee O Lord the soule of thy servant N. that being dead to the world he may live to thee and those sins which through frailty of humaine conversation he has committed lett them be pardned by thy infinit goodnesse and mercy and by the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Confitemini Psalme 117. PRaise our Lord for he is good for his mercy endures for ever Let Israel now say that he is good for his mercy endures for ever Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endures for ever Let those who feare our Lotd now say that his mercy endures for ever In my tribulation I called upon our Lord and our Lord heard me at large Our Lord is my helper I will not feare what Man can doe to me Our Lord is my Protector therfore will I despise my enemies It is better to trust in our Lord then to trust in Men. It is better to hope in our Lord then to hope in Princes All nations compased me about but in the name of our Lord I have taken vengance upon them They have girt and environd me round but in the name of our Lord I have taken vengance upon them They have surrounded me like Bees but in the name of our Lord I have taken vengance upon them They pusht and thrust me so as I staggerd and had almost falen but our Lord sustaynd me our Lord is my force and my prayer and he is become my salvation The voyce of joy and health in the tabernacles of the just The right hand of our Lord has wrought mighty things the right hand of our Lord hath exalted me the right hand of our Lord has shewd strength I will not dye but live and declare the workes of our Lord. Our Lord by correction hath chastised me but he has not given me over to death Open me the gates of righteousnesse that entring into them I may blesse our Lord this is the gate of our Lord the just shall enter into it I will praise thee because thou hast heard me and art become my salvation The stone which the builders rejected the same is become the head of the corner This our Lord hath done and it is admirable in our eyes This is the day which our Lord has made let us rejoyce and be glad in it O Lord save me O Lord prosper me blessed is he who comes in the name of our Lord. We have wisht you happinesse who are of the house of our Lord God is our Lord he has shind upon us Ordayne a festivall day in triumph let it extend even to the hornes of
Meditation suggests to them they become by their meditation more humble more patient and conformable to Gods blessed wil and pleasure in all which is the certaine marke of a holy and fruitfull Medication how dry or barren soever it seemed to them and deprived of all sensible or self-satisfaction or forced fervours whilst learneder persons with all high speculations producing no great affections nor resolutions for the practise of vertue all proves but vanity in their owne imagination which produceth no fruit at all But now that the lesse learned people are not uncapable to practise this prositable prayer of Meditation it may be fitly expressed by this familiar example of a pervere and wicked Meditation made by a sinner of whome King David speakes saying and they who sought me evils speakes vanities and mediate evils all the day For the revengfull man pondering and musing with him felfe of some disgrace or injury by memory he calls to mind the disgrace or wrong offered him Then with his understanding he considers the nature and weight of such an injury and therby he provokes his will to hatred to envie to malice and to secke revenge upon the party from whom he received it This now is a most wicked Meditation wholy interiour and all without one word of the mouth Even so in like manner and quite to the contrary a good Man calling to minde his sin and injuries therby which he hath offered unto God he ponders considers and examens the greatnes therof the enormity causes effects and the properties of sin whence he makes a firme resolution out of the hatred therunto to banish the like hereafter and to avoyde all future occasions and this is an interiour and a holy Meditation of sin This briefly in general Here now followes a short meditation for each day in the weeke wherby the vertuous soule may put in practise this holy exercise and it may also serve as a little methode inducing her to make more use of this profitable devotion according to leasure and other helpes for the same Matter of Meditation for ever day in the weeke Sunday of Gods benefits unto mankind FIrst place yourselfe in the presece of God with a profound adoration therof The Preparation and beseech him to inspire you with his grace Which serves as the generall preparation for all the ensuing Meditations 1. Consider the benefit of thy Creation that when thou wast nothing Considerations the Almighty created thee not a stock or a brute beast but a reasonable creature endued with understanding will memory and capable of all vertue 2. Consider the end for which thou wast created namely the service of God and that after a short tyme spent therin thou mightest be partaker of those celestiall joyes which be prepared for thee in the Kingdome of Heaven 3. Consider that all other creatures and what soever thy God hath bestowed upon thee is for the attainement of thy foresaid end and so accordingly to be employed by thee 4. Consider the benefit of thy Redemption of thy Vocation unto the catholike faith such also as concerne thine owne estate in particular For which Affections and all others as wel knowne as unknowne labour to be thankfull Admire with great confusion and be truly sorry for your great ingratitude considering Gods infinit love to so unworthey a creature abusing those his innumerable blissings Resolue to be more carrefull for the future Resolutions preparing your mind with all indifferency to possesse or to be deprived be it of health or sicknesse plenty or want esteeme or contempt so it be conformable to gods blessed will let it be welcome Munday of sin and the grieviousnesse thereof COnsider how odious sin is unto God Which may appeare by the greatness of the punishment First in the Angels Secondly in our first Parents who for eating the forbidden fruit were deprived of that happy estate wherin thy were created in Paradise yea not only they but wee and all their posterity doe beare the burden therof for so much as all the miseries of this life and the next doe spring from that bitter root Consider the malice of sin which in a sort is infinit being against the infinit goodnesse of God And therfore Jefus Christ God and Man was only found worthy and able to accomplish the worke of our Redemption whose actions being of infinit merit were answerable to infinit justice Consider the lamentable effects therof 1. of Gods grace wherof we are deprived 2. of the evils which we incurre as the wrath of God torment of conscience the servitude of sathan and the guilt of eternall damnation Astection All this considered ought not the very name of sin be more horrible to us then is Hell it selfe and yet ô how great is our senslesse carelesnesse in committing it as also Gods infinit mercy to most ungreatefull Man in suffering his wicked bouldnesse in offending so great and so good a God! Resolue therfore and crave his grace Resolutions that thou maist rather dye then offend him mortally recurt to him for mercy as a prodigall child and detest all thy former sins and resolue to fly all dangerous occasions of falling into them againe Tuesday of the miseries of this life 1. COnsider the great frailty of Mans nature subject to so many dangers as no glasse is halfe so brittle and therfore in the holy scripture it is compared to a buble in the water to flowers to grasse to a shadow c. As for the soule so many snares and ginns are laid by the world the flesh and the divel to ruyn it as S. Antony seeing them in a vision cryed out ô Lord who shall be able to avoyde all these nets 2. Consider in respect of temporall things what a misery it is that scarce any one is contented with his owne estate seeme he to others never so prosperous for that in this life we are like unto sick men who tumble and tosse in their beds not considering the cause of their discontent to be their inward infirmity of vexing in minde 3. Consider that for so much as this life is so uncertaine and so fraught with miseries there is no greater madnesse in the world then to set out harts and affections thereupon and with such diligence to cast about for the things therof and so little or not at all to labour for those which concerne our eternal felicity Adore and greatly admire the great goodnesse of God Affections who therfore hath mixed those many miseries with this present life therby to compel us to hate it and to draw us by it to aspire unto our Beatitude Resolution Resolue hereafter to withdraw your hart from such vaine and deceiptful contentments of the world and fix your mind upon what is eternall Wednesday of the houre of death I Magin thy selfe to lie upon thy death bed having a hallowed candle in thy hand a crucifix upon thy breast thy ghostly Father calling
upon thee that though thou canst not speake yet to move thy hand in token of thy hope in the mercies of Jesus Christ Thus then disposed proceed to the points of meditation following Consider the certainty of death according to that of the Apostle it is appointed for all Men once to dye Hebr. 16 of which our Eternity depends but as for the houre when the place where or the manner how all this is most uncertaine save that we see death commonly to come when it is least expected 2. Consider what a trouble it wil be at that tyme not only to looke back to the things of the world which in a moment thou must forsake but especially when thou shalst looke before thee to what is to come finding thy selfe very uncertaine of thy salvation both by reason of the multitude of thy sins many whereof being utterly forgot then come fresh unto thy mind and such as before seemed smale shal then be thought heavy as also in regard of the suddainnesse and strictnesse of thy accompt the severity of the judg and the terrour of Hel c. Beg at Gods hands Affections that these points may be so imprinted in thy mind as thou maist alwayes have a care so to live as thou wouldst be found in the houre of death Resolutions We must therfore firmely resolue to doe presently what we are certaine we shal wish at that houre to have done as in particular to forsake such or such a vice to embrace and practise such or such a vertue To begin presently to live well according to our calling for he hardly dies well who lives ill and repentance made by a dying Man is exceeding dangerous and doubtfull And therfore resolue to watch for you know neither the day nor the houre which God will have to be unknowne to us to the end we should be allwayes ready and prepared Thursday of judgement 1. SO soone as our soule is separated from the body it appeares immediatly before the tribunal of Gods judgement there to render a most exact a severe and dreadfull accompt of all our thoughts words and deeds yea and for each moment of tyme since our first use of reason as also for all his gracious guifts bestowed on us either of grace fortune or nature to be employd for his glory and our owne soules health 2. Consider that this accompt is so much the more dreadful in that it is made to a judge to whose power none can resist to whose knowledge nothing can lye hid whose sentence is souveraine without appeale and the consequence of it concernes an Eternity of weale or woe and that to be put in execution immediately and to endure so long as God is God 3. All this considered O stupid carelesnesse of Man to thinke so little to be prepared for this uncertaine and most dreadfull houre Affections What steward would be so ill provided to make his reckning but to a temporal Prince although it only should concerne this present life wheras this is to God himself and concernes Eternity which as yet we have happy tyme to negotiate by the faithfull practise of these ensving necessary resolutions First to detest and fly all mortal sin above death it selfe Resolutions and to crave Gods grace to that end Secondly to frame our thoughts words and actions as if to be considered examined and sentenced now here immediaty by this our heavenly judge 3. To keepe a lively and perpetuall memory of our fowre last things death judgement Hell and Heaven and lastly to examin frequently our selves whither we are at present in that state as were fit to appeare if God should now immediaty call us to render that our last most dreadfull reckening wheron should depend our sentence of Eternity Friday of Hel. 1. HEl being the prison of Gods justice for his enemies as Heaven is the place of recompence for his friends so are they opposit in all and beyond expression the one for torment and the other for felicity and both to last eternally and comprehend all which can be either said or thought of both respectively in their several kind 2. Consider that the sinner here for a moment of seeming and deluding content forfeits his heavenly and eternal blisse for which he was made and it is most happily pourchaced by such as preferre the love of God and his blessed will before their owne corrupt sensuality cooperating with his holy grace for avoyding of sin This now being well ponder'd Affections have we not just cause to blesse and adore Gods love and goodnesse for having provided us of so many power full helps for our beatitude with no lesse persuasions to fly and avoyde those eternal torments of Hel and to preserve us from sin the only cause of that endlesse misery by Sacraments by instructions by holy inspirations by good exemples and by many other helps and powerfull motives to vertue and to detest all sin We must therfore resolue Resolutions whilst God here graciously doth lend us this acceptable tyme and the dayes for salvation to employ them much more carefully then formerly we have done for that happy end and to be firme and constant in faithfully observing the good resolutions with which God hath graciously inspired us for the amendment and avoiding our most habitual sins as also the chiefe occasions therunto whereby we are in most danger to offend Almighty God and to cast our soules into the eternall flames of Hel where they shall be cruciated day and night saith S. John for ever and ever Apoc. 10.10 Saturday of the joyes of Heaven 1. COnsider that this Beatitude consists in the most blessed vision of the glorious Trinity Father Sonne and Holy Ghost In the fellowship and society of Angels Cherubins Apostles Patriarchs Prophets Martyrs Virgins Confessors and generally of all the faithful departed this life and now crowned in the eternall glory of Heaven 2. Consider that in this celestial estate is not only the absence of all evil but the abundance of all good things according to that of the Apostle the eye of Man hath not seene nor the eare hath heard neither hath it entred into the hart of Man to conceive what God hath layd up for them that love him 1 Cor. 2 9. 3. Consider with your selfe by what steps and degrees the Saints and holy servants of God who now raigne in everlasting glory with him have obtayned the same and labour to imitate their examples O blesse inexplicable Affections those happy soules possesse God and God possesseth them God is their whole all in all He is their all in substance by communicating to them their final perfection and by elevating them to a beeing which is divine He will be their all to their understanding by cleerely manifesting himselfe unto them he will be their all to their will bestowing himselfe unto them by a most sweet intimate gust and savour drawing them by this blessed meanes