of death thou open'dst the kingdom of heav'n to all Believers Psal LXXXIII IF we rejoyc'd for our selvs in the sufferings of our Lord let us now rejoyce for Him that his sufferings are ended Now that the fowlers net is broken and the meek and innocent Dove escap't Now that the cup of bitternes is past away and never possible to return again Never again O dearest JESU shall those blest eys weep nor thy holy soul be sorrowful to death Never shall thy precious life be subject any more * to the bloody malice of ambitious hypocrites Never shall thy innocence any more be expos'd * to the barbarous fury of an ingrateful multitude But thou shalt live and reign for ever and all created nature perpetually adore Thee O happy end of well indur'd afflictions O blessed fruits that spring from the Cross of JESUS Look up my soul and see thy crucify'd Lord * sit gloriously inthron'd at the right hand of his Father Behold the ragged purple now turn'd into a robe of light and the scornful reed into a royal Scepter The wreath of thorns is grown into a sparkling diadem and all his scars polisht into brightnes His tears are all now chang'd into joy and the laughter of his persecuters into sad despair Herod long since perisht in miserable contempt and Pilate still trembles with everlasting fears The impenitent Jews are scatter'd o're the world to attest his truth and their own obdurate blindness But Himself is crown'd with eternal Triumphs and the souls he has redeem'd shall sing his victories for ever Live glorious King of men and Angels live happy Conqueror of sin and death Our praises shall always attend thy Cross and our patience endeavour to bear our own Through fiercest dangers our faith shall follow Thee and nothing wrest from us our hope at last to see Thee We 'l fear no more the sting of death nor be frighted at the darkness of the grave Since thou hast chang'd our grave into a bed of rest and made death it self but a passage into life We 'l love no more the pleasures of vanity nor set our harts on unsatisfying riches Since Thou hast open'd Paradise again and purchas'd for us the kingdom of heav'n Glory be c. Psal LXXXIV BLessed be thy Name O holy JESU and blessed be the mercy of thy Providence Who hast cast our lot in these times of grace and design'd our birth in the days of light When we may clearly see our ready way and directly go on to our glorious end Till Thou appear'dst O Thou only light of the world our miserable earth lay cover'd with darknes Till thou went'st away O thou soveraign Lord of life thy Saints sate expecting in the shades of death The kingdom of heav'n was close shut up and none permitted to behold thy glory Soon as thine own afflictions were ended thou communicatedst thy joys to all the world All that esteem'd so blest a sight and stood prepar'd to entertain thy coming As for the rest whose eys are shut or turn'd away by their own malice Thy presence alas yields no more joy then light to those who will not see But the harts that love Thee Thou fill'st with gladnes and overflow'st them with an ocean of heav'nly delights Come happy souls to whom belongs * so fair a title to all these mercys Come let us now raise up our thoughts and continually mediâ—â—ate our future beatitude Let us comfort our labours with the hope of rest and our sufferings with the expectance of a quick reward Now that the hand of our gracious Lord * has unlockt the gates of everlasting blyss Now that they stand wide open to admit * such as press on with their utmost strength Such as have wisely made choice of heav'n * for the only end and business of their life Rejecting all these false allurements to attend the pursute of true felicity O Blessed JESU our hope our strength and the full rewarder of all thy servants As thou hast freely prepar'd for us ready wages so Lord let thy grace enable us to work Make us direct our whole life to Thee and undervalue all things compar'd with thy love Seal thou our eys to the illusions of this world and open them upwards to thy solid glorys That when our earthly tabernacle shal be dissolv'd and this house of clay fall down into the dust We may ascend to Thee and dwel above in that Building not made with hands eternal in the heav'ns Glory be c. Psal LXXXV PRaise our Lord O you children of men praise Him as the Author of all your hopes Praise our Lord O you Blessed of heav'n praise Him as the Finisher of all your joys Sing O you reverend Patriarks and holy Prophets sing Hymns of glory to the great Messias Sing and rejoyce all you Ancient Saints who so long repos'd in the bosom of Abraham Bring forth your best and purest incense and humbly offer it at the Throne of the Lamb The Lamb that was slain from the begining of the world by the sprinkling of whose blood you all were saved O still sing on the praises of the King of peace and bless for ever his victorious mercy 'T was he dissolv'd the power of darknes and brake asunder the bars of death 'T was He came down to visit your prisons and lead you away out of the shades of sorrow How did your glad eys sparkle with joy to see at last your Desir'd Redeemer How were your spirits transported with delight to behold the splendors of his glorious presence His presence that can quickly turn * the sadest night into a chearful day That can change a dungeon into a house of mirth and make every place a Paradise O glorious Presence when shall our souls be fill'd * with strong and constant desires of enjoying Thee When dearest JESU shal our desires be fil'd * with the everlasting fruition of thy Blessed self Henceforth for Thee and for thy sacred love O Thou great and only Comfort of our souls May all afflictions be welcom to us as wholsom phisick to correct our follyes May the pleasures of the world be rejected by us as dangerous fruits that fill us with diseases May we by thy example neither feare to dy nor refuse the labours of this life But while we live obey thy grace that when we dy we may injoy thy glory Glory be c. Antiph When thou hadst overcom the sting of death Thou opend'st the Kingdom of heav'n to all believers Capit. 2. Pet. 3. TAke heed lest being led aside by the error of the unwise you fall away from your own stedfastnes But grow in grace and the knowledg of our Lord JESUS Christ to Him be glory both now and to the day of Eternity Amen Hymn XXVI MY God to Thee our selvs we ow And to Thy bounty all we have Behold to Thee our praises bow And humbly thy acceptance crave If we are happy in a friend That very friend
my exceeding great fault Here pause a while to examine and repent and make holy purposes Then say Therefore I beseech the B. Virgin Mary the B. Saint Michael the Archangel the B. Saint John Baptist the holy Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul and all the Saints to pray to God for me The great and glorious Lord of heav'n and earth have mercy on us forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life Amen Lord have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us JESU receive our prayers Lord JESU grant our petitions O God the Father Creator of the world have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of mankind have O God the Holy Ghost Perfecter of the Elect have O Sacred Trinity three Persons and one God have O God the eternal Fulness of all Perfection O God the overflowing Source of all Being O God the bounteous Author of all our Good O God who hast chosen us in thy Son before the constitution of the world O God who hast created us of nothing to thine own similitude O God who preserv'st us every Moment that we return not again to nothing O God who hast made all the world for the use of us and us for the injoyment of Thy self O God who hast redeem'd us by the death of thy Son and sanctify'd us by the grace of thy holy Spirit O God who hast brought us to the knowledg of thy truth and blest us with so plentiful means of working our salvation O God who hast prepared for us a glorious inheritance if we love thee and keep thy Commandments O God who art thy self that glorious inheritance O God the only end of all our labours O God the only Rest of our wearied souls O God the only joy of our time and eternity O God our God all things have mercy on us Have mercy O Lord and spare us Have mercy O Lord and hear us From all evil deliver us O Lord. From all sin deliver From all occasions of offending thy divine Majesty From the particular temptations to which we are most expos'd From sudden and unprovided death From everlasting death By thy almighty Power deliver By thy unsearchable Wisdom By thy adorable Goodnes By all thy glorious Attributes By all thy gracious Mercys By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation and humble Nativity By the sanctity of thy heav'nly Doctrin and miraculous Life By the merits of thy bitter Passion and all reviving Death By the joys of thy victorious Resurrection and triumphant Ascensionâ—â— By the glory of thy eternal Kingdom and incomprehensible Majesty deliver In the hour of Death and in the day of Judgment deliver us O Lord. We sinners beseech Thee hear us That it would please Thee to give us a true and harty sorrow for all our offences we That it would please Thee to work in us a firm and sincere resolution of amending our lives we That it would please Thee to pardon our sins past and prevent us by thy grace for the time to come we That it would please thee to have pity on the weaknes of our nature and in all our necessitys temptations and dangers to strengthen and relieve us we beseech Thee hear us That seeing every day our many imperfections we may quicken our diligence and humble our selvs and learn to depend on Thee we That acknowledging all we have is deriv'd from thy free bounty we may praise and glorify Thee and above all thy benefits love Thee our Benefactor we That knowing all we hope proceeds from the same free bounty we may faithfully indeavour to serve and please Thee and secure to our selvs thy everlasting rewards we That considering thy Providence does all things for the best we may thankfully accept whatever Thou assign'st us and not murmur at our part but strive to act it well we That we may diligently observe the Rules of our several places and contentedly stoop to the meanest work of our condition sweetning all our labours with this glad hope if we be innocent here we shal be happy hereafter we That we may live in peace and charity with all the world especially among our selvs so particularly ingag'd by our union into one Family patiently forbearing and freely forgiving and readily assisting one another we That often in the midst of our busines we may steal up our thoughts to Heaven to renew and encrease our desire of that glorious eternity we That whether we sleep or wake we may still be safe in Thee and whether live or dy be always thine We beseech Thee hear us Son of God we beseech Thee hear us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world spare us O Lord. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world hear us O Lord. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy on us V. Lord have marcy on us R. Christ have mercy on us V. Lord have mercy on us Our Father c. V. And lead us not into temtation R. But deliver us from evil Amen V. Bless we beseech thee O Lord thy spouse the Church R. Bless her with the graces of vnity and truth and holines V. Bless thy servant our Soverain Lord King Charls R. Bless him with the spirit of wisdom and courage and piety V. Bless all the Nations subject to his Government R. Bless them with the gifts of peace and truth and unfeigned charity V. Bless our kinred and acquaintance our friends and benefactors R. Bless our enemys and standerers and all that despitefully use us V. Have mercy O Lord on the Nations who never knew Thee R. And Those who knew Thee once but now are faln from the Truth V. Have mercy on the poor and helpless and afflicted R. And comfort them with hope and patience and releef V. Have mercy on the living and govern them by thy grace R. Have mercy on the Dead and bring them to thy glory V. Have mercy on us thy servants here assembled in thy presence R. And Thou who art our Refuge be our Defence V. Into thy hands O Lord we commend our spirits R. Into thy hands O Lord we commend our spirits V. Thou hast redeem'd us O Lord thou God of truth R. Into thy hands O Lord we commend our spirits V. Preserve us O Lord as the apple of thine ey R. Under the shadow of thy wings protect us V. Save us O Lord waking defend us sleeping R. That we may watch with Christ and rest in peace V. Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this night without sin R. Have mercy on us O Lord have mercy on us V. Lord let thy mercy be on us R. As our hope is in Thee V. O Lord hear our prayers R. And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O God the comfortable Repose of thy servants in Hope and their blysful Rest in thy everlasting Possession obedient to thy Call by the voice of our nature behold we retire to lay down our weary heads and instructed by thy grace confidently resign up all we are and have while we sleep in the hâ—â—â—s of thy everwaking Providence most humbly beseeching Thee that if it please Thee to take us hence this night our souls eys as our bodys may be found absolutely closed to all this worlds Goods and wide open to receive thy ardently-expected Vision or if thou vouchsafest by convenient refreshment to protract still our lives we may rise from our Beds cheerfully disposed by good works in our 〈◊〉 vocations to make our Election sure and advance our glorious Mansion for ever with Thee through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with Thee and the H. Ghost lives and reigns world without end Amen V. O Lord hear our prayers R. And let our supplications come to Thee V. Bless we our Lord. R. Thanks be to God V. May the souls of the Faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace R. Amen O. B. Virgin Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ pray for us O glorious Angels whom our Lord sends in mission for the good of his Elect pray for us O holy Saints who perfectly secure of your own happines are charitably sollicitous of ours pray for us O all you blest inhabitants of heav'n who continually behold the face of God and readily dispense his benefits to us pray for us God the Father sustain and protect us Jesus Christ illuminate and govern us The H. Spirit sanctify and perfect us to life everlasting Amen Pause a while Then rise FINIS
made the light his Garment and commanded the Clouds to be the chariot of his triumph The gates of heaven obey'd their Lord and the everlasting doors opened to the King of glory Enter bright King attended with thy beauteous Angels and the glad train of thy new deliver'd Captives Enter and repossess thy antient Throne and reign eternally at the right hand of thy Father May every knee bow low to thy exalted Name and every tongue confess thy glory May all created nature adore thy Power and the Church of thy Redeem'd exult in thy goodnes Whom have we in heav'n O Lord but Thee who expresly wentst thither to make way for thy followers What have we on earth but our hope by following Thee * to arrive at last where Thou art gon before us O glorious JESU our strength our Joy and the immortal life of all our Souls Be Thou the principal subject of our studyes and dayly entertainment of our most serious thoughts Draw us O dearest Lord from the World and our selvs that we be not entangled with any earthly desires Draw us after Thee and the odours of thy sweetnes that we may run with delight the ways of thy Commands Draw us up to Thee on thy Throne of blyss that we may see thy face and rejoyce with Thee for ever in thy Kingdom Glory be c. Psal VII WHy should our harts stil dwel upon earth since the treasure of our harts is return'd to heav'n Since our glorify'd Jesus is ascended above to prepare us a place in his own Kingdom A place of rest and secure peace where we shal see and praise and adore Him for ever A place of joy and everlasting fruition where we shal love and possess and delight in Him for ever O happy we and our poor souls if once admited to that blisful Vision If once those heav'nly portals unfold their gates and let us in to the joys of our Lord How wil our spirits be ravisht within themselvs to reflect on the fulness of their own beatitude How shal we all rejoyce in one anothers felicity but infinitely more in the infinitely greater felicity of God! O heav'n towards thee we lift up our languishing heads and with stretcht-out hands reach at thy gloryes When O Thou Finisher of all our hopes when shal we once behold that incomparable light That light which illuminates the eys of Angels and renews the youth of Saints That light which is thy very self O Lord our God! whom we shal there see face to face Whom we shal there know as we are known we shal know thee in thine own clear light O light shine thou perpetually in our eys that thy brightnes may darken the false lustre of this world O Light shed thou thy flames in our harts that thy heat may consume all other desires That we may burn continually with the chast love of thee til thine own bright day appear Til we be cal'd from this vale of darknes into the glorious presence of the living God To see Him that made the heav'ns and the earth and disposes all creatures in so beauteous order To see him that first gave us our being then govern'd us in our way * and brought us at length to so blest an end Meanwhile O gracious Lord the Crown of all thy Saints and only expectation of thy faithful servants Make us entertain our life with the comfort of this hope and our hope with the assurance of thy promises Make us still every day more perfectly understand * our own great duty thy infinite love Make us continually meditate the advancement of Thy glory and invite all the World to sing thy praises Praise our Lord O you holy Angels Praise him O you happy Saints Praise him O you Faithful departed in his grace Praise him O you Living who subsist by his mercy Praise him in the vast immensity of his power Praise him in the admirable wisdom of his Providence Praise him in the blest effects of his goodnes Praise him in the infinitenes of all his Attributes Praise thy Eternal Self O glorious God! and to all the felicities Thou essentially possessest may every creature say Amen Glory be Antiph O how adorable are thy Counsels O Lord how strangely endearing the ways of thy love Alleluia Capit. 1 Pet. 1. Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord JESUS Christ who according to his great mercy has regenerated us to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and pure and which cannot fade conserv'd for you in the heav'ns Hymn II. VVAke my Soul rise from this Bed Of dull and slugish earth Quickly rise lift up thy head And see thy Lords new birth Once He cam O blessed He Born of a Virgin-Womb Now He comes both times for thee Sprung from a Virgin tomb Lo he rises fresh and bright Incircled round with Stars Which from Him take all their light And from his glorious Scars Stil as He his progress makes Up to his heav'n again Each blest Saint his musick takes And follows in his train Thus together They ascend Til at heav'n gates they come Where the Angels all attend To bid them welcome home Soon they know again their King Soon they his Call obey All the Quires come forth to sing And crown with mirth the Day Come my soul let us rejoyce Let us our Concert bring Up to heav'n le ts lift our voice And with the Angels sing Glory honor pow'r and praise To the mysterious Three As at first begining was May now and ever be Antiph Why seek you the Living among the the Dead He is risen He is not here He is gloriously ascended and the heav'ns have receiv'd Him Alleluia Alleluia Benedictus BLessed be our Lord the God of Israel for he has visited and redeem'd his People And rais'd up a Kingdom of Salvation to us in the house of David his Servant As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets who have been since the world began Salvation from our Enemies and from the hands of all that hate us To shew mercy to our Fathers and to remember his holy Testament The Oath which he sware to Abraham our Father that he would give us Himself That being deliver'd from the hand of our enemys we may serve him without fear In holines and Justice before him * all the days of our life And Thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of our Lord to prepare his ways To give Knowledg of salvation to his people for remission of their sins Through the tender mercy of our God wherby the Day-spring from on High has visited us To give light to them that sit in darknes and in the shadow of death to direct our feet into the way of Peace Glory be c. Antiph Why seek you the Living among the dead He is risen He is not here He is gloriously ascended and
their birth and the unfortunate companions that inveagled them to sin They shall curse this vain deceitful world and cry out with a desperate enraged fury Are these the effects of those found desires whose enjoyment we made our chief felicity Alas what avail us now our wanton liberties aud the fugitive pleasures we so eagerly persu'd What comfort receive we from those empty honours * and faithles riches we so highly esteem'd They all are vanisht away like a shadow and as a cloud of smoke that 's scater'd with the wind But the remorse and punishment endure for ever and torture our spirits with perpetual anguish Thus shal they cry and none regard to hear them thus shal they mourn and none be found to pity them O sad expectance of a dissolute life O dreadful consequence of an impenitent death Eternally to long for what they never can enjoy eternally to suffer what they never can avoid Blessed be thy gracious Providence O God that with such tender care forewarns us of our dangers O save us too dear Lord from all those dangers save us for thy mercys sake Save us and make us fearful to do * what when we have done will make us miserable to suffer Quicken our apprehensions of the ruinous effects of Sin and with thy terrible threatnings check our unbridled passions That if thy glorious promises move not our harts the fear at least of hell may fright us into heav'n Glory be c. Antiph The day will come it will infallibly come when God will destroy all that work iniquity Antiph The day will come it will infallibly come when God will Crown all that love his glory Psal XLII VVHy do you mourn you children of the light to whom belong the promises of Blyss Who feed on the pleasant fruits of piety and the continual feast of a good conscience Who tast already the sweetnes of hope and herafter shal be satisfied with the fulnes of fruition What can molest your happy state whom the God of Glory has chosen for himself Whom he has adopted into his own Family and design'd for heirs of the Kingdom of heaven That Blessed Kingdom where all delights abound and sorrow and tears are banisht away Where none are sick or grow old or dy but flourish in health and youth and immortal life Where none are perplext with cares or fears but dwel secure and free for ever Where we no more shal be subject to chance no more expos'd to the danger of tentation Where we no more shal be crost by others no more disquieted by our own passions But a serene tranquillity perpetually within us and innumerable joys all round about us Joy in the excellencys of our glorifyd bodys joy in the perfections of our enlarged souls Joy in the sweet society of Saints joy in the glorious company of Angels Joy in the ravishing sight of our beloved JESUS joy in the blisful union with the adored Deity All shal be joy and love and peace and all endure for eternal ages Let then the impenitent sinner be frighted with fear and the obdurate hart break asunder with grief But for the hopeful Innocent let them always be glad and the servants of JESUS rejoyce and sing Sweet is the yoke of thy love O Lord and light the burthen of thy commands But O how far more rich are thy faithful promises how infinitely greater thy glorious rewards When every vertue shal wear its proper crown and shine with a Diadem fit for its own head The humble there shal be highly exalted and the poor in spirit prefer'd to be Kings The meek shal posses that holy land and the mourners be comforted with eternal refreshments The clean of hart shal see the God of purity and the lovers of peace have the priviledg of his Children They who hunger and thirst after heav'n shal be fill'd and the merciful entertain'd with the embraces of mercy They who suffer persecution shal abundantly be rewarded and the enlightners of others shine bright as the stars They who relinquish any thing for God shal receive a hundred fold and all the Just be in glory for ever Then shal they bless the true friend that reprov'd them and the charitable hand that assisted to their happines They shal bless the provident mercys of their God and sing aloud the victorys of his grace Is this the effect of those litle pains we took are these the repairs for those petty losses we suffer'd Happy we who deny'd our selvs toys and now are advanc't to these high felicities Millions of years shal pass away and our glory shal seem but then to begin Millions of Millions shal pass away and our glory shal be no nearer its end Thus shal they all rejoyce and none disturb them thus shal they sing and all the heav'ns joyn with them O sweet expectance of a pious life O happy consequence of a holy death Eternally to be free from whatever can afflict eternally to enjoy whatever can â—â—elight Blest be thy gracious Providence O God that with so large a bounty woos us to our happines Woos us in a way we are so apt to be taken the love of our selvs and our own great interest As thou hast prepar'd such felicitys for us O may thy grace prepare us for them O may this best of works take up all our time at least take up the best of our time At least every morning let us renew our hope and close the evening with the same sweet thoughts Let us not faint and we surely shall see a prosperous issue out of all our sorrows Still let us labour still let us suffer our troubles are short and our joys eternal Glory be c. Antiph The day will come it will infallibly come when God will crown all that love his glory Antiph What will it profit us to gain the whole world and lose our own Souls or what shal we give in exchange for our souls Psal XLIII COme now my soul and chuse for life and death are set before thee Chuse while thy gracious Lord allows thee day lest the night of darknes overtake thy neglect Chuse but remember thy eternity is concern'd and examine well ere thou mak'st thy resolve Call all the pleasures of the world before thee and ask if any of them be worth such pains Ask if to satisfy some irregular passion * can recompence the forfeiture of such felicitys Ask if the vain forbidden things thou lov'st * deserve thy affection better than thy Maker Are they more worthy in themselvs or beneficial to Thee that thou canst prefer them before thy Redeemer Dost thou expect to be quiet by enjoying them or everlastingly happy by their procurement Will they protect thee at the hour of thy death or plead thy caus at the day of Judgment O 〈◊〉 they but deceive me with a smiling look which I too often have prov'd by dear experience 'T is heav'n alone that yeilds a true content 't is heav'n alone
the Heavens have received Him Alleluja Alleluja O Lord hear our prayers And let our supplications come to thee Let us Pray O God who hast glorify'd our Victorious Saviour with a visibly triumphant Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven where he sits at thy right hand the Worlds supream Governour and final Judg Grant we humbly beseech thee his Triumphs and Glorys may ever shine in our eyes to make us more clearly and couragiously look thorow his sufferings and assure by his Example our hopes on his promises that if by thy grace we endeavour to live and dye like Him purely for the advance of thy love in our selvs and others Thou wilt raise again our bodies too and conforming them to his glorious body call us up above the clouds and give us possession of thy everlasting Kingdom Through the same our Lord JESUS CHRIST thy Son who with thee and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns One God world without end Amen COMMEMORATIONS For the B. Virgin Antiph And the King sate on his Throne and a Throne was plac'd for the Kings Mother and She sate on his right hand And the King said to her ask on my Mother for I will not deny thee V. Ask thou all Blessings for us O Blessed among Women R. Of thy wombs Blessed Fruit our Lord JESUS O God who hast endow'd the ever Blessed Virgin MARY with all the graces on earth and all the gloryes in heaven worthy the Mother of thy son the Worlds great Redeemer Grant we beseech thee that as we praise and magnifie thy Name for so highly exalting the lowliness of thy Handmaid we may be encourag'd by the confidence of her intercession to hope still more in thy mercy both for pardon of our sins and conduct of our lives and joyful reception into thy everlasting Kingdom through the same our Lord JESUS CHRIST thy Son who with thee and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns One God world without end Amen For the Saints Antiph They seem in the eys of the foolish dead to themselves and all the world but they rest with God in immortal peace and exercise towards us a far greater charity V. Hear thou O Lord their Prayers for us in Heaven R. Who on Earth have taught us to pray O Eternal Father whose holy Spirit by thy blessed Apostles has planted in the world the saving Doctrine of thy Son and water'd it with so much sweat blood of Them and their Followers that it has o'respread the earth and born much fruit to heav'n Most thankfully we praise Thee for the gracious Lives and Deaths of all thy Saints here and the glorious Crowns with which they are rewarded in thy Kingdom where we humbly beseech Thee accept their intercession for us siners applying so home to our harts their Memorys and Merits that we too by thy grace may in some measure live and dy like Them and be crown'd at length with the same blisful rewards through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with Thee and the holy Ghost lives and reigns One God world without end Amen For the Church Antiph Let us in all things grow in Him who is our head Christ from whom the whole body being compact and knit together by every joynt of subministration increases to the edifying it self in charity V. We all are Members of the same Body R. Let us serve and love and pray for one another O God who gatherest thy Flock out of all Nations into the saving Fold of one Catholik Church where thy Providence has ordain'd Bishops and Pastors immediately to feed thy Sheep and Lambs and one Supreme Governour to secure Unity among the rest Bless we beseech thee thy Servant N. who at present sits in the known Chair of St. Peter with all the graces necessary to that highest Office on earth Bless all Bishops and their Clergy with courage and skil and fatherly care to edify and guard their several Charges Bless all the Faithful with a filial love and due obedience to their Superiours that the clearnes of truth and beauty of holines dayly increasing in thy Church through every ones devout pursuance of their dutys all Heresies and Schisms may at length vanish among Christians and all Pagans and Jews be happily won into her sacred bosom the sole Ark of Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with Thee and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns one God world without end Amen For the King Antiph Be subject to all in Autority to the King as most excellent and to the Rulers as sent by Him for punishment of the Bad and reward of the Good Be subject for so is the Will of God that by doing well you may stop the mouths of the ignorant and malicious V. Be subject not only for fear R. But for Conscience sake O God by whom alone Kings reign and all kinds and degrees of lawful Magistracy are substituted to provide for the publik Peace among such infinite varieties of humours and interests and by restraining private injurys to remove the impediments of true Charity that so the whole State and each Member may be built up together to their greatest fitness for thy heav'nly Kingdom Preserve we humbly beseech thee and govern by thy grace our Soveraign Lord King Charles endow his royal Person with Wisdom and Courage and all qualities befitting his weighty Office Bless him with fidedelity and diligence in his Ministers and with reverence and obedience in all his Subject that the sword of Justice in his Hand may establish us in peace and plenty to our freer improvement under the Discipline of true vertue and the higher exalting his own Crown in the Kingdom of Eternity through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with Thee and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns one God world without end Amen O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Supplications come to Thee Bless we our Lord. Thanks be to God May the Souls of the Faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace Amen Pause and meditate a while according to your devotion Then say The Blessing of God Almighty Father Son and holy Ghost descend upon us and dwell in our harts for ever Amen Pause a while then rise And so ends the Morning Office These four Conmemorations are said every day at the end of Lauds Sunday Vespers IN the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen Blessed be the holy and undivided Trinity now and for ever Amen Our Father Hail Mary O God incline unto our aid O Lord make hast to help us Glory be to As it was Alleluja Antiph Glorious things are said of Thee thou 〈◊〉 City of the King of Heav'n Alleluja Psal VIII LEt them O Lord seek other delights who expect no felicity from thee Let them fill up their time with other imployments who think thy rewards not worth their labour As for thy servants our chief content shall be to meditate
many times O my Soul have we plainly concluded * that this earth affords no real joy How many times have we fully agreed that heav'n alone is the place of happines Yet do these false allurements again deceive us and steal away our harts to dote upon folly Yet do inconstant we forget our resolvs and wretchedly neglect our true felicity O thou victorious Conquerour of sin and death do thou assist us in this dangerous warfare O thou benign Refresher of distressed Spirits do thou relieve us in this tedious pilgrimage Make us stil thirst and sign after Thee the living-fountain of life-giving streams Make us despise all other delights and set our affections entirely on thy joys Since nothing Lord can satisfie our souls but Thee O let our souls seek nothing but Thee Glory be c. Psal XII GIve me O Lord the innocence of Doves and fill my soul with thy mild spirit Then shal I need none of their wings since heav'n it self wil dwel in my hart 'T is on the proud thou look'st afar off but inclin'st thine ear to the thumble and meek Who delight in the peace of a contented mind and limit their thoughts to their own litle sphear Never intermedling with the actions of others unless where reason and charity engage ' em But their belov'd imployment is to sit in silence and think on the happiness they expect hereafter To meditate the joys of Saints and Angels and the blysful Vision of the face of JESUS O how secure and sweetly do they sleep who go to bed with a quiet conscience Who after a day of faithful industry * in a course of just and pious living Lay down their wearied heads in peace and safely rest in the bosom of Providence If they awake their conscience comforts them in the dark and bids them not fear the shadow of death No nor even death it self but confidently look up * and long for the dawn of that eternal day This too my soul should be our care * to note and censure and correct our selv's To strive for mastery over the passions that molest us and dismiss from our thoughts what no way concerns us Are not our own occasions busines enough to fill as much time as this life deserv's Does not the other at least deserve * every minute of leisure we can spare from this Let then the world pursue their libertys and say and do as they think fit What 's that to thee my soul who shalt not answer for others unless thou some way make their faults thine own Thy pity may grieve and thy charity indeavour but if they will not hear follow thou thy God Follow the way that leads to truth follow the truth that leads to life Follow the steps of thy Beloved JESUS who alone is the way the truth and the life Follow his holines in what he did follow his patience in what he suffer'd Follow him that cals thee with a thousand promises follow him that crowns thee with infinite rewards Follow thy faithful Lord O my soul to the end and thou' rt sure in the end to possess him for ever Glory be c. Psal XIII MEeknes indeed is the heav'n of this life but the heav'n of heav'ns O Lord is above with Thee Meekness may qualify our miseries here and make our time pass gentlier away But to be fully happy we must stay till hereafter till thy mercy bring us to our last great end That glorious end for which our souls are made and all things else to serve them in their way 'T is not to sport our time in pleasures * that thou O Lord hast plac't us here 'T is not to gain a fair estate that thy kindnes still prolongs our days But to do good to our selvs or others and glorifie thee in improving thy creatures To increase every day our longing desires * of beholding Thee in thine own bright self O glorious Lord whose infinite sweetnes * provokes and satisfys all our appetites May my entire affections delight in thee above all the vain enjoyments of this world Above all praise and empty honour above all beauty and fading pleasure Above all health and deceitful riches above all power and subtlest knowledge Above even all thy own bounty can give and what ever is not thy very self O may my wearied soul repose in Thee the home and center of eternal rest May I forget my self to think on thee and fill my memory with the wonders of thy love That infinite love which when my thoughts consider not as they ought alas but as I am able The weight of my sufferings sits light upon me and all my fears are turn'd into joys O my adored JESUS let me love thee always * because from eternity thou hast loved me O let me love Thee only gracious God! because thou alone deserv'st all my hart Always and only let me love thee O Lord since always my hope is only in Thee Antiph All is unquiet here till we come to Thee and repose at last in the Kingdom of Peace Hymn IV. DEar Jesu when when will it be That I no more shall break with Thee When will this war of passions cease And let my soul injoy thy peace Here I repent and sin again Now I revive and now am slain Slain with the same unhappy dart Which O too often wounds my hart When dearest Lord when shall I be A garden seal'd to all but Thee No more expos'd no more undone But live and grow to Thee alone 'T is not alas on this low earth That such pure flow'rs can find a birth Only they spring above the skys Where none can live till here he dys Then let me dy that I may go And dwell where those bright lillys grow Where those blest plants of glory rise And make a safer Paradise No dangerous fruit no tempting Eve No crafty Serpent to deceive But we like Gods indeed shall be O let me dy that life to see Thus says my song but does my hart Joyn with the words and sing its part Am I so thorow-wise to chuse The Other world and this refuse Why should I not what do I find That fully here contents my mind What is this meat and drink and sleep That such poor things from heav'n should keep What is this honour or great place Or bag of mony or fair face What 's all the world that thus we shou'd Still long to dwell with flesh and blood Fear not my soul stand to the word Which thou hast sung to thy dear Lord Let but thy love be firm and true And with more heat thy wish renew O may this dying life make hast To dy into true life at last No hope have I to live before But then to live and dy no more Great Everliving God! to Thee In Essence One in Persons Three May all thy works their tribute bring And every age thy glory sing Capit. 1 Jo. 2. Love not the world nor the things
thou hast made us nothing have we but what thou hast given us Only our sins are entirely our own which O may thy grace extinguish for ever O may all self-presumption dy in us and our whole confidence live only in Thee May even our frailties make us more strong and our being nothing teach us to be humble So shall thy power O God be magnify'd in our weaknes and thy mercy triumph in relief of our misery Glory be c. Antiph If we receive all we have of God why do we boast as if we had it of our selvs Antiph God is my Saviour whom shall I fear God is my Protector of what shall I be afraid Psal XXIX THus we depend and happy we in this dependance did we but know our own true interest We and our whole Concerns are deposited with God and where can we find a better hand to ensure them Is he not wise enough to chuse safely for us who disposes all nature in such admirable order Has he not power to go through with his purpose who commands the wills of men and Angels Wants he perhaps an inclination to favor us who desires our felicity more than our own harts He feeds the fowls of the air and cloths the lillys of the field Without his providence not a sparrow falls to the ground and shall we mistrust his care for his children Under his government we have liv'd all this while and can we now suspect he 'l forsake us He has shewn his bounty in extraordinary graces and will he deny us his lesser blessings He has freely bestow'd on us his dearest Son how shall He not with Him give us all things else All that are truly useful to carry us on our way and bring us at length to his eternal rest If our necessities be the effects of our folly we must not presume he 'l maintain us in our sins Rather we should strive to moderate our appetites and correct the vices that have bred these myserys But if our wants be innocent and pressing he 'l sooner do a miracle then break his word His word which he so often has solemnly engaged so often prov'd by a thousand experiments Ask but the former ages and they will tell you * the wonders he wrought in favour of his servants He multiply'd the oyl in the poor widows Cruse and fed his Prophet by the service of a Raven He dry'd the Sea into a path for his People and melted the rocks to refresh their thirst He made his Angels stewards of their provision and nourisht them in the wilderness with the bread of heav'n Still O my God thy eternal charity retains * the same affections for them that rely on Thee Still thy all-seeing Wisdom governs the world with the same immense unalterable goodnes Nay surely now the streams of thy mercy run more strong and have wrought to themselvs a larger channel Since thou brought'st down the waters from above the heav'ns and openedst in thine own body a spring of life A spring of joy and blyss to revive our harts and overflow them with a torrent of everlasting pleasures Glory be c. Antiph God is my Saviour whom shall I fear God is my Protector of what shall I be afraid Antiph Seek first the Kingdom of God and all things else shall be added to you Psal XXX LEt us then sit down in peace O my soul and rest secure in the bosom of providence Let us not disturb the order of those mercys * which our God has design'd us in his eternal counsels Every accident may be turn'd into vertue and every vertue is a step to our glorious end If our affairs succeed let us praise our great Benefactor and think what he 'l give us herafter who so favours us here If they miscarry let us yield to the will of heav'n and learn by our crosses in this world to betake us to the other What ever happens let this be our constant rule to provide for the future life and be contented with the present Shall we not patiently accept a litle evil * from Him that has given us so much good Shall the being without some one thing we need not * more sensibly affect us then the having all we need Ingrateful we the common benefits we all enjoy * deserve the thanksgiving of a whole life The air we breath in and the Sun that shines on us the water and the earth that so faithfully serve us The exercise of our senses and the use of our wits if not in excellence at least to some degree All these O Lord thou generally giv'st to the Good and to the Bad and for the least of these none can praise thee enough What shall we say to those high supernatural blessings a Son of God to redeem us and a Heav'n to reward us What shall we say can we yet complain * because some few perhaps are more prosperous then we Should we not rather look down on the many below us and be thankful to see our selvs more favor'd then they Should we not reckon o're the miserys of mankind and bless our God that has so far preserv'd us Had we some desperate canker breeding on our face or noysom leprosy spreading o're our skin These we must all confess are incident to our nature and more then these due to our sins What would we give to be as now we are how gladly change for a moderate affliction 'T is but interpreting our worst condition well to find motives enough for our gratitude to God 'T is but interpreting our best condition frowardly and find defects enough to think our selvs miserable Did we adore as we ought the Wisdom of our God we should easily trust Him to rule his own world Could we understand the secret character of his Decrees we should read in each syllable a perfect harmony Teach us O Thou blest Enlightner of our minds teach us to expound thy actions in a fair sense Suffer us not to follow our private spirit lest we create to our selvs a voluntary misery Still let us construe the afflictions thou sendst us * as meant to correct and not to destroy us To prevent some sin or practise some vertue and when we need our crosses no longer thou'lt take them away Meanwhile O gracious Lord make us wait thy time and not impatiently prescribe limits to thee Make us rejoyce that our lots are in thy hands but O let thy mercy chuse favourably for us Dispose as thou pleasest our condition here only our portion hereafter let it be with thy Blessed Glory be c. Antiph Seek first the Kingdom of God and all things else shall be added to you Our Father c. First Lesson HAve confidence in our Lord with all thy hart and rely not on thine own prudence in all thy ways think on Him and he will direct thy steps Be not wise in thine own conceit fear God and depart from evil The greater thou
art so much the more humble thy self and thou shalt find grace before God for the power of God only is great and he is honor'd of the humble Seek not the things that are too high for thee nor search into those that are above thy strength but the things which God has commanded thee think always on them and in many of his works be not curious since 't is not necessary for thee to see with thine eys those things that are hidden Place thy treasure in the precepts of the Highest and it shall profit thee more then gold Lay up thy alms in the hart of the poor and it shall obtain for thee against all evil above the shield of the mighty and above the spear it shall fight against the enemy In all thy gifts shew a chearful countenance and dedicate thy tyths with gladness give to the Highest according to what He has given thee and with a good ey do according to the ability of thy hands for our Lord is thy rewarder and he will repay thee seven times as much When the ways of a man please our Lord he will convert even his enemys to peace The hart of a man disposes his way but it pertains to our Lord to direct his steps He that is patient is better then the strong and he that rules over his mind then the Conqueror of Cities There is no wisdom there is no prudence there is no counsel against our Lord the horse is prepar'd for the day of batle but our Lord gives salvation R. Well may we give thee O Lord some part of what we have since we receiv'd of thee even all we have well may we give with gladness to Thee since thy bounty rewards us with so great advantage O make us still mistrust our selvs and with an humble confidence rely on Thee Without thy blessing our labors are in vain and against thy decrees no pollicy can succeed but if we humbly submit to thee thou wilt direct us if we keep thy commandments thou wilt defend us O make us Second Lesson WHen thou com'st to the service of God stand in justice and fear and prepare thy soul for tentation What ever is brought upon thee receive and in thy sorrow bear up and when thou art humbled have patience for gold and silver are try'd in the fire and acceptable men in the furnace of affliction Believe God and he will recover thee order thy way aright and hope in Him keep his fear and grow old therein You who fear our Lord expect his mercy decline not from him lest you fall believe him and your reward shall not miscarry You who fear our Lord hope in him and mercy shall come to you for your refreshment love him and your harts shall be illuminated Behold the generations of men and know that none has hop't in our Lord and been confounded Who ever continued in his commandments and was forsaken or cal'd upon him and he despised him God is compassionate and merciful and will pardon sins in the day of tribulation and protect all those that seek him in truth Wo to the double hart and wicked lips and the hands that work evil and the sinner that goes on the earth two ways Wo to them that are of dissolute hart who believe not God and therefore shall not be protected by him Wo to them that have lost patience and forsaken the right path and declin'd into perverse ways what will they do when our Lord shall begin to look into them R. Teach us O gracious Lord to begin our works with fear and go on with obedience and finish them with love and after all sit humbly down in hope and with a chearful confidence look up to thee * whose promises are faithful and rewards infinite All this we may do for men and yet they fail us we may fear and obey and they forget our service we may love and hope and they neglect our affections only Thou O Lord our God whom we no way can benefit dost every way oblige us * whose promises Third Lesson BEcause sentence is not speedily pronounc't against the wicked the children of men commit evil without fear but though a sinner offend a hundred times and be forborn by patience I know it shall be well with them that fear God There are just men to whom evil things happen as though they had done the works of the impious and there are impious who live secure as if they had the deeds of the just and this also I judg most vain The just and the wise and their works are in the hands of God yet no man knows whether he be worthy of love or hatred but all things are reserv'd incertain for the time to come because all things happen alike to the good and to the bad As is the vertuous so is the sinner and as the perjur'd so he that swears the truth by this the harts of men are fill'd with malice and contempt while they live and after are led away into hell I turn'd me to another thing and saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the batle to the strong nor bread to the wise nor riches to the learned nor favour to men of skill but time and chance in all things R. And sure 't is fittest so for what can an infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodnes do but that which is best Lord I submit and adore thy Providence which scatters these temporal things with a seeming negligence as trifles of so litle importance that they signifie neither love nor hatred * Nothing but heav'n is indeed considerable nothing but Eternity deservs our esteem Fix thou our steps O Lord that we stager not at the uneven motions of the world but steddily go on to our glorious home not censuring our journy by the weather we meet nor turning out of the way for any accident that befals us * Nothing but Glory be * Nothing but Pause as page 17. Tuesday Lauds O God incline c. as page 18. Antiph Praise our Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Psal XXXI BE thou eternally ador'd O God of our salvation and may thy praises be sung by thy servants for ever When our first parents had disobey'd thy precepts to the ruine of themselvs and their whole posterity Thy mercy immediately provided a remedy and graciously promised a powerful Redeemer A Redeemer that should conquer sin and death and crush in pieces the serpents head A Redeemer that should fully repair the breaches of mankind and render our condition better then before Enlightning our eys with a clearer view * of those excellent truths that belong to our peace And supporting our nature with a stronger grace * to bear us safely on through all encounters Till we arrive at the land of rest and be receiv'd for ever into that glorious Kingdom O Blessed JESU our strength our guide who know'st and pittiest our weak capacitys Who in thy
tender care hast contriv'd such means * that nothing can undo us but our own perversnes How easie hast thou made the way to heav'n how light is the burthen thou lay'st on thy followers 'T is but to love Thee our greatest Benefactor and we perfectly fulfil every branch of thy Law 'T is but desiring to see Thee our supream Beatitude and we are sure to possess an eternity of joy Blessed O my God be the wisdom of thy Providence that alone knows the way to draw good out of evil That not only restores us to our first degree but makes even our fall rebound us to a greater hight Lord as thy goodnes turns all things to the advantage of thy Elect O may the Elect praise thy goodnes in all things Glory be c. Psal XXXII ADmirable wert thou O Lord in thy merciful promise but infinitely more in thy wonderful performance Thou deputedst not an Angel to supply thy place nor entrustedst so tender a work to the manage of a Seraphin But Thy self bow'dst the heav'ns and cam'st down and with thy own blest hands wroughtst our redemption Thy self took'st upon thee our frail nature and vouchsaf'dst to be born of an humble Virgin Thou condescendedst to the weaknesses of a child a child whose parents were poor and unesteem'd in the world Thou declinedst not the mean entertainment of a stable O how unfit for the birth of the King of Heav'n Thou contentedst thy self with the cradle of a manger and the uneasy lodging on a bed of straw Thou refusedst the soft accomodations of the rich to undergo the inconveniencies of a poor stranger Only the faithful Ioseph stood waiting on Thee and provided as he was able for his helples family Only thy pious Mother dearly embrac't Thee and wrapt thy tender limbs in litle clouts Wonder O heavens and be amaz'd O earth and every creature humbly bow your heads Bow and adore this incomprehensible mystery The VVORD was made flesh dwelt among us But most of all we who are most concern'd the banisht children of unfortunate Adam Let us bow down our faces to the dust and prostrate adore so unspeakable a mercy Behold thus low my Saviour stoopt for me * to check the pride of my corrupted nature Behold thus low He stoopt to take me from the ground and raise me to the felicitys of his own Kingdom Lift up thy voice with joy O my soul and sing Hosanna to the new born JESUS Call all the blessed Angels to celebrate his birth and repeat afresh that heav'nly Antheme Glory be to God on high * in earth peace towards men of good will Lift up thy voice aloud O my soul and to the Quires of heav'n ioyn the musick of the Church Glory be c. Psal XXXIII REjoyce all you faithful Nations of the earth * when you hear the sweet Name of our dear Redeemer Rejoyce and with your bended knees and harts * adore the blessed JESUS He is the Son of the everliving God equally participating the glorys of his Father He is that great Messias whom the Prophets foretold * and all the ancient Saints so long expected At length in the fulnes of time he came to visit in person our miserable world He came with his hands full of miracles and every miracle full of mercy He made the crooked become straight and the lame to walk and leap for joy He open'd the ears of the deaf to hear and gave sight to them that were born blind He loosen'd the tongues of the dumb to speak O may he govern ours to sing his praise He clens'd the leprous by the word of his mouth and heal'd their diseases who but toucht his garment To the poor he reveal'd the treasures of his Gospel and taught the simple the mysterys of his Kingdom He cast out Devils by the command of his Will and forc't them to confess and adore his Person He rais'd the dead from the grave to life the dead that were four days buryed and corrupted Nay even Himself being slain for us on the Cross * and his tomb made fast and secur'd with a guard He rais'd again by his own victorious power and carry'd up our nature into the highest heav'ns All these stupendious signs O glorious JESU were done by the hand of Thy Almighty mercy To witness thy truth with the seal of heav'n and endear thy precepts with obliging miracles That thus engag'd we might believe in Thee and obeying thy Law be eternally sav'd O Let not all this love dear Lord be lost be so many Tokens so kindly exprest One miracle more we humbly beg but one as strange and hard as any of the rest Soften our stony harts into a tender sense * of thy great goodnes and their own true duty Raise our dead spirits from this heavy earth to dwell with Thee in the land of the Living That as we here admire thy bounteous Power and daily sing the wonders of thy Grace We may herafter adore thy Blessed Self and sing eternally the wonders of thy Glory Glory be c. Antiph Praise our Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Capit. Jude v. 24 25. TO Him who is able to preserve you without sin and set you immaculate before the sight of his glory in exultation at the coming of our Lord JESUS Christ to the only God our Saviour by JESUS Christ our Lord be glory and magnificence Empire and Power before all ages and now and to all ages for ever Amen Hymn X. LEt others take their course And sing what Name they please Let wealth or beauty be their Theme Such empty sounds as these For me I 'le ne're admire A lump of burnisht clay Howe're it shines it is but dust And shall to dust decay Sweet JESUS is the Name My song shall still adore Sweet JESUS is the charming word That does my life restore When I am dead in grief Or which is worse in sin I call on JESUS and he hears And I to live begin Wherefore to thee bright Name Behold thus low I bow And thus again yet is all this Far less then what I ow. Down then down both my knees Still lower to the ground While with mine eys and voice lift up Aloud these lines I sound Live glorious King of heav'n By all the heav'n ador'd Live gracious Saviour of the world Our chief and only Lord. Live and for ever may Thy throne establisht be For ever may all harts and tongues Sing hyms of praise to Thee Amen Antiph I saw the bright Sun shew his flaming eys and behold a thousand rays fill'd the ayr and beauteously guilded the earth his glorious face but maskt it self in a cloud and immediately they vanisht away and their place was to be found no more I said such O my God just such is the stability of every creature V. Even the line we now repeat must beg its breath of Thee R. And stop if Thou deny'st it O Lord hear our
prayers And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O God the eternal Source and Necessity of Being on whose free overflowing that of thy whole Creation every moment depends strike we beseech Thee our harts with a continual dread and reverence of thy absolute Dominion which should it but never so litle suspend thy Bounty resolvs us all instantly into nothing nothing and grant that as we know thou preservst still on this world to grow daily riper for the Other to which thou hast ordain'd it we may by thy grace so husband our time here as in the next life to possess thy Eternity through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who c. Commemorations c. as page 29. Tuesday Vespers IN the Name c. As page 13. Antiph Who is like thee O Lord among the Gods who is like thee terrible in judgments Psal XXXIV SPeak no more proudly vain dust nor provoke any longer the living God Seal up thy lips in humble silence and tremblingly remember his dreadful judgments Remember how the earth open'd it self and swallow'd up alive so many thousands Remember how the clouds rain'd fire and brimstone and buried whole Cities in their own ashes Remember how the general deluge o'respred the world and swept away almost all mankind Remember and ask the cause of all this ruin and tell it aloud to the bold offender Tell him 't was sin and such as his * that drew upon them so swift destruction Sin threw the Angels down from heav'n and chain'd them up in eternal darknes Sin banisht Adam out of Paradise and turn'd that delicious garden into a field of weeds O God how terrible is thy mighty arm when Thou stretchest it forth to be aveng'd of thine enemys O sin how fatal is thy desperate malice that pulls on our heads all the thunder of heav'n O my soul how dull and sensles are we to sleep secure as if all were safe Can we repeat these amazing Truths and not tremble at the wrath of the divine justice Can we consider the deplorable end of sinners and still go on in the ways of sin Even while we sing thy praises O glorious Lord our very duty should fear before Thee What should corrupted nature then do when it sees its self ready to offend Thee What should a guilty Conscience do when it sees it self ruin'd by offending thee Strike thou our harts O Thou infinit Majesty with an awful reverence of thy great Name Correct our many levitys into a pious sadnes and break our proud spirits to bow to Thee Still may our consciences cry aloud within us dare you commit this evil and sin against your God Dare you commit this evil and undo your selvs and plunge your own souls in everlasting torments Forbid so rash a madness gracious Lord and make thy judgments on others mercys to us Glory be c. Antiph Who is like thee O Lord among the Gods who is like thee terrible in judgments Antiph Who is like thee O Lord among the Gods who is like thee amiable in mercys Psal XXXV WIpe away the tears from thine eys O my soul and clear thy hart from all clouds of despair He that 's thus infinite in power to punish * is full as infinite in goodness to save How often have we broken his divine Commands yet still his earth sustains and servs us How often have we abus'd our fulnes of bread yet still his clouds shower plenty upon us Himself with his own Almighty Word consin'd the waters and sharply reproacht their officiousnes to destroy Hitherto shall you come and no farther and here will I stay your proud waves Only the ambitious Angels find no forgivenes because their obstinacy refuses to seek it Else could those rebel-spirits disclaim their crimes and turn again to obey their Maker His clemency would soon revoke their sentence and restore them to shine in their first bright seats But O! the excess of mercy vouchsaft to Adam and to us dust and ashes his posterity For whom the soveraign King of heav'n * humbled Himself to descend upon earth Leading a poor laborious life and suffering a painful ignominious death Only to teach us how to live and how to dy and what in both to aim at Thy mercys Lord are above all thy works and this above all thy mercys Antiph Who is like thee O Lord among the Gods who is like thee amiable in mercys Antiph Dreadful art thou O Lord in the terror of thy Judgments but infinitely more amiable in the sweetnes of thy mercys Psal XXXVI STill let us sing the mercys of our God and hold and shake a litle longer this sweet key When we alas lay buried in the abyss of nothing his own free goodnes first cal'd us into Being He fashion'd our limbs in our mothers womb and fill'd our Nurses brest with milk He enlarg'd our litle steps when we began to go and carefully preserv'd our helpless infancy Commanding even his Angels to bear us in their hands lest we dash our feet against a stone How many dangers have we happily escapt and not one of them but was govern'd by his providence How many blessings do we dayly receive and not one of them but proceeds from his bounty He provided Tutors to instruct our youth and plant in our tender minds the seeds of vertue He appointed Pastors to feed our souls and safely guide them in the ways of Blyss He founded his Church on an immovable Rock and to render our faith firm and secure He seal'd his love with Sacraments of grace to breed and nourish in us the life of charity All this thou hast done O merciful Lord the wise Disposer of heav'n and earth All this thou hast done and still goest on * by infinite ways to gain us to thy love Thou command'st us to ask and promisest to grant thou invitest us to seek and assur'st us to find Thou vouchsaf'st even thy self to stand at the door and knock and if we open thou entrest and fill'st our harts with joy If we forget thee thou renew'st afresh our memory if we fly from thee thou still find'st some means to recal us If we defer our amendment thou patiently stay'st for us and when we return thou open'st thy arms to imbrace us Surely O my God! from all eternity * Thou hast cast thy gracious ey upon us Surely thy merciful hand has sign'd our lot and mark't us out for thy everlasting favors We know thy ways are in the deep abyss and none can sound the bottom of thy counsels Yet may we safely look on the flowing streams and gather this comfort from their gentle course When we were not thou freely lov'dst us Thou wilt nor forsake us now we strive to love thee When we had lost our way thou sought'st after us thou wilt not refuse us now we seek after thee Lord all we have is deriv'd from thee and all we expect can come from none but thy self Accomplish thine own
flesh are manifest which are fornication uncleanes wantonnes luxury serving of Idols witchcraft enmities contentions emulations angers brauls seditions sects envys murthers drunkennesses riots and such like and they who do such things shall not obtain the Kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit is charity joy peace patience benignity goodnes long-suffering mildnes faith modesty continency chastity against such there is no Law Hymn XV. LEt them go court what joys they please And gain what e're they court For me I find but litle ease In all their gayest sport Be thou alone but with my hart My God my only Blyss I shall not murmur at my part Nor envy their success They talk of pleasure talk of gain None must their humor cross But well I know their pleasure's pain Their greatest profit loss Let them talk on and have not we Our gains our pleasures too Pleasures that spring more sweet and free Gains that more fully flow Nay well endur'd our very pains To us a pleasure are And all our losses turn to gains If hopes may have their share And sure they may such hopes as chear The heav'n espoused brest Hopes that so strangely charm us here What will they be possest All Glory to the sacred Three All honor power and praise As 't was at first still may it be Beyond the end of days Antiph When O my soul did we ever follow our passions but they instantly wrought our disturbance and threatned at last our ruin when did we ever turn our thoughts to piety but it presently brought us peace and refresht our minds with new hopes of felicity V. The winds are often rough and our own weight presses us downwards R. Reach forth O Lord thy saving hand and speedily deliver us O Lord hear our prayers And let our supplications come to thee Let us pray O God whose infinite mercy has vouchsaft us the mighty Rescue of thy only Son from the desperate rebellion of our passions which utterly confound the government and peace of our souls Grant we humbly beseech Thee that our experience of the miserable effects of yielding to their allurements may make us â—â—arier in observing and severer in repressing their first motions and thy grace so strongly fortify us against all their furious and repeated assaults that Reason may more and more recover its due force and calmly joyn with Faith to secure and exalt in our harts the blysful throne of thy Charity through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who c. O Lord hear c. as page 45. Wednesday Complin OUr help is in c. as page 46. Antiph Repent now my soul for the evils thou hast done and bless thy God for the goods thou hast receiv'd Psal L. VVEll we are so much nearer our grave and all the world is older by a day The portion of the wicked is so much less and their time of punishment so much approacht The sufferings of the Patient are so much diminisht and their hopes of delivery so much increast They who have spent this day in sin and folly * see all their thoughts now vanish like a dream They see all 's past but a fear of revenge and the best that can follow is a bitter repentance But such as have wisely bestow'd their time and made another new step towards heav'n They see their joys come to meet them in the way and stil grow bigger as they come Til by a holy death they joyn in one and dwel together for eternal ages O Thou blest Author of all our hopes * and perfect Satisfier of all our wishes Do Thou instruct us in this great wise truth and let every Evening renew it on our minds That the things of this world are of litle import since its joys and griefs last but for a time But the future state most infinitely concerns us where life and death endure for ever Glory be c. Psal LI. WE are nearer indeed the end of our life but what are we nearer the end for which we live What have we done my soul to day * that 's truly advancive to our last great home Have we encreast our esteem of heav'n and setled its love more strongly in our harts Have we avoided any known temptation or faithfully resisted when we could not avoid Have we interrupted our customary faults and checkt the vices we are most enclin'd to Have we embrac't the opportunitys of good * which the mercy of Providence has offered to our hands Have we industriously contriv'd occasions * to improve as we are able our selvs and others Alas dread Lord what do we see when seriously we look into our guilty selvs When we reflect on our former years nay even the follys but of this one day So many hours mispent in nothing so many abus'd in worse than nothing Pardon O meek Redeemer what our passions have done and favourably supply what our weaknes has omited Make us herafter more carefully watch * that our time unprofitably slide not away Make us select every day some fit retreat to study the knowledg of our selvs and Thee Our selvs to correct our many infirmitys and Thee to adore thy infinite perfections Glory be c. Psal LII LItle thou know'st O Lord is the good we do and every grain of it deriv'd from Thee Great we confess are the evils we commit and all to be charg'd entirely on our selvs Tell me my soul when first thou hast well examin'd * the innumerable circumstances that concern thy state Tell me and let not pride deny the truth nor any thing divert thy free confession Could we have sav'd our selvs from that dangerous tentation unles our God had powerfully sustain'd us Could we have carry'd on that pious purpose unles his hand had blest our endeavours No to thy self O Lord give all the praise if thy creatures have perform'd the least good work Give to thy self all the glory O Lord if they have not commited the worst of sins Thy hand alone directs us to do wel and the same blest hand restrains us from ill 'T is not in us to esteem those unseen joys and despise the flatterys of this deceitful world 'T is not the work of corrupted nature to mortify our senses and patiently bear the crosses we meet Of our selvs we are inclin'd to none of these but the grace of God enables us to all Grace gives us strength to overcom our passions and the world and the flesh shal be subject to us Grace gives us faith to fortify our reason and heav'n it self shal be conquer'd by us Glory be c. Antiph Repent now my soul for the evils thou hast done and bless thy God for the goods thou hast received Hymn XVI ANd do we then beleeve There is a world to come Where all this world shal summon'd be To take their final doom Is there a heav'n indeed To crown the innocent Is there a hell and horrid pains The
* and are opprest under the weight of your sins Come to me you that hunger after heav'n * and thirst to drink at the fountain of blyss Come to me and I will refresh you * with the wine of gladnes and the bread of life Come you that are weak that you may grow strong and you that are strong lest you become weak Come you that have leisure and here entertain your time come you that are busy and here learn to sanctify your imployment Come all and gather freely of this celestial Manna and fill your souls with the food of Angels Glory be c. Psal LVIII THus does our gracious Lord invite and shall we go shall sinners dare to sit down at his table Thus He invites and shall we not go shall wretches presume to refuse his Call Rise then my soul and take thy swiftest wings and fly to the presence of this great Mystery Soon as thou com'st bow low thy head and humbly adore our hidden God Our God who is come thus far to meet us and brings along with him a whole heav'n to entertain us Arise and leave the world behind thee and run with gladnes to salute thy Lord Enter the Palace of that admirable Tabernacle the house of his own most glorious Residence There we shall see the Eternal Word * that descended from heav'n to become man for us We shall see him still more wonderfully abridg'd * into a lesser space and lower shape There we shall see the Lord of glory * vested with the familiar forms of bread and wine There we shall see the Prince of Peace * sacrifice himself to reconcile us with his Father There we shall see O stupendious mercy the Son of God stoop even to the mouths of men Can we O dear Redeemer believe these Wonders and not be ravisht with admiration of thy love Can we acknowledg thy supream Veracity and not believe were they possible stil greater wonders What though our eys say ther 's nothing but bread our faith assures us there 's nothing but our Saviour Shall not the almighty Power that made our senses * exceed the operation of his own creatures Shall we refuse to believe our God because his mercys transcend our capacitys No no 't is thy very self we see O Blessed JESU 't is thine own light by which we see Thee None but an infinite Wisdom could ever have invented * so strange and high and prodigious a mystery None but a more then infinite Goodnes would ever have imparted * so dear and tender and rich a blessing Glory be c. Psal LIX LOrd who are we unworthy sinners that thus thou regardest our wretched dust What is all the world compar'd to Thee that thus thou seem'st to disregard thy self 'T is for our sakes and to draw us to thy love that thou personally vouchsafest to dwell among us 'T is for our sakes and to spare the infirmity of our nature that thy brightnes appears not in its proper luster Blessed O JESU are the eys that see thee in this kind disguise and the mouth that reverently receives Thee Blessed yet more is the hart that desires thy coming and longs to see thee in thy beauteous self O Thou eternal Lord of grace and glory * our joy and portion in the land of the Living What hast thou there prepar'd for thy servants who bestowest such pledges of thy bounty here What dost Thou there reserve in thine own Kingdom who giv'st us Thy self in this place of banishment How will thy open vision transport our souls when our dark faith yields such delight Nothing on earth so sweet as to kneel whole hours before thee and one by one consider thy innumerable mercys VVhat must it be in heaven to shine continually before Thee and all in one contemplate thy uâ—â—speakable glorys O my ador'd Redeemer when will that happy day appear that mine eys may behold thee without a veil When will these clouds and shadows pass away that thy beams may shine on me in their full brightnes Object not against me dearest Lord that none can see thy face and live Those fears thy love has chang'd and all my hope * is now to live by seeing thee Say not O thou mild and gracious Majesty if I approach thy presence I must dy Rather instruct me so to dy that I may live for ever in thy presence Glory be c. Antiph How great is the multitude of thy sweetnes O Lord which Thou hast hidden for those that love Thee Capit. 7. Apoc. A Men Benediction and Glory and VVisdom and Thanksgiving Honor and Power and Strength be to our God for ever and ever Amen Hymn XVIII VVIth all the pow'rs my poor soul hath Of humble love and loyal faith Thus low my God I bow to Thee VVhom too much love bow'd low'r for me Down busy sense Discourses dy And all adore Faith's Mystery Faith is my skill Faith can believe As fast as Love new laws can give Faith is my ey Faith strength affords To keep pace with those pow'rful words And words more sure more sweet then they Love could not think Truth could not say O dear Memorial of that death VVhich still survives and gives us breath Live ever bread of Life and be My food my joy my all to me Come glorious Lord my hopes encrease And fill my portion in thy peace Come hidden life and that long day For which I languish come away When this dry soul those eys shal see And drink the unseald source of Thee When glory's Sun faith's shade shal chase And for thy veil give me thy face Antiph He feeds the young Ravens that call on Him and says He esteems us much better then them behold a full proof He feeds them and all things else but to feed us behold yet a fuller O Riddle of Bounty even out of the Feeder himself comes food for us V. The bread of life which came down from heav'n R. Feed us with the bread of science and understanding O Lord hear our pray'rs And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O Bounteous Lord the continual supplier of thy creatures with all convenient sustenance to advance our growth and strength fit to take heav'n by violence and rise at length eternal Injoyers of thy self Fix we beseech Thee our eys and adoration on that open Hand which thus graciously gives us our dayly bread and grant that the miraculous Feast of thy Sons Body and Blood may duly sanctify our tasts to all other thy bountys that they may relish as they are only thy great love to us and feed as they ought purely thy dear love in us through the same our Lord Commemorations as Page 29. Thursday Vespers OUr Father c. as Page 33. Antiph Whether O my God should we wander if left to our selvs where should we fix our harts if not directed by thee Psal LX. UNhappy man at first created just as every work comes fair from
c. Psal LXXII TO thee O God we ow our whole selvs for making us after thine own image To thee O Lord we ow more than our selvs for redeeming us with the death of thine only Son Nor were our ruines so soon repair'd as at first our Being was easily produc'd Thy Power to create us said but one word and immediately we became a living soul But thy Wisdom to redeem us both spake much * and wrought more and suffer'd most of all To redeem us He humbled himself to this low world and all the infirmitys of our miserable nature He patiently endur'd hunger and thirst and the malicious affronts of enraged enemys How many times did he hazard his life to sustain with courage the truths of heav'n How many tears did he tenderly weep in compassion of his blind ingrateful Country How many drops of blood did he shed * in that doleful garden and on the bitter Cross The Cross where after three long hours * of grief and shame and intolerable pains He meekly bow'd his fainting head and in an agony of prayer yeelded up the Ghost So sets the glorious Sun in a sad cloud and leaves our earth in darknes and disorder But goes to shine immediately in the other world and soon returns again and brings us light And so dost Thou dear Lord and more thy very darknes is our light 'T is by thy death we are made to live and by thy wounds our soars are heal'd O my ador'd Redeemer who took'st upon thee all our miserys to impart to us thine own felicitys Can we remember thy labours for us and not be convinc't of our duty to Thee Can our cold harts recount thy sufferings and not be inflam'd with the love that suffer'd Can we beleeve our salvation cost thee so dear and live as if to be sav'd were not worth our pains Ingrateful we how do we â—â—light the kindnes of our God! how carelesly comply with his gracious design For all his gifts he requires no other return then to hope still more and desire still greater blessings For all his favours he seeks no other praise then our following his steps to arrive at his glory O glorious JESU behold to thee we bow and kumbly kiss the dust in honor of thy death Behold thus low we bow to implore thy blessing and the sure assistance of thy special grace That we may wean our affections from all vain desires and clear our thoughts from all impertinent fancys Then shal our lives be intirely dedicated to Thee and all the facultys of our souls to thy holy service Our minds shal continually study thy knowledge and our wills grow every day stronger in thy love Our memorys shal faithfully lay up thy mercys and both tongue and hart shal sing for ever Glory be c. Antiph Come let us glory in the Cross of our Lord JESVS Christ in whom is our life and helth and resurrection Capit. 2 Cor. 1. BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord JESVS Christ the Father of mercys and God of all consolation who comforts us in all our tribulations that we also may be able to comfort them who are in any distress by the consolation wherewith we also are comforted of God For as the passions of Christ abound in us so likewise by Christ our comfort abounds Hymn XXII TUne now your selvs my hart strings high Let us aloft our voyces raise That our loud song may reach the Sky And there present to Thee our praise To thee blest JESU who cam'st down From those bright sphears of joy above To purchase us a dear bought Crown And woo our Souls to ' espouse thy love Long had the World in darknes sate Til Thou and thy all-glorious light Began to dawn from heav'ns fair gate And with thy beams dispel their night We too alas stil there had stood As common slaves in the same shade But mercy came and with his blood Our general ransom freely paid Not all the spite of all the Jews Nor death it self could him remove Stil He his blest design pursues And gives his life to take our love And now my Lord my God my all What shal I most in Thee admire That pow'r which made the world and shal The world again dissolve with fire O no thy strange humility Thy wounds thy pains thy cross thy death These shal alone my wonder be My helth my joy my staff my breath To Thee great God! to Thee alone Three Persons in one Deity As former ages stil have done All glory now and ever be Antiph We are bought with a price even the most precious sweat and blood of JESUS henceforth to call Him Master whose service is perfect freedom and gives us effectual power to become the sons of God V. The chains fell off our hands and feet R. When Thine dear Redeemer were nail'd to the Cross V. O Lord hear our prayers R. And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O Eternal Father who sent'st down thy only Son to redeem the world inslav'd to sin and Satan by assuming our frail nature and powerfully teaching us both by word and example its sole way to that blyss for which we are created Grant we humbly beseech Thee that the continual memory of his bitter passion and death on the Cross may beget in us an utter disvalue of the Goods or Ills we meet with here compar'd to the advancing our selvs or others in the esteem of what we hope herafter through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with Thee and the holy Ghost lives and reigns One God world without end Amen Here on every Friday that is fasted say kneeling V. Lord have mercy on us R. Christ have mercy on us V. Lord have mercy on us Our Father c. V. And lead us not into temptation R. But deliver us from evil Amen V. Have mercy on us O Lord have mercy on us R. For our souls confide in thee V. And under the shadow of thy wings will we hope R. Til our iniquities pass away V. Have mercy on us O Lord for we are weak R. Heal us O Lord for we have sinned against thee V. Our iniquities are gone over our head R. And like a sad burthen sit heavy on us V. Will not our God require an account of these things R. Will he not examine every passage of our lives V. He sees the secrets of our harts R. And our darkest sins are not hid from Him V. Lord make us judg our selvs lest we be condemn'd by thee R. And chastize our selvs lest we be punisht by thee V. Make us mortify our senses with discreet austeritys R. Particularly contrary to the passions which molest us V. That we may reduce our bodys into subjection to our minds R. And our minds into subjection to Thee V. That as our too much liberty brought us to folly R. Our just severity may bring us to pardon V. Pardon O Lord
the iniquity of our sins R. And graciously remove away all thy punishments V. Enter not into judgment with thy servants O Lord R. For in thy sihgt shall no one living be justify'd V. Our ruine we confess is wholly from our selvs R. And all our hope is in thy salvation V. If we repent and say Now we 'l begin R. 'T is time now to rise from sleep V. Behold temptation stands at the door R. And our weak resistance lets it in V. Our corrupt nature conspires with our enemys R. And our evil customs prevail against us V. Pity us O Lord Thou who know'st whereof we are made R. Wean us from this world Thou who mad'st us for a better V. Deliver us from the occasions that so often endanger us R. Deliver us from the occasions that so often overcome us V. Deliver us from all sudden and disastrous mischances R. Deliver us from the miserys of everlasting torments V. Why art thou sad O my soul R. And why art thou disquieted within me V. Still trust in God for still we will praise his Name R. He is our Saviour and our God V. O praise our Lord for he is good R. And his mercy indures for ever V. Let all who fear our Lord now say R. That his mercy indures for ever V. He was mindful of us in our low estate R. For his mercy indures for ever V. And redeem'd us from our enemys R. For his mercy indures for ever V. He will guide us here in the ways of peace R. For his mercy indures for ever V. He will bring us herafter to the joys of eternity R. For his mercy indures for ever V. O Lord hear our prayers R. And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O God who didst severely punish our first parents for eating the forbidden fruit and hast so often recommended to us the necessary dutys of abstinence and fasting grant we beseech thee that by observing diligently thy holy Discipline propos'd to us in the laws and practise of thy Church we may correct our levitys and revenge our excesses and subdue our irregular appetites and frustrate the temptations of the enemy and secure our perseverance and daily proceed to new degrees of vertue and devotion till in the end of our lives we receive the end of our labours the salvation of our souls in thy heavenly kingdom through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with thee and the holy Ghost lives and reigns One God world without end Amen These Versicles Responses and Prayers are said kneeling on all Fasting days immediately after the Prayer at Lauds Then Commemoration c. as page 29. Friday Vespers OUr Father c. as page 33. Antiph O sensless we that so litle consider what our Saviour suffer'd for us or what we do against Him Psal LXXIII LOrd how the world requites thy love how ingrateful are we to thy blessed memory We negligently forget thy sacred Passion or rather far worse our sins renew thy sufferings While we deprive others of their right what do we else but devest thee of thy cloaths While we delight in strife and Schisms what do we else but rend thy seamless coat If we despise the least of thy servants are we not as so many Herods that scorn'd Thee If we for fear proceed against our conscience how are we better then Pilate that condemn'd Thee By forsaking thy will to follow our own do we not chuse a murtherer before thee By retaining a sharp and bitter malice do we not give thee vineger and gall to drink By shewing no mercy to the poor and afflicted do we not pass by thy Cross as strangers unconcern'd Thus we again crucify the Lord of Glory and put him afresh to an open shame Is this O wretched we the duty we pay * to the sacred memory of our dear Redeemer Are these the thanks our gratitude returns * to that strange excess of our Saviours love When we sate in darknes he took us by the hand and kindly led us into his own light We sought not him but he came from far to find us we lookt not towards him but his mercy call'd after us He call'd aloud in words of tendernes why will you perish O you children of men Why will you run after empty trifles as if there were no joys above with me Return O you dear-bought souls and I will receive you * repent and though you had really crucifyed me I will forgive you Behold O Blessed JESU to Thee we come and on thy holy Cross fasten all our confidence Never will we unclasp our faithful hold till thy grace has seal'd the pardon of our sins Never will we part from that standard of hope till our troubled consciences be dismist in peace There will we stand and sigh and weep and every one humbly say to thy mercy JESU my God I suffer violence * answer Thou for me Glory be c. Antiph O sensless we that so litle consider what our Saviour suffer'd for us or what we do against Him Antiph He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world Psal LXXIV BE silent O my soul and thy Lord will answer for thee be content and he is thy security Be innocent and he will defend thee be humble and he will exalt thee He will forgive thee all thou repentest he will bestow on thee more then thou askest Never let us fear the favour of our God if we can but esteem and desire it He that so freely gave us himself will he not with himself give us all things else Is not his painful life and bitter death * sufficient pledg of his love to us Is not his infinite love to us * sufficient motive of our duty to Him A duty to which we are so many ways oblig'd and wherin our Eternity is so highly concern'd Surely they have litle faith and far less hope who doubt the mercys of so gracious a God Mercys confirm'd by a thousand miracles and dearly seal'd with his own blood That innocent blood which was shed for us to appease the wrath of his offended Father That blood whos 's every precious drop * was worthy to save so many worlds O blest and all-redeeming blood which flow'd so freely from the source of life Bath our polluted souls in thy clear streams and purge away all our foul impuritys Cleanse us O merciful Lord from our secret faults and from those darling sins that most abuse us Wash off the stains which our malice has caus'd in others and those which our weaknes has receiv'd of them Let not them perish by our occasion nor us be undone by theirs But let our charity assist one another and thy clemency pardon us all Pardon O gracious JESU what we have been and with thy holy discipline correct what we are Order by thy Providence what we shal be and in the end crown thine own gifts Glory be
sure he knows What 's best with it to do 'T is for our good that all this ill Is suffer'd here below T is to correct those dangerous sweets That else would poyson grow So storms are rais'd to clear the ayr And chase the clouds away So weeds grow up to cure our wounds And all our pains allay How often Lord do we mistake When we our plots design Rule Thou herafter thine own world Only Thy self be mine Or rather Lord let me be thine Else I am not mine own Give me Thy self or take Thou me Undone if left alone To Thee great God of heav'n and earth Each knee for ever bow May all thy Blessed sing above And we adore below Antiph Thou giv'st us tasts of Good here to beget and feed in us an appetite Thou giv'st us but tasts here to draw our affections up to thy self whose fruition alone can fully satisfy us V. Vain and preposterous it is to expect our Port at Sea R. Or to look for a heav'n on earth but in hope O Lord hear our prayers And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O Merciful God whose Providence disparages with shortnesses and crosses all the injoyments of this world to allay their temptatiousnes and slacken their hold on our harts grant us grace we beseech Thee wisely to discern and praise Thee for this their most beneficial nature and since we cannot attain Thee the heav'n of heav'ns but by our sole Fixure on Thy self nor be rais'd to That without a sense of dissatisfyingnes in what ever else we do or can possess make us check and overcome the repinings of flesh and blood with juster adorations of Thy infinite mercy for qualifying so fitly this womb of our souls that by its own uneasines it more easily disposes them for a happy birth into thy blessed eternity through our Lord O Lord hear c. as page 45. Saturday Complin OUr help is in c. as page 46. Antiph Too often are we troubled about many things when the truly necessary is but One. Psal LXXXIX REtire O my soul into thine own bosom and search what thou aim'st at in all thy thoughts Where dost thou place thy chief felicity and whither tend thy strongest desires Go to the Great and Prudent of the world and learn of them to chuse thy interests Do they not there increase their estates where they mean to spend most of their life Do they project their Mansion seat * in a country through which they pass as travellers No more my soul should we build our best hopes * on the sandy foundation of this perishable earth Where sure we are we cannot stay long and are not sure we may stay very litle O Thou eternal Being who changest not yet art the cause and end of all our changes Who still remain'st the same rich fulnes in thy Self * the same bright glory to all thy Blessed Teach us O Lord to use this transitory life as Pilgrims returning to their beloved home That we may take what our journy requires and not think of setling in a forrein country But wisely forecast our treasures so to be happy there where we must always be Glory be c. Psal XC NOw thou hast found thy happy end and found it the only Good that lasts for ever Study O my soul to know still more and still more value those immortal joys Strive for so glorious a prize with thy whole force and the utmost strainings of all thy facultys Purchase at any rate that blest inheritance and wiseley neglect even all things else All that divert thee from thy holy course or but retard the speed of thy advance For though the least in the kingdom of heav'n be happy enough where every Vessel is fil'd to the brim yet to enlarge our capacity to the least higher degree * deservs the busiest diligence of our whole life Shall the industious Bee endure no rest but fly and sing and labour all the day Shall the unwearied Ant be running up and down to fetch and carry a few grains of corn And we for whom all nature so faithfully works and tires it self in a perpetual motion For whom the tender providence of God * commands even his Angels to watch and pray For whom the ador'd JESUS came down from heav'n and spent a whole life in continual labours Shall we sleep on in a drowsy sloth and not stir a finger to help our selvs Awake my soul and chide thy sluggish thoughts and let their stupid folly plainly know We have a store to provide as well as Ants and infinitely richer then their poor hoard We have a work to do as well as Bees and infinitely sweeter then all their hony What can so noby enrich an immortal soul * as still to be gathering a stock for eternity What can so highly delight one that every day improves as daily to see the encrease of his hope O blessed hope be thou my chief delight and the only treasure I covet to lay up Be thou the quick'ning life of all my actions and sweet allay of all my sufferings So shall I ne're refuse any meanest labour while I look to receive such glorious wages So shall I ne're repine at any temporal loss whilâ—â— I hope to gain such eternal rewards Glory be c. Psal XCI BUt O 't is not so much our sloth undoes us as the imprudent choice in applying our diligence Many alas take pains enough many perplex themselvs too much See how the busie toylers of the world * are chain'd perpetually like slaves to their work How early they rise and go late to sleep and eat the bread of care and sorrow See how the hardy soldiers follow their Prince * through a thousand difficulties to meet with dangers See how the ventrous Mariners expose their lives * over stormy Seas into barbarous Nations And why all this poor ill-advised wretches but to fetch perhaps a litle fish or spice To gain a few pence or some petty honour which others often share in more then your selvs O bounteous Lord how easie are thy commands how cheap hast thou made the purchase of heav'n Half these pains would make us Saints half these sufferings canonize us for Martyrs Were they devoutly undertaken for Thee and the higher enjoyment of thy glorious promises Thou bidst us not freez under the Polar star nor burn in the heats of the torrid Zone But proposest a sweet and gentle rule and such as our nature it self would chuse Did not our passions strangely mislead us and the world about us distract our reason Thou bidst us but wisely love our selvs and attend above all things our own true happines Thou bidst us value even this world as much as it deservs since 't is the School that breed us up to the Other Only we are forbidden to be wilful fools and prefer a short vanity before eternal felicity O the mild government of the King of heaven this we can
in the shades of nothing his mighty hand awak't us into Being Not That of stones or plants or beasts o're which he has made us absolute Lords But an accomplisht body and immortal spirit and litle inferiour to his glorious Angels He printed on our souls his own similitude and promis'd to our obedience his own feliâ—â—ity He endued us with appetites to live well and happy and furnisht us with means to satisfie those appetites Creating a whole world to serve us here and providing a heav'n to glorify us her-after Thus didst thou favour us O infinite Goodness but we what return did we make to Thee Blush O my Soul for shame at so strange a weaknes and weep for grief at so extreme an ingratitude We childishly prefer'd a trivial apple * before the Law of our God and the safety of our own lives We fondly embrac't a litle present satisfaction * before the Pleasures of Paradise and the eternity of heav'n Behold the unhappy source of all our miserys which still increast it streams as they went farther on Till they exacted at last a deluge of justice * to drown their deluge of iniquity And here alas had been an end of Man a sad and fatal end of the whole world Had not our wise Creator foreseen the danger and in time prevented the extremity of the ruâ—â—e Reserving for himself a few choice plants * to replenish the earth with more hopeful fruit Yet they grew quickly wilde and brought forth sowre grapes and their childrens teeth were set on edg Quickly they aspir'd to an intolerable pride * of fortifying their wickedness against the power of heav'n Justice was now provok't to a second deluge and to bring again a cloud o're the earth But mercy discover'd a bow in the cloud and our faithful God remembred his promise Allaying their punishment with a milder sentence and only scattering them from the place of their conspiracy Which yet his Providence turn'd into a blessing * by making it an occasion of peopling the world Stil their rebellious nature disobey'd again and neither fear'd his judgments nor valued his mercys But with a graceles emulation propagated sin * as far as his Goodnes propagated mankind Then he selected a private Family and increast and govern'd them with a particular tendernes Giving them a law by the hands of Angels and ingaging their obedience by a thousand favours But they neglected too their God and heav'n and fel in love with the ways of death When thou hadst thus O dearest Lord try'd every remedy and found our disease beyond all cure When the light of nature prov'd too weak a guide and the general flood too mild a correction When the miracles of Moses could not soften their harts nor the law of Angels bring any to perfection When all was reduc't to this desperate state and no imaginable hope left to recover us Behold the eternal Wisdom finds a strange expedient the last and highest instance of almighty love Himself he resolvs to cloath with our felsh and come down among us and dy to redeem us Wonder O my soul at the mercys of thy Lord how infinitely transcending ev'n our utmost wishes Wonder at the admirable providence of his counsels how exactly fitted to their great design Had he been less then God we could never have believ'd * the sublime Mysterys of his heav'nly Doctrin Had he been other then Man we must needs have wanted * the powerful motive of his holy Example Had He been only God he could never have suffer'd * the least of those afflictions he so gloriously overcame Had He been meerly Man he could never have o'recome those infinite afflictions he so patiently suffer'd O blessed JESU both these Thou art in thy self be Thou both these to us Be thou our God and make us adore Thee be thou our Leader and make us follow Thee Glory be c. Antiph Blessed be the mercy of our God who has left no means untry'd that could possibly recover us Antiph Lord thou not only offer'st us salvation but lay'st in means before hand to make us accept it Psal XCIV SOon as this blest decree was made * of sending the Son of God to redeem mankind Immediately his goodnes was ready to come among us had our ungracious world been ready to receive him But we as yet were too gross and sensual and utterly incapable of so pure a Law We were immerst in cares and pleasures and wholly indispos'd for so perfect an obedience While we were thus unfit for thee O thou God of pure and perfect holines Thou graciously wert pleas'd to stay for us and all that time prepare us for thy presence From the begining entertaining us with hope and through every age confirming our faith How early O my God didst thou engage to relieve us The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head How often didst thou repeat thy promise to Abraham In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed How many ways did thy mercy invent * by unquestionable tokens to give notice of thy Coming Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and his name shall be called God with us A branch shall shoot out of the stock of Jesse and from the root of that branch shall spring a Flower The Spirit of our Lord shall rest upon him and the spirit of wisdom and piety and fortitude Our Lord shall raise up a Prophet like Moses and put his words in his mouth and he shall teach us And thou Bethelem who art litle among the thousands of Juda out of thee shall He come that 's to be the Ruler in Israel Whose goings forth are from the beginning even from the days of eternity Hark how the eternal Father introduces his Son commanding first all the Angels to adore Him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten Thee Thou art my Son and I will be thy Father I will give Thee the Gentiles for thine inheritance and the ends of the world for thy possession 'T is too litle that thou raise up the Tribes of Jacob and convert the dregs of Israel Thou art appointed a lght for the Gentiles and a Saviour to the utmost parts of the earth Hark how the antient Prophets rejoyce in the Messias and in soft and gentle words foretel his sweetness He shall come down as rain into a fleece of wool and as drops of dew distilling on the earth He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd and gently lead those that are with young He shall gather his lambs with his arms and carry them in his own bosom The bruised reed he shall not break nor quench the smoking flax Justice and peace shall flourish in his days and sin and death be destroy'd for ever Then shall the eys of the blind be open'd and the ears of the deaf be made to hear Then shall the tongues of the dumb be loosen'd and the lame man leap like a Back Thus did thy holy
these thy unspeakable mercys We search over all we have and find nothing to return thee but what thy self hast freely given us We search over all thou hast given us and find nothing thou expectest but that we use thy gifts to make our selvs happy O may our souls perpetually bless thee and every minute of our time be spent in thy service Let us not live O Lord but to love thee nor breath but to speake thy praise * nor be at all but to be all Thine Glory be c. Psal XCVII SIng on my soul the praises of the Lord sing on with fresh attention the mercys of thy God Whose wisdom has contriv'd â—â—o compendious a method * to redeem mankind by one short word He saw the only cause of all our ruine * was our love misplac't on this present world He saw the only remedy of all our misery * was to fix our love on the world to come This therefore was his great intent and in this concentred all his merits To change the byass of our wrong-set harts by establishing among us new motives of charity Such as might strongly incline our affections and efficaciously draw us to love our true Good Such as might gain by degrees upon all mankind and render salvation easie and universal For this he came down from his Fathers bosom * to teach us the Rules of eternal life That we might firmly believe those sacred truths * which God himself with his own mouth had told us For this he converst so long on our earth * to encourage and provoke us by his own example That he might confidently imbrace those unquestionable vertues * which God himself in his own Person had practis'd For this he endur'd those sharp and many afflictions and became at last obedient even to death That we might patiently suffer whatever should befal us * when God himself was so treated by his creatures For this he so often preacht of the joys of heav'n and set them before us in so clear a light That seeing so rich a prize hang at the race's end we might run and strain our utmost force to gain it For this he ordain'd the Mysterys of grace and left us a Sacrifice made all of miracles That he might breed and nourish in us the life of charity and ravish our harts with the sweetnes of his presence For this he establisht a perpetual Church and sent the holy Ghost to inspire and govern it That it might flourish for ever in truth and sanctity and plant the same heav'nly seed over all the world For this he assum'd those strange endearing names * of friend and brother and spouse to us wretches Doing far more for us then all those names import * then all our harts can wish Blessed O glorious JESU be the wisdom of thy mercy * that has found so sweet and short away to save us Thou art O Lord the cause of our love and love the cause of our happiness By love we fulfil all thy commands and by making us love Thou fulfil'dst all thy Father's By love we are reconcil'd from enemys to friends by love we are translated from death to life By love we are deliver'd from the fear of hell by love we are adopted to be heirs of heav'n By love we are dispos'd for that blysful Vision by love we are secur'd of the enjoyment of our God Who by the sole perfection of his own free goodnes * can never deny Himself to any that love him Else would their very loving Him be the cause of their misery since the misery of a soul is the want of what it loves Thus Lord whate're thy holy Books record of Thee in words comporting with our low capacitys Whate're they say of thy Restoring all things and Repairing again the ruines of mankind All is exactly verify'd by this one line which may our thankful harts repeat with joy Heav'n is attain'd by love alone and love alone by Thee Glory be c. Psal XCVIII STil O my soul let us sing a few lines more * to Him whose mercys are no fewer then infinite To Him whose pity took us by the hand and kindly led us into his own light To thee O blessed JESU our Lord our God! who alone art the source of all our happines The world till thou cam'st sate wrapt in darknes and few discern'd so much as a shadow of Thee They follow'd the appetites of sense and humour and plac't their felicity in being prosperous here Litle considering the life to come and less the joys that entertain that life This was alas their miserable state and worse then this they had no power to help it How could they believe what they never heard or love what they never believ'd How could they desire what they never lov'd or be glad to receive what they never desir'd 'T was thou O Lord first taught us our true end * the blysful Vision of the eternal Deity 'T was thou first taught us the true means to attain that end by a harty love and desire to attain it O the blest changes which thy hand has wrought the happy improvements which thy coming has produc't Now every woman and illiterate man * can discourse familiarly of the highest truths The Creation of the world and the Fall of Adam the Incarnation of God and Redemption of man The Mystery of the Trinity and Miracle of the Resurrection the Day of Judgment and State of Eternity All these we know but 't was Thou O Lord who taught'st us and by thy holy Church first spred them o're the world Now thou hast open'd our eys we plainly see * what unassisted nature could ne're have reacht We see the framing right our affections here * is both cause and measure of our happines hereafter If we supremely esteem the Goods of the future life * we shall find them there and be happy If we love heav'n with our whole soul and press on strongly with all our force We shall enter into its glorys with a strange surprizing delight and possess them for ever in a perpetual extasy We see our souls are made to know and perfect themselvs by the worthiest objects We see their nature is free and unconfin'd and nothing can fill them but that which is infinite All other knowledges enlarge our facultys and breed new desire to know stil more Which if unsatisfy'd we yet are miserable since none can be happy who want their desire Only the sight of God fils us to the brim and infinitely overflows our utmost capacitys It fils and overflows all the powers of our souls * with joy and wonder and unconceivable sweetnes O blest and glorious Sight when wil the happy day appear * and open to my soul that beauteous prospect When dearest Lord shall I see Thee face to face when shall I hartily at least desire to see Thee Thou art my full and high felicity * and only and alone sufficient for me O make me
the true light of the world they who follow Thee walk not in darknes Psal C. RIse holy Spouse of the Son of God rise and put on thy robes of joy Rise and shine forth for thy glory is come and the splendor of our Lord strikes bright upon Thee The Gentils shal walk in the beams of thy light and Kings in the lustre of thy brightnes Lift up thine eys round about and behold they gather all together and flock to Thee Thy Sons shal come from far and thy Daughters be nurst at thy side Then thou shalt see and flow in abundance thy hart shal wonder and be enlarg'd with gladnes When the multitude of the Sea shal be converted to Thee and the strength of the Gentiles submit to thy Laws The sons of strangers shal build thy walls and Princes obey thy commands The Nation shal perish that will not serve thee and the Kingdom be utterly wasted that refuses thee The sons of thy afflicters shal bow before thee and they that despis'd thee kiss thy footsteps For our Lord shal be thy everlasting light and the days of thy mourning shall end in glory To thee shal be given the Keys of heav'n and thou shalt shut and open those eternal doors Thy foundation shal be laid on a firm rock and the gates of hell not prevail against thee A way shal be made so direct and plain that the Passengers though fools shal not err therin And the Earth shal be filled with the knowledg of our Lord * as the waters cover the sea All this we read all this we firmly beleeve for the mouth of our Lord has spoken it Heav'n and earth shal pass away but not a tittle of his Word be disappointed for ever Already these sacred Prophecys are in part fulfill'd abundantly sufficient to assure us of the rest Already a Virgin has brought forth a Son and given him the gracious Name of JESUS The Kings of the east have been led to him by a star and offer'd him gold and frankincense and myrth His holy Parents have presented him in the Temple and the devout Simeon was overjoy'd to see him In his tender infancy he fled into Egypt and the Idols fell down at the presence of a child He past his private life in peace and meeknes and taught a contradicting people in patience and humility He confirm'd his doctrin with innumerable miracles and defended the truth to the last drop of his blood He rose again victoriously from the grave and ascended in triumph to the right hand of his Father And there O glorious JESU mayst thou sit and reign till all thy enemys becom thy footstool Nor has thy judgment slept O dreadful Lord but with a swift and terrible vengeance crusht them into ruine Jerusalem long since was made a heap of stones and the children of thy Crucifyers run wandring o're the world While thou art thus severe in the predictions of thy justice thou did'st not forget those of thy mercy Thousands of that ingrateful City have acknowledg'd Thee their Lord thousands of that perverse generation have submitted to thy Scepter Whole Nations of the Gentiles have embrac't thy faith and remotest Islands received thy law Blessed for ever be thy Name O Lord and blessed be the sweetnes of thy mercy Who reveal'st thy self to those that knew thee not and art found of those that sought thee not Who often followest those that fly from thee and never refusest any that come to thee Thou stil exactly perform'st thy part but we ingrateful wretches how do we comply with ours Where is the profit thou mayst justly require to answer the care of thy providence over us Thou hast planted us O Lord in thine own Vineyard and fenc'd us about with thy holy discpline Where is the fruit we should always be beaâ—â—ing since good works are never out of season Of our selvs alas we are dry and barren and our nature at best brings forth nothing but leaves O Thou in whom while we remain we live and from whom divided we instantly dy Curse not we humbly beg these fruitless branches lest they wither away and be cast into the fire Pronounce not against us that dreadfull sentence Cut them down why Cumber they the ground But mercifully Cut them off from their wild stock and graft them in Thy self the only true vine water O Lord our weeds with the dew of heav'n and bless our low shrubs with thy powerful influence So grapes shal grow on thorns and figs be gather'd on Thistles Glory be c. Antiph Thou art O Lord the true light of the world they who follow thee walk not in darkness Antiph In Thee O Lord is all our hope have mercy on the works of thine own hands Psal CI. REjoyce in our Lord all you children of Adam rejoyce in the bounty of his free grace No longer now confyn'd to a few choyce Favorites and the narrow compass of a private Family He has thrown down that partition wall and opened the way of life to all mankind That all may beleeve and love him here and all injoy and be happy in him herafter But O my God what do we see * when we look abroad into the wide world We see sad effects but cannot see the cause * why so many Kingdoms ly miserably wast We know O Lord thy ways are in the deep abyss and humbly adore thy secret Counsels Only we cannot think on their lamentable condition without pitying their misery and imploring thy mercy Some have not yet so much as heard of thee others who have heard refuse to entertain thee Some who have once acknowledg'd thee have quite faln away and others reject what they list and obey by halfs Many even of those who rightly beleeve * abuse their holy faith by a wicked life Thus the for greatst part of wretched mankind whom thy goodness created to thine own similitude Whom thou hast redeem'd with thy precious blood and design'd to so great and long a happiness Still fail alas of their true end and dy in their sins and eternally perish Look down O Lord and behold from heav'n behold from the Habitation of thy holines Where is thy Zeal and the bowels of thy mercy where are thy promises to thy beloved Son Hast thou not said all Nations shal adore Him and all the Tribes of the earth be blessed in him Hast thou not said Thy self O glorious JESU If I be exalted I wil draw all men to me Hast thou not given thy Disciples express Commision * to go into all the world and Preach to every Creature Remember O thou God of everlasting truth remember O thou Author and Finisher of our faith Remember these thy dear engagements and graciously acomplish what thou hast mercifully begun Visit O Lord thine own house first and thorowly redress what thou findst amiss Make our lives holy as thou hast made our faith and perfectly unite us in the bonds of love Kindle in the harts
But O what are they then to those who see Thee and in that sight see all things else To those who rejoyce perpetually before Thee and in that joy find all joys else O beauteous truth which known inforces love and lov'd begets felicity Live thou for ever in my faithful memory and be my constant guide in all my ways Stil let me think on those joys above and undervalue all things compar'd to my salvation Stil let me think on my Saviours love that purchas'd for me all those joys O my ador'd Redeemer be Thou the masterwish of my hart the scope and end of all my time Soon as I wake let me look up to Thee and when I rise first lowly bow to Thee Often in the day let me call in my thoughts to Thee and when I go to rest cloze up mine eys in Thee So shal my time be govern'd by thy grace and my eternity corwn'd with thy glory Antiph Whither O my God should we go but to Thee Thou hast the words of eternal life I look not O Lord to be pardon'd without repentance but I hope thy grace to make me repent Psal CIII MY God when I remember those words of Thine Repent for the Kingdom of heav'n is at hand When I consider they were the first thou spak'st in publick the chosen text of the Eternal Wisdom Instantly I 'm struck with the importance of the duty and deeply affected with the power of the motive If what this last line says be not wholy true but repeated in course as a form of devotion Forgive dear Lord the deâ—â—eitfulness of my hart and make me think as well as say my prayers Make me apply those searching words to my self and bind them fast on my own soul Repent O my soul for the Kingdom of heav'n is at hand repent for the Kingdom of heav'n depends on thy repentance Vnhappy me I cannot live without sin nor hope for pardon without due repentance I cannot repent without the grace of God nor obtain his grace without his own free gift O my sweet Saviour JESU who cam'st not to call the just but such as I am sinners to repent Since I am not strong enough to be perfectly innocent at least make me humble enough to be truly penitent Make me hartily sorry for what I have done amiss and not do again what will make me sorry Wo to the day and hour wherin I sin'd wo to the many days and hours I have foolishly mispent Or rather wo to me who abuse my days and hours * allow'd by thy goodnes to work out my salvation Deliver me O Lord from the punishments I deserve deliver me from the sins that deserve those punishments Teach me that safe and easy method * of censuring my self to be acquitted by Thee Every night let me sit as an impartial judg and call before me all my day Let me severely examine every thought and word and strictly search every deed and omission Condemning my offences to their just penance and making more firm and wary resolvs Imploring for the past the mercy of heav'n and for the time to come the same unbounded mercy If I perhaps find some litle thing well done * when weigh'd with the allowance indulg'd our frailty Let me return all the glory to my God and beg his grace to continue and improve it Hâ—â— is the hand that sews the seed hâ—â— is the blessing that gives the increase Thus let me once a day at least look home and seriously inquire into the state of my soul What ere my weaknes or malice may have done let me now undo with a harty contrition Let not the sun go down upon my wrath nor on any other unrepented sin Still let me write at the foot of my account * Reconcil'd to my God and in charity with all the world Then go to bed with a quiet conscience and fall asleep in peace and hope Glory be c. Antiph I look not O Lord to be pardon'd without repentance but I hope thy grace to make me repent Antiph Since where my treasure is there will my hart be O make me place my treasure where my hart ought to be Psal CIV LOrd e're I take my leave of this Holy day * which thy Church has sanctify'd in honor of thy memory Let me repeat some few words more * of those incomparable many thou hast left among us Let me attentively mediate their substantial sense and settle them as Principles of my life and action Lay not up for your selvs treasures on earth * where rust and moth corrupt and Theeves break thorow and steal But lay up for your selvs treasures in heav'n * where neither rust nor moth corrupt nor Theeves break thorow and steal For where your treasure is there will your hart be also Go now you curious and study what you please for me I le stay and listen to my Saviour He 'l teach me high and sure and useful truths he 'l teach me truths that will make me happy Hark but this one word more and you 'l stay too if any sense of your eternal good can hold you Hark how he kindly tels us this new and glorious Secret we shal be herafter like the Angels in heav'n O sweet and precious word to them that relish it and thorowly digest its strong nourishment To them that feed on 't often as their dayly bread we shal be hereafter like the Angels in heav'n And what O dearest Lord are those blessed Angels * but spirits that know and love and delight for ever Such O my soul we shal be and that sweet life we shal lead we shal be and live like the Angels in heav'n We shal know all that 's true and love all that 's good and delight in that knowledg and love for ever No ignorance shal darken us nor error deceive us we shal be like the Angels in heav'n No cares shal perplex us nor crosses afflict us we shal be like the Angels in heav'n Our joys shal be full and pure and everlasting we shal be like the Angels in heav'n Cheer thee my soul and bless thy bounteous Lord 't is by him we shal be like the Angels in heav'n Cheer thee and raise thy hopes yet gloriously higher we shal be like Himself for we shal see him as he is Antiph Since where my treasure is there will my hart be O make me place my treasure where my hart ought to be Hymn XXXII LOrd now the time returns For weary man to rest And lay aside those pains and cares With which our day 's opprest Or rather change our thoughts To more concerning cares How to redeem our mispent time With sighs and tears and pray'rs How to provide for heav'n That Place of rest and peace Where our full joys shall never wain Our pleasures never cease Blest be thy love dear Lord That taught us this sweet way Only to love Thee for Thy self And for that love obey O Thou our
victorys Whom shal we then fear thus safely guarded who can resist so invincible a strength None but our own corrupted nature dare contend and the unlucky accidents that conspire with it against us Somtimes surprizing our unwary negligence somtimes defeating even our strongest resolvs Not that they can compel our wills unles we yeild or make the least wound without our consent Much less prevail against the power of heav'n and frustrate the purpose of the Almighty Wisdom Whose mercy has us'd more arts to save us when the craft of Vice can invent to destroy us Such a redemption so miraculously wrought such holy Sacraments so often repeated Such glorious promises so faithfully assur'd and which revives our hope so easily attain'd O infinite Goodnes how generous is thy love how liberally extended over all the world Thou invitest little children to come to Thee and the lame and the blind to sit down at thy feast None are shut out of heav'n but such as wil not go in none made unhappy but those who care not to be otherwise Cheer then thy self my hart and let no fears molest thee * nor even death it self abate thy courage Death is a passage that was always short and our SAVIOURS Cross has made it safe By the practise of his Saints 't is grown familiar and by their happy success becom desirable Lose not then thy hope in so glorious an enterprise Eternity is at stake and heav'n the reward That heav'n for which the antient Hermits peopled the Desart and so many Religious live bury'd in their Cells That heav'n for which the holy Confessors spent all their time and innumerable Martyrs laid down their dearest lives That heav'n where Millions of Angels continually sing and all the Blessed make one glorious Quire That heav'n where the ador'd JESUS eternally reigns and the immortal Deity shines bright for ever That very heaven is promis'd thee my soul that blest eternity thou art commanded to hope Raise now thy head and see those beauteous Prospects that ravish the harts of all their Beholders Yonder far above the Stars is thy Saviours Kingdom yonder we must dwell when we leave this earth Yonder must our souls remove to rest when the stroak of death shal divide them from their bodys And when the Almighty Power shal joyn them again yonder must we live with our God for ever O bounteous Lord the only Author of all we have the only object of all we hope As thou hast thus prepar'd a heav'n for us O may thy grace prepare us for it O make us live the life of the Just and let our last end be like Theirs That we may dy the death of the Just and live for ever in their blest society Glory be c. Antiph If God be with us who can be against us if He justify us who can condemn us Capit. Apoc. 7. THese are they who are come out of great tribulation have washt their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb therfore they are before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and He that sits on the Throne shal dwel over them They shal hunger no more nor thirst the Sun shal not fal upon them nor any heat for the Lamb who is in the midst of the Throne shal rule them and conduct them to the living fountains of waters and God shal wipe away all tears from their eys Hymn XXXVIII TEll me You bright Stars that shine Round about the Lambs high Throne How through bodys once like mine How are you thus glorious grown Hark with one voice they reply This was all our happy skil We on JESUS fixt our ey And his emi'nent followers stil As we clearly saw their mind Set and rul'd we order'd ours Both This state alone design'd Up towards this strem'd all our Powers Taught by Temp'rance we abstain'd From all less for greater Goods Slighting litle drops we gain'd Full and sweet and lasting Floods Arm'd with Fortitude we bare Lesser Evils worse to fly Mortal death we durst outdare Rather then for ever dy Iustice we observ'd by giving Every one their utmost due That in peace and order living All might freely Heav'n pursue Prudence govern'd all the Rest Prudence made us still apply What was fittest what was best To advance great Charity On those golden wheels of grace That loves fiery Chariot bear We ariv'd at this bright place Follow us and never fear O sure truth O blest Attesters O that aâ—â— the world may prove Of both these such strong digesters That both these may feed their love Him who made us all for This Him who made Himself our way Him who leads us in'to Blyss May all praise and all obey Antiph Worthy art Thou O Lord to receive the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wert slain and hast redeem'd us to God with thy blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and hast made us to our God a Kingdom Alleluja Magnificat as Page 44. Antiph Worthy art Thou c. O Lord hear our prayers And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O God whose merciful Providence has stil from the Begining sown the seeds of grace in the harts of thy chosen servants which at the Resurrection of thy Son the first fruit of them that slept sprung up into glory and by his holy doctrin and admirable life and precious death has infinitely encreast the meanâ—â— of salvation and the number of thy Saints Grant we beseech Thee that we whom thoâ—â— hast favour'd with so many advantages may by the powerful intercession of that glorious Comâ—â—pany obtain thy grace to imitate them here and rejoyce with them for ever in thy Kingdom hereafter through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with thee and the holy Ghost lives and reigns one God world without end Amen Commemorations as page 29. Complin for Saints OUr help c. as page 46. Antiph Help us you blessed Citizens of heaven direct our way you who have attain'd your end Psal CXXV THus we have past another day another step towards our long home We have seen the Sun a few hours more and our day is lost in its own night But is it lost O careles we and all the holy words we have read and heard Leave they no mark in our memorys behind them but make a litle sound and vanish in the air Have we not been at a solemn Feast and do we soon forget our entertainment Could we see nothing among all those raritys * that relisht with us and stir'd our appetite Was there no fit provision for some vertue we want no proper remedy for some weaknes we have Are we devout already as the Saints of God and chast and temperate and resign'd as they Do we despise this world with a zeal like theirs and value heav'n at the same rate with Them Would we give all we have just now to be
there and part with life it self to dy and go thither Alas how short are we of these perfections how slowly do we follow those excellent Guides O that we liv'd I dare not say blest Souls like you * whose aim was high and a generous heat bet in your brests But that our harts desire were to live like you and what you really did we really wisht to do O that we liv'd in some degree like you and lov'd to think and read and speak of you To sign and publish your heroick Acts and where we cannot imitate at least admire At least let us learn to humble our selvs and check the vanity of our proud conceits Let us mourn and blush at our many infirmitys and so much the louder call to heav'n for releef Hear us you blessed Saints who dwel secure above and turn your eys of pity towards us below Look down with tendernes on our world of miserys and bow your charitable knees to the God of mercys That what our own unworthines cannot obtain we may hope to receive by your holy prayers Glory be c. Antiph Help us you blessed Citizens of heav'n direct our way you who have attain'd your end Antiph Fear not my soul our God has a blessing too for us if we have a love and obedience for Him Psal CXXVI LEt us humble our selvs but not grow faint * at the sight of others so far before us Rather let us quicken our sloth by their swift pace and encourage our fears with their happy success We who profess the Religion of all these Saints who liv'd and dy'd in the same Church with us We who partake of the same holy Sacraments and eat the same celestial Food Why should we fear one day to shine above and rejoyce together with you glorious Saints Are we not all redeem'd by the same rich price the same eternal crowns propos'd to us all Are we not bred in the same Apostolick faith and nurst at the brests of the same Catholick Church The Lessons I see and Teacher is the same but the hand is dul and instrument out of tune You liv'd indeed in a dangerous world like this and were ty'd to bodys frail as ours But by a constant vigilance you o'recame the world and subdu'd your bodys to the service of your minds You overcame with a joyful hart * and we thus congratulate the triumph of your victorys You overcame but not by your own strong hand you now triumph but 't is by the bounty of your God Chear then thy self my soul raise thy head * and open thy bosom to the hopes of heaven Fear not our God has a blessing too for us if we have a love and obedience for Him If we delight in the ways of piety and diligently attend the Offices of devotion If we refrain from the libertys of the world and curb the loose suggestions of the flesh If we can look on gold and honor and their flaming beams not dazle our eys If we perform with them the part of faithful servants * we shal surely with them have the portion of children Glory be c. Antiph Fear not my soul our God has a blessing too for us if we have a love and obedience for Him Antiph Precious in thy sight O Lord is the death of thy Saints precious to thee and themselvs and us Psal CXXVII PRecious in thy fight O Lord is the death of thy Saints which finishes thy greatest work the perfecting of Souls Whom Thou esteem'st as the jewels of heav'n and choicely gather'st into thine own Treasury Precious to themselvs O Lord is the death of thy Saints which takes off the dusky cover that hides their brightnes Which shapes and polishes them to a beauteous luster and sets them as stars round about thy Throne Precious to us O Lord is the death of thy Saints which makes us heirs of so great a welth Which leaves us furnisht with so rich variety that every kind of want is abundantly supply'd Some teach us courage to encounter dangers and not for fear make Shipwrack of our conscience Others instruct us to converse with meeknes and patiently bear neglects and injurys From some we learn how wisely to use this world and make it serve us in our way to the next From others how more generously to renounce it and pass our time in peace and prayer From all we learn this best of arts to live and dy like Saints and in the best of methods their own example O gracious Lord whose love still looks about and searches every way to save us siners Who cam'st thy self bright Sun of glory * to inlighten our darknes and warm our frozen harts Who with thy fruitful beams stil kindlest others to burn as tapers in thy Churches hand And by their near proportionate distance stand fit to shine into every corner of our lives O make us bless thy Name for all these mercys and let not one be lost by our ingratitude Let us not see in vain the crown at the races end and sit down lazily in the shades of ease Let us not keep in vain these sacred memorys to be only a reproach to our unprofitable lives But let us stretch our selvs and pursue to the mark for the glorious prizeis that set before us Stil with our utmost speed let us follow Them whose travails ended in so sweet a rest And when our life's last day begins to fal and bids us hasten to prepare for night Then come you holy Angels and watch about 〈◊〉 and suffer not the enemy to disturb our â—â—ssage Come and receive in peace our departing souls and bear them safely to the presence of our Lord. Then O Thou blessed Virgin-Mother protect us with thy favor and all you glorious Saints assist us with your pray'rs Then O Thou dear Redeemer of the world and Soveraign King of life and death Thou who despisest not the tears of the penitent nor turnest away from the sighs of the afflicted Thou who preserv'dst all that rely on Thee and fulfilst their desires that long to be with Thee Hear Thou our cryes and pardon our sins and graciously deliver us from all our fears Cal us to thy self with thine own blest voice cal us O dearest JESU in thine own sweet words Come you Blessed of my Father possess the kingdom * prepared for you from the foundation of the world Then O my happy soul immediately obey and go forth with gladnes to meet the Lord To live with Him and behold his glory to rejoyce with Him and sing his Praise Glory be c. Antiph Precious in thy sight O Lord is the death of thy Saints precious to Thee and themselvs and us Hymn XXXIX NIght forbear alas our Praise And our young begining hope Set to grow on these blest days Faint and dull requires more scope 'T will not hear but sullen flys Summons all the world to sleep Bids us close our books and eys What
world without end Amen SS Philip and Jacob. All as in the Office of Saints except 1. Antiph Now it suffices thee Philip our Lord has shewn thee the Father and henceforth for ever thou shalt see Him face to face Alleluja 2. Antiph And thou holy Jacob the Brother of our Lord art gloriously happy injoying for ever the same blysful Vision Alleluja 3. Antiph These are Two of those precious stones that found and adorn the walls of the heav'nly Jerusalem Alleluja Prayer O God by whose grace the B. Apostles S. Philip and S. Jacob water'd as this day with their blood the heavenly seed which they had long swet in sowing o're the world Redouble we beseech Thee the devotions of thy servants by celebrating together their happy Memorys and grant that our Faith sopreciously confirm'd may fructify into holy lives deaths worthy such glorious Masters through our Lord JESUS Christ thy Son who Invention of the H. Cross All as in the Office of our Saviour except 1. Antiph Glorious art thou O B. Empress Helen whose devotion so miraculously restor'd to the world the standard of Salvation Alleluja 2. Antiph This holy Sign shal be in the heav'ns Alleluja when our Lord shal come to Judgment Alleluja 3. Antiph Far be it from us to glory in any thing but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom the world is crucify'd to us and we to the world Alleluja Prayer O God who as this day vouehsafedst to raise again even the Cross of our Saviour from its ignominious grave to become a close and striking memorial of his Passion Grant we beseech Thee that our devout celebrating this thy special providence may still more deeply imprint in our harts its gracious design of making us often reflect on the great benefit of our redemption and the infinite love and mercy of our Redeemer through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who c. Rogation VVeek Monday Tuesday and Wednesday All as in the Weekly Office except 1. Antiph Ask and you shal receive seek and you shal find knock and it shal be open'd to you says our Lord whose word cannot fail Alleluja 2. Antiph Thou know'st we need all these things but more but more by these our needs to be drawn to look up to Thee Alleluja 3. Antiph Seek first the kingdom of heav'n and all things else shal be added to you Alleluja Prayer O God by whose H. Spirit thy Church ordains this a solemn time of supplication for all our necessitys Open we humbly beseech Thee thy gracious ears to the pray'rs thou inspir'st and draw'st from our harts and by granting us those Goods which thy Children with humility and resignation ask of Thee their heav'nly Father so encourage our devotion and obedience and so increase our hope and love that transcending all Particulars as safely to be trusted in the hand of thy Providence our whole souls may thirst after Thee thy self alone who art our All in All for ever through our Lord Ascension and during the Octave All as in the Office of our Saviour except 1. Antiph I have finisht the work which my Father commanded me and now 't is time I return to him that sent me let not your harts be troubled I go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Alleluja 2. Antiph Let not your harts be troubled I go to prepare a place for you and I wil come again and receive you to my self that where I am there may my servants be Alleluja 3. Antiph Meanwhile I wil not leave you desolate but wil pray to my Father and he shal give you another Comforter the Spirit of truth to dwel with you for ever Alleluja Antiph for Benedictus and Magnificat Why stand we looking downwards on the things of this world behold our Lord is ascended into heav'n and sits in glory at the right hand of his Father Alleluja Why stand we idle with our accounts unprepar'd behold the same JESUS shal come again to judg the living and the dead and give to every one according to his works Alleluja Alleluja Prayer O God who hast inspir'd thy Church to celebrate this day the memory of our Saviours Ascension when having finisht on earth the great work of our Redemption He carryed up his glorify'd Humanity above the clouds to its eternal Rest Grant we humbly beseech Thee that taking off our eys from these vanitys here below we may stand continually looking after Him into heav'n and hartily expecting his appearance thence again at the last great day be always ready to obey his call and meet him in the clouds and follow him into those blysful Mansions which he went to prepare for us at thy right hand for ever through the same our Lord c. VVhitsunday and during the Octave All as in the Office of the H. Ghost Trinity-Sunday All as in Sunday Office except 1. Antiph There are Three that bear witnes in heav'n the Father the Word and the H. Ghost and these Three are One Alleluja 2. Antiph The Father is God and the Son is God and the H. Ghost is God yet are they not three Gods but One God Alleluja 3. Antiph In this adorable Trinity none is before or after none greater or less then Another but all the Three Persons are coequal among themselvs and coeternal Alleluja Antiph for Benedictus and Magnificat To thee the eternal Father made by none to thee the increated Son begotten by the Father alone to thee the B. Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son One holy consubstantial and undivided Trinity be ascrib'd all power and wisdom and goodnes now and for ever Alleluja Prayer O Eternal Father who by the visible dedescent of thy Son to redeem the world and of thy H. Spirit to sanctify the Elect has wonderfully made thy Churches own experience facilitate our faith of the incomprehensible Trinity Grant us we beseech Thee in hart and voice to profes this most high and supernatural truth and rejecting all the fallacious suggestions of short reason humbly adore Thee Three every-way-coequal Persons in the same indivisible Deity til we come herafter to thy blysful presence and see the Mystery reveal'd in thine own glorious face through our Lord c. Corpus Christi and during the Octave All as in Thursday Office except 1. Antiph I am the living bread that came down from heav'n if any one eat of this bread he shal live for ever and the bread which I wil give is my flesh for the life of the world Alleluja 2. Antiph Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you shal not have life in you Alleluja 3. Antiph He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I wil raise him up at the last day Alleluja Antiph for Benedictus and Magnificat O sweet and sacred Feast wherein Christ himself is receiv'd and the memory of his Passion renew'd our minds are fill'd
souls chief hope We to thy mercy fly Wher'ere we are thou canst protect What'ere we need supply Whether we sleep or wake To thee we both resign By night we see as well as day If thy light on us shine Whither we live or dy Both we submit to Thee In death we live as well as life If thine in death we be Glory to Thee great God One coeternal Three To Father Son and holy Ghost Eternal glory be Capit. 1 Thes 5. BUt we who are of the day let us be sober having on us the brest-plate of faith and charity and for a helmet the hope of salvation for God has not appointed us to wrath but to the purchasing salvation thorow Jesus Christ our Lord who dyed for us that whither we wake or sleep we might live together with Him Antiph By seeking our selvs in this world of vanity we lose both thee O Lord and our own souls by seeking our selvs in Thee and thy love we find both Thee and our own happines injoying already a sweet possession of hopes to end e're long in a sweeter fruition of glory V. Thou art O Lord the free bestower of all we have R. Thou art the faithful Promiser of all we expect O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Supplications come to thee Let us pray O Blessed JESU whose sacred Body after thou hadst finisht in it the work of our redemption was taken down from the Cross and after a short repose in the Sepulcher was rais'd again to a glorious immortality Grant us we beseech thee so frequently to renew in our minds the memory of thy grave that we always be prepar'd for our own and so seriously to reflect on the consequences of a holy death that every day we grow less affected to this transitory life and more in love with thy eternal joys who with the Father and the holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end Amen Vouchasfe c. as Pag. 54. to the end Office of the Holy Ghost Matins Introduction as pag. 1. Psal CV Invitatory Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us COme let us humbly first implore his grace to make us worthy to adore our Sanctifier who from the Father and the Son eternally proceeds and with the Father and the Son is equally glorifyed Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us He infuses into us the breath of life and brings us forth in our second birth a birth that makes us heirs of heav'n and gives us a title to everlasting happines Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us Let us prepare our understandings to assent to his truths and our wills to follow his divine inspiratons let us fil our memorys with his innumerable mereys and our whole souls with the glory of his Attributes Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us Let us confidently addres to Him our petitioNs who promises to help the infirmity of our pray'rs let us not doubt the bounty of his goodnes but hope he will grant what Himself inspires to ask Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us Glory be to the Father and to the Son * and to the holy Ghost As it was in the beginning both now and ever * world without end Amen Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us Come let 's adore our God that sanctifys us Hymn XXXIII COme holy Spirit come and breath Thy spicy odours on the face Of our dull region here beneath And fil our souls with thy sweet grace Come and root out the poysonous weeds Which over-run and choke our lives And in our harts plant thine own seeds Whose quick'ning power our spirit revives First plant the humble Violet there That dwels secure by dwelling low Then let the Lilly next appear And make us chast yet fruitful too But O! plant all the Vertues Lord And let the metaphors alone Repeat once more that mighty word Thou need'st but say Let it be done We can alas nor be nor grow Unless thy pow'rful mercy please Thy hand must plant and water too Thy hand alone must give th' increase Do then what thou alone canst do Do what to thee so easie is Conduct us through this world of wo And place us safe in thine own blyss All glory to the sacred Three One everliving Soveraign Lord As at the first still may He be Belov'd and prais'd fear'd and ador'd Antiph In those days saith our Lord I wil pour out my spirit upon all flesh Alleluja Alleluja Psal CVI. LOrd with how sweet and natural a conduct * does thy Providence govern the children of men Leading them on from one degree to another till thou hast brought them up to their highest perfection Thou putst them to learn in the school of Vertue and disposest their capacity's into several forms In the first ages when the world was young * thou gav'st them for their guide the book of Nature There thy divine assistance helpt them to read * some few plain Lessons of their duty to Thee They saw this admirable frame of creatures and as far as these could argue they could conclude Sure ther 's a God the cause of all things sure ther 's a Providence the disposer of all things He must be powerful that made so vast a world he must be wise that contriv'd such excellent works He must be goodnes it self that did all this for us and we ingrateful wretches if we 'l do nothing for Him Thus far some few could say and very few could do with those slender assistances they then injoy'd After thou gav'st thy people a written Rule which train'd them up in a set form of discipline Which grew and spred into a publick Religion and uniformly profest by a whole Nation They had some weak conceit of the Kingdom of heav'n and some imperfect means to bring them thither But for those high supernatural Mysterys * that so gloriously exalt the Christian faith They all alas were blind or in the dark and dangerously expos'd to the effects of their ignorance Wanting those clear instructions to know their End wanting those powerful motives to love their God Yet this prepar'd them for the times of Grace * to which thy mercy O Lord reserv'd far greater favours To which thou hadst promis'd by thy holy Prophets * an effusion of blessings from thine own full hands I will put my Law in their bowels and write it in their harts I will be their God and they shal be my People I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shal prophesy They shal teach no more every one his Neighbor for all shal know me from the greatest to the least O merciful Lord who hast lov'd us from the begining be graciously pleased to love us to the end Pity the unhappy state of faln mankind which neither nature nor law could bring to perfection If any riper souls