2. A right ordering of our Judgment concerning Truth and Error 1. Judging of the truth of Doctrines as you see they tend to godliness 1. Tim. 6.3 Tit. 1.1 and as they are more fitted for bringing forth in us the fruits of good works For by their fruits are true and false doctrines certainly known Matt. 7.16.20 holiness and truth vice and error being consectaries one of another §. 46. 2. Taking heed of those doctrines which weaken the practice of Piety c. To name you some of them such as these seem to be If any Should teach you That to abstain from any thing which it is lawful by God's word to enjoy is fruitless will-worship Superstition Should assure you of an equal facility of attaining heaven in all conditions of life not noting to you the great lets and temptations that are in some beyond others as in honors riches marriage c. to excite your choice of the Better or your vigilance in the other Should disallow or discourage Vows and other prefortifications against those things which have been former occasions of sinning and the abstaining where-from is in our Power Should speak against frequent hours of prayer in the day frequent days of solemn worship in the year frequent celebrations of the Eucharist frequent Confession and Communion frequent fasting days and macerations of the Body c. Should remit unto you the reins of your obedience to the authority of the Church requiring it only to her when she commands that which you in your own judgment weighing her reasons do think just and right to be believed or practised Should disallow confession of your sins to the Priest Should affirm that confession to God or the Priest is sufficient for remission of Sin without reformation of life and quitting Sin Or that an internal sorrow of the Soul for them is only required and any further external and corporal penances humiliations or punishing your self for them useless Or teach that these penances and mortifications are necessary only when they are imposed to satisfy the scandal given the Church but no way to appease the wrath of God Or that your sins are remitted by mony alms Ecclesiastical indulgences or Absolutions when these are not preceded by a true Contrition Should teach you that all sins without any distinction amongst them are equally effecting your damnation and either that All or that None put you out of the Grace and favour of God and that several degrees of Penitence are not necessary according to the quality of your offence Should teach you that good works are not necessary to Salvation and that the promises of reward are made only to faith or necessary not from a strict obligation of every regenerate man to do them having time for it but only out of gratitude or as fruits that necessarily spring out of a true faith Should so extol Faith in our Saviour's merits i.e. in his good works as to make supervacuous inherent Righteousness Or faith in our Saviour's satisfaction i.e. in his sufferings as to void all our self-afflictions mortifications and conformity unto his death Should teach your inability though in the state of Grace to observe all God's Commandments and to please him in your works and to fulfil his law as to the forbearance of all greater sins and offences against any part thereof Should hold no degrees of perfection in our obedience nor any latitude of goodness above that of not being in fault making none better than him that only keeps from sinning or him whoever is not the most good to be amongst offenders and one falling short of the highest degree of any virtue as of Prayer Charity c. in this to be guilty of sin to the taking away of all confidence in God for any good or acceptable work done by us and emulation of being perfect and pre-eminence of those who are Saints Should teach the heavenly reward to be to all persons equal so that who is more holy than the rest that enter-in thither Suppose St. Paul than the Publican doth in the overplus of his mortifications c serve God for nought Should extol Predestination Election Grace certainty of Salvation c. i. e. the mercies of God so far as to remit and discourage all Man's endeavours Should deny the continuance of God's miraculous works now as they have been in former times to Holy mens Prayers to the great weakning of Prayer and Faith and of the making use of the intercessions of Saints and of holy men for us Should labour more to instruct you in what sense and quatenus such and such Christian virtues are not to be practised than in what they are whereby you become more inclined to the omission than inflamed to the practice of them As That Confession of sins to the Priest is not to be used if not necessary jure divino or because all our sins cannot be recounted or remembred Not almes not penances that is as self-sufficient satisfactions to God's justice for your sins Not good works that is as thinking to merit heaven by them abstracting from our Lord's Not set times of Prayer of Fasting that is as of divine command or essential parts of God's Worship No Addresses to Saints or Holy-men of God for their Prayers and Intercessions to God for us lawful i. e. with such a belief and intention as if the Divine Majesty did not immediately hear or receive our own Prayers or as if our Lord's Intercessions and Mediation for us were defective or unsufficient without them Should teach you that voluntary poverty or selling our Goods to give them to the Poor Celibacy preaching without charges remitting just Law-suits and not requiring by constraint satisfaction for damages not wearing of gold costly apparel c. 1. Pet. 3.3 are no general Advices and Counsels to all save only in preparatione animi to do them in some time of great exigence as in persecution c. but are particular precepts and so obligatory to some only we know not whom in some particular cases we know not when I say Taking heed and having great jealousy of the truth of such doctrines which you experimentally find do weaken the practice of Piety as several of these doctrines fore-mentioned seem to do §. 47. 3. Considering Doctors Religions Sects according to the less or more liberty or severity of their doctrines remissness or strictness of their discipline the more or less practice of mortifications and devotions in them for the severest Religion is the best and the most Spiritual consolations and the surest way of Salvation are in it According to their erring more in speculative points or more in practicals for the Error in practicals is much more dangerous Since a small measure of knowledge is exacted of Christians but much of duty Again According to the more works and Monuments of Piety and Charity which you find to abound in either For there surely is the greatest love of God and love is never without light
all your Fathers were before you occasioning Charities always in this employment meditating on some portion of Ecclesiastes Forbearing as much as may be the entertainment of any long and entangled designs so that you cannot so contentedly go off the stage of this world and say a Nunc dimittis in pace when God calleth for it Carefully from time to time discharging all debts 2. For your behaviour in sickness in doing the duties proper to it First when sickness comes not being ashamed to shew fear and imagining it always more dangerous than it is and preparing your self always though in likelihood it is not as if it were a sickness to death gladly then taking occasion to reconcile your self fully to God and to conclude with the world that your recovery may more perfectly begin a new and better life or your end not surprise you unprepared In this not fearing so much the harm which melancholy and sadness may do to your Body as the mischief which security may do to your Soul and knowing that such sadness through obtaining of God remission of sin c is the readiest way also to procure your health and in the time of your sickness also ends in more joy For making this reconciliation Examining your self by what sin it is likely you have lately most displeased God and doing repentance and humiliation for it as if it had caused your sickness Jo. 5.14 Matt. 9.2 Examining your self more specially concerning sins towards your neighbour those chiefly against the 5 6 7 8 9. Commandments in which man's laws also enjoyn reparation And making restitution satisfactions Asking forgiveness c. Forgiving and declaring your forgiveness towards any that have so trespassed against you Confessing all your sins to God and endeavouring to do this as particularly as if all confessed were presently to be pardoned and all forgot to be answered for at the day of judgment Sending early for the Priest and confessing your sins to him as it is recommended to your practice by the Church in case of a troubled conscience and if your Conscience be not troubled for your sin then know you have yet more need to do it Receiving absolution and the Communion making then a singular Confession and Thanksgiving to God for all the greater mercies received through your whole life Giving alms to some poor and desiring especially their prayers for you Making resolutions and vows but not rash ones and if it may be with the advice of your spiritual Father and with making your professions also to him as a witness of them concerning reformation upon your recovery Avoiding much especially secular conversation and removing company from you Entertaining an attendant that can read holy things to you such as you shall direct and have provided in your health at that time to be administred unto you Praying extraordinarily if your pains permit Using and in all things obeying the Physitian Offering up a contented patience of these sufferings to God in regard of the far greater desert of your sins and that to your Saviour in regard of his far greater sufferings for you §. 160. Digr 1. Of the many times great uncharitableness and mischief of encouraging sick persons with hopes of recovery at sometimes making them omit the necessary preparations for death and at other times loose the many great benefits of sickness in humiliations confessions c. Digr 2. Of some necessary questions to be proposed to the sick See Notes of Sick Digr 3. Of various admonitions necessary to be used to the sick as they happen to be found in an ignorant or a sensless or a presuming or a despairing condition Digr 4. Of Psalms and other Scriptures proper to be read to the Sick As Psal 6.22 23.32.38.57.86.88 90.102 103.107.130.142 143. Job 1 2. Ezech. 18. The passion of our Saviour in one of the Gospels beginning at his Prayer in the Garden Jo. 17. Rom. 8. 1. Cor. 15. 1. Thess 4. Rev. 21 22. Digr 5. Of short Scripture-Ejaculations proper to be used by them See Notes of Sick Digr 6. Directions for the behaviour of the Visitors of or Attendants upon the sick Non consolari eos spe recuperandae sanitatis See before § 161. n. 1. Non plorare Non ridere Non alienos sermones miscere Non multum loqui necsubtilia Sancto silentio Deum precari See Vita Camelli De Lellis §. 161. 2. Exercising Christian Fortitude 1. Joyfully entertaining all those temporal miseries which happen to you for your sin which many other servants of God have both earnestly begged of God and not obtaining this have voluntarily infliected upon themselves and desiring that you may suffer here yet more for them Hic ure seca c. and not seeking too passionately to diminish them and whilst much grieving and humbling your self for the cause thereof yet accepting and rejoycing in the punishment and hoping in the execution of some part of God's righteous justice upon you in this world to find through Christ's merits the more mercy in the next Lam. 33.9 Jer. 30.15 2. Joyfully embracing the favour Phil. 1.29 of all those afflictions which happen unto you for doing your duty and for refusing to sin especially of persecutions Matt. 5.10 11. saying such words as these This is painful to me but acceptable to God and he will love me for it This thy will I willingly suffer and much more for thy sake O my Saviour who sufferedst so much for me 3. Yet taking great care that you mistake not God's judgments upon your sins for tryals only of your holiness bringing forth presumption instead of humiliation Digr That there is required a holy life and purity of conscience not only for the particular cause for which we suffer but general to entertain our sufferings with true comfort and joy Else you ought to bear them with great sorrow not for them but for your sins as God's true judgments upon you in relation to them tho executed as 't is usual through man's injustice God ordinarily punishing our innocence in one thing for our guilt in another thus making his scourges more bitter unto us 4. Not shunning nor preventing any disgraces by foregoing the smallest duty Using no compliance no diffimulation no flattery no timidity modesty or being ashamed of good but rather provoking evil and exposing your self on all occasions in any thing for Christ's sake to scorn hate danger c. without fear in thus doing of seeming proud or contemptuous Rev. 21 8. But the fearful 5. Vndertaking voluntarily and with all alacrity such sufferings tho easily avoidable by the enduring of which you may any way do the more good which troubles though it is lawful to decline yet it is more expedient for benefitting others to entertain Such were our Saviour's such St. Paul's Sufferings so much gloried of 1. Cor. 9. 6. One degree higher Out of the pure imitation of our Saviour and to be made in all things here more conformable to him Phil. 3.10 that
of future Torments * according to the several measures of sin here Matt. 10.15 * According to the measures of sinful pleasures enjoyed here Rev. 18.7 Luk. 16.25 * According to the greater knowledge of God's will here Luk. 12.4.47 48. 29. After all that is said seriously imagine What one of those poor Souls released from Hell-torments would do not to return again to those intolerable pains what rigid long Penances he would undergo what great works of Piety and Devotions he would attempt what a strict watch he would keep over his words and thoughts and after all think this nothing in comparison of such a deliverance And then do you endeavour to do the like mortification who perhaps are a greater Sinner to prevent those pains and secure your future Condition The unreasonableness and hurt of Sin thus seriously pondered IV. Concerning the difficulty of Repentance IV. Next Concerning Repentance and its Difficulties Consider 1. 1 It s Inferiority to innocence And 2 the great advantages of early Piety 2. Wicked actions of the afterward penitent though not condemning us yet 1 Diminishing our future happiness i.e. the more clear Vision and the more perfect fruition of that which we then shall most ardently love or if you will the more ardent love of that which is supremely amiable 2 Hindering for the present the larger donations and consolations of the Spirit 3. The folly of sinning because of a cure which will be so bitter if effectual 4. The uncertainty of attaining Repentance and converting unto God at what time we shall desire it Forgiveness being promised to Repentance But not so longer life or in it the Grace of Repentance to a Sinner And this supposed that the Elect cannot finally fall away yet not any sure but only by perseverance or extraordinary Revelation that they are of that number since many believers are not so Jam. 2.14.19 20. Matt. 25.44 In illum crediderunt Bona operari non curaverunt St. Austine De Fide Oper. cap. 15. 5. The uncertainty afterward of our having performed it sufficiently 6. Upon continuance in sin still more difficulty of Repentance sin habituated growing much stronger 7. And less care also of Repentance as a sin is more frequented so it appearing lesser 8. And sins of Malice which by the Judgment of God do darken the heart being followed with sins of Ignorance And then this not-knowing that we sin utterly barring up all way to repentance Jer. 2.35 9. And so much sorer Repentance penances humiliations tears c. to be performed for a longer and increased guilt and for the delay also of Repentance 10. The time of an acceptable Repentance perhaps to some tho none can know to whom expired before this life be so For which at your leisure consider these Texts Heb. 3.11 6.4 10.26 12.16 17. Luk. 19.42 Matt. 12.42 Jo. 5.14 12.39 40. Apocal 16.9.11 Job 27.9 35.12 13. Prov. 1.24.28 28.9 Es 1.15 Jer. 11.11 14.12 Ezech. 8.18 Zeph. 2.2 2. Chron. 36.16 Esay 6.9 10.55.6 Psal 18.41 Psal 32.6 Eccles 9.12 Jer. 14.10 Ezech. 14.13 14. Zechar. 7.13 2. King 22.16 c. 23.25 26 27. Josiah's Prayers and Reformation not countervailing Manasses his sins Manasses tho a Penitent 2. Chron. 33.12 c. Hos 9.7 5 6. Matt. 13.15 21.19 25.10 11. Luk. 13.24 25. 12.58 19.42 21.35 Jo. 8.21 2. Pet. 2.20 1. Thes 2.13.16 The Case of Cain Gen. 4.13 Of Saul 1. Sam. 15.24 30 31. 1. Cor. 9.24 Some Runners losing the Race 2. Tim. 2.5 Some Combatants losing the Crown It may be some or other of these Texts God's Grace co-operating may prevail with you for an early Reformation for fear of a later fruitless Repentance 11. And they at last abandoned and condemned to more sins as the punishment of former Act. 7.42 Rom. 1.24 Hence 12. Later Repentance less hopeful 13. And from little hopes of forgiveness there growing more hardheartedness in sinning 14. After Repentance If there happens a relapse to the same degree of sinning as formerly this Estate far worse than before that of the Impenitent was Either the guilt of former sin upon relapse as some say returning or rather the very guilt of the relapse so much more aggravated from former sin forgiven 15. Lastly That a true and effectual Repentance is where death prevents not nothing else but a sincere Reformation of life and actual walking in Holiness and Righteousness all our days Together with a continual voluntary Contrition looking back to our former sinful life Contrition both interior and exterior joined together in forbearing things delightful and in practising things painful to the flesh and to nature Corpo voto Anima desolata Digr 1. Of the severe Penitences done in the Primitive Church 2. Recommendation of doing voluntary publick Penance 3. That the fear of God's Justice and doubtfulness of his forgiveness either of the eternal or also temporal punishments for sins committed after Baptisme is the chiefest promoter of the painful humiliations of Repentance And presumption of the certainty of our Salvation or of the divine mercy either general to all or particular to us when such sinners by some miscalled Faith is the greatest hindrance thereof Qui a peur il est asseur §. 5 Par. 1. V. Concerning the Measure of this Reformation V. Concerning the measure of this Reformation Consider 1. The strictness of the last Judgment not only concerning our Works but Words and Thoughts where there hath been here no after-penitence for and Reformation from them More especially concerning the imployment of our abilities and the Duties of our Profession or calling Luk. 19.13 12.42 43. Matt. 25.15.30 Matt. 20.8 Luk. 16.2 And concerning our deeds of charity and mercy Matt. 25.42 16.9 10. Matt. 10.42 Luk. 16.25 Comp. 21. 2. And the severity thereof The Lord Jesus then coming as with great power and glory Matt. 24.30 so in great wrath to take vengeance on the disobedient to his Gospel c. 2. Thes 1.7 8. Rev. 6.16 n. 18. 3. The Paucity of the saved and even of those who profess Christianity but by their own default man being a creature indued with free will that so his actions might be capable of punishment and reward Many called but few chosen and many more condemned by God's Justice than saved by his Mercy Concerning this weigh well our Lord's Answer to the Question asked him If few saved Luk. 13.23 That the Gate of Salvation is strait and that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able i. e. seek too late when the Gate is shut There is a Time then it seems when the Gate shall be shut upon us after which shutting we in vain seek the opening of it See § 4. n. 10. As he tells the Jews also Jo. 7.34 and 8.21 That they should seek him and yet dye in their sins because come too late But though many seek to enter in that shall not yet perhaps the most may enter in still Therefore see the Question answered yet
vain but that they are faisible Exempla inprimis hoc in se boni babent quod approbant fieri posse quoe praecipiunt And that those greater illuminations and holiness under the Gospel which the Scripture so largely promiseth are continued to and fulfilled in all times none of which are destitute of some men Apostolical Whereby we are extreamly encouraged in a holy emulation even of the Apostles themselves leaving still the things which are behind to reach forth to those things which are before and to attempt perfection whereas without these patterns the magnalia in Scripture are read as a Romance or an History of another perfecter age which we willingly admire but despair to imitate Whereby we best learn not to lay all the burthen of our Religion upon repentance but holiness nor to reckon salvation so cheap a purchase for which we see others have taken so much pains For the higher we discern others to go in Piety the less still do we think that God will be content with ours when he is presented with other m ns of the like abilities so much beyond it Which thing more than any other provokes any generous Spirit to a holy jealousy and imitation and as one observed Horum librorum lectio plerumque primus est melioris vitae gradus And most of those who are commonly called Saints became so first by reading the Lives of other Saints Lastly which more than any other thing will preserve you tho amidst the flatteries of your friends in a true humility and mean conceit of your self and in a constant indeavouring to your lives end to grow better and which example of holy men since the chiefest cause of wicked life in professed Christians so point-blank contrary to our Saviour's Precepts is nothing but ill example will serve you for an antidote to the poison of the other by which so many so heedlesly lose their eternal Life §. 144. Vsing pious Discourse and Company 7. Accustoming your self to pious discoursing which much nourisheth good thoughts to the production at length of good actions And quanto piu spesso parleras di Dio tanto piu Iddio parlera teco in anima God's holy Spirit never speaking by any but that it also speaks to them 8. Repairing often to pious Company and holy Meetings From such conference ariseth a mutual excitement to and fortifying and confirming one another in all virtues Medicamentum vitae fidelis amicus Ecclesiasticus 6.16 Gaudia conduplicat maerores diminuit And such discourse is commonly more beneficial Because descending to particulars admitting replies indulged more freedome digressions c. then general exhortations made more at randome in publick 9. In such meetings not leaving your discourse to be casual for so it will be many times unfruitful but designing before-hand some subject fit for such conference §. 145. Worshipping God with the Celebration of the Eucharist Thus much from § 77. concerning that continual duty of Christians worshipping God with Prayer II. Worshipping God also with the frequent Celebration of the Eucharist Breaking of Bread and eating the Lord's Supper and with observing the Christians solemn Sacrifice and Passover And Commemoration of our Saviour's Death c till his second coming §. 146. 1. Being the most effectual intercession to God made on Earth Of the necessary Duty and great Benefit of Celebrating the EUCHARIST 1. Being an intercession with Christ's Blood performed on earth by the Minstery of his servants like as to that in Heaven by himself Who since without a Sacrifice he cannot be a Priest and is a Priest for ever therefore himself offers to his Father within the veil this Sacrifice for ever See Heb. 8.3 4. 9.12 By this intercession with his Blood applying as it were and making effectual to every single Believer and to all successive Generations of men all those mysteries and benefits of their redemption purchased and perfected upon the Cross And appointing his Ministers to do the same in this Holy Sacrament on earth for the same purpose he doth it there and that is for all the same purposes for which he first offered it upon the Cross §. 147. 2. The Seal of the new Covenant and the Christians perpetual Sacrifice 2. Being the Seal of the new Covenant And that sacred Rite and Ceremony which was instituted by our Saviour to be observed by Christians for the celebrating and representing and shewing forth that one only true Sacrifice of the world offered upon the Cross and for blessing and giving thanks and praise to and invocating his Father by It from the time of his resurrection till the Consummation of the world instead of all those more antiquated varieties of Sacrifices and Oblations under the law To which Sacrifices It is correspondent in many particulars As §. 148. Sacrifice 1. Propitiatory 1. Being the Christians commemorative Sacrifice of Christ's Death answering to the Jews sin-offering by the Symbols of Bread and Wine consecrated and sanctified by the invisible operation of the Holy Ghost as St. Austine borrowing the Phrase from Rom. 15 16. procuring as well as the legal Sacrifices did i. e. in virtue of that only one expiatory Sacrifice once offered upon the Cross to him who comes to it with due preparation Remission of his sins Matt. 26.28 This is my Blood shed for remission of sins Malac. 1.11 3.3 1. Cor. 11.26 27.29 1. Cor. 10.16 c. §. 149. 2. Impetratory 2. Being the Christians Sacrifice c answering the Jews burnt-offering through the due celebration of which in virtue of that only offering of a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 comp Levit. 1.9 Exod. 29.41 which it represents both a devotement and a dedication of themselves as they also being Christ's Body to God is then made Ecclesia seipsam per Christum offert Austin and also all their petitions for themselves and intercessions for others are then accepted of God and also the descent of all good things spiritual and temporal from him is procured Therefore anciently after Consecration and before receiving of these sacred Elements were supplications for all estates of men absent as well as present See 2. Chron. 29.24 and for all needful blessings c. offered unto God over the Lamb of God then lying upon the table slain from the beginning before his coming in the Sacrifices of Beasts and since his coming unto the end of the world represented here in the Eucharist and also at the same time it is presented by himself to the Father in the heavenly Sanctuary Heb. 13.15 1. Pet. 2.5 Rom. 8 32. Jo. 16.23 Gal. 3.1 Mal. 1.11 Therefore I say is Christ's Sacrifice in these mystical rites commemorated unto the Father and the Father invocated by and through it for all persons and things c. the Ancients using this Phrase We offer unto thee for such and such c. §. 150. 3. Federal 3. Being Oblatio Faederalis a Celebration of God's new Covenant of Grace made in the Blood of our Saviour which
O Holy Spirit the Comforter in all afflictions and sufferings giving ability to bear them internal peace and spiritual joy in them and who art the author of a constant lively hope and confidence in God Have mercy on us O Holy Spirit who distributest and dividest thy gifts and graces variously to every one according to thy good pleasure Have mercy on us The Spirit of wisdome and understanding the Spirit of knowledge and truth the Spirit of counsel and fortitude Have mercy on us The Spirit of sobriety chastity and temperance the Spirit of modesty patience and prayer Have mercy on us The Spirit of humility benignity and meekness the Spirit of compunction sanctification and the fear of God the Spirit of peace and love Have mercy on us O Holy Spirit the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart and reproving the World of sin of justice and of judgment Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Holy Spirit Be merciful and hear us O Holy Spirit From all temptations and deceits of the Devil from all sin and every evil Spirit Deliver us O Holy Spirit From all filthiness and uncleanness of soul and body from the Spirit of fornication from the Spirit of anger strife contention and envy and all uncharitableness Deliver us O holy Spirit From all presumption and despair from opposing the known truth from hardness of heart and final impenitency Deliver us O holy Spirit By thy eternal procession from the Father and the Son by the miraculous conception of the Son of God by thy operation by thy descent upon our Saviour at his Baptisme and by thy sitting upon his Apostles Deliver us O holy Spirit In the day of Judgment Deliver us O holy Spirit We Sinners beseech Thee to hear us O holy Spirit That thou would'st spare us That thou wouldst keep us from blaspheming thee O Holy Ghost and from doing any contumely to the Spirit of Grace We sinners beseech Thee c. That we may never quench grieve or neglect this Holy Spirit but may prepare our hearts for thy holy inspirations and may diligently hearken to discover and obey thy godly motions which lead us to all perfection We sinners beseech Thee c. That remembring how we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost we may take heed of violating them and that as we live by the Spirit we may walk in the Spirit and fulfil no more the lusts of the flesh but by the Spirit mortify the deeds thereof so that sowing in the Spirit we may of the Spirit reap life eternal We sinners beseech Thee c. That thou wouldst vouchsafe to stir up and cherish in us poverty of Spirit and enkindle in us a hunger and thirst after Justice that we may be peaceable and worthy to be called the Sons of God We sinners beseech Thee c. That thou wouldest infuse into us perfect charity and mercy and that we may constantly and manfully endure persecution for Justice sake We sinners beseech Thee c. That thou would'st vouchasafe us to continue unto the end in faith hope and charity and that we may be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit that is in all thy servants in the bond of peace We sinners beseech Thee c. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Pour on us the holy Spirit O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Send us the promised Spirit from the Father O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Grant us the Spirit of Peace Our Father which art Heaven c. Create in us clean hearts O God And renew right Spirits in our Bowels Cast us not away from thy face O Lord And take not thy holy Spirit from us Restore unto us the joy of thy Salvation And confirm us with thy principal Spirit The Grace of thy Holy Spirit Enlighten our senses and hearts O Lord hear our Prayers And let our cry come unto thee Let us pray O Holy Ghost the Comforter we commend to thee our souls and bodies the beginning and the end of our lives give us grace to be heartily sorry for our sins for the love of God and to do true penance for them that we may be perfectly purified from them before we depart hence out of this mortal body Of our selves O Lord we are corrupt and blind in our affections and desires if we rely on our own judgments easily seduced into error easily overcome by temptation Wherefore to thee O Holy Spirit we wholly offer and commit the guidance of our Souls defend and keep us thy servants from all evil teach and illuminate our minds strengthen our weak Spirits against inordinate pusillanimity and superfluous scruples of conscience and keep us humble that we fall not into presumption Give us a right faith unmovable hope and perfect charity that we may sweetly delight in thee and every-where fulfil thy will and pleasure who livest and reignest with the Father and Son one God world without end Amen O Eternal God who didst send thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church and didst promise that he should abide with it for ever let the same Spirit lead us to all truth defend us from all sin enrich us with his gifts refresh us with his comforts and rule in our hearts for ever And grant O bountiful Lord the Doner of every good and perfect gift that we may prepare our hearts for his holy inspirations may diligently hearken to clearly discover believe and obey his godly motions may never quench never grieve this Holy Spirit but living in him may by him be sealed to the day of redemption through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth world without end Amen O Blessed Spirit the Almighty Paraclete the communication bond and union of the Father and Son the conduit conveying to us all that we receive from the Father and the Son The dear pledge and token of our absent Lord until his blessed return by whose power all things are enlivened which do truly live and whose delight is to reside and converse in the hearts of the simple which thou vouchsafest to consecrate as Temples to thy self Come gracious Spirit have mercy upon us descend from heaven into our hearts waiting for thy comfort and so fit us for thine own self that through the multitude of thy compassions our meanness may be accepted of thy greatness and our weakness of thy strength Sanctify the temples of our bodies and consecrate them for thy own habitation Make glad with thy presence our Souls that long after thee make ready a mansion fit for thy self adorn thy bride-chamber furnish thy resting place with the variety of thy own gifts and graces drive out from thence whatsoever is old and fading renew in us thy own workman-ship with beauty incorruptible for ever convey into us heavenly light heat and motion that having tasted of the heavenly gift and the powers of the
Adam after his fall to the acknowledgment of his fault and who upon Moses's Prayer forgavest the transgressions of thy people against thee From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who frequently restoredst the Israelites after they had sinned when turning unto thee being penitent out of the hands of their enemies From thy great wrath c. Who puttedst away David's sin confessing and doing penance in sackcloth and fasting who sparedst Ahab humbling himself and doing penance From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who heardst Manasses repenting and restoredst him to his Kingdome who heardst Jonah crying unto thee out of the belly of the Whale after he had run away from thee who pardonedst the Ninevites doing penance in fasting sackcloth and ashes From thy great wrath c. JESU Son of the living God who camest into this world to save sinners the good Shepherd who camest to seek and to save that which was lost From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who being to redeem the world sent'st John the Baptist the Preacher of Penance and gavest him to be a wonderful pattern thereof in the severity of his diet and raiment From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us JESU who tho thou knewest no sin yet was frequent in fastings watchings and other acts of Penance From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who declaredst the Publican acknowledging his guilt with sorrow and humbly beating his breast to be justified who calledst the Publicans and Sinners and not the Just to repentance and broughtest Salvation to the houses of Matthew and Zacheus being penitent From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who deliveredst those that were afflicted with diseases by Satan first forgiving their sins who by the example of the Prodigal Son returning to his Father hast given poor sinners great hopes of pardon and forgiveness From thy great wrath good Lord deliver us Who mercifully absolvedst the Woman taken in Adultery and who forgavest much to Mary Magdalen a Sinner because she loved much From thy great wrath c. Who by graciously looking upon Peter after he had denied thee thrice broughtst him to confession of his Sin and bitter tears of Penitence and who miraculously calledst St. Paul when a great Persecutor and making havock of thy Church From thy great wrath c. Who didst bear our sins in thy Body upon the Cross and wast made a propitiation for us From thy great c. We confess unto thee O Lord our transgressions and the transgressions of our fore-fathers by which we with them have offended thee and walked contrary to thy commandments Be merciful and spare us O Lord. Behold we were conceived in sin and in iniquity did our Mothers bring us forth and as we have multiplied our days so have we multiplied the number of our transgressions Be merciful and spare us O Lord We have sinned by our vain thoughts and the unlawful desires of our hearts the idle and wicked words of our lips by our wicked works and our whole life spent unprofitably Be merciful and spare us O Lord. We have sinned against thee by unthankfulness for thy benefits by impatience under thy chastisements and our care to fulfil our own sinful lusts more than thy holy commandments Be merciful and spare us O Lord. We have sinned against our brethren not doing to others as we would have them do to us Be merciful c. We have sinned against our selves by preferring the profits of this present world before our eternal happiness Be merciful and spare us O Lord. We have sinned by deferring our Conversion and putting off our good purposes of amending our lives by exposing our weak nature to new temptations by neglecting many opportunities of doing good and even our best endeavours have been full of imperfections Be merciful and spare us O Lord. We have sinned by not improving those talents thou hast bestowed upon us by loosing our precious time and neglecting the means thou hast afforded us for the promoting of our Salvation Be merciful and spare us O Lord. Our iniquities have multiplied over our heads and our transgressions have grown up to the heavens to thee O Lord belongeth mercy and forgiveness but unto us shame and confusion of face Be merciful and spare us c. Just art thou O Lord in all the evils that have befallen us for thou hast dealt righteously with us but we have done wickedly and our destruction is from our selves Be merciful and spare us O Lord. Be merciful and spare us O Lord. From all Evil Deliver us O Lord. From all Sin Deliver us O Lord. From all profaness and contempt of Sacred things from all Superstition and Hypocrisy from Idolatry and worshiping of thee according to our own fancy from rash swearing perjury and cursing Deliver us O Lord. From neglect in coming to and irreverence in celebrating thy holy service Deliver us O Lord. From disobedience to our Superiors and doing injuries to our Neighbour from anger and contention from cousining and fraud from lying and back-biting Deliver us O Lord. From all wicked desires from wanton thoughts filthy concupiscences and uncleanness from lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes Deliver us O Lord. From pride covetousness and luxury from envy anger and gluttony from sloth in things concerning our eternal Salvation and all other mortal sin Deliver us c. From all impatience and murmuring against the righteous Dispensations of thy Divine Providence Deliver c. From all Schism and Heresy from presuming on our own judgments from all seducing of others into sin Deliver us O Lord. From relapsing into those sins of which we have once repented from hardness of heart and security of an evil conscience Deliver us O Lord. From the sight of the angry Judge from being placed at thy left hand and hearing that fearful sentence Deliver us O Lord. From the worm that dies not and the fire that is unquenchable from the bitter pains of eternal death from the gates of hell and power of darkness Deliver us c. By the paternal bowels of God the Father by the bloody wounds of God the Son by the ineffable goodness of God the Holy Ghost Deliver us O Lord. By that Name besides which there is no other given under heaven by which we can be saved by the blood of the New Testament and propitiation for the whole world Deliver us O Lord. We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lord. That thou wouldst vouchsafe to bring us to true Penance and that we may always bear in memory in the bitterness of our Souls the ill spent years of our forepast life We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That thou wouldst be pleased to enlighten our minds to the finding out of our secret sins and of such as formerly known are now forgotten by us We sinners c. That we may duly perform the penances enjoyned us by our Ghostly Fathers and that we may judge our selves and so escape thy
judge the living and the dead Give rest to the Souls of the Faithful departed O Lamb of God at whose presence the earth shall be moved and the heavens melt away Give rest to the Souls of the Faithful departed O Lamb of God in whose blessed book of Life their names are written Give eternal rest to the Souls of the Faithful departed The Antiphon DEliver us O Lord and all thy Faithful in that day of terror when the Sun and Moon shall be darkned and the Stars fall down from heaven in that day of calamity and amazement when heaven it self shall shake and the Pillars of the earth be moved and the glorious Majesty of Jesus come with innumerable Angels to judge the world by fire Deliver us O Lord in that dreadful day And place us with thy blessed at thy right hand for ever O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Supplications come to thee ALmighty God with whom do live the Spirits of the perfect and in whose holy custody are deposited the Souls of all those that depart hence in an inferior degree of thy grace who being by their imperfect Charity rendred unworthy thy presence are detained in a state of grief and from thy beatifical sight as we bless thee for the Saints already admitted to thy glory so we humbly offer our Prayers for thy afflicted servants who continually wait and sigh after the day of their deliverance Pardon their sins supply their unpreparedness and wipe away the tears from their eyes that they may see thee and in thy glorious light eternally rejoyce Thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Eternal God who besides the general precepts of Charity hast commanded a particular respect to parents kindred and benefactors grant we beseech thee that as they were the instruments by which thy providence bestowed on us our birth education and innumerable other benefits so our Prayers may be a means to obtain for them a speedy delivery from any privation of bliss which they may suffer for their sins and a free admittance to thy infinite joys Thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen MOst wise and merciful Lord who hast ordained this life as a passage to the future confining our Conversion to the time of our Pilgrimage here and reserving for hereafter the state of punishment and reward vouchsafe us thy grace who are yet alive and still have opportunity of reconcilement to thee so to watch over all our actions and correct every least deviation from the true way to Heaven that we be neither surprised with our sins uncancelled nor our duties imperfect but when our Bodies go down into the grave our Souls may ascend to thee and dwell for ever in the mansions of eternal felicity Thro Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour Amen The LITANY of Christian Virtues O God the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the world Have c. O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Lord just and good and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently Have mercy on us Who createdst our first Parents in innocency and holiness after thine own image and gavest a testimony to the offerings of just Abel Have mercy on us Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood Noah a Preacher of Justice and deliveredst from the Fire just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked Have mercy on us Who gavedst the Promise to Abraham found faithful after many trials Have mercy on us Who deliveredst Jacob endued with a wonderful patience and confidence in adversities from all evils and gavest a joyful end to thy servant Job that pattern of patience Have mercy on us Who rewardest the singular modesty and chastity of Joseph with the rule over Aegypt Have mercy on us Who choosest Moses the meekest man upon earth to be Ruler over thy people and electedst Joshuah notable for valour and constancy to lead thy people into the land of Promise Have mercy on us Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great courage in vindicating thine honor and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true worship against the false Prophets and at length took'st him up into heaven Have mercy on us Who set'st Samuel Judge over thy people a lover of Justice and free from bribes And liftedst up David a man after thy own heart in the faithful service of thee to be King of Israel Have mercy on us Who replenishedst Solomon humbly begging Wisdome of thee both with it and many other Graces And adornedst Daniel and his Companions being singularly temperate and sober with wisdome and beauty Have mercy c. Who chosest the Blessed Virgin Mary adorned with singular chastity humility obedience and all other Virtues to be the Mother of thy Son Have mercy on us Who sentest John Baptist a fore-runner of thy Son a Preacher of penance and of great austerities and abstinence Have mercy on us Who sentest JESUS Christ thy only begotten Son into the world the pattern of all Holiness that we should follow his example Have mercy on us Who hast chosen us in him before the foundations of the world that we also should be holy and unblameable in thy sight Have mercy on us Who hast predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the image of thy Son and hast created us in him to good works which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them Have mercy on us Who hast redeemed us from our vain conversation by the precious blood of Christ and hast regenerated us by thy word unto a lively hope of an eternal inheritance Have mercy on us O Jesu who knewest no sin neither was guile found in thy mouth but appearedst to take away the sins of the world Have mercy on us JESUS who barest our sins in thy body on the Cross that we being dead unto sin may live unto Justice and Holiness Have mercy on us Who hast delivered us out of darkness into light from the power of Satan into thy Kingdome and hast bestowed upon us the remission of sins and an inheritance amongst thy Saints Have mercy on us Who promisedst thy Disciples that forsook all for thee twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel who committedst unto St. Peter notably confessing and loving thee the feeding of thy sheep Have mercy on us Who vouchsafest to St. John notable for chastity the singular priviledge of thy love Have mercy on us Who sendedst thy holy Spirit whereby divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord. Be merciful and grant unto us O Lord The virtue of humility and patience spiritual poverty and meekness longanimity and obedience to those that are set over us Grant unto us O Lord A quiet mind and contented with our present condition true peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Grant us c.