the hands of God At first endow'd with dominion o're the Earth and which was more with dominion o're thy self At first not only made sole Lord of Paradise but heir apparent of the Heav'n of heav'ns All this thou lost by one rash act * disobeying the Law of thy wise Creator All this alas we lost by thy transgression which brought in sin and death and universal misery Our bodys were deprav'd by thy distemper and our souls made fit for such depraved bodys Our senses quickly rebel'd against reason and both together conspir'd against grace Dulnes and ignorance o'respred the world error and vice possest mankind The Law they observ'd was their own unruly appetites and the Deity they worship'd the work of their own hands Even the selected people of the true God the favourite Nation of the Almighty Providence They who were brought out of Egypt with so many wonders and seated in a Country flowing with Milk and Honey They who had seen the sea divide before them and stand on each side as a wall to defend them They who had tasted the quails and manna from heavâ—â—n and drunk of the streams that came gushing from the Rock Even they forgot their great Deliverer and set up for their God a Golden Calf They could not worship what they did not see they must have Gods to go before them Thus lay the miserable world all cover'd with darknes and the thickest mists of gross Idolatry Thus had poor man quite lost his way and all he could do was to wander up and down a while Til when his few vain years were spent * he suddenly descended to everlasting sorrows This mov'd thy pity gracious Lord who often art found by those that seek thee not VVho never withdraw'st thy hand in time of need but constantly supply'st us in all our distresses This mov'd thy pity to undertake our relief and come down thy self and dwel among us That as our nature us'd to worship what it saw we now should see what we might safely worship But thou again dear Lord must leave our world and though it be good for us 't is hard to part from Thee Thou must again ascend into thy Fathers bosom to prepare a place for thy faithful Followers Yet even then O thou wise and infinite Goodnes thou didst not wholly forsake our earth Only thy usual cloaths and shape were chang'd but thy former Self stil dwels among us Stil thou art really here to move us by thy presence * and entertain our devotions without fear of excess VVe know 't is impossible to adore our God too much O that 't were possible to adore him enough Glory be c. Antiph VVhether O my God should we wander if left to our selvs where should we fix our harts if not directed by Thee Antiph Blessed be thy Providence O God that so tenderly nurses up the world stil growing on to new degrees of perfection Psal LXI LOrd what a happy change has thy coming wrought what glorious effects has thy Doctrin produced Narrow was once the gate and strait the path to bliss and few there were that found it Once in a populous City not ten that were just and on the whole earth but eight that were sav'd Now we see thousands with a strong and generous love * run swiftly after Thee in the ways of thy Counsels Now we see millions with a fair degree of hope * walk constantly towards Thee in the ways of thy Commands Now we see Kings and mighty Nations submit to Thee and hope all the world will ere long adore Thee Whence O my God could this strange improvement come but that JESUS ascending left himself on our Altars Whence could this blessing spring but from his holy life and the infinit merits of his painful death Both which are here miraculously united and the fruits of both abridg'd into this one Mystery This is the Mystery that gives life and spirit to the Church and works all the wonders that adorn the world This builds our great and sumptuous Temples to bestow on our God the best house we have This with our richest treasures beautifys our altars to entertain our Lord in the best way we can This breeds the reverence we pay to Priests and excellently disposes us to believe and obey them This keeps alive our dear Redeemers death and applies to our souls all the vertue of his Passion This fills our hearts with heroick courage * to do and suffer for the Name of JESUS This is in fine the food of faith and hope and love and these 3 fit us for eternal happines O blest memorial of my Saviours love and faithful Seal of all his promises If I forget to sing of thee * let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth If I forget to meditate on Thee * let my head forfeit its power to think All the short time I remain in thy presence * I will wholly employ to adore thy Majesty Thee will I bless for all thy mercys to Thee will I open all my necessitys Beging thy pardon for my past offences * and thy gracious assistance for the time to come Imploring thy peace for the souls departed and thy blessing for all the world O spotles Lamb once slain for us on the Cross and dayly sacrificed on the holy Altar Be thou our powerful Advocate with thy heav'nly Father and solicite by thy Merits his mercy for us Offer thy sacred Self before his Throne and turn away the wrath we deserve for our sins So slaves are rescu'd from their chains * and prisoners from the doom of death While they appease their offended King * with the pleasing remembrance of his beloved Son And so hope we and infinitely more from the infinitely greater Mediation of JESUS If Thou O Lord shalt thus restore our liberty and cloath thy servants in the robes of innocence Then shall we all delight to be still in thy presence and follow thee where're thou goest In thy Processions we 'l wait on thy triumph in thy visiting the sick we 'l attend thy charity When thou art lifted up we 'l bow before Thee when solemnly expos'd we 'l publickly adore thee Where e're Thou art we 'l never forsake Thee where e're we are our harts shall be with Thee Glory be c. Antiph Blessed be thy Providence O God that so tenderly nurses up the world still growing on to new degrees of perfection Antiph This is the greatest charity that God himself can bestow since God can bestow nothing greater then himself Psal LXII ANd does our glorious God not only visit but dwelt perpetually with us men upon earth He whom the heav'n of heav'ns cannot contain does he make his residence in our litle Tabernacles Where are you holy Angels that you fly not swiftly down and in your whitest robes attend your Lord Where are you careles men that you run not quickly hither and with your lowliest homage bow to your King Who though
Magnificence of our God Heav'n and earth are full of his greatnes heav'n and earth were created by his power From him all the hosts of Angels receiv'd their Being from him they have the honour to assist in his presence He kindled warmth and brightnes in the Sun and beauteously garnisht the Firmament with stars He spred the Ayr and stor'd it with flocks of birds He gather'd the waters and replenisht them with shoals of fishes He establisht the Earth on a firm foundation and richly adorn'd it with innumerable varietys Every Element is fill'd with his blessings and all the world with his liberal Miracles He spake the word and they were made he commands and they are still preserv'd He governs their motions in perfect order and distributes to each its proper Office Contriving the Whole into one vast Machin a spacious Theater of his own unlimited Greatnes O glorious Architect of universal nature who disposest all things in number weight and measure How does thy wisdom engage us to admire Thee How does thy Goodnes oblige us to love Thee Not for themselvs alone O gracious God did thy hand produce those happy Spirits But to receive in charge thy litle flock and safe conduct them to the folds of Blyss Not for themselvs at all O bounteous Lord were the Rest of this huge Creation fram'd But to sustain our lives in the way and carry us on to our eternal home O may our souls first praise Thee for themselves and employ their whole powers to improve in thy service May we praise Thee O Lord for all thy gifts but infinitely above all still value the Giver May every blessing be a motive of gratitude and every creature a step of approach towards Thee So shall we faithfully observe their end and happily arrive at ours Using them only to entertain us here till our souls be prepar'd for the life of heav'n Till they become full ripe for Thee and then fly away to thy holy presence Glory be c. Psal XX. HOw admirable is thy Name O Lord over all the earth how wise and gracious the counsels of thy Providence After Thou had'st thus prepar'd the world as a house ready furnisht for man to inhabit Thy mighty hand fram'd our bodys of the dust and built them in a shape of use and beauty Thou breath'dst into us the spirit of Life and fittedst us with facultys proportion'd to our end Thou gav'st us a soul to govern our bodies and reason to command in our soul Thou reveal'dst to us a Law for the improvement of our reason and enablest us by thy grace to observe that Law Thou mad'st us Lords over all thy creatures but little inferior to thy glorious Angels Thou compellest whole Nature to serve us without reward and invitest us to love Thee for our own happiness Thou design'dst us an age of pure delights * in that sweet and fruitful Garden Where having led a long and pleasant life thou promisedst to transplant us to thine own Paradise All this thou didst O glorious God the full Possessor of universal blys Not for any need thou hadst of us or the least advantage thou could'st derive from our being All this thou didst O infinite Goodnes the liberal bestower of what e're we possess Not for any merit alas of ours or the least motive we could offer to induce Thee But for thine own excessive charity and the mere inclination of thine own rich nature That empty we might receive of thy fulnes and be partakers of thy overflowing bounty So sheds the generous Sun his beams and freely scatters them on every side Guilding all the world with his beauteous light and kindly cherishing it with his fruitful heat And so dost Thou and infinitely more O thou God of infinite more perfections So we confess thou dost to us but we what return have we made to Thee Have we consider'd well the end of our being and faithfully comply'd with thy purpose to save us Ah wretched we we neglect thy holy rules and govern our actions by chance and humour We quite forget our God that made us and fill our heads with thoughts that undo us Pardon O gracious Lord our past ingratitude and mercifully direct our time to come Teach every passage of our yet remaining life to express an acknowledgment fit for thy mercys O make our senses subject to our reason and our reason entirely obedient to thee O make the whole Creation conspire to thy honour and all that depend on thee joyn together in thy praise This is the only praise thou expectest from us and the whole honour thou requirest of thy Creatures That by observing the orders thou appointest here in this lower region of change and motion We may all grow up to be happy herafter in that state of permanency and eternal rest Glory be c. Antiph Bless our Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name Capit. 4. Apoc. WOrthy art Thou O Lord our God to receive glory and honor and power because Thou hast created all things and for thy will they are and were created Hymn VI. HArk my soul how every thing Strives to serve our bounteous King Each a double tribute pays Sings it part and then obeys Nature's chief and sweetest Quire Him with cheerful notes admire Chanting every day their Lauds While the grove their song applauds Though their voices lower be Streams have too their melody Night and day they warbling run Never pause but stil sing on All the flow'rs that guild the spring Hither their still-musick bring If Heav'n bless them thankful they Smell more sweet and look more gay Only we can scarce afford This short Office to our Lord We on whom his bounty flows All things gives and nothing ows Wake for shame my sluggish hart Wake and gladly sing thy part Learn of birds and springs and flow'rs How to use thy nobler pow'rs Call whole nature to thy aid Since 't was He whole nature made Join in one eternal song Who to one God all belong Live for ever glorious Lord Live by all thy works ador'd One in Three and Three in One Thrice we bow to Thee alone Amen Antiph The boundless Ocean of Being could not contain his streams but overflow'd upon pure nothing and behold a beauteous world appear'd Heav'n and earth and all therein from the highest Angel to the least grain of dust all together the most perfect participation of his Essence V. He spake the word and they were made R. He but commanded and they were created O Lord hear our prayers And let our supplications come to Thee Let us pray O Almighty Lord the only wise and good Creator of the Universe who mad'st all corporeal nature for the use of Man and Man for his own felicity enlarge our souls we beseech Thee humbly to admire and adore thy infinite fulnes of Being in Thy self and thy immense liberality of it to us and mercifully carry on the whole
sin and a shame that brings glory and grace Accept no person against thy soul not let the respect of any cause thee to fall Reverence not thy neighbour in his offence nor refrain from speaking when there is occasion to do good By no means contradict the truth nor be asham'd to confess thy sins Be not hasty in thy words and remiss and unprofitable in thy deeds Let not thy hand be stretcht out to receive and clos'd to give Be not as a lyon in thy house nor oppress those that are under thee Fear our Lord and the King and with detracters meddle not for their perdition shall suddenly come upon them He that swears much shall be fill'd with iniquity and mischief shall not depart from his house if he deceive his brother his sin shall be upon him if he dissemble he doubles his offence and if he swear in vain he shall not be acquitted Turn away thy face from a woman trimly drest and gaze not at anothers beauty for by the beauty of a woman many have perisht and it inflames concupiscence as a fire Be not at the feast of great drinkers nor at the riotous banquets of those who bring their dishes together to eat for the drunkard and the glutton shall be consum'd and the drowsy cloth'd with rags I past by the field of a slothful man and by the vinyard of a fool and behold it was run over with netles and thorns cover'd its face and the stone wall was destroy'd which when I saw I laid it in my hart and by the example learnt discipline By what things a man sins by the same he shall be tormented R. Blessed O my God be thy Providence for ever which so plentifully furnishes us with rules of vertue and so safely guides all those sould to happines who chuse to live under thy sweet government * As thou hast shewn us the way Lord give us strength to walk in it and bring us in the end to thy eternal rest Make us seriously reflect on every line we read and love the truth when it most reproves us Make us labour to correct every error of our lives and always humbly implore thy gracious assistance * As thou hast Glory be c. * As thou hast Pause As page 17. VVednesday Lauds O God incline c. as page 18. Antiph All my life long will I praise my God and lift up my hands to his holy Throne Psal XLIV LEt them neglect thy praises O Lord who never consider thy mercys Let them be silent to thee O gracious God whose mouths are full of themselves But as for us who subsist by thy gifts * and thankfully acknowledg the riches of thy goodnes Our harts shal continually meditate on Thee and our lips delight to sing thy glory Blessed for ever be thy name O JESU and blessed be the sweetnes of thy Wisdom Whose infinite Charity has vouchsaft our earth * such excellent Rules to guide it to heaven Thou taughtst us that happy skil of finding our lives by a generous losing them to follow Thee Thou taught'st us to love our true selvs best by wisely hating our mistaken selvs Thou taught'st us to trample this world under our feet and use it as a step to climb up to the next From Thee we learn those glorious Mysterys * that exalt our faith so high above reason From thee we derive those Heroick Counsels * that raise our souls so far above nature From thee alone and from thy school of grace * all we know we learn and all we do we receive How long alas might we have wandred here * in the midst of darknes and error Had not thy love and pity O merciful Lord brought down thy very self to become our light Never should we else have learnt to deny our selvs and take up our Cross and follow Thee Never should we have known that great secret of peace to forgive our enemys and do good to those who despitefully use us On the unsatisfying things of this low earth * should we blindly have set our whole affections Hadst thou not told us of the Kingdom of Heav'n and bid us lay up our treasures there Hadst thou not terrify'd us to fear thy wrath by declaring the miserys that attend our sins Hadst thou not invited us to obey thy Commands by proposing the felicitys of a pious life What hast thou promised gracious Lord * to the meek and poor in spirit What hast thou promised to the Weepers here to those that hunger and thirst after holines How many joys has thy bounty prepar'd for the lovers of mercy and the makers of peace How many blessings for the pure of hart and those who with patience bear their Crosses O thou all-seeing Wisdom of the eternal Father * and Soveraign King of Men and Angels Who left'st thy glorious Throne to come down on our earth and familiarly teach us the Oracles of heav'n Write thou these sacred words in the tables of our harts and suffer not at any time our passions to break them Make us stil study Thee our heav'nly Master and continually admire the beauty of thy Law A Law that so clearly shews us our end and so plenteously furnishes means to attain it A Law that so safely cures our infirmitys and so fitly supplys all our defects A Law so exactly conform to true reason and so highly perfective of humane nature A blessed Law that makes even here our life more sweet and leads us herafter to everlasting felicity Glory be c. Psal XLV NEver will we cease to exalt thy Goodnes O JESU since thou never ceasest to oblige us with new Blessings Thy generous charity could not thus be satisfyd to have only spoken to us the words of lif 'T was not enough for thy excessive love that thy heav'nly Sermons told us our duty But thou must urge and provoke our obedience by the sweet inforcement of thine own example Thou forbad'st thy followers to affect superfluitys and thine own provision was a few barly loavs Thou command'st the rich to give alms with cheerfulnes and bestow'st on the poorest wretch even thy precious self Thou bid'st us not fear them that kill the body and yeildest up thine own to the death on the Cross Thou injoyn'st us to love our fiercest Enemys and thy dying breath pray'd for thy Crucifiers Thy perfect Soul needed not as our weak natures * the outward forms and discipline of Religion Yet thou vouchsafed'st to observe the common Feasts and assist at the publique Offices of the Temple To watch and pray and fast with so fervent a zeal that thy practice outdid thine own precepts This life and even death it self our merciful Lord undertook to mark out for us the way to heav'n To beat it plain by his own sacred steps and render our passage thither easy and secure Shal we not then O my Soul rejoycingly follow that path * which we see our Saviour trod before us Which we see though