without prayer be able to bring fourth the fruit of true vertue and piety The necessity of this holy vertue of prayer is such as our divine Redeemer tells us that it behoveth alvayes to pray Luke 18.1 1. Thess 5. and not to be weary Yea without intermission pray saith S. Paul which is not to be understood by continuall vocall prayer for that is impossible but that with a pure intention we alwayes praise God and direct all our actions to his glory whatsoever we doe Finally to pray fruitfully and as it may be most gratefull to God we must consider with whom we treate and who we are that treate with him and greatly to humble our selves thereat with feare Secondly consider that he is our Creator our Redeemer and our judge Now as he is our God adore him as he is infinitly good and bountifull love him as he is just feare him in regard of his benefits blesse and be thankfull to him And lastly as our Father let us recurr to him for all our necessities with much hope and humble confidence in all our wants and necessities Before prayer â—les 18 prepare thy soule and be not as a Man that tempteth God A prayer to the most sacred and Blessed Trinity OEternall Father by all Creatures to be adored I a most wretched sinner doe offer unto thee for my innumerable offences and for the sins of all the world the bitter death and passion of thy divine sonne our mercifull Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I offer to thee his labours his fastings all his toylsome wearisomnesse his watchings his prayers his teares his humility his patience and his charity I offer to thee his suffered contumelies his paines his stripes and dolorous wounds I offer all the dropps of his most precious blood I offer also here the merits of his ever imaculate and pure Virgin-Mother and of all the holy Saints in Heaven O blessed Jesus my loving Saviour I render thee most humble thankes for thy innumerable benefits bestowed on me though most unworthey For thy miraculous incarnation and chastly pure Byrth for thy holy life and conversation for thy most ignominious death and passion Make me I beseech thee partaker of thy sacred merits and vouchsafe that by the imitation of thy vertues I may be found a living branch in thee who art the true vine of everlasting life O Holy Ghost my comforter I commende to thee my soule and body the beginning and ending of my life grant me grace and true repentance for all my sins wherby and by thy infinit mercy to be purifi'd from them all before I depart from my mortall body To thee O Lord I wholy commit my soule and body my life and death my tyme and my Eternity defend and keepe me thy unworthey servant from all evill illuminate my understanding guide my will strengthen my spirit against pusillanimity and keepe in me an humble hart that it fall not into pride or presumption give me true faith firme hope with sincere and perfect charity that I may wholy delight in thee that with my whole hart and soule I may love thee and every way fulfill thy most blessed will and pleasure O holy and blessed Trinity God omnipotent to thee I most humbly commende all my affaires both Spirituall and corporall I commend unto thee my benefactors my kindred friends and enemies and all for whome I ought to pray or who have desired me to pray for them I commend unto thee the whole Catholick Church renewe in it I beseech thee purity of life Nourish and keepe amongst the true members therof mutuall charity that with their whole harts and soules they may love thee Such as doe erre call backe to the way of truth extinguish all heresics confort and releeve all troubled minds and consciences as also such as are oppressed either with internall temptations or corporall calamities Amen A devout forme of thankes giving with an humble craving of all requisite vertues BE mercifull unto me O God according to they great mercy and according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out all my offences I a most wretched sinner doe hartely desire in all humility to adove and worship thee to render unto thee immortall praise and tankes-giving for all thy blessings especially for that unspeakable charity wherin thou didst send downe thy only begotten sonne into this vale of teares for the worke of our redemption O mercifull Father I the least of all thy servants doe magnify and praise thy ever glorious name for his holy Incarnation and Nativity for his pouerty and familiar conversation for his heavenly doctrine and miracles for his death and Passion for his Resurrection and Ascention I yeald unto thee all possible thanks for that divine mystery of his precious body and blood in the venetable Sacrament of the Eucharist wherewith we are spiritually and strongly nourished we are cleansed and sanctifi'd and our soules made partakers of all heavenly grace and benedictions I give thee harty thanks that me a handfull of dust of no value thou hast vouchsafed first to wash with the laver of baptisine to remission of my original sin and after convenient tyme thou brought me by the light of thy holy grace to the profession of the only true saving faith I humbly thanke thee that from my cradle thou hast nourisht cloathed and cherished me supplying all things necessary for the reliefe and maintenance of this my present life I evermore extoll and magnify thy holy name that in great mercy thou hast hitherto spared me albeit from my youth I have wantonly ryoted in manifould excesses thou patiently expecting till by thy grace I might be awaked from the sleepe of sin and reclaimed from my vanities and wicked life For hadst thou dealt with me according to my demerits my soule long ere this oppressed with innumerable sins had been plunged into the bottomelesse gulfe of Hell In respect of all which thy mercies graces and blessings I desire that my hart may be enlarged to render thee a more ample tribute of praise and thankes-giving then hitherto I have done And now for those things wherof I stand in need and most desire to obtayne at thy hands First O my God never leave me I beseech thee unto my selfe but let the bit of thy chast feare be ever in my jawes to curbe and keepe me within the compase of thy obedience that I may dread nothing so much as in the least sort to offend and displease thee for which cause let thy holy love so temper all tryals and temptations which happen unto me that I may profit by them Thou my Creator knowest how fraile I am and that my strength of my felfe is nothing Moreouer O heavenly Father even for the venerable and profound humility of thine only sonne Jesus I beseech thee that thou wouldst keepe farr from thy servant all pride and hautinesse of mind all selfe-love and vaine glory all obstinacy and disobedience all craft and hurtfull
At the nostrills I also most humbly crave pardon O my God for the excessive pleasure I have sought and taken in perfumes and sweet odours and for my too much nicenesse and impatience in ill ones which I have so sensually avoyded To satisfy for this vouchsafe to apply to me the merit of those ill odours which thou didst daigne to smell in the Stable and upon mount Calvary At the Mouth O My Saviour Jesus Christ pardon me the infinit number of fins which I have committed both in words and in excesse of eating and drinking expiate them O my God by applying to me the merit of thy divine prayers preaching and holy fastings At the hands Pardon me my divine Jesus so many evill and unprofitable actions which I have done and all the pleasure and delight I have sought to satisfy my sense of feeling and to this end apply to me the merit of those holy actions and divine miracles which thou hast wrought with those sacred hands which were nayld to the hard wood of the Crosse At the feete O My God from the bottome of my hart I beseech thee to pardon all the stepps I have employ'd either unpromably or with evill intentions apply to me in satisfaction for these faults the merit of those sacred stepps which thou hast trodden barefoot with so much wearinesse especially in carrying the Crosse After Extreame unction we may make these following acts in a spirit of penance 1. O my God to the end to satisfy thy divine justice as farre as I am able and with my whole being to make reparation for my faults I accept death with all my hart and rejoyce that my soule shall be separated from my body in punishment of the sins I have committed in preferring my corrupt inclinations before thy holy will 2. And that this body in punishment for its pride and ambition shall be hidden in the earth and trodden under foote 3. And that in satisfaction for the inordinate love I have borne it and the excessive care I have had to give it ease and pleasure it shall returne to corruption and become the nourishment of wormes 4. And for the inordinate affection I have borne to the Creatures and the abuse I have made of them I am glad to be depriu'd and separated from them 5. And for my forgetfulnesse of thee O my God during my life I accept that which will be had of me after my death 6. And for having used all my senses to offend thee I accept and effer thee the privation I must now suffer of the use of them 7. And in punishment for all the vaine complacence I have had for the creatures I submit my selfe by death to be the object of their hatred and horrour The approach of death LEt us heare our Good Angel saying to us Math. 15 as to the Virgins in the Gospel Behould the Bridegroome is comming goe fourth to meete him Preparing our selves comming with the burning lampe of charity in our hands we may say with David I Was glad when it was said to me we will goe into the house of our Lord. O my Lord God of Hosts how amiable are thy tabernacles my soule longs after them My soule thirsts after the fountaine of life when shall I come and appeare before thy face As the thirsty hart longs after the fountains of water so ô my God my soule longs after thee O how ardent is my desire to be delivered from this body to the end to be with Jesus Christ Vnion to Iesus Christ dying O my divine Jesus grant that my paines may be united to thyne that my agony and death may be sanctifi'd by thyne and that I may partake of those holy dispositions wherein thy sacred soule was in the last moment of thy life to which with my whole hart I unite my selfe to supply those which are wanting in me I abandon my selfe to thee to the end to suffer for thy love the paines of death even as great and as long as thou shalst please And I disavow all the imperfections which the violence of my sicknesse may cause me to commit Recourse to the B. Virgin and the Saintes O Holy Virgin Mother of my Lord and Saviour refuge of sinners be now my Advocate employ thy power for me to the most holy Trinity O Mary Mother of grace Mother of mercy receive me at the houre of my death and defend me from the enemy Shew thy selfe to be a mother and obtayne that he who for my salvation would vouchsafe to be thy sonne and be borne of thee may also receive me by thee O all yee Saints and Blessod spirits intercede now for my soule and assist me in this extremity to the end I may obtayne victory over my enemies Great S. Joseph and my holy Patrons and Protectors assist me Blessed S. Michael fight for me O glorious Angel my deare gardian defend me from the ambushes of my enemies and forsake me not in this last passadge Then addressing our sselves to God we may say FTernall Father looke upon me in the face of thy deere sonne Jesus Christ who has spilt his blood for my salvation Have pitty on me according to thy great mercy and pardon my sins for the glory of thy name O my God enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight no Man living can be justifi'd O my divine Jesus interpose thy Crosse and Passion betwixt thy iudgment and my soule My God my Lot is in thy hands save me O my Lord I have hoped in thee I shall not be confounded for ever An act of Adoration to the most holy Trinity O Most holy and individed Trinity I adore thee with my whole hart and now and for all Eternity unite my selfe to all those adorations and praises which the most holy humanity of my Saviour Jesus christ his most glorious Mother and all the Saints and blessed spirits render thee and shall render thee eternally in Heaven I offer thee all the sacrifices of this most sacred humanity which are already offerd and which shall be offerd even to the day of judgment upon all the Altars in the world in satisfaction for my sins and in gratitude for all thy divine benefits Those who make use of the Recommendation of the soule may remember to make this conclusion after it And then may be said Subvenite Sancti Conclusion of this exercise An act of entire resignation or abandon of our selves to God O My God I abandon my soule entirely and without reservation to thy divine judgments I submit my selfe to them from the bottome of my hart I adore and reverence them now and in all Eternity as most just and equitable Spirituall expiration Houlding the Crucifix in our hand we may say these words MY God my Creator and my Redeemer behould I come to thee because thou callest me receive me into the bosome of thy mercy And kissing with tender affection the wounds of the Crucifix we may at
vengence of our sins The Litanies of the Saints LOrd have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Christ heare us Christ graciously heare us God the Father of Heaven Have mercy upon us God the sonne Redeemer of the world Have mercy upon us God the Holy Ghost Have mercy upon us Holy Trinity one God Have mercy upon us Holy Mary Pray for us Holy Mother of God Holy Virgin of Virgins S. Michael Pray for us S. Gabriel S. Raphael All yee holy Angels and Archangels All yee holy Orders of blessed spirits S. John Baptist All yee holy Patriarcks Prophets S. Peter S. Paul S. Andrew S. James S. Philip. S. Bartholomew Pray for us S. Mathew S. Simon S. Thadey S. Mathias S. Barnabe S. Luke S. Marke All yee holy Apostles and Evāgelists All yee holy Disciples of our Lord. All yee holy Innocents S. Stephen S. Laurence Pray for us S. Vincent S. Fabian and Sebastian S. John and Paule S. Cosme and Damian S. Geryase and Protase All yee holy Martyrs S. Sylvester S. Gregory S. Ambrose Pray for us S. Augustin S. Hierosme S. Martin S. Nicolas All yee holy Bishops and Confessors All yee holy Doctors S. Antony S. Benet S. Bernard S. Dominick S. Francis All yee holy Priests and Levits All yee holy Monkes and Eremits S. Mary Magdalen S. Agatha S. Lucy S. Agnes Pray for us S. Cicily S. Chatherine S. Anastasia All yee holy Virgins and widowes All yee Men and Woemen Saints of God Make yee intercession for us Sonne of God We beseech thee to heare us Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Spare us O Lord. Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Heare us O Lord. Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Have mercy vpon us Christ heare us Christ graciously heare us Vouchsafe O Almighty God that we honouring the memory of thy blessed Saints thou grant us by their intercession the desired abundance of thy mercy through Christ Jesus our Lord Amen O God whose proper it is alwayes to have mercy and to spare receive our petition that the tender mercy of thy piety may mildly absolve us and all thy servants whom the chayne of sin doth binde Amen Heare we beseech thee O Lotd the prayers of thy supplicants and pardon the sins of them that confesse to thee that thou being unto us benigne maist in like manner give us pardon and peace Shew with clemency O Lord thy unspeakable mercy unto us that thou both acquit us of our sins and deliver us from the paines which for them we deserve O God who by sin art offended and by penance art pacified mercifully respect the prayers of thy people making supplication to thee and turne away the scourges of thy āger which for our sins we deserue Haue mercy on all sinners sweet Jesu I beseech thee turne their vices into vertues and make them true observers of thy law and lovers of thee bring them to blisse in everlasting glory Have mercy also on the soules in Purgatory for thy bitter passion sake I beseech thee and for thy glorious name Jesu O holy Trinity one true God have mercy on me Your prayer ended dispose your selfe in recollection of mind to bed and putting of your cloathes consider how fast the tyme is comming on and is perchaunce much neerer then you imagin when you shall be vncloathed of all but a poore winding sheet to be covered with earth which your bedcloathes covering you doe represent as also the ensving sleepe doth your death and your bed the grave where laying downe your selfe commende both your body and soule vnto God saying as did Iesus Christ upon the Crosse recommending your soule to the Eternall father in these sacred words Into thy hands O Lord I recommend my spirit In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I laye me downe to rest he blesse me defend me and bring me to life everlasting Amen Save us good Lord wakeing and keepe us sleeping that we may watch with Christ and rest in peace Amen God the Father blesse me Jesus Christ defende me the vertue of the holy Ghost illuminate and sanctify me this night and ever more Amen O Angel of God who art my keeper me by the supernal piety committed to thy charge keepe and defend this night from all peril of body and of soule Amen And lastely with a fervent aspiration to God conclude saying O deare Jesu the everlasting repose of thyne elect when will the happy houre come that my soule may without end receiue her rest in thy eternall glory And herevpon with an act of the love of God compose your selfe to sleepe When awakeing in the night IF you awake in the night endeavour to make an elevation of your hart to God by some ejaculatory prayer as O good Iesu be to me Iesus and save me or O deare Iesu that I may know thee and that J may know my selfe vpon which words S. Augustin was wont to spend whole nights in pious contemplation As also did S. Francis in these other not unlike O who art thou my divine Lord and who am I or say O Eternal God when shall I love thee with my whole hart and soule and if I were at this very instant now to dye am J in the state to obtayne thy gracious mercy or the like And then without any further application of mind compose your selfe againe to sleepe Holy cogitations wherof some one being chosen at the end of your evening or morning prayer may serve as a subject for a vertuous employment of your minde when either you cannot sleepe or for all the day following at such tymes as best leasure shall give occasion to make some good Reflection there upon Of the true end of Man MAn is made to love and to serve God and thereby to obtayne his owne Beaitude Our very hart assures us of this certaine truth which being made for God it findes no quiet rest but only in that its proper center thou hast created us O Lord for thy selfe saith S. Augustin and our hart is unquiet untill it repose in thee Yea plaine experience makes it manifest for neither could Alexander the great be content with his glorious conquest of the world togeather with all other temporall felicity nor Salomon with all which his soule could either possesse or desire for the full content both of his body and mind all which in the end he confessed to be but vanity and affliction of spirit And Alexander did no lesse who weeped when he was tould that there were no more worlds for him to conquer the satisfaction of what he had done gave him so smale content We being therfore made only for God let us be only his and give our selves entierly to him performing what according to our end we are made for For as the suune is made to give light the fier to heate and salt to season to which end should they
which the world cannot give that our harts being disposed to keepe thy Commandements and the feare of enemies being taken away the tymes through thy protection may be peacible by the merits of thy deare sonne Jesus Amen A Prayer in tyme of famine and Pestilence GRant unto us we beseech thee O Lord the effect of our prayers and by thy mercie turne away from us pestilence and famine that the harts of Men may know that such scourges proceed from thy indignation and cease by thy mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen A Prayer for raine O God in whom we live are mooved and have our beeing grant unto us competent raine that sufficiently releeved by thy present aide we may more confidently desire things everlasting through our Lord Jesus Amen A prayer for faire weather HEare us O Lord crying unto thee and grant unto us making humble supplications faire weather that we who justly are afflicted for our sins may by thy grace preventing find mercy through our Lord Amen A prayer in any tribulation A Lmighty God despise not thy people crying unto thee in affliction but for the glory of thy name thou being pacifi'd succour the afflicted through our Lord Amen A Prayer for forgivenes of sins O God who rejecteth none but art pacifi'd by mercifull pitty through penance even towards the greatest sinners thou being merciful respect the prayers of our humility enlighten our harts that we may be able to fulfill thy commandements through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen A Prayer for such as are in a journey HArken to our supplication O Lord and dispose the way of thy safegard that among all varieties of this passage and life they may ever be protected by thy ayde through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen A Prayer to be said at the conclusion of our usvall prayers ACcept O most clement God by the prayers and merits of the blessed and ever Virgin Mary and of all thy glorious Saints the office of our service and if we have done any thing worthy of praise thou being mercifull regard it and what is donne negligently mercifully pardon it who livest and raignest one God in perfect Trinity world without end Amen A blessing to be used at the end of all our daily prayers The Imperiall Majesty of God blesse me The Regal Divinity protect me The everlasting Deity keepe me The glorious unity comfort me The incomprehensible Trinity defend me The inestimable goodnesse direct me The power of the Father governe me The wisdome of the sonne quicken me The vertue of the holy Ghost illuminate me and be with me Amen O souveraine and my most mercifull God let this blessing be unto me all health and safty both of body and soule against all myne enemies visible and invisible now and for ever more Amen Of Aspirations and jaculatory Prayers A jaculatory prayer is a briefe elevation of our mind and hart to God as meditation is the same at large They are a speciall great meanes to all spiritual progresse and vertue yea they are as the vital spirits and the very nerves of prayer and are to be used both in tyme of prayer and also very often at other tymes They are a great support a cherishing and a very powerfull invitation to the soule in the tyme of drynesse and desolation to raise her affection unto God This kind of prayer is very briefe easie and very fruitfull It is to be made with fervent affection devotion and true tendernes of hart as king David usually did practise it and by this holy exercise we may be enabled to obtayne that guift commended to us by our blessed Saviour Luke 18.1 Thest 5. it behooves continually to praye and never to give over pray without ceasing saith S. Paul These jaculatory prayers are often in the day to be repeated according to the diversity of occasions and oportunities either vocally or only mentally What fruit they bring and how efficacious they are to gaine perfection and to transport the mind from earthly cogitation unto celestial the experience of innumerable vertuous soules have made good proofe and wil better teach then words can expresse They are called jaculatory as darting prayers because in a moment they pierce the heavens and present our requests to Almighty God testifying the ardent desires and holy affections of a soule seeking and thirsting after the fountaine of all perfection goodnesse and sanctity Say with S. Austin O my Lord and God that I but knew thee and knew my selfe O grant me perseverance in thy graces and true contrition for all my offences Forgive me Lord the multitude of my sins and have mercy on me O my great and loving God o that I had never offended thee O that I could obtaine the right practise of true humility and patice Grant me O Lord the grace that I may hate nothing but sin and my selfe and love nothing but thee and my neighbour in thee and for thee O that thou my deare Lord may be the beginning the progresse and the end of all my actions Not my will O Lord but thyne be donne Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Let al transitory things O Lord become vile unto me and let all things that are thine be deare unto me and thou O God above all Forsake me not O Lord my God depart not from me attend unto my help Psal 37. O Lord the God of my salvation To thee O Lord Psal 24. I have raised my soule my God in thee is all my confidence Create a cleane hart in me O God and renew a right spirit in my bowels Psal 50. The practise of Aspirations upon the affection of the imitation of our divine Redeemer Iesus Christ AMongst all sortes of Affections that above all others is most profitable which mouveth us to imitate that most perfect example of all divine vertues our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ stirring up our affection and desire to embrace and to imitate his holy vertues by the practise of these or the like holy and fervent aspirations Most mild most loving and patient Jesus the perfect example to be imitated grant me the grace to imitate thy mildnesse meekness patience and thy profound humility Ah grant me O most powerfull Lord in all things to be conformable unto thy heavenly will and pleasure O the true owner of my soule endowe me with thy love for which thou hat created me and nothing else can give it true rest and satisfaction but that alone O most profound humility correct my pride O invincible patience when shall I by thy example be truly patient bestow on me thy benignity to correct my cholerick passion and great impatience I beseech thee O my benigne and powerfull Lord when wilt thou bestow on me the grace to make me humble patient devout and conformable to thy holy will The practise of Aspirations upon the affection of admiration of our divine Redeemers love to Man O my God who art thou
wandering receive me returning uphould me stumbling lift me up falling and persevering bring me into glory O God of all goodnesse and Majesty let the most blessed presence of thy most precious body and blood so alter the tast of my hart that besides thee at any tyme it feele no sweetnesse it love no fairenesse it seeke no unlawfull love it desire no consolation it admit no delectation at any tyme it care for no honour it feare no cruetly who livest and reighnest God with thy eternall Father in unity of the holy Ghost world without end Amen An other prayer after the holy Communion THankes be unto thee o Eternall Father that thou didst vouchsafe of thy great pitty to send thy only deare sonne from thy glorious throne into this vale of woe here to take our mortall nature and in the same to suffer sharp paines and a bitter death to bring our soules unto the glory of thy happy kingdome and to leave that precious body here to be our strength and comfort I thanke thee o most loving Lord Jesu with all the powers of my soule for that thou hast thus graciously fed me with thy most precious body by which I hope to have health of soule and eternall life with joy at my depar ture from this vale of teares and misery O holy Ghost come Lord and enflame my hart with the burning beames of thy love and make me with true humble and vertuous gratitude continually to yeald acceptable thankes to the holy and glorious Trinity three persons and one eternall God to whom be all honour glory and thankes-giving from all creatures without end Amen The soule of Christ sanctify me the body of Christ saue me the water of the side of Christ wash me o good Jesu heare me within thy wounds hide me suffer me not to be separated from thee from the malignant enemy defend me and bid me come to thee that with all the celestiall blessed spirits I may praise and glorify thee throughout all Eternity A Conclusion COnvert o Lord all wicked sinners call to true faith all hereticks and schismaticks lighten the infidels who doe not know thee help all that be in great necessity releeve all who have commended themselves unto my prayers have mercy upon all my parents friends and benefactors as also upon all those for whom I am bound to pray Let thy blessing be upon this place with humility peace charity purity and conformity to thy blessed will that we may all amend feare and faithfully serve thee love and please thee Lord be mercifull to all people for whom thou hast shed thy precious blood Grant to the liuing forgivenesse and peace and to the faithfull departed rest and everlasting life Amen Finally the devout soule the more to dilate her selfe in the praises of her mercifull and loving Lord and to render him due humble thankes for so great a benefit may here with a fervent hart inflamed with love and gratitude recite this following canticle wherin all creatures are invited to Laude and praise Almighty God The Canticle of the three children ALl the workes of our Lord blesse yee our Lord Daniel 5. praise and extol him for ever Blesse yee our Lord yee Angels of our Lord ye Heavens blesse our Lord. All waters that are above the Heavens blesse yee our Lord blesse yee our Lord yee powers of our Lord. Sun and moone blesse yee our Lord starrs of Heaven blesse yee our Lord. Shower and dew blesse yee our Lord every spirit of God blesse yee our Lord. Fire and heate blesse yee our Lord cold and summer blesse yee our Lord. Dewes and hoarie frost blesse yee our Lord frost and cold blesse yee our Lord. Ice and snow blesse you our Lord nights and dayes blesse yee our Lord Light and darknesse blesse yee our Lord lightming and clouds blesse yee our Lord. Let the earth blesse our Lord let it praise and extoll him for ever Mountaines and little hills blesse yee our Lord all things that spring in the earth blesse yee our Lord. Blesse our Lord yee fountains seas and rivers blesse yee our Lord. Whales all that move in the waters blesse yee our Lord blesse our Lord all yee foules of the aire All beasts and cattel blesse yee our Lord sonnes of men blesse yee our Lord. Let Israel blesse our Lord let it praise and extoll him forever Priests of our Lord blesse yee our Lord servants of our Lord blesse yee our Lord. Spirits and soules of the just blesse yee our Lord holy and humble of hart blesse yee our Lord. Ananias Azarias Misael blesse yee our Lord praise and extol him for ever Let us blesse the Father and the sonne with the holy Ghost let us praise and extol him for ever Blessed art thou o Lotd in the firmament of Heaven and praised and glorifid and extolled for ever This Canticle of thankes giving with the two following and the Hymne of S. Ambrose and S. Augustin in praise and thankes-giving at his conversion are proper to be used to blesse and praise God for some singular favour and benefitt The Canticle of Zacharie BLessed be our Lord God of Israel be cauese he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people And hath erected the horne of salvation to us in the house of David his servant As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets that are from the beginning Salvation from our Enemies and from the hand of all who hate us To worke mercy with our Fathers and to remember his holy testament The oath which he sware to Abraham our Father thathe would give himself to us That without feare being delivered from the hand of our enemies we may serve him In holinesse and justice before him all our dayes And thou child shalst be called the Prophet of the highest for thou shalt goe before the face of our Lord to prepare his wayes To give knowledge of salvation to his people unto remission of their sins Trough the bouels of the mercy of our God in which the Orient from on high hath visited us To illuminate them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death to direct our fect in to the way of peace Glory be to the Fater c. The blessed Virgins Canticle of Magnificat c. MY soule doth magnify our Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid for behould from hence fourth all gererations shall call me blessed Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is his name And his mercy from generation to generation to them that feare him He hath shewed might in his arme he hath disperced the proud in the conceit of their hart He hath deposed thy mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble The hungry he hath filled with good things and the rich he hath sent away empty He hath receaved Israel his child being mindfull of his mercy As he spake to
in as much onely as they advance me towards this end or divert me from it The Conclusion LEt us conclude this meditation with this truth that if we will dye the death of the just we must live their life also since the true meanes to obtayne a good death is to lead a good life And as there is nothing more precious nothing more to be desired then a good death so there is nothing more miserable nothing more to be dreaded then an ill one In a businesse of so high importance the most secure way is to live every day as though we were to dye before it expire alwayes keeping our affections so disengag'd from earthly things as if we were really at the point of death where all that is not God will appeare but smoake and vapour A most profitable Exercise to prepare our selves for death Vpon the moment of death depends Eternity THe day we make this Exercise as soone as we awake we are to enter into the thoughts of death and consider it as the last of our life Preparation WE are to imagine our selves sicke in our bed even to extremity and that our good Angel comes by Gods command to declare to us the irrevocable sentence of our death saying as Isay said to Exechias put thy affaires in order for thou shalst dye Prostrate at the foote of the Crucifix or before the B. Sacrament let us implore from the bottome of our hart grace and light from the holy Ghost the assistance of the B. Virgin of the saintes our Patrons and our good Angel and then make the following acts An act of Resignation 1. MY hart is ready O God my hart is ready not my will but thyne be done in me upon me and by me now and in all Eternity O God eternall immense and infinite who art abundantly sufficient to thy selfe and hast no need of thy creatures what matter is it whither I live or dye so as I accomplish thy holy will in which onely my true life consists Let not then my will bo done but thyne O my God Confession of our ovvne nothing 2. TO the end to acknowledg the dependance I have upon thee my soveraine Creator and openly to confesse before Heaven and Earth that thou art onely he who is and that I am that vile Creature who is not I embrace with all humble submission the destruction of this corruptible being and am content that by death it returne to the nothing from whence thou hast taken it Restitution of our beeing to God 3. O My Soveraine Creator I desire to restore thee the beeing which thou hast given me and to this effect I accept death in such manner as may most please and glorify thee Dispose then of thy Creature and destroy this body of sin in punishment of the offences it has committed against thy divine Majesty Let this carth returne to earth but let my Spirit which is created after thy image and likenesse returne to thee Acknowledgement of the Soveraine dominion of God 4. O My God although I must dye by necessity yet I desire by submission to render my death voluntary and am glad that in punishment of the ill use I have made of the free will thou hast given me it shall put me into a state wherin I shall be no more able to resist that Soveraine Dominion which thou as lawfull Lord of all creatures hast over me Acceptation of death in punishment of our sins 5. SInce death O my God is the punishment thou hast ordayned for sin with an humble hart and entire submission to thy most just decree and à Spirit of penance I accept it togeather with all the paines humiltations and privations which accompany it in satisfaction for all those offences which I have committed against thy awfull Majesty Oblation of our life to God 6 REceive Omy Saviour the oblation I make of my body and life which I offer and immolate to thy divine Majesty as a sacrifice and burnt offering unite it to that which thou hast offerd upon the Crosse for me and consume it with the fire of thy divine love Desire to render to Iesus death for death 7. O My divine Jesus since that the love of me has caus'd thee to dye upon the Crosse for my salvation is it not reasonable that for the love of thee I should accept death with a good hart to the end to recompence as farre as I am able that which thou hast suffered for me O why have I not a thousand lives that to this end I might lay them downe all and thereby testify that thou art my God Spirituall Confession Humbling our selves profoundly at the feete of Jesus Christ as if he were present in his holy Humanity we ought to accuse our selves to him of all our sins taking a short review of them but especially of those which are most notable in consequence wherof we may excite our soule to a lively and loving repentance for them An act of Contrition O My God prostrate before thy Soveraine Majesty I most humbly crave pardon as well for all my contempts and abuses of thy holy graces as for the sins I have committed since the very day of my birth in thought word and deed I retract and disavow them yea from the bottom of my hart I renounce them and wish I had never committed them not in regard of the paines which they merit but because I have offended thy infinit goodnesse which deserves to be infinitly lou'd and serv'd by all Creatures O that my hart were capable of an infinit griefe wherwith to expiate them But to supply what is wanting in me O my God accept that which my Saviour has sufferd in the garden of Olives and upon the Crosse for the sins of the whole world and particularly for me Accept also to this end the griefe and contrition of all the saintes cleanse me from my secret sins and pardon me those which I have committed in others O my Lord despise not an humble and contrite hart which expects pardon of thy mercy alone Thou hast said that whensoever a sinner shall truly grieve for his sins thou wilt no more remember his iniquities And if be thy pleasure to prolonge my life I make a sinne purpose by thy grace to amende my faults especially such and such and will endeavour to satisfy for what is past Having made this act we may receive the absolution which Jesus Christ the Soveraine Priest gives us by applying to our selves his divine merits after which let us contemplate him saying to us as he did to S. Mary Magdalen thy sins are forgiven thee goe in peace Say the Psalme Miserere mei Deus c. in the Spirit of true penance Aspirations to the three divine Persons O Eternal Father since thou hast so lou'd the world as to give us thyne only Sonne ought not I to hope for salvation from thy mercy Thou hast not given him to condemne us but to save us and