Messias coming together with the Joy of Men and Angels immediatly upon It. This being the Hymne Sung at His Nativity Very properly therefore is This Angelical Hymne of Joy omitted upon days of Sadness and Penitence such as are days of Commemorations of the Dead and Ordinary Feria's which in going before Sunday the day of the Resurrection sitly shaddow out to us the Time of this Life to be a Time of Repentance and preparing our selves for that Great Lords-day at the General Resurrection And so this Hymn of Glory is Sung still on every Lords-day and the days of the Blessed Virgin and the other Saints now Regnant in the Glory of Christ their Lord. DEVOTION I Humbly Thank Thee my God! That thou hast been pleas'd to give Me my Being Now after thy Incarnation and Nativity Vnder the New-Law and In Thy Holy Church Thus separating me from so many Infidels so many Hereticks and Schismaticks as be without and if I be not Treacherous to my self from so many False Christians that Live even in the midst of It as if they had as little Faith as those I beseech Thee that As the Reflection upon this Transcendent Good is deservedly the Cause of so Great Joy and Jubilation common to All the Angels in Heaven and on Earth to All Men of good Will so It may ever Affect my Soul more sensible and more piercingly then All the Pleasures or then All the Pains that can befall It in this World Make me count it my chiefest Felicity to be One in the Number ber of those Men of Peace and Good-Will that the Angels Saluted and gave the Joy to at Thy Nativity Give me that Peace which the World cannot give and That Good Will which alone gives me back again to Thee There 's no good Good Will but in a True Love of Thee O give me That Dominus Vobiscum HEre the Priest turning about to the People and Blessing Them seems to Communicate to them the Benedictions of Christ Jesus now born in the Flesh for this very purpose to Bless Mankind And therefore his Blessing in particular is That God may continue amongst Vs Exprest in those very words which unfold That Name which the Scripture gives to Christ in order to his Incarnation that is Emanuel as much as to say A God with Vs But before he pronounceth This Blessing He Kisses the Altar as It were taking It in his Mouth first from Jesus Christ himself in whose stead stands the Altar as from whom being an in-exhaustible Spring open'd by God for our refreshment All manner of Blessings Favours and Graces are deriv'd upon Us. DEVOTION VOuchsaefe me the Grace to lead in this Blessed Time of the New-Law and in the Communion of thy Holy Church where thou art still Present with Vs after a special manner such a Life as may render me capable of all thy Blessings that thou mayst still Turn thy Face towards Me and lift up the Light of Thy Countenance upon Me to succour Me and to impart unto Me every day more and more of that Rich Treasure which thou hast provided for Me. V upon the Priest's turning back again and Praying Oratio HAving breath'd forth this Benediction over the People He turns him to Jesus Christ again 1. to the Altar to present to Him some Prayers as the time requires one or more for Confirmation of That Blessing and humbly to testifie his Dependance on him as not being any thing but his Instrument nor able to confer on others the least good but only by way of Humble Petition to his Divine Majesty DEVOTION ENable me to Pray without Ceasing as thy Scriptures Command me since in this Life thou bestowest Nothing upon Us for our good but by being Petition'd first Let me then still be putting up Requests unto Thee often Re-inforcing the Old and Multiplying as Thy Priest at the Altar does New upon every important occasion At the Reading the Epistle NExt is read The Epistle taken sometimes out of the New Testament Sometimes out of the Old This puts me in mind of that Notice which was all along given To the Jews of the Coming of their Messias first by the Prophets fore-told and then exhibited to them by St. John and the Apostles And for this reason I think 't is read on that Corner of the Altar which is on the Priest's Right-hand because the Jews were a Nation chiefly Belov'd of God and at first his chosen People to whom he entrusted his Oracles DEVOTION I Do not a little Wonder at Thy Constant and Vntyr'd Love to the Jews who were the Only People whom Thy Prophets were sent to Save to whom Thou thy Self cam'st and Preached'st the Gospel And though not the Only yet the First to whom Thy Apostles declar'd Thy Resurrection Thy Resurrection A point of such moment that to Represent It the more Lively The Priest who sustains the Person of Thee Risen throughout the Whole Mass even in the Act of Sacrificing and Oblation Celebrates all Standing O my God Permit not Me to Slight Thy Holy Word or to Undervalue its Preachers who come to Vs in Thy Name and on thy Errand As that Stiff-necked Hard-hearted and Rebellious People have rejected the Addresses of the Prophets and Apostles Thy Servants nay of Thy Son Christ Jesus himself Let not thy Holy Commands be a New Occasion and Aggravation of Sin to Me as to Them It was but Improve them to Me into True Gospel and Words of Salvation by Inspiriting me to do That which Thy Law injoyneth and not suffering my Sinful Inclinations to Quench this Spirit and Evacuate Thy Grace Gradual and Alleluja or Tractus Immediately after the Epistle read succeeds the Gradual with either Alleluja or the Tractus IF with the Alleluja I apprehend that thereby Priest and People joyn in Acclamations of Praise and Thanks to God as It were in lieu and Supplement for the Jews Ingratitude Infidelity and great neglect of the Gospel as if therefore by way of Reparation we would shew our selves the more zealous and by certain Degrees of Versicles and Benedictions raise our selves to be more Attentive to what they slighted Or if in the place of Alleluja a Tractus be annex'd which being a Mournful Ditty therefore appointed for days of Penitence and Sorrow and to be read more Gravely and drawn out more leasurely and Sadly We are admonish'd thereby to compose our selves to ask Pardon of God for Those Sins which we also no less than the Jews have committed in our Great Neglect of the Gospel and to look on our selves as partakers of their Guilt and to be Penitent for It. DEVOTION LEt Thy Goodness prevent me from such Jewish Ingratitude and more Now I have received from thee so many more and Greater Favours than They. As particularly The Light of the Gospel the Grace of Baptism and then a greater Portion of Thy Holy Spirit Confirming Me and Even Thine Own Body and Blood for Nourishment Be It the Business to
A Brief EXPLANATION Of several Mysteries of the HOLY MASS And of the Actions of the PRIEST Celebrating Very Necessary for all Roman CATHOLICS For the better Understanding thereof Together with Certain Reflections upon the APOSTLES CREED Touching the Blessed SACRAMENT AND ALSO Divers Meditations and Prayers both before and after Communion By T.G. Heretofore Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxon deceas'd LONDON Printed by Nat. Thompson For the Brother of the said T.G. 1686. THE THOUGHTS Wherewith Generally I use to Hear and to Assist AT MASS ✚ THe true end of the Mass is that which Christ set For his Remembrance And methinks the whole Body of Ceremonies consisting in several Actions Words Postures and Ornaments which make up the External Parts of the Mass do Represent to me as in a kind of Perspective not only the Several Things which Jesus Christ did and Suffer'd whilst he was here upon Earth * Durand's l. 4. c. 1. * 20 Acts 27. but also The whole Councel of God touching mans Salvation by him All what he hath already done or shall yet farther do to that purpose even from the beginning of the World to the very last day of Judgement is here set before me in Short-hand Whereby I am put in mind in the very entrance to my Devotions that That One great propitiatory Sacrifice made Once upon the Altar of the Cross was offer'd up as for all Mankind in general so particularly for every single Person that has been is or shall be from the Worlds beginning to its end according to that Expression in the Revelation 13 Revel 8.1 Pet. 1.19 20. Of the Lambs being slain from the beginning of the World And consequently that this Sacrifice in the Mass is the Commemorative one of that Perpetual Sacrifice which never hath nor ever shall cease to be Offer'd in some kind since the Fall of Adam For the Virtue of that Sacrifice on the Cross is diffâ—s'd throughout All Times both preceding and following the … on of Jesus Christ And by Iâ— are sav'd all that have or shall be sav'd In which sense it is call'd the General Perpetual Sacrifice of the whole Church ✚ Vpon the Priest 's Recess from the Altar and standing at a distvnce on the lowest degree thereof BEing thus Dispos'd and Figur'd by this Fundamental Notion I no sooner see the Priest in his Sacerdotal Habit or Vestment Ascending up to the Altar first and suddenly Descending again to the very lowest degree But it remembers me instantly of Man's Propinquity to God in Adam whilst he stood Innocent and then of his being thrust out of his Presence again quickly upon Adam's sin of which by being deriv'd from him we are every one Guilty and so not only driven out of Paradice but even debas'd down to the lowest degree that such a Creature could fall DEVOTION O My God! I am sensible of my present Condition that during This Life I am in a Banishment from Paradice caus'd by that sin which I committed in my first Parent Adam and that by That Original and many more Personal Transgressions whereof I stand Guilty before Thee I am fallen into the Lowest State that a poor Creature can likely be brought unto And I feel that by thy Grace which Thou art pleas'd to Afford me even in this miserable Condition of mine I do thereof Repent me and therefore Ought to range my self as I do among the Lowest of any that can pretend to be Thy Servants that is among the Penitents 'T is also by the same Grace that Thou put'st me in the Humble Posture of a Stranger and Wayfaring-man only in This World by causing me to Turn again by Little and Little as the Motions and Conduct of Thy Holy Spirit Guide me toward That Paradice out of which for my sins I was driven O keep me Thus Humbled I beseech Thee and never suffer me to forget either of these Low Conditions which are so proper to the state of a Sinner and so proper to the state of a Convert too Nor let me swell higher by the least proud Conceit That being It that ruin'd me at First Take out of my Spirit all Inclinations to Things of Greatness or Port and give Me a Holy Affection to Meanness as being most suitable to what indeed I am to the Example of my Saviour Jesus Christ as He liv'd here and especially to this present Cendescention of His in the Sacrament Humbling himself to be in such Ordinary and Despicable Elements and this at the Word of a poor frail Man The Confiteor THe Priest standing Thus at a distance yet still between Hope and Despair bethinking himself what to do 1. Bowing 2. Advancing the Cross of Christ 3. Calling on the Trinity In Nomine c. * Vt supra and encouraging himself towards God 4. By a Psalm of David's Judica c. 5. At last in an Humble Posture he acknowledgeth and Confesseth That he is unworthy to approach nearer to Him or so much as to His Altar And that Thus 't is with him most deservedly as for that Original sin wherein he was Conceiv'd and to which he Implicitly Assented so likewise for many other committed by him with a more express Will throughout the whole course of his Life And here I conceive that surely he maketh not this Confession for Himself only but for Every one Present yea for the whole Church for in Her Name he comes now to Offer the Sacrifice And hence it is that the Minister who represents the People makes a Confession with him in the same Words By It is the whole Assembly and every one of us in particular for whom he therefore speaks in the Singular Number Invited to put himself together with him in the Posture and State of a Penitent and to acknowledge before God our own unworthy Condition DEVOTION VOuchsafe me O my God! The Grace of Tenderness of Heart Seriously and deeply to resent my own vile and dangerous Condition so far at least that Presently without any longer delay I may lay open the worst of my Self and Confess to Thee together with the Priest and Own in Thy sight All my Faults by a Repentance so True and Real as may last and make it self ever hereafter appear to be so more and more in All the Actions of my Life to come Imprint in my Soul a Restless desire of Returning to Thee for Good and All Eternally to serve Thee Beginning this Service now in this World as I mean to continue it hereafter in the next without Interruption or Relaxation at least carrying it on so Evenly from this my last Penitence that so I may make Reparation in some sort for my Failings and Recidivations and Breaches of Faith and Promise since my First Conversion which I should have taken care not to have prov'd so false unto nor ever once to have violated Upon the Priest's Re-ascending to the Altar and Kissing It. Deus tu Conversus c. AFter this
take up All my Thoughts All my Life long To weigh the Greatness and Variety of Thy Mercies And may Nothing in the World have such Power as to make me pass by inconsiderately much less to forget the least The Tractus DEVOTION I Fall down before Thee O dear Father with Shame and great Confusion of Face calling to Mind Those Sins which I have committed particularly against the Precepts of thy Gospel which Gospel I though I refus'd not with the Jews but entertain'd it with Protestation to Live according to it and if need were to Die for It yet have violated frequently by Great and Enormous Crimes being so much less excusable than They into how much stricter an Oblation I enter'd into I have Cause enough to fear O my God that Thou shouldst Abandon Me too at last as Thou hast for saken Them because having contracted a deeper Guilt than They 't is but Reason I should be more severely punish'd To provide against such a mischief in Time I now beg of Thee The Spirit of Repentance which I beseech Thee to Give and continue to Me to my last gasp whereby to Expiate my grievous Faults and to put me again into the Quality of a True Christian For the Spirit of Repentance It is which is the very Beginning of Christianity and most Proper Condition of the New Law delivering us from the Sins and consequently from the sad Effects of the Old which is according to the Apostle the Law of Wrath and Death and working out of us by degrees still more what yet it finds in us as Relicks of the Flests of Judaism or of base Earthliness Vpon the removing the Book UPon this Action my Consideration is That The Jews refusing to Hear and understand aright the Prophets and Apostles were at length Neglected and the Apostles turn'd unto the Gentiles bringing The Gospel and the News of a Saviour to Them which is now represented by changing the place of the Book from the Right Hand of the Priest to the Left denoting that Christ had now left the Jews who before were the people of His Right-Hand and that in their stead The Heathens at His Left that is abandon'd heretofore to the Curse of God and not His people were now made his people and dearly Belov'd and That among Us it is that Jesus Christ now keeps Residence and Establishes His Church Here is made indeed No intimation at all that the Gospel was ever Preach'd to the Jews though to them it was Preach'd first and here is something betokening as if Christ had Preach'd It to the Gentiles which yet he never did But the Reason of Both is First That That is omitted because that Preaching of it to the Jews was so In-effectual and Fruitless as not considerable especially in respect what Glorious Entertainment It had afterward among the Gentiles in the full Explication and vigour of It as of a New Law And Secondly That This is solely insisted on Because though Christ Preach'd not Himself in person to the Gentiles but only by his Apostles Ministers yet was It in so wonderful Success and Communication of Grace and Benediction and Reformation of Manners the True Fruits of the Gospel that Now only among these seems He to have fully Exercis'd his Office of an Evangelical Preacher now only indeed to have promulgated the Law of Grace in the quickening Spirit as oppos'd to That of the Jews in the Killing Letter DEVOTION NEver O Lord take away The Grace thou hast Given from Me to Confer It on Another as in thy Justice Thou hast remov'd Thy Gospel from the Jew to the Gentile Let Thy Gifts in me be without Repentance as Thy Scripture speaks Make me ever Remember That saying of St. John * 3 Apoc. 11 a Figure of Thy Elect Take heed Hold fast That which Thou hast that no man take Thy Crown Let me not be Tempted to prize my self as more Worthy than such Offenders whom thou hast not favour'd as Thou hast done Me least I come under that Curse and Malediction wherewith Thy Apostle Threatens the Gentiles 11 Rom. 20 21 22. if they arrogantly insult over the Jews whom Thou hast rejected Transplant Me Out of those Countries of the World where Thou art not duly Worshipped into some Holy Land Exempt from its Malignity and Corruption where I may serve Thee more freely and more Faithfully Make me comprehend the force of those words of the Apostle Exhorting Vs to follow Thee On the Right-hand and on the Left that at all turns Of Adversity and Prosperity Health and Sickness Life and Death I may cleave to Thee unseparably The Gospel THe Book being remov'd to the Left-hand of the Priest To shew as I have said the publication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ now to those on his Left-hand That were his Enemies the Gentiles After some preparation by 1. Particular Prayers for Assistance 2. And Benediction 3. He Crosses the Book and Himself 4. And Names the part he intends to Read 5. The People stand up and Answer Gloria tibi Domine and in that posture continue during the Reading 6. Testify not only their readiness to Hear but also to put in Execution whatever is therein propos'd 7. The Gospel being read the people give again their Approbation 8. With Laus tibi Christe and the Priest saying 9. Per Evangelica Dicta c. Kisseth It. All testifying a high respect to the Gospel The Book continues in that same place almost to the end of the Mass Intimating thereby the continuation of the Gospel among the Gentiles only to almost the end of the World DEVOTION GIve me the Grace to understand and take the Words of Thy H. Gospel as one of thy Faithful Ones that is As a Man ready to do as It says and to practice suitably to what he Professes to Believe Make Me Stand always firm and Erected above All that otherwise might be Impediments to my Ready Obedience Hearing thy Voice as a Friend of the Bridegrooms and joying in nothing so much as rightly to Understand Thy Will and fully to Accomplish It. Let My Spirit Kiss Thee as at the End of the Gospel the Priest does the Book thereby in all Holy Reverence to Adore Thee after I have gotten a glimpse of Thee by that Light which thou hast Now been pleas'd to dart into Me from Thy Words Make me always keep thus Close unto Thee and continue in this Union with Thee which certainly I Owe unto Thee as to One that hath the Words of Eternal Life and Art the very Soul of the Gospel O whither should I go from Thee Never let any Occurrence in this Life never any danger that any Enemy of mine may engage me in be able to separate Me from my Obedience to Thee It is in This preparation of Heart for whatsoever Thou shalt Command Me be the Consequencce what It will that I desire to lay the Foundation of all my Piety and Devotion At the Credo
THe saying of the Creed is a Protestation of our Faith and Obedience to the Gospel coming to Us from God through the Lips of the Priest DEVOTION BVt let me not Content my Self only with this Inward Preparation of Heart To Believe and Serve Thee so but give me Courage to profess before all the World the Sincerity of an Unfeigned Faith in Thee and Constant Love to Thee by which I pretend to Honour and Observe Thee in all things without ever being asham'd of the Truths and Maximes of Thy Gospel Of every one of which as well the least as the greatest let me still have an equal undispensable esteem and be ready to maintain all in General nay each one in particular though with the certain loss of whatever belongs to me beside even of my Life it Self and Salvation too if That were possible in All the Occasions and Encounters that the Conduct of Thy Providence for Tryal shall engage Me In. In special O my Saviour I Believe that Thou art the Son of the Eternal Father That You both Produce the Holy Spirit from everlasting and that You all Three Reside after a most signal manner in The Church which is so the House of the Faithful as that out of It There is no Faith at all to be found or at most none such as shall any thing avail towards Salvation I am resolv'd to Believe as Truth all that is deliver'd to Me as from You and to confirm and justifie my Belief by my Words and my Words by good Works of all sorts and my Works by all the Variety of Sufferings that You shall think fit to send me The Second Dominus Vobiscum AFter this Profession of Faith or if that be omitted immediately after the Gospel the Priest having first Kiss'd the Altar turns to the people to Bless them in Christ's Name for so Respectful a Reception of the Gospel and publick profession thereof DEVOTION HElp me O Lord to receive with Pious Affections This Blessing which Thy Priest now Dispenseth in turning Himself toward Thy Faithful as from Thee Now that we have Assented to Try Word and thereof made a publick Profession And Bless me thereby more Internally Thy Self that this Thy Grace may cleave to and continue in my Heart enabling It to Persevere in Thriving and Growing up thereby to a Holy Life and constant practice of Obedience to all Thy Commandments The Offering and Offertory HEre was brought in Antienly Immediately after The Benediction the peoples Offerings as an Effect as it were of that Benediction Then before these Offerings laid on the Altar Sung both Priest and People certain Praises to God which were call'd the Offertorium or That with which They presented their Offerings to terstifie the Sincerity and Joy of Heart wherewith they brought their Gifts and appear'd before Him Antiently before Things came to be set in better Order by the Church These Offerings were Numerous and had their good Use and Edification too For every particular Christian presented Bread to the Priest both for Materials to be Consecrated for the Sacrifice and withall for a Token of his Union to the Body of Christ Jesus and Communion with the Church The whole Congregation uniting it self by This means and putting It self as it were between the Hands of the Priest to be Offerred up with the Body of Christ Consecrated and made in that Bread which they Contributed The Priest indeed Consecrated not all that was brought but took only One or Two as occasion was in the lieu of all that so as the many Breads offer'd severally by each of the Faithful Ones represented the divers Members of the Church the Paucity of the Breads chosen out of all for Consecration might likewise Typifie the Unity of those Members amongst themselves and with the One Body of Christ where all by Participation were United together DEVOTION I Here Offer up unto Thee my God All that I have oram in Acknowledgement and Return for That Light of Truth which Thou hast imparted to Me by Thy Gospel at this Time being convinc'd that in respect of It All other things are but as dross or nothing and that Thy Merciful Favour and Love is incomparably more worth than this Life it self Nay than the Lives of all the Persons now in the World put together and Offer'd up to Thee all in one Great Sacrifice I strip my self of all that can any ways be call'd mine before Thee and here put it into Thy Hands that there may be nothing about me to hinder me from entring into that close and perfect Union that ought to be between Thee and me and Me and every Member belonging to the Body of Thy Church being well assur'd that nothing causes a Division between Thee and those Members or amongst Our selves between one anoother nor slackens the Bond of Charity more than an Adhaesion to the Things of this World The Oblation or Suscipe The Priest having receiv'd the Offerings presents them to God by heaving them up towards Heaven upon the Paten For that Bread which He offers up on the Paten is instead of all that was brought to Him by the people either effectually and really or Spiritually and Intentionally only and so represents the whole people to be Incorporated and Offer'd up with the Body of Jesns Christ in that Holy Sacrisice Hence It is that the Pâ—iest declares that He makes this Obiation for and in the Name of All the Faithful Living and Dead and particularly for All Circumstantibus there present For the present brought their Offerings not only for themselves but for the Dead also as Owning their Communion with the Body of Jesus Christ and with His Church and this is still the Intention Comprehensive and secret meaning of the Charity of every Faithful Christian though It be not then Actually in his Mind or Thought And it is to be Noted that the Priest professeth He makes this Oblation for the Numberless Sins not only of Others but of His Own Meis Because the sins committed every day by the best amongst Us are in every deed innumerable and 't is impossible to know their Multitude and variety our Infirmity and Concupiscence vitiating those Actions in some degree which seem to be most Holy to let pass others DEVOTION I Beseech Thee that As the Priest presents to Thee upon the Paten That Offering which He is to Consecrate for all the People so This Oblation that I have Now made of all that I have and am may likewise be received and accepted by our Lord Jesus Christ as tender'd together with It That the same Priest may Offer and Consecrate it also to Thee for Me that so it may please Thy Divine Majesty who hast set such Order to things as not to receive any thing from us but by Him And may this Oblation dispose Me by little and little to Immolate and Sacrifice my self wholly to Thy Glory in what manner It shall best please Thee to require It. That
it may conduce toward the Expiation of All my Sins known and unknown and what other Obliquities are hourly occasion'd by my frail and Infirm Nature And since I cannot be totally exempt from These unless by death which is the only sure-End of all Offending Grant that to Cancel their account as fast as It grows upon me I may offer up and Consecrate to Thee sincerely All the short Remainder of this Life and then pass so much the more Joyfully into the next as where I shall be secur'd from discontenting Thee any longer Of the Mixture of Water and Wine THis puts me in mind of the Union of the Divinty and Humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ and then of the Unity of all the Faithful well denoted by Water a Symbol of Weakness which Jesus Christ well typify'd by Wine an Emblem of strength And as the Priest Offer'd up The Bread before so now he makes 1. Oblation of the Wine and Water and in Them again of the People to God The Suscipiamur 2. And lastly Oblation Generalis â— He makes the First General Oblation of All Bread Wine Himself and People altogether jointly with Humility and Contrition into the Hands of God and thereby Sanctifies and Prepares the whole matter of this Sacrifice DEVOTION O Strengthen my Weakness represented by this Water with a new Force and Virtue of Thy Spirit which is the Muste or New Wine of the Law of Grace Make me depend on Nothing nor cleave to any Thing but Thee since Thou alone art the Power of God and Vigorous Life of the Soul in whose Absence the strongest Activity in Man is but miserable Infirmity And as now The Priest presents to Thee the Chalice thereby to Sanctifie It before He proceed to Its Consecration so help Me O Lord to Offer up my Self to Thee Fortified and Heighten'd by Thy Blessing and Grace by which I may be Encourag'd and Enflam'd and so make my self every time more and more capable to be Offer'd up in Sacrifice to Thee and even to Die for Thee Which is really the Greatest Favour that thou canst do any Mau during His Abode here Washing of the Priest's Hands THis meaneth Repentance for the daily Pollutions we incurr by our Frailty For there 's no approaching This Holy Sacrifice without renouncing and quitting as much as is possible such Impurities by a sincere Grief for and loathing of them though but Sins of Infirmity Hence It is that the Priest Washeth only the Tops of his Fingers To signifie that when one comes to Offer this Sacrifice 't is no time then to set about Repentance for Mortal Sins such one should have been freed and purg'd from before but all that is to be done is only to Wash off yet by unfeigned Grief and true Compunction those lesser Impurities and Defilements which in the course of this Life and by Conversation with things of this World we cannot avoid but that they will be sticking at least to the Outward parts as it were of our Souls and to the Works of our Hands But those that willingly neglect to Purify themselves from these though never so small Imperfections are unworthy of this Sacrament saith St. Denis as on the contrary The greatest Sins and Abominations that be cannot render those unworthy of approaching to It who have dis-engag'd their Wills from them and truly detest them in their Hearts DEVOTION SVffer not O my God the Pollutions of this World so to Defile My Hands that is My Actions as that they should contract any store of Filth from It but since 't is impossible to Converse here in this Earthly Habitation cleanly without All Sullying Grant that at most The Spots may but arrive to the outmost and lesser parts of Them as It were to the very Tops of the Fingers only A Petition suggested to me by the Priests Washing His. First Possess my Heart intirely and at all times and then let my Actions regard Thee too as their Principal Object and if secondarily in their Out-sides and parts farthest off They touch the fouling Earth Let me never cease Washing them with Tears of True Repentance and in the Water and Grace of Thy Holy Spirit till They be again Purify'd Especially as often as I come before Thee to partake of the Communion of Thy Blessed Body and to assist at That most Holy Sacrifice to which it would become Vs to approach in the greatest Purity Man in this Life can be capable of Because It is a darker Vision of God and some Representation of our Imployment in Heaven whither no Unclean Thing can Enter Vpon the Suscipe Sancta Trinitas The Kissing the Alar and Orate Fratres and the Secreta Suscipe Sancta Trinitas THe Priest having put himself into This Purity of Body and Mind with most profound Humility makes a Second General Oblation of all Oblation Generalis 2 1. Directing it to the proper Object of Worship The Holy and Blessed Trinity And 2. Applying it to the right End Of Commemoration of the Passion Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus Christ Of Honour to all the Glorify'd Saints in the Church Triumphant and of Salvation to all yet in the Militant by their Intercession implor'd 3. Kisses the Altar Orate Fratres THe Priest having already implor'd the Intercession of the Glorious Saints above for the things specify'd and particularly for that Acceptance of This Oblation and Sacrifice Now turns himself to the People desiring them to Joyn their Prayers to the same End DEVOTION DErive into me O Lord That Grace which the Priest Receives upon the Kissing of the Altar that stands in stead of Thee that assisted by It I may bear a part in That Common Prayer which He now Exhorts all the Faithful to joyn in with Him To Supplicate Thee favourably to Receive The Sacrifice He is here going to Offer unto Thee in the Behalf of the whole Church And do it the rather for the Honour of those Great Mysteries and Those Holy Saints which he hath just now made particular Commemoration of on purpose to teach us the Value of this Extraordinary Act of Grace by the Greatness of the Means imploy'd to obtain It. Agitate now in the Strictest Closet of my Soul by the means of this other Prayer which the Church calls Secret and produce therein the proper Effects of those good Thoughts which Thou hast been pleas'd to form in Me to Prepare me the better for this Sacrifice The Preface SO call'd because 't is the Entry to the Canon of the Mass and the last Immediate Preparation-general to the Sacrifice For here the Priest endeavours to prepare the People by putting them in mind 1. Of raising up their Heart in Devotion to God and taking It off from all Thoughts or Inclinations to any thing here below That they begin this Sacrifice of Offering up Christ to His Father by first Offering up their own Hearts which must be still the Anti-Sacrifice to all others or else they
will be of no profit 2. And when the People Answer that They have their Hearts so Elevated and dispos'd and set upon God as he desires them to have 3. The Priest rests not therewith Content unless They make present Reflection upon This and Consider that it is not They themselves but God that hath rais'd their Hearts and drawn them towards Himself and therefore that they ought Instantly to make their Acknowledgement thereof by publick Thanks before they go any further 4. Gratias Agamus c. 5. To which they Reply that this is very fitting and just and so they proceed to do it by the Priest in publick and in private by their own particular Resentments moving their Hearts according to the Words which they hear from him For so now he begins here in a Louder Tone 6. To acknowledge the Mercies and Blessings that God showers down on Men at all Times and in all places and in particular those which at that very occasion the Churches Order recommends to be Commemorated 7. But then She by great Modesty Conscious to her self how mean a Thing Her Laudes and Praises are to be tender'd to Gods Supreme Majesty she makes haste to joyn her Self in this Action to her Lord and Spouse Jesus Christ and by Him to present her Praises and Thanks to the Father Offering up withall joyntly those Infinite and Eternal Benedictions that he uses to give him 8. And not tâ— omit any Hymnes of this Nature she endeavours to make one too in the Consort of Angels Cherubims and Seraphims that Magnify Adore and tremblingly Reverence through Jesus Christ The Majesty of God Hence It is that she joynes her self to Them under Him as under the common Patron of Men and Angels That so All together by their chief Head may Worship and Glorisie the Deity And therefore now useth she here upon Earth That very Ditty which the Scripture hath reveal'd to be us'd by the Angels in Heaven in their Honouring of God Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus 9. And to It adjoyns another Triumphantly Sung by Men of Jerusalem to Jesus Christ Benedictus qui venit c. Testifying hereby the Unity of Spirit moving Angels and Men to Praise the Divine Majesty for the Approach and Coming of his Son DEVOTION Raise up my Spirit at this Instant Great God far above all the things of this World to fasten It upon and make It Conceive both the Variety and Greatness of Thy Blessings especially those conferr'd upon us by Thy Son Jesus Christ his Assuming and Uniting our Nature into Himself I must needs acknowledge that my single Abilities are much too Weak to perform this as I ought and therefore cannot Thank and Praise Thee as I should Vouchsafe to permit and help Me to joyn the very best I have to those of the Choire of Angels above borrowing from and using with them those Transcendent Acclamations wherewith they Adore Thee to all Eternity that so I may begin to Honour Thee here on Earth as they do in Heaven and imping my Wings with Theirs mount not according to My feebleness but Their force Enrich me also with a Part of the Innocence and almost Angelical Purity of those Souls who Sung to Thee that Triumphant Jubilee at thy Entrance into this lower Jerusalem that so the Song that I would now take Thee with might be more perfectly made up of all its parts especially that Canterelle of Angels and This Base of Men. Why not prepare my Self in this Solemn manner To certainly the greatest Action upon Earth The Sacrificing of Thy Son By as much as I can procure The Holyest Hosanna 's and highest Ravishments of Spirit that Mortality can bear up with In this Elevation and Extasie such as 't is Thee I adore My Saviour Jesus Christ sitting at the Right Hand of Thy Father To Thee as High-Priest and prime Sacrificer I joyn this Wretch my Self though Infinite Infinitely unworthy to be not only in thy Company but here among the Angels and Blessed Saints now Assembled at this Sacrifice of a God O amaze me with that Confusion that belongs to me for not being such as I ought at this Solemnity For the Entrance into the Canon The Canon NExt succeeds the Canon of the Mass so term'd because 't is the Rule and Constant Order which the Church observes in the Celebration of this Sacrifice This is alone never to be alter'd as the other parts of the Mass are which use to be vary'd according to the diversity of several Mysteries and the Feasts by which they are Celebrated But this being the chief part becomes as the Sacrifice it self Immutable Te igitur c. ANd 't is considerable That it begins with an Address to the Father presenting to Him the Sacrifice as being the Prime Principle and Beginning not only of all Creatures but also of the Divine Persons in the Holy Trinity We Offer up this Sacrifice to Him by and through Jesus Christ His Son our Lord. That is By Jesus Christ as our Only Mediator taking part of the Father in being His Son and so God from all Eternity and taking part with Us in being made Man by his Humanity wherein He hath receiv'd the Power and Dominion over Heaven and Earth and always Offers up A Sacrifice to His Father as the only High-Priest to whom all other Priests here in the Church are but subservient Officers and Ministers Offering up the same with Him For That which the Son of God in Heaven and This which the Priest here below Offers however it differ in the manner is in Reality and Substance but One and the same Sacrifice And it is Offer'd here principally for the Whole Catholick Church in whose Name the Priest presents himself before God to do Homage For though this here and that Sacrifice there as 't is said differ not in the Substance of the Thing yet in the manner of Offering it does and accordingly this is offer'd but for the Church Only and all the Faithful within its Communion though the other of which This yet is Commemorative be for the whole World as the Scripture testifies DEVOTION O God the Father 1. I Here Worship and pay Homage to Thee as to the prime Principle of all Things both in Earth and Heaven too of all Sanctity in Men and Angels of all the Persons in the God-head of the whole Trinity and of all the Deity it self also as far as Thy Church taught by Thee can and doth though but Lispingly speak it It is to Thee I acknowledge in this quality of prime Principle that this Sacrifice is due and so to Thee is It Now Offer'd by Thy Church and by Thine own Son who is prime Priest as Thou art the prime Principle 2. I Worship Thee also as the chiefest and last End of all Creatures recurring and Ebbing into Thee as They flow'd from Thee 3. Vouchsafe me the Grace to Reflect upon Thee always after this manner as well by the Motions of my
of God Suffer'd for Us from the first Moment of his Conception to the very last of his Death All which space was one continual Suffering for the Redemption of the World By these Three methinks the Church in this Sacrament which she calls Mysterium Fidei would represent unto our Thoughts the very principal and most necessary Objects of our Faith without which we cannot be sav'd Which are in St. Augustin's Judgement the Passion and Resurrection of which the Ascension is the accomplishment of Jesus Christ And for this very Reason perhaps is the number of Three so often observ'd in the Benedictions Crosses and Oraisons to intimate to Us the Holy Trinity the Capital Object of our Faith and withall this Blessed Sacrament which is Offer'd up to all Three Persons therein though attributed more particularly to the Father This may here be Noted by way that the Crosses made by the Priest on the Hoste after Consecration are not as others Benedictions but only marks of Crucifying of the Hoste intimating the particular manner of its Immolation DEVOTION BLess me O my God by frequent Impressions made upon my Soul of Thy Death and Passion as the Priest makes Tokens thereof by so often Signing the Cross ✚ upon Thy Body and Blood after he hath Offer'd them up unto Thy Father Multiply upon Me Thy Graces in abundance Now that thou hast vouchsafed to Consecrate and make Me Thy Son by Baptism and to Feed me in the Fucharist with thine own Substance the same with That of the Son of God That my Whole Life may be suitable to so Divine a Birth and Aliment Accord me the Grace I Pray Thee that in all Occurences of This Life Good or Bad I may still draw Comfort from Thy Cross to support me that I may Ever and anon renew in my mind the Memory thereof so effectually as thereby to sweeten to my self my Sufferings and to learn Moderation in Happier Success and throughout the whole course of my Time to find still in That History seasonable Applications to all my Necessities At the Supra Quae. NExt He Prays God Graciously to accept from Us This Sacrifice remembring how well he was pleas'd with That of Abel that of Abraham and that of Melchizedech that so having so kindly taken from those Holy Men the most Famous Sacrificers in all Antiquities such remarkable Types and Figures of This he would not less favourably receive from Us The Substance it Self but endue us with some of that Grace and Purity wherewith They accompanied the Offering up of what was indeed but the shaddow of This. DEVOTION I Beseech Thee O my God That as This Sacrifice is altogether Spiritual and Divine having nothing in It of Sensible or Earthly but only the Outward Appearance and Shell as it were so I may Offer it up to Thee together with the Priest by a Motive and Inspiration wholly Spiritual and Divine in such manner as That the very External Actions themselves flowing from and govern'd by it may have Nothing of Flesh or Corporealness in them except the bare Appearance and Outside only And that all the Works and Services which I pay to Thee during my whole Life may be One Continual Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving Internal and from the Heart That being according to the Scriptures the Chief Sacrifice that thou likest and Callest for Thus let me Imitate the Devotion of those Holy Patriarchs Abel Melchizedech and Abraham who Sacrific'd to Thee after the same manner long before the Evangelical Law of Grace by Voluntary Affection and not by Command in the Spirit not Letter and became thereby the most Notable Figures of the Sacrificing that Thou performd'st afterward more perfectly to Thy Father and that all Thy Faithful are oblig'd to perform together with Thee all their Life long Let me not Rest in or Content my self with the bare Outward Actions and Ceremonies how Solemn and Pompous and truly Great soever they are themselves but Worship Thee chiefly by a Movement that comes into my Heart like that Fire of Old from Thee thy self in that Spirit and in That Truth which alone Soveraignly Ingratiate to Thee whatever is Offer'd Even this very Oblation of Thy Self Supplices te Rogamus HE proceeds higher and Prays that this Sacrifice may now be Offer'd rather upon that High-Altar of Gods in Heaven by his most Holy Angel For touch'd with a Consciousness of his own great unfitness to Offer a Sacrifice so transcendently Holy he falls back to Re-substitute Jesus Christ in his own room that He himself who is The Angel of the Great Councel would Offer It up to the Divine Majesty By this imploying that as Jesus Christ is the only High-Priest for this Sacrifice so He alone is fit to be the Presenter of It to His Father and to hear the Name of Angel however it be in some sense Communicated to other Priests also and that no man is worthy to be in this no not so much as His Deputy DEVOTION YEt after all 't is not Me O my God 't is not Me nor any one else here Offering Sacrifice to Thee that I desire Thee to Regard in this Action Regard Jesus Christ who is That Angel That Mediator between God and Men That Sacrificer for the whole Church Regard Him Be He the Person that now Presents to Thee this most Holy Host and be We meerly and barely His Instruments not stirring in this Heavenly Operation in the least guise as we are Animated and Mov'd by His Spirit And whatsoever we have about us Impure and Unclean let It all sall off aad be quite remov'd from us by the Cleansing power of Thy Grace That As in very deed It is not We that Live but He that Lives in Us so It may truly be said It is not We now that Offer up to Thee this Sacrifice but It is He that Offers it in Us as who alone hath the Faculty and Power to do It. But keep Vs all the while This is doing in a Trembling Posture looking at this Sacrifice and Mystery as that which the Church hath thought and styl'd Terrible that all our Confidence in a Business of this High Nature so infinitely beyond the Port of our low and despicable Condition may be rais'd and support It self solely upon Jesus Christ and we be no more than the visible Hands of that other Inviâ—sible one by which he presents It to Thee above upon that Caelestial Altar The Second Memento THis Sacrifice now fully perfected He designes it First for the Dead Offering It up for Them in a particular Commemoration following here in the custom ever practic'd in the Church 2. And then for the Living and more earnestly and intimated by a Thump on the Breast and a more Audible Tone for such as are Present that we may all be joyn'd to the Society of Those in Glory not for our Merits but for those of Jesus Christ since we have none of our own but what He pleases to
Impart to Us and account Ours DEVOTION DO not forget O Lord Those Souls whom though gone out of this World Thou hast yet a Favour for because they are better dispos'd for the receiving the Effects of Thy Mercy in That Condition than those who are still joyn'd to this Body of Clay Haste so much the more to help Them as They do more Humbly and more Patiently wait for Thy help desiring no other Happiness than to fulfill thy Will and good Pleasure and therefore finding so far as That is done upon them even in Purgatory and in the midst of extream pains which they suffer a kind of Paradice I would I had as much Purity as They to be the more capable of Interceding for Them But since I come far short of That I interpose and present Thee with that of those Saints who now reign with Thee which is the best that can be found among Creatures but especially with that of the King of Saints Thy Son from whom as from the Fountain and Head flow all those Graces and Merits which Thou hast Communicated to Thy Servants and to whom thou canst not deny the farther Perfecting and Final Accomplishment of Thine Elect since Thou hast already begun to work Righteousness and Holiness in Them Add then and Finish the Rest of what is to be done in Them and Unite both the Living and the Dead to Thy Son as to the proper Head of Their Body and only Source of their Virtue and Victory that together with Him they may Sing to Thee Triumphant Lauds to all Eternity after they have Labour'd and Suffer'd as He and in Him to Thy Glory in this World At the Nobis quoque Peccatoribus DEVOTION O That these Words now spoken out by the Priest might Humble me Effectually to make me Cry to Thee for Mercy for my self and all Thy Faithfull upon Earth who all with me now appear before Thee but as One and the same sinner and one and the same Penitent Work in me the Flexibleness and Humble dejection of that Publican whom Thou hast Justify'd in the Temple and under the Law that smiting my Breast like Him I may obtain the same Grace which Thou accorded'st to Him at the same time that Thou didst blast the Pride of the Pharisee Per quem Haec Omnia c. ANd from this Acknowledgment of our own Worthlessness the Priest goes on to another much Greater Confessing to God the Father that also This Sacrifice now upon the Altar and all its worth and Virtue or what ever else contain'd in it comes only from Him by Jesus Christ by whom He Creates It to be a Source of Sanctity and Life and all Blessings and so Gives It to Vs Not but that Jesus Christ was all this before But because by the same Act by which He produceth Him in this Sacrament He likewise Communicates to Him all those Graces and Virtues which he hath as by that Act by which He begot Him from all Eternity He also endow'd Him with all those Excellencies and Perfections proper to the Son of God and so is the production of this Sacrament a lively Image of that Eternal Generation Nor is this yet all that is acknowledg'd but farther That the same God the Father thus producing qualifying this Sacrament also Gives it to Vs Praestas Nobis and by it derives into Us a Participation of all the Excellencies it contains so that this Sacrament becomes not only an Image of that Eternal Generation of Jesus Christ before all time but also of that Incarnation of Him by which in time the Father gives Him to Us and with Him all His Perfections by a New Production as in many Places Holy Scripture testifies DEVOTION THee O God the Father Thee I Adore as the Prime and Original Author of this Sacrifice and wonderful Mystery The Holy Ghost makes It by the Priest Jesus Christ makes It by the Holy Ghost but Thou makest It by Jesus Christ and 't is from Thee as from its Fountain that all the Graces all the Perfections all the Great things contain'd in this Sacrament are deriv'd and It again becomes another Fountain of them to Vs I Admire and Celebrate from the bottom of my Heart this Miracle and more yet that Bounty which after it hath wrought it so Applies it to Men thereby to Feed them thereby to Save them just as for Thy Works have no Parallels but Thy works just as Thou gavest Thy only Son to Men by another Miracle of Incarnation in the fulness of time after Thou hadst first begotten Him in Thy bosom before all Time by which transcends all Miracles an Eternal Generation O let this account of Thy goodness debase and cast me down as low as doth mine own Illness since in the midst of all these Fountains and Sluces of Graces so super-abundantly deluging from forth this Mystery wretched I shall still remain parch'd and barren and dry and Wither'd I unless thou stream into me from thence and that uncessantly another new Grace by which I may suck in the Benefit of all the rest Per Ipsum cum Ipso in Ipso c. NExt to these Two Acknowledgements the Priest here makes a Third That That Honour and Glory that ariseth to God the Father from this His Infinite Bounty comes not to Him but By and With and In Jesus Christ By Jesus Christ as through the Hands of a Mediator for God receives nothing from Us immediately nor we from Him but Jesus Christ standing in the middle between Hands all things from the Father to Us and so back again from Us to the Father With Jesus Christ Because the Son being in all things equal to the Father receives too equally with Him the Glory that men render unto Him and all in the Union of the Holy Spirit In Jesus Christ Because He is the Vine and all men but the Branches in Him and only by being in Him can they bear any Fruit to His Father the Husbandman DEVOTION EStrange me O my God from from all Humane Inventions and ways of Worshipping Thee of what sort soever though never so specious and Holy in Appearance In things of Thy Service let me never be Acted by my own private Spring by my own proper Spirit nor upon any Motive tending to give my self Satisfaction That I may do nothing but at the Call and in submission to the Conduct and by the Spirit of Thy Son since Thou Receivest not any thing from Us but what we Offer unto Thee by Him as being the Mediator nay as being the First Mover and Author of all the Good we do nor received'st it so neither but in the same Act by which He receives It together with Him because both are one and the same Nature One and the same God and therefore are both equally concern'd and Honour'd by the Homages we pay Lastly Thou receivedest nothing but in Him also that is but from Those who are so in Him as that He
and They are but One living in the Unity of His Body consisting of such Members and Co-integrated with Him in a True though not Ordinary sense In one person May I never be perswaded to acknowledge any other manner of Honouring and Serving Thee or of Performing Acts and Exercises of Holy Religion to Thee but This wherein are compriz'd and to which tend all that be good and True so that in Effect The Eucharist and Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Thy Son may be to Me not only a Lively Representation and Continual Memorial of His Passion but also a complete and moving Model of all the Actions and good Works that belong to a Christian Life O Holy Body of my Saviour Let Virtue Issue out from Thee to Bless me Now that the Priest Lifts Thee and the Chalice a little up from the Altar into the Air and presently re-placeth you there again It is even so O Lord that thou usest to give Vs suddain and short Glympses of Thy Self in this Life by certain quick Gleams of Light which dure not like those Thou displayest in Heaven permanently and Eternally But 't is enough to make me Thine for ever that but once thou vouchsafe to pass before the Eyes of my Soul though but like a flash of Lightning as heretofore thou didst to Elias Humble my Soul lowly with the Priest still as He bowes so oft before thee at Thine Altar and Adores Thee in Silence Let the Eyes thereof shew their Modest Submission in Closing themselves to All the Objects of this World and They shall quickly discern Thee upon the Altar of my Heart within when I am Thus become Thy True Temple At the Pater Noster NOw these acknowledgements or Acts of Faith being thus Solemnly made that whatsoever Good we receive from or whatsoever Service or Worship or Glory we thereupon pay to God do all pass through Jesus Christ the Priest proceeds to desire that this devout Spiritual Commerce between Heaven and Us may be put in Execution and he begs It not only in the Name of Jesus Christ joyning himself to Him as a Brother imploring one common Father but in Those very words which Jesus Christ taught Vs to say Testifying thereby that not only the External Vocal Prayer which he recites is His but the Internal Mental one too and that It is He and His Spirit that Prayes in Vs and makes Vs Pray and say so But because in the very first words of this Lords Prayer we are to call God Our Father The Priest reflecting upon the greatness of the Honour we receive by being permitted the Use of That Title because of Gods Infinite Eminency and Grandeur above Us vile and abject Creatures Infinite unworthy to take such a Term into our Mouths He excuses this Presumption in Himself and Us declaring that if we dare to call God Our Father It is not only by the command of Jesus Christ but also by the very Express form of words so drawn by Himself for Us to do It by which we much less dare to alter or omit Wherefore he proceeds to say it as with some Considence shewn by a louder Tone so with Earnest and flagrant Desire that what is contain'd in this Prayer may be accomplish'd and stand Ratify'd for ever To which Vote the People give their most Hearty Assent by their subjoyning the last Clause as it were Subscribing and Sealing it with Et Libera nos a Malo And thus is the Canon of the Mass clos'd with the same Joynt desire of Priest and People and with the same Elevation of Hearts and Aspiration towards God as its Preface began with DEVOTION T Is most properly Now Certainly Now at the Holy Mass that Thou Obligest Vs to believe Thee to be Our Father Now that Thou here dispencest to Vs Thy Childrens Bread â—â—eding Vs with the Body and Blood of thine only Son with His very Substance Humane and Divine to make Vs Gods too and Children of the most High This Largess and Honour is so Great that though our Faith permits not to doubt of It yet an Humble Estimate of our selves and true Acknowledgement of our great vility and unworthiness makes it almost incredible at least suffers us not to receive any assurance thereof but in the single bare contemplation of thy Mercy only Imprint we beseech thee This Resentment so deep in our Souls that we growing as little in our own esteem as we are design'd to be Great in Thine may therefore be made the more certain of this Great Favour and Incomprehensible Dignity and by this means be in a better disposition and preparation to receive the precious Earnest thereof in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which is but the Typical Pledge of that Other Infinitely Higher and more August which thou reserv'st for us in Heaven Only take such Care of Vs in the mean time that we no way degenerate from this Divine quality of being Children of Thine nor render Our Selves unworthy of having Thee for Our Father by some Ungracious deed that may argue Vs to Be no less than thy profest Enemies O if the frailty of this Present Life is not Compatible with an absolute Freedom from all sorts of Faults as we are sure the Felilicities of the Next will be yet Guard Vs at least that we incur none but such as are altogether Inseparable from this Frailty and so ruine not that Dignity which Thou hast given us of being Thy Children for all This Only take we good heed still of Explating them again as soon as ever committed and of Procuring from Thee our Own Pardon by Pardoning in like manner freely and from the Heart whosoever have Offended Us since this is that most Equitable Condition which thou hast so wisely caution'd in this Admirable Prayer and wilt surely Observe so as not to Pardon the Trespasses against Thee Our Father unless we first forgive those that our Brethren commit against Vs I cannot say that I would desire such Exact Purity or so Perfect an Absolution from all my Sins for any other reason but that I may be so able more Holily to Serve and Glorifie Thee having no desire of any one thing in this World so much as to see Thy Name Hallow'd Thy Kingdom come and Establish'd in the total Ruine of Thine Enemies Thy Will be done in the utmost Latitude as well by good Men as Bad These fulfulling It though against their Own Will but those in perfect Love and True Obedience Libera Nos quaesumus Domine Da Propitius Pacem THe Canon ended the Priest now begins to prepare Himself to the Participation and Communion of this Sacrifice Which he does First by Imploring Peace from God 2. And then wishing and deriving It to the People still shewing that he can impart to them nothing of Himself but must first receive it Himself from God Now Peace is the chiefest and prime qualification or disposition toward the Receiving
of this Sacrament which is a Sacrament of Vnion and Love And therefore as this Sacrament is the most Powerful means to work it in them who partake thereof Worthily so doth It prae-require It in Them as far as they by other means can procure It that they may Worthily pertake thereof by express Precept of the Son of God so often repeated and especially in that famous Text which Commands us to go 5 Mat. 24. and be Reconcil'd to our Brother before we Offer up our Gift at God's Altar DEVOTION I Now supplicate Thee O Lord for this First Preparatory Peace which is the necessary and best Disposition toward the receiving of that other which Thou desir'st to confer on Vs by this Holy Sacrament and Sacrifice for in the Gospel we learn Luc. 10.6 that Thy Peace cannot rest upon any but such as are First the Sons of Peace This Peace then not finding how to Repose It self upon me here in a perfect Aboliton of All Passions as It shall do hereafter in Heaven may It at least Possess me in a perfect Absolution from all my past Sins which let me Hate and Abolish perfectly by a True and Vnintermitted Penitence That so I may begin to receive now in the Communion of this Sacrament That Peace which consists in a total Ruine and Extirpation of Passions which are Calm'd and Cur'd more effectually by the Blessed Eucharist than by any other Remedy whatsoever Vpon the Fraction of the Host IT is worth the Noting here That after the Priest hath made Supplication for This Peace of God before He derive It by way of Blessing to the Church He first divides the Host into three parts representing the 3 several Estates and Portions of the Church for which He hath implor'd Peace And the part representing this Portion of the Church Now Militant here on Earth He laye down upon the Altar that which is for That other Portion Now Expectant in Purgatory He holds still in his Hand after he hath sever'd from It a third Part which he puts into the Chalice to signify both that third Portion of the Church Now Regnant and Triumphant and as it were imbib'd and absorpt into the Deity in Heaven And also Jesus Christ Himself as the First Born from the Dead and Re-uniting His Body and Blood and so entring into the Glory of God as the Head and Elder Brother of all the Saints Pax Domini ANd hence in the very joyning of this third part of the Hoste to the Chalice he wisheth the Peace to the People informing Us thereby that Jesus Christ rais'd again and Enter'd into Glory gives Peace to his Church and that This Peace is nothing else but an over-flowing of that Complaisant Tranquility which in His Glory himself infinitely abounds with and fully satisfies the Blessed in Heaven DEVOTION INcrease in me O my Father Faith and Charity That I may Believe as this Sacrament now lying upon the Altar is but one Bread only that came down from Heaven so That the whole Church together with Jesus Christ make but one Body and that the distinction and separation of Persons in It by distant places do no more hinder Its Unity than if They were all and always visibly to the Eye closely compact and joyn'd together even as this Hoste upon the Altar is still after its division into parts here representing the divers Members in the Church as truly and precisely one as it was before I beseech Thee Enable me to Love and Embrace Jesus Christ in Heaven and his Members where-ever dispers'd throughout the World with an Affection as True and with an Enamouredness as Great and Constant as if they were perpetually by me and I enjoyed their Personal Corporal Presence Thy Grace Vniting Me to those from whom I am absent and severing me in a Holy Abstraction even from those to whom I am most Present my very self and all to whom Thou hast any way joyn'd me in this World The Agnus Dei. TO Jesus Christ therefore in particular is this Address made for that Peace Praying Him three several times to vouchsafe It. Now to that part of his Church here yet remaining as at His Ascention he gave it there to them he left behind and as He Himself now enjoys It. and makes others enjoy It too His Fellow-Citizens in that Jerusalem above that City of Peace And all this enforc'd not only by an Ardent Affection imply'd in the Repetition but also by a Choice and most pertinent Compellation of of Him as of the Lamb of God just now lying upon the Altar to take away our Sins the Impediments and so making our full Reconciliation and Peace with the Father DEVOTION I Presume O God to Petition Thee for Thy Peace though it be indeed The greatest of all Thy Gifts since but the day before Thy Death thou left'st to Vs this Legacy in the Persons of Thy Apostles as the Close and Accomplishment of all the Rest and wert pleas'd to stile Vs Children of Peace But let It be Thy Peace not that of the World The Inward Peace of Thy Holy Spirit to at subsists un-impair'd in the midst of all pains and outward Conflicts to be sustain'd by Vs for Thy Service Let it be a Peace wholly proceeding from Thy Mercy The Result of a Conscience undefil'd and of Remission of all Sins The Crown of a Perfect Righteousness obtainable only by Thee who art That Lamb of God Sacrific'd to Reconcile Us unto Thy Father and to make Peace between Heaven and Earth which the Sin and Rebellion of Men and Angels had set at so great an Enmity I beg of Thee then That Peace which is settled upon the Full Forgiveness of Sin which caus'd that division between Thy Father and Vs that the Peace which I ought to have with Men may be the Natural Issue of what I have with God First and so be no Humane but a Divine Peace For as the Wisdom of men with Thee is but Folly so neither is Humane Peace any thing else than a War displeasing to Thee in so much that Thou hast profess'd to Persecute all those and disperse their Bones who so Combine together I am transported with a particular Joy and Consolation to hear it now Thrice Asserted that Thou art He who takest away Our Sins I were undone but for That Mercy and but for that farther Assurance which Faith gives me that Thou in bearing our Sins in Thy Body dost also Extinguish them The Lost Sheep upon Thy Shoulders being both Carry'd and Cur'd The Pax Tecum THen he gives the Pax to all present immediately after he hath ask'd It of Jesus Christ by the peculiar Prayer to Him for that purpose Domine Jesu Christe And after he hath as it were taken It from the Altar submissively by a Holy Kiss a Symbole of Peace But in the Mass for the Dead all this is omitted and only Their Rest Pray'd for because the Giving of the Pax among the Faithful
those two Sublime Points of Our Faith the Trinity and the Incarnation are Insisted on to shew that Our Eternal Happiness shall consist in the Clear Vision of That which here we have humbly acknowledg'd and embrac'd though but in the obscure and Imperfect Light of Faith and that We shall Live Eternally By Contemplation of the Essence and Trinity of the Persons in the God-head as Thou Thy self livest in it by Comprehension Remove O Lord out of my mind any other Thought and out of my Heart all other Delight or Pleasure Let me now in Time take full Contentment in This Object which and no other must make me Happy in Eternity NOw by what hath been Intimated throughout this short Reflection of my Thoughts it may be inferr'd perhaps not Impertinently what was said in the beginning That the Whole Mass is a Re-view and Commemoration of the being Driven out of Paradice for the Sin of Adam and of Our Return again into Paradice By the Blood and Grace of Jesus Christ Certain Reflections upon the CREED thereby to prepare the Heart the better for being more Confirm'd in another Article of the Catholick Faith touching the Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ PREFACE I Believe O My Saviour and my God! When I consider that this Heavenly Manna thy most Holy Body so miraculously contriv'd to be our Nourishment as we pass through the Desart of this World is affirmed to be truly and Substantially present upon the Altar immediately after the Words of Consecration I am struck with wonder and amazement and have not a word left me to say but this which is a plain confession of my ignorance and all that those Israelites could reply upon the first view of that other Manna * Man hu Man hu What 's this What 's this Lord have pity on me My best natural understanding my Judgement as rational and humane all my Senses set themselves in opposition to it and frame a thousand objections to the contrary to deterr me away say they How can it possibly be that Christ should give us his very Flesh to eat This is the hardest saying of all never to be conceiv'd never to be Believ'd But it is by thy Grace O my God that these Seducers in my own Bosom have not yet prevailed upon me I have done still as those two great Servants of thine Councel'd me St. Ambrose and St. Austin I have fled presently to my Creed and opposed to all their contradictions that Symbol that short Lesson which thy Apostles took care to teach thy servants heretofore In the first place I Arm my self with that as with a sure Cart of thy protection with It I close and shut up my Heart as with a Signet that none of all these suggestions can find the way in and like a well-stor'd Quiver it hath afforded me a thousand and a thousand good Shafts by which I am enabled to keep them off and ruin them all What say I if all other Arguments were nothing doth not this one word alone that stands in the very Front of my Creed I Believe suffice to defeat the forces of all such Rebellious Thoughts and make them fall backward I Believe 'T is the word that was given me at my first entrance and Enrolment in this sacred Militia and was pronounc'd by me then at my Baptism by the mouth of those who there undertook for me and I must still make it good I am therefore not one that pretends to be an understander of the Mysteries of my Salvation not a Disputer not one of the Intelligent but my Profession is to be one of the Faithful a Believer And therefore by how much hard and incomprehensible this Sacrament is made appear to me by so much the more is it likely to be one of the Articles I am to believe and so rendred by its proposal more venerably credible For Faith There comes to its true Lustre and is seated as it were on its Throne where the Understanding is most humbled by Obscurities ARTICLE I. In God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth c. God is God in all his works God but his Deity appears to us most in his Greatest And because this Sacrament is confess'd to be one of them if not the very Greatest of all what surer Testimony can it bring with it to make me believe it to be so the work of the Almighty than its being wonderful and un-intelligible Are there not Three distinct Persons Father Son and Holy Spirit in one and the same single Essence A compleat Trinity in a most simple Vnity That Faith which hath swallowed and digested this transcendent difficulty how comes it now to stick and make scruple of Believing One and the same Body to be in divers places at once God defend me from the temper of those Rebellious Children The Father that came to question his Omnipotent Arm and say can he prepare a Table for us in the Wilderness And could all their projecting thoughts ever have pitcht upon such a way as that of Manna Well whatever part of this Paschal Lamb I cannot Chew by my Reason I will cast it into as it were the Fire of the unlimited power of this Father Almighty whom I believe to be Almighty These little Clouds of Difficulties that so intercept and put this Sacrament out of the sight of our Natural Eye how easily do they vanish in the clear Sun-shine of Gods Omnipotency What so hard that this Fire consumes not The bare Word God hath had such Virtue Maker of Heaven c. as to give a Being to such things as were not at all How much more is it able to give a different Being to what already is and how and in as many places as he pleaseth He hath made that which was Not at all any where to be Some-where why can he not as well make That which is but Some where to be every where And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord. Whilst I am assured O my Saviour His Son that thy Father so loved the World as to give Thee his only Son to be its Feeder and Physician What wonder is it say I within my self if this Son of equal Love and Bounty with his Father do further give himself to be its very Food and Physick too thereby to make himself more intrinsecally a Saviour and King Our Lord. and Lord over All and through All. Which was conceived of the Holy Ghost Born of the Virgin Mary So wert thou Conceiv'd O my God in the Womb of a Virgin without any use of Man And why then do we look for Natural Conditions and Properties in That Body Conceiv'd which was made at first not according to the Order of Nature and Born of a Virgin Since thy Body took up no place then when it came forth thro' the un-open'd and Virginal Womb of thy Mother for otherwise Born it had forced the
doing ever hereafter Things pleasing to Thee An Impregnable Defence both of Soul and Body against all Assaults or Treacheries of mine Enemies A Token of present Grace and a sure Pledge and Earnest of future Glory Amen Another ALmighty and Immortal Father Behold I come to this Sacrament of Thy only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ I come As an Infirm and Languishing Person to the Physitian that gives Life and Health As one Defil'd and Unclean to the pure Spring of Grace and Mercy As the Blind to a Light of never failing Clearness As a Poor and Indigent Creature to the Lord of Heaven and Earth I humbly supplicate and beseech Thee therefore in such Abundance and so copious overflowing of Plenty of Favours To daign me A Cure of mine Infirmity A Cleansing from my Defilements A Recovery from Blindness An Enriching of my Poverty A Nuptial Garment for hiding my Shame and Nakedness That being admitted a Guest at Thy Table and Feeding on the Bread of Angels the King of Kings and Lord of Lords I may demean my self with So great Reverence and Humility So true Contrition and Devotion So much Purity and Faith That purpose and Intention As may most conduce to the Salvation of my Soul Grant me now I pray Thee to Receive not only the Sacrament of our Lords Body and Blood but the Virtue also and real Effect of the Sacrament O most Merciful God Grant me in such manner to Receive This Body of Thy only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ which he took from the Virgin Mary that I may thereby become Incorporated into His Mystical Body and be one of its Living and Sound Members O most Indulgent Father Vouchsafe that this Thy Beloved Son whom now I intend to Receive as here He comes Masqu'd and under these Veils So I may hereafter be admitted to Enjoy with open Face in full Vision as with Thee and the Holy Spirit he Lives and and Reigns one God World without End Amen Prayers after Communion I Give Thee Infinite Thanks from the very bottom of my Heart and with all the Powers and Faculties of my Soul and Body Holy Lord Omnipotent Father Eternal God! Who hast now Vouchsafed Me a Sinner a most unworthy Servant upon no account of any Merit in me but in meer condescention of Thy Mercy to have an Interest in this Inestimable Sacrifice and Holy Communion of the Precious Body and Blood of Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ Which I have now Offer'd and fed upon In Honourable memory of His Death and Passion In Gratitude for all Benefits Receiv'd c. For Reconcilement and Remission of my Sins c. For increase of Grace to c. In Memory and Veneration of such and such Servant or Saint of Thine c. And I humbly beseech Thee that these Acts of Devotion and Worship of Thee may not be to me any new Guilt of Sin to be Punish'd but an Effectual Intercession rather and Procurement of Pardon An Armory of Faith and Shield of Good Will A clean riddance of all Vices in me A total quenching of Lust and Concupiscence An Increase of Divine Love and Patience of Humility Obedience and all other Virtues A Fortress against all the Machinations of my Enemies Visible and Invisible A perfect Calming of all Commotions from Flesh or Spirit A close adhaesion to Thee the only True God and the Happy Conclusion of my Life And after this Viaticum Conduct I beseech Thee Thy Servant to that inexpressible never-ending Feast where Thou together with Thy Son and Holy Spirit Indivisible Trinity art to Thy Saints Their true Light Their full Satisfaction Their everlasting Joy Their compleat Delight and Their Every perfect Happiness Through Jesus Christ Amen Another O My Lord Jesu Sweet above all Sweets Infuse into my Heart my Bowels and inmost Entrails of my Spirit such a strong Passion for Thee so True Clear Apostolick and most Sanctify'd Affection to Thee that my Soul may languish and be always melting with a Love of Thee only Long for Thee pant after Thy presence in these Thy Courts the places of Thy particular Residence and Worship wish to be quite dissolv'd to be with Thee yet nearer Make my Soul Hunger after Thee The Food of Angels The Refreshment of Sanctify'd Spirits Or daily Super-substantial Bread full of all Delightful Relishes and Suavities Savouring of the Varieties of all-pleasing Tasts and Gusts After Thee whom the Angels so much Covet to pry into let my Heart always have an Appetite and feed on Thee Let it ever Thirst for Thee The Spring of Life The Fountain of Wisdom and Knowledge The Source of Eternal Light The Torrent of Pleasures The Plenty of God's House Court Thee seek Thee find Thee run after Thee over-take Thee Muse on Thee Talk of Thee do all things to the Praise and Glory of Thy Name With Humility With Discretion With Delight With Felicity With Affection With Perseverance And be Thou only at all times my Hope my Confidence my Riches my Pleasure my Divertisement my Joy my Rest my Peace my Delight my sweet Perfume my Meat my Sauce my Meal my Retirement my Aid my Wisdom my Portion my Possession my Treasure on which my Mind may still run my Heart be ever set fix'd and unchangeably Establish'd Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for Nathaniel Thompson at the Entrance into Old-Spring-Garden near Charing-Cross A Brief Discourse of Confession to a Lawful Priest wherein is treated of the last Judgement By P Manby Dean of London-Dery A Manual of Controversies clearly proving the Truth of Catholick Faith by Texts of Holy Scripture Councels of all Ages Fathers of the first 500 years Common Sense and Reason and fully Ansering all the Principal Objections of Protestants and all manner of Sectaries By H. T. A most Excellent way of Hearing Mass with Profit and Devotion Containing the whole Mase in Latine and English with divers Select Prayers before and after Confession and Communion and an Examen of Conscience c. A Manual of Devout Prayers fitted for all persons and all occasions To which is added the Rosary in Latine and English Prayers to the B. V. The Prayers of St. Bridget c. with the Vespers or Even-Song