from the servitude of sin The First Commandement Thou shalt have no other Gods before me HAving as it were setled in our hearts his Authority and Power to prescribe and make Laws unto us his just precept is that We have no other Gods before him 1. Neither by abating any reverence due to him But to worship him with all our heart By acknowledging him to be the only true God By honouring serving and praising him above all things By trusting and relying wholly upon him By expecting all good from him By humbling our selves before him and patiently bearing whatsoever he shall please to lay upon us and subjecting our wills wholly to his 2 Not by attributing any honour to other Gods or Idols or putting any confidence in Saints or Angels Earthly Pleasures Riches Honour or the like lest we offend thereby As Rachel did by asking Children of Iacob As the King of Syria by desiring Ioram to heal Naamans leprosie As Asa by too much trusting to his Physicians As the Fool in the Gospel trusting to his riches Neither secretly in thy heart Nor in the view of God and the World openly Not but that God is every where and seeth into the secret corners of our hearts and is Omniscient but to set a note or brand of impudence upon us for our indignity to him if we shall make open profession of our Idolatry to any false God or Idol in worshipping it or of our excessive love or doting upon any Creature by putting confidence in it neglecting our dependance on God who is only able by his Omnipotency to releive us This Commandement enjoyneth the inward worship of God The Second Commandement Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image AS in the first Commandement God requireth that we worship him only inwardly so in this he forbiddeth all undue and indirect outward worshipping of him and enjoyneth us not to make any resemblance to worship him by because he is a Spirit and is only to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth It consisteth of two parts 1. A prohibition of making any Image representing the Divine Godhead 2. Of exhibiting any worship to any Image And that 1. Because he is incomprehensible cannot be represented in any form visible 2. Because he is able to punish the contemners of his Name And to bless his true Worshippers 1. Therefore we are not to grave or make any Image or resemblance of him For when he gave the Law saith Moses he appeared in no manner of similitude To whom then will ye liken God or to what likeness will ye compare him 2. Neither are we to make the likeness of any thing to worship it For as we ought not to make any resemblance of him so neither when we make the similitude of any thing else the true use of making Pictures and the like being lawful not to worship or attribute any honour to it Not that all Images are hereby forbidden 1. For some in the Old Testament were Typical The Brazen Serpent being the Type of Christ. The two Cherubins on the Ark represented the Majesty of God attended by his Angels c. 2. Some are for Ornament many in the fabrique of the Temple and in the holy Vessels of it 3. Some Historical of stories either out of the Scriptures or of other Writers 4. Some for instruction in the nature of Beasts Cities and Countries Saint Paul saith that the Gentiles changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness c. 1. Either by bowing the body uncovering the head or bending the knee to them 2. Or by setting the same in any eminent place to worship them bestowing extraordinary cost on them making Pilgrimages to them or dedicating Altars Lamps or the like to them By this Commination he sheweth his power to punish Offenders and that he is able and all-sufficient to supply our wants likewise Like the jealous Husband who will have no partner in his love And suffereth no Corrival Competitor or Sharer in his Service My Son give me thy heart thy whole heart Punishing them that run after false Gods in many descents even as long as they shall continue in their idolatrous courses Though the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father yet this is so odious to him that he will take vengeance of the Idolatrous Generation As of the Iews in general Solomon and others 1. To shew how odious Idolatry is to him 2. To force men who naturally have a love and care to their posterity by this Commination to abstain from it left their issue be plagued Confounded be all they that worship carved Images and that delight in vain Gods The mercy of the LORD is over all his Works is over his Iustice. For whereas he punisheth Idolaters in his Iustice but to three or four generations He is merciful to thousands of those that worship him aright throughout all generations His reward is alwayes greater than his punishment Of his own nature more bent to shew mercy than to execute severity It is his proper work and suitable to his nature to have mercy but he is hardly drawn to punish as being a work altogether unsuitable to his disposition With their whole heart without hypocrisie and do not impart that worship to others which is due to him In obedience walking in his wayes All his Commandements but chiefly this concerning his worship The Third Commandement Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain The scope of which is to shew what reverence is due to God in our Conversation especially in the use or abuse of an Oath THe Name of the Lord which in it self is Holy True and Iust. And therefore we ought not to prophane it or take it in our mouths lightly or upon every small occasion Herein we offend When we blaspheme God either openly or in our hearts When we use his holy Word to any prophane scurrilous or impure end When we commit Perjury When we murmure against him When we leave his Providence and consult with Witches or the like When we swear upon trivial and light causes When we curse or use unlawful Imprecations When we perform not that which we faithfully promise When we in any action of our own detract from Gods glory and attribute and arrogate too much to our selves An Oath is to be ministred when the glory of God is questioned for some weighty matter urgeth it upon the Magistrates command And to be taken by those who are of years of discretion and in their right senses The Lord and Iudge of Heaven and Earth who seeth and observeth all our actions is so far from conniving at this
have they an irascible to resist all obstacles which may be to their detriment It must not be with us as with the sluggard Vult non vult have a desire to it for the excellency but give it over for the difficulty 3. That we be attentive to what we are doing and keep our hearts from vain and wandring cogitations Omni custodia serva cor tuum quia ex ipso vita procedit Keep thy heart with all diligence for there-out cometh life for as our heart is so will all the actions be which proceed from it For it is not a chill and cold Perseverance or Expectation that will serve our turns to prevail with God but a fervent spirit to pursue the same For God heareth not at least regardeth not as not loud crying long babling or many tautologies or repetitions so neither cold faint and drowzy prayers not intending or minding what we pray for which proceed only from the lips but it is the affection and zealous desire of the devout mixed with sighs tears and groans not to be uttered which move and prevail with him For God being a Spirit looketh to be worshipped in spirit To which purpose it is that our Saviour Christ adviseth us when we pray to enter into our Closets and to shut the door intimating to us thereby that we being alone and private should cast away all publique wandering and worldly thoughts which trouble our devotions and hinder us from lifting up our hearts unto God and wholly fervently and considerately bend our thoughts and desires unto him And these retired Soliloquies and private Meditations and Conferences between God our souls and between our selves and our souls have ever been much approved by the Antients Our Prayer saith an antient Father ought to be in such manner as Hanna's was She wept and prayed and her lips only were perceived to move Let every one hear this and imitate it especially they who with extream babling without all modesty yet with loudness of voice make their prayers Let us therefore pray with sighs and groans But withall taking heed as much as we can with Gods assistance and our own endeavours that in the time of our prayers no extravagant thought steal upon us lest happily we have one thing in our hearts and another in our tongues And to this purpose also speaketh S. Basil All our prayers ought to be made not in syllables but in the hearty affection of the soul. For how do or can we think that God will give us that for which we pray when by our behaviour and gesture our faint and weak sollicitation we seem to him that either we do not want what we pray for or that he will upon every slight and cold motion be perswaded to give us what we desire Or how can we expect to be heard of God when we our selves not being serious in our devotions but diverted with other phantasies hear not nor know what we do petition for The wise man therefore giveth us good and wholsom counsel in this matter Before thou prayest prepare thy self and be not as one that tempteth the Lord. Our prayers therefore must not proceed from the lips only for no man can assure himself that God heareth his prayers who is so careless and his thoughts so wandring that he knoweth not himself what he prayeth for Of the Time and Place for PRAYER TAke a little taste of the Time when and the Place where our Prayers are to be offered up to GOD. For the Time in general the Places before-named do and may direct us Pray without ceasing Continue in Prayer And pray alwayes More particularly Twice a day that is Morning Evening the Sacrifices were to be made David prayed thrice In the Evening Morning and at Noon-day And seven times in a day Daniel prayed thrice In the morning before day Christ prayed David prayed early The Apostles at the third hour of the day At the sixth hour The ninth hour And David at midnight For the Place In all places saith God Every where saith S. Paul Christ prayed in the Desert On a Mountain In the Garden Isaac in the Field Peter prayed on the House-top or Tarris In the Congregation saith David To the Temple went S. Peter S. Iohn and S. Paul And Christ bids us when we would be private in prayer and not be molested to go to our Closets So that it appeareth that there is no Time nor Place unseasonable to offer up our Prayers unto God as occasion shall be offered though the chief Place for private Prayer is our Closet and for publick the Temple where one may stir up another by example and where we ought to make publick confession of our Faith and give publick thanks for Gods benefits How to pray aright BUt it may come to pass though we be prepared and fitted with all the former circumstances that we may pray and not be heard if in the last place we do not carefully consider to pray for those things which are fit and requisite for God to give and for us to receive For as Saint Iames saith Many time we ask and receive not because we ask amiss For our better instruction therefore we are to consider that there be two sorts of Blessings to be required of God First Spiritual Secondly Temporal 1. The first part pertains to Gods own honour and the good of our own souls as Faith Hope Charity Thankful Hearts Remission of Sins and other of the same kind which are meerly spiritual and heavenly And these Blessings we may without doubt safely and confidently beg at GODS hands and he will not deny them 2. The Second are temporal and indifferent as Riches Honour Health Peace Seasonable times Children and the like And these are not to be prayed for but according to Christs pattern of prayer with thy Will be done or according to Christs practice with a Not as I will but as thou wilt Or with the Leaper in the Gospel Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Saint Bernard disposeth these into three heads Two for blessings of this life for the body and soul and the third for the life to come And in praying for these he giveth three Cautions with his Reasons First That our prayer for Temporal blessings which the body wanteth be restrained to things needful because many times we pray for things superfluous to satisfie our pleasures Secondly That our petition for the graces of the soul be free from impurity because we oftentimes desire to have them for Ostentation Thirdly That our request for the blessing of Eternal Life be in all Humility because many require it at Gods hands as presuming upon their own merits Our Prayers being thus qualified being preferred only to God in Faith Hope Charity with
thy Law in them with the finger of thy Holy Spirit that all our desires and actions may be conformable to thy blessed Will And now again O Lord we desire thy Majesty to take our Souls and Bodies into thy protection this night following Suffer us not to sleep in sin but watch over us and defend us under the shaddow of thy wings Let not our sleep be excessive or immoderate but raise us again in due time that after a quiet and moderate sleep we may arise to serve and praise thee joyfully begin and perfect our works justly labour in our vocations truly and seek thy Kingdom earnestly that at the last by thee with thee and in thee we may come unto the same Kingdom by the merits of our Saviour JESUS CHRIST in whose Name and Prayer we are bold to call further upon thee saying Our Father c. Prayers upon the Life and Death of our Saviour Iesus Christ. O Sweet SAVIOUR Who for the love of Mankind didst vouchsafe to descend from thy Royal Throne from the bosom of thy Father into this vale of misery and to take on thee the form of a sinner even humane flesh in the sanctified womb of the most chast and pure Virgin and be born without impeachment to her Virginity Be pleased of thy great clemency to make my heart thy habitation adorn it to that end with all Spiritual Graces and be daily born in me by renewing in my Soul a fervent love to thee and Be merciful to me O Blessed Lord Who being God Almighty didst not disdain at thy Birth to be wrapped in swadling clouts and to be laid in a Manger Grant that I may be ever in thy fight a little Infant in Humility and Lowliness of Spirit take from me all ambitious Thoughts and Be merciful to me O Gracious Lord Who at thy Birth wouldst be received into this World with the joyful Hymns of blessed Angels and be found to the great delight and admiration of poor Shepheards Give thy Grace unto me thy poor unworthy servant continually to persevere in thy praises to seek thee with the Shepheards affection by seeking to find thee and finding thee alwayes to retain and enjoy thee and Be merciful to me O Sweet Jesu Who wert pleased upon the eight day to be circumcised and in that most tender age of thine didst begin to shed thy blood meerly for the love of me and mankind Cut off I intreat thee all superfluities from my Soul and take from me all evil thoughts words and works and Be merciful to me O Blessed Christ Who to the unspeakable comfort of me and all thine Elect wouldst be called by the saving Name of Iesus Grant that the memory of this Name may ever cause a reverend respect in me toward thee and that by it I may be preserved all my life and at the hour of death and Be merciful to me O Loving Lord God Who wouldst be found in the Wise men which sought thee with Faith and Devotion and who having found thee fell before thee with Oblations of Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe Be pleased I beseech thee that I may find thee in Spirit and worship thee in Spirit and Truth Offering unto thee the Gold of bright shining Charity the Incense of pure Devotion and the Myrrhe of perfect Mortification and Be merciful to me O Blessed Saviour Who to leave Mankind an example of Obedience and Humility wouldst become subject to the Law and be brought to the Temple and there have offered for thee the Oblations of the Poor and not the rich Give me the Grace of Obedience to subject my self willingly to my Governours Suffer not the least thought of pride to reign in me but quench in me all haughtiness of Spirit with inordinate love and conceit of my self and Be merciful to me O Gracious Lord Who whilst thou wert yet young and tender wert contentted to suffer persecution and flee with thy blessed Mother into AEgypt Grant me such ability by thy grace whereby I may not only suffer persecution and affliction when it shall please thee but also persecute and punish all wickedness within my self before it grow too strong for me and Be merciful to me O Blessed Jesu Who being sought for by thy blessed Mother three dayes wouldst be found of her in the Temple Suffer me never to be severed from thee give me such a devotion toward thee that I may never be weary in serving thee nor satisfied with praising thee either in Church or private Closet and Be merciful to me O Loving Lord Who wouldst enter the River Jordan and there be Baptized by thy Fore-runner John the Baptist Be pleased that I may be purified in this life by thy merits and thereby washed from all my sins and Be merciful to me O Gracious Saviour who didst continue fasting and praying forty dayes and nights together in the Desert and after divers Tentations didst overcome Satan Grant that I may chastise my flesh and exercise my self in Fasting Watching Prayer and other Spiritual Excercises and subdue all evil Affections which rebel against the Spirit and Be merciful to me O Blessed Redeemer Who for my sake didst subject thy self to many Sorrows and Necessities to Heat Cold Hunger Thirst Weariness Sweat Iourneys Persecutions and Tribulations Strengthen me with the aid of thy Holy Spirit that I may willingly bear all Adversities as coming from thy hand and Be merciful to me O Blessed Lord Who while thou wert upon Earth didst vouchsafe to comfort the Sons of Men and heal their Infirmities Replenish my heart with all pious Affection that I may account the miseries of others as mine own and supply their necessities in whatsoever I may according to my ability and Be merciful to me O Gracious Lord Who for thy love to Mankind didst eudure infinite Miseries Injuries Calumnies Blasphemies and Revilings even of those to whom thou hast done much good Create in me a heart pure and innocent which may forgive mine Enemies and love them rendring good for evil whereby I may shew my self a true follower of thy perfect Charity and Patience and Be merciful to me O Merciful Saviour Who to abrogate the Ceremonial Law didst eat the Paschal Lamb with thy Disciples and giving them an example of Humility upon thy knees didst wash their feet Grant that this example may take deep impression in me give me perfect Humility true Obedience and fervent Love whereby I may love thee sincerely and all others unseignedly and Be merciful to me O Blessed Lord Who of thy great love didst institute the blessed Sacrament of thy Body and Blood whereby thou mightest continue with us to the end of the World Stir up in me an earnest desire and longing after this holy Sacrament and grant that I may ever receive it with a chast love deep affection and a pure heart and Be merciful to me O Loving Lord Who when thou wert to leave this World didst comfort thy Disciples and with
are strong to do evil and they also that hate me because they see my Conversion wrongfully and without cause are multiplyed and exceedingly increased 20 They also that unthankfully render evil to me for the good which I have done unto them are also become mine Adversaries and do unto me all the mischief they can and why because they perceive my conversion and that I follow and love the thing that good is which they hate 21 Forsake me not either in tentation or tribulation O Lord the Author of my salvation O my God whom I desire to serve be not far from me by with-drawing thy grace from me 22 Make haste lest I faint under the burthen of my sins to help me against my Enemies O Lord who art my only stay in this life and my salvation in the life to come Glory be to the Father c. Psalm 51. HAve mercy upon me miserable sinner O God full of mercy and compassion according to thy loving and infinite kindness to the Sons of men and as my sins are infinite so according to the multitude of thy tender mercies which thou hast ever shewed to penitent sinners blot out of the book of thy remembrance my innumerable transgressions 2 Wash me thorowly with the blood of thy dear Son from mine iniquity whereby I have so often offended thy Majesty and cleanse me in the fountain of thy mercies from my sin whereby I have also offended my Neighhour 3 For behold O Lord I hide not nor excuse but in the bitter tears of repentance acknowledge and confess my horrible transgressions against thee and my grievous sin in which I did for a time take delight is grown odious to me and is ever before me in remorse of Conscience 4. Against thee most mercifull Father only have I sinned and though I were ashamed to commit sin in the sight of men yet I have done this great evil in thy all-seeing sight yet O Lord be mercifull to me and pardon it that thou mightest be justified and found true and faithfull when thou speakest as thou hast often done of mercy and forgiveness to the penitent and be clear from the imputation of injustice when thou art arrogantly and falsly judged for severity thy punishments being just though the eyes of our understanding be not so clear as to perceive the justice of them 5 Behold O Lord that I as all man-kind was shapen in the iniquity of original sin from which fountain springeth my misery and in sin and concupiscence did my mother conceive me from whence groweth the infirmity of my flesh 6 Behold also O Lord I know that thou desirest Truth Faith and integrity in the inward parts of my conscience and in the hidden parts of me my soul Thou shalt make me by the illumination of thy Holy Spirit to know wisdom to eternal life 7. Purge me leprous sinner with spiritual Hisope the blood of thy Son instead of the Hysope which was wont to clense the leprous in the law and by that blood I shall be clean and purified from the leprosie of sin Wash me in the fountain of Grace and then by tears of repentance and the merits of my Saviour I shall be whiter in thy sight than Snow 8. Make me poor wretch to hear and sensibly feel the joy and comfort of remission of my sins and let me find gladness in the promise of life eternal that the spiritual bones of my soul which thou hast broken with tentations and afflictions may rejoyce and give thee thanks and praise 9 Hide and turn away thy face and wrathfull countenance from my sins lay them not to my charge and blot out of thy Register all mine iniquities that they never appear to condemn me 10 Create in me polluted a clean and pure heart O God the Creator of all things and renew by thy Grace a right and sanctified Spirit in me 11 Cast me not away into the pit of desperation by debarring me from thy presence where only is fulness of joy and take not for ever thy Holy Spirit of comfort from me 12 Restore unto me rather the unspeakable joy of thy Salvation in Christ Jesus which they feel in their consciences whose sins thou remittest and when I am reinstated in thy favour uphold and keep me from falling again with thy free powerfull and saving Spirit 13 Then even when I shall be restored I will by word of exhortation and example of conversation teach transgressors how they shall keep thy wayes and Commandements and by that means thy Grace assisting they which now are sinners shall forsake their wickedness and shall be truly converted unto thee 14 Deliver me and quit me from my former bloody offences and keep me henceforth from blood-guiltiness and carnal corruptions O God my Protector Thou God which art my Redeemer and the Author of my Salvation and all the dayes of my life my tongue for joy thereof shall sing unto thee and that aloud and chearfully and praise thy Name by extolling of thy righteousness who dost justifie sinners and art merciful to the penitent 15 O Lord that givest wisdom to the simple open thou my lips which are closed by sin from doing any service unto thee and then with boldness my mouth shall utter and shew forth thy praise For to thee alone belongeth all Honour and Glory 16 For thou O God desirest not that I should offer the Sacrifice of Goats and Calves to expiate my offences else would I willingly give it and lay it on thy Altar but thou having by sending thy Son Christ Jesus abrogated the Ceremonies of the Law delightest not any longer in burnt Offerings but in obedience to thy Commandements 17 The Sacrifices accepted of God and whereby we are in Christ reconciled to him are a broken and humble Spirit dejected with the sight of sin a broken and contrite heart truly mortified and repentant O God thou hast promised that thou wilt not despise but lovingly accept 18 Do good O God in thy good pleasure and be favourable and gracious unto Sion thy Catholick Church Build thou upon a sure Foundation of Religion and establish the hearts of thy Saints and Servants the walls of thy Church Ierusalem 19 Then shalt thou in Christ Jesus be pleased with us and with the Sacrifice of Righteousness in thy Congregation And with burnt Offerings and Oblations of our hearts Then shall they thy Servants thus established offer Bullocks the Sacrifice of praise upon thine Altar in thy presence to the honour of thy most holy Name Glory be to the Father c. Psalm 102. HEar my Prayer which in the bitterness of my Soul I make to thee O Lord whose mercy is the Sanctuary of distressed sinners and let nothing stand between that mercy and me which may hinder my cry to come to thee 2 Hide not thy face turn not away thy countenance from me as if thou wert offended at me but rather in the day of adversity when I am in trouble
creature that thou hast created me and given to me a body the workmanship and excellency whereof when I behold and well consider I find so many several benefits received as I have members veins joynts sinews and nerves all which discover and manifest the wisdom and power of the Maker of them The benefit of which several parts none can so well know as they which want any of them or are grieved with the infirmity or weakness of them I therefore bless thee that thou hast not created me blind lame deaf or dumb evil-shaped or weak in my senses but hast given me a sound and right mind in a healthful body I further praise thy Name O Lord for that thou hast infused a soul into this my body a work so glorious and transcendent that if I were not altogether stupid and void of all judgement I would not by my actions account so basely of it as I seem to do nor defile it with such impure contemptible and unclean works as I daily commit I thank thee O Lord that I was not born amongst Infidels and amongst those who do not truly call upon thy Name but in that part of the world where thy Gospel is truly preached and thy Sacraments duly administred I thank thee also for thy gracious preservation of me from my birth to this present hour I confess O Lord that it is of thy mercy and goodness that I am thus preserved for if thou shouldest but withdraw thine hand of preservation from me it could not be but that in the twinkling of an eye I should miserably perish and return to nothing I thank thee that thou hast of thy providence appointed all thy Creatures for my sustenance and service some for health and some for delight Grant O Lord that I may use them to those ends for which thou hast created them and that by them I may be moved truly to meditate on thy goodness and seriously praise thee for them I further thank thee O Father that when as by our first Parents fall all mankind was in the state of damnation it pleased thee not to deal with us as thou didst with Lucifer whom thou utterly expelledst thy presence but to send thy only Son from thy bosom into this world that by his bitter death we might be restored to our former estate I acknowledge O Lord that I owe much unto thee for my Creation but much more for my Redemption For what would it have profited me nay what misery should I not have suffered to have been born and afterward to be condemned for ever I thank thee O Lord that thou hast also vouchsafed to call me out of the depth of darkness and shadow of death wherein I lay by the admirable light of thy justifying grace to the true knowledge and love of thee It is not the least of thy benefits O Lord it sheweth not the least part of thy power that thou hast called me from so vile an estate whereinto I had cast my self after Baptism and in the same had continued many years rebelliously to the estate of Salvation For it must needs be acknowledged that thy mercy is great in pardoning sinners their offences but withall it cannot be denied but that thy power is greater in making sinners righteous and just Great was the benefit of my Creation but by that act I was not only made the Son of man but greater is the benefit of Iustification for thereby in Christ I am made the Son of God Great is the benefit of Redemption and indeed the greatest of all others but without Vocation and Iustification it had availed me nothing Great is the benefit which ariseth by the expectation of Glory and no less is this of Iustification for it is a work of no less power to make a just man of a sinner than to make a just man happy and blessed for as much as the difference between sin and grace is more than between Grace and Glory I acknowledge therefore O Lord that the benefits which arise by these heavenly gifts and graces are so great that my tongue faileth and my heart wanteth ability wherewith sufficiently to praise thee for them I praise thee also O Lord for thy blessed Sacraments for that of Baptism whereby I was cleansed from the guilt of original sins and regenerated and adopted into the number of thy Children and for the other of the blessed body and blood of our Saviour Iesus Christ the Sacrament of Grace Unity Charity and Remission of sins the food of our Souls in this Pilgrimage and the Conduit through which all graces are conveyed to our fainting Souls Lastly I thank thee for thy preservation of me in thy Grace by which I am restrained from returning to the mire with the washed Sow and to the vomit with the Dog and by which I am strengthned to doe something acceptable and pleasing unto thee I confess O Lord that whatsoever good I have done is wrought in me by thee and whatsoever tentation or evil I escape is meerly by thy providence O Lord continue and keep me still in this grace that I may so use all thy blessings and so keep them in mind that they may stir up in me a more ardent desire to magnifie thy blessed Name and a greater care of ordering my wayes hereafter that I may no more grieve thy troubled Spirit who with thee and thy blessed Son our only Saviour liveth and reigneth one God world without end Another ALL praise honour and glory be given to thee O Lord God Father Almighty for all thy inestimable benefits bestowed upon me and all mankind whether private or publick general or particular spiritual or temporal Who is able to reckon up or declare the several kinds or parts of them for creating the world beautifying enriching and making it fruitful for the use of man for giving unto us souls and bodies and adorning them with infinite faculties and gifts and which exceeds the rest of thy blessings for delivering us from the power and servitude of sin and the Devil for forbearing and expecting our repentance so loug preserving us from all dangers and furnishing us with all things necessary for this life What praise shall we render to thee O sweet Iesus for all that thou hast done and suffered for us VVee praise and bless thee for thy Incarnation and Birth for all the labours pains sorrows wounds and disgraces together with the vile and ignominious death which thou didst suffer to reconcile us to thy Fathers favour from which our sins had justly excluded us for which thy great love to the Sons of men blessed be thy holy Name O holy and blessed Spirit who in the beginning of time didst move upon the face of the waters at our Saviours Baptism in the shape of a Dove and on the Apostles in the shape of fiery tongues we praise and worship thee for enlightning our understandings for fitting and making us apt to conceive the