most high Profoundest Councill therfore worthy the Fathers Majesty the Sons Wisdom and the Holy Ghosts love and affection 6. The Person of the Virgin next the divin Persons is the most worthy and greater than all human and Angelicall Persons together IN contemplation of this Councill and this work Permit me Lord to address unto you my devout Vows and Elevations concerning this quality which you establish in Heaven and on Earth by the sacred Mystery of your Incarnation Quality of Mother to the most high And give me leave to trace your divin and admirable ways in the managing of this work with my humble thoughts and devotions You herein O Great Creatour do associate the sacred Virgin unto your own self you Elevate her up to work with your self and even to work the work of your works And as you associate a Human nature to one of your Divin Persons you will also associate a Human Person to one of your Divin works Contemplating therfore this work O sacred Trinity and there finding this Virgin in Society with your self I look on her love her and reverence her as a Person the most high the most holy and the most worthy of your love and greatness that ever shall have a Being yea I contemplate and respect her as the only She who surpasses in Height in Holiness in Dignity even all Human and Angelicall Spirits together and unitedly considered 7. The Virgin constitutes an Order Empire and Vniverse apart MOreover you O sacred Trinity made her singly for your self you have made her as a World and a Paradise apart World of Greatnesses and Paradise of delights for the New-Man who was to come into the world you have made her as a new Heaven and a new Earth Earth which only bears the Man-God And Heaven which contains none but himself alone which turnes not but about him alone which moves not but for him alone You have made her in the Universe as another Universe And in your Empire as another Empire For the sacred Virgin is her self a Universe which hath its different center and motions The sacred Virgin is her self an Empire which hath its distinct Laws and Estate The sacred Virgin amongst all the subjects of Gods Divin Majesty is so great so particular so eminent a subject that it alone maks a new Order amongst the orders of his power and wisdom Order surpassang all the Orders of Grace and of Glory Order altogether singular making and carrying a new Empire over Gods works Order which is conjoyn'd to the order and state of Hypostaticall union Order which hath a direct Reference to the divin Persons For as the Angells are dispos'd into Hierarchies properly relating to the Divin Essence according to its distinct perfections and attributes of love of Power of light c. So also the sacred Virgin in her Order and in her Hierarchie which she solely fills with her Greatness beholds and honours the state and the proprieties of the Divin Persons Thus the God of Heaven who hath unity of Essence and plurality of Persons hath divided the Celestiall Court into two different Quires In one of which all the Angells which in number are almost Infinit and which are ranged in their severall Orders and Hierarchies behold according to their Estate the distinct Perfections of the Divin Essence In the other the Virgin alone in her Order by an Excellency peculiar to her self alone beholds according to her new Estate the divin Persons as depending on their Personall Proprieties And this sole Quire of the sacred Virgin renders more homage both to the divin Essence and to the divin Persons than the Nine Quires of all the Angells together 8. The Virgin is a singular work of Gods Power the holiest that ever shall be created The divin Paternity is the Samplar of this divin Maternity The Eternal Father and the Son are tyed by the Person of the Holy Ghost and the Eternall Father and the Virgin are tyed by the Person of the Son O God O All-powerfull Father who can express how this Virgin is to you pretious and acceptable You frame her and sanctify her to be the Mother of your only Son whom you will Incarnate in the world and you form her in the orders of Nature of Grace and of Glory as a singular work of your Power and Bountie and the head-work of your hands You fashion her as the greatest the worthiest the eminentest subject of your Domination and soveraignty in the whol round and Circumference of all your Creatures For in the Order and Existency of all created Entities God commands not nor ever will command any thing greater than this greatest Virgin God hath not yet made nor will hereafter make any thing more Holy than this Holyest Virgin O how highly is she then to be Reverenc'd in this Eminency and singularity of Grace of Sanctity of Power Yet O Eternall Father I again Reverence her in the Origin of this Grace which is the design you have to make her a Mother to him to whom your self is a Father For after you had conducted her to the accomplish'd point of a singular Grace you being at your chosen time to enter a neer Alliance with her separate her from all things created you seat her close to your Divinity and you unite your self to her as to a Person whom you will have the most intimately and neerly conjoyn'd to your own peculiar Person of all that ever shall have a Being And she is thus joyn'd to you to co-operate with you in this Great work to render you the fruit of so close an alliance to give you a son born of her substance and having your Essence and to produce by you and with you Him who being your only Son is also her Son by a new Nativity O Ineffable Greatness O Admirable sublimity The Eternall Father who contemplating his own Essence produceth his Son contemplating his own Paternity Source of all Paternity yea source even of the Divinity honours it Imitates it and expresseth it in the holy Virgin and forms and produces in her this admirable Estate of Divin Maternity which Adores the Father in his Personall Propriety and which gives him to the Father and to the world who is the life of the Father and the health of the world 'T is in this happy great and gloria our Estate O sacred Virgin that the Eternall Father appropriates you to himself and himself to you Renders himself all yours and renders you all his own unites himself to you and you to himself And communicating to you his Spirit and his love makes you fruitfull with a divin fertility and being resolv'd to have of you One self-same Son with you makes you by this his Alliance to be Productrice to the world and to himself of Him who by this Birth according to the Angells saying is his Son and your Son together Your Son as issued from your own proper substance His Son as emanated from his own
and are here set down in that direct order which ought to be observ'd in meditating upon them which is First to begin with the five joyfull mysteries Secondly to proceed to the five Dolorous Thirdly to conclude with the five Glorious For according to this order they were accomplish'd in the Persons of our Saviour Christ and his Blessed Mother The five Joyfull Mysteries So called for that they contain the chief Joys which the most sacred virgin Mary felt concerning her Son Christs human nature 1. The Annunciation of Christs Incarnation by the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary which is briefly express'd in these verses Heav'ns loftyest turret to earth's center bends Th' Incarnat Word to our low vale descends And Eccho's there usher'd by Angells voyce And by a purer Virgins vocall choyce While She according to this word of thine Humbly reply'd thy Masters word be mine 2. The Visitation which the Blessed Virgin made to her cousin Saint Elizabeth Mary salutes Eliza while from far Our Sun is brought to light his morning Star The Star though clowded feels the welcom ray And leaps to shew he can fore-run his day Dance unripe Child before thou com'st to light An after-dance will cause thy fatall night 3. The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ Learn Man what wonders in this birth appear The lesser Orbe involves the greater Spheare Etheriall lightning leaves its native shrowd Comes forth not breaking the mysterious clowd Angells their God their Master Beasts discern Of those above of these below thee learn 4. The Oblation or Presentation of Christ to his Eternall Father in the Temple and the Purification of his Mother How cheap a thing is light and more we pay For oylin flame than goulden locks of day His ransom who from darkness all redeem'd The Priest a two poor Turtle-Doves esteem'd Jews are wise marchands this new Sun ere old Must to the Priests again b' as cheaply sold 5. The Finding of Christ in the Temple disputing amongst the Doctors Found in the Temple midst the Doctors plac'd Jesus at once vertu and learning grac'd If Church and Schools be severd zeal turns blind And knowledg lame they both are perfect joynd Adore the Altar reverence the Chair Learn what to ask and then present thy pray'r The five Dolorous Mysteries so called for that they contain the chief sorrows which Christ our Redeemer felt in his bitter Passion 1. His Agony whil'st he was at his Prayers in the Garden What man of sorrow with two blood-shot eyes Ten thousand bleeding pores there prostrate lyes All middle colours by extreams are bred His candour with our blackness makes him red Whose present dress though Scarlet but displays The rosy dawn of two more Crimson day's 2. His most cruell Flagellation Can all these bleeding wounds that scourging find No blush in face no pity raisd in mind Behold the Man you worst of savage beast Malice enough has done more Hell detests Hate forward goes till her loath'd object she Not to be wretched knows but not to be 3. His Crowning with sharp Thorns The pungent cares on regall Scepters born Do prove all Diadems be crowns of thorn Yet Kings from scoffs and low contempt are free Derisions reach not earthly Majestie Christs Crown no fewer slights than thorns emboss More keen than those sharp nayls that pierc'd his Cross 4. The Carrying of his Cross to Mount Calvary Striving his Cross to bear he faints and falls He that sustains Heaven and Earths massie balls Simon succeeds on whose weak shoulders they The shadow of the Cross not substance lay Simon the wood the weight Christ only bore A world of heavy sins throng'd in each pore 5. His Crucifixion and Death upon the Cross Hail Tree of life whose trunck the table made Whereon the worlds dear price was told and payd On thy fair planks our sinking souls that bore Poor shipwrackt men layd hold and swim to shore Raisd from the depth by thee they floating stood Boy'd up with spring-tides of Christs copious blood The five Glorious Mysteries so called for that they contain the chief Glories which befell Christ and his sacred Mother 1. The Resurrection of our Lord JESUS The piercing sword leaves sad Maria's brest Sorrow's old wound makes for new joy 's a nest Jesus himself and her revives his light Relumins many a fire long quencht in night She sees the Patriarks shine with him his ray Dimms not their weaker Stars yet doubles day 2. His Ascension into Heaven Our Heav'n-ascending Lord no fiery Steed's Nor flaming Chariot of Elijah needs The wings of wind or Angels are too slow His feet in thier own motion swifter go The Sun at his approach that fabulous sign Of Aries leaves in him the Lamb tâ— shine 3. The sending down the Holy Ghost to his Church In form of fire a rushing wind conveighs Ardours divin the Infant Church to raise And high enthrone in a majestick Sphear Above the reach of cold distrust or fear Th' Elect thus freed from bonds of narrow sense In all known tongues all unknown truth dispence 4. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin up to heaven Enoch alive translated walks with God Walks finds yet in bliss no fix't about The zealous Thesbite undissolv'd ascends And at Heav'n gates the worlds last year attends Death 's the sole way to life Maria dyes Closes on earth open's in heav'n her eyes 5. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin in Heaven T is thy Sons light Maria makes thee shine The beam's are his the sole reflection thine Bright as the Moon thou look'st for borrow'd rays Both tributarie to the Prince of days The Sun her globe opposed only fills On thee full light thy Sun conjoyn'd distills These fifteen Mysteries for greater ease of the memory are briefly comprehended in these six verses Annun Vis Nat. Present and Find Reduce the Joyfull Five to mind Pray'r Scourg Thorn Cross Crucify Do the five Dolorous imply Res As Parac Assump corone By those the Glorious five are known Or thus in three verses She 's told She visits He 's Born Offer'd and Found He Pray's is whipp'd is crown'd carryes is kill'd Râ—ses Ascends sends down She dyes is Crown'd §. 7. Of the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary in particular The first part containing the five Joyfull Mysteries 1. The first Joyfull Mystery She 's told THE Annunication of Chirsts Incarnation by the Archangell Gabriel to the Blessed virgin Mary Luca. To Blessed Mary th' Angell of our Lord Announces she shall bear th' Eternal Word This first Principall and Joyfull Mystery as also all the others hereafter following comprehends under its notion may other singular and particular Joy's wherewith the sacred Virgins soul was ravish'd and replenish'd upon the news brought down to her from Heaven of the Eternall Words Incarnation in her womb which we shall both here and hereafter briefly reduce to Ten heads or points of Meditation according to the number of the Angelicall Salutations which are
professes himself unfortunate for presuming to adventure upon so impossible an employment as is the explication of your perfections the deep sense whereof so seized all the faculties of his Soul with fear and astonishment that his heart became as it were dry'd up in its dreadfull apprehension S. Bernard Serm. 4. de Assump though he was brought up if we may say it in your blessed bosom and suckled at your sacred breasts yet ingenuously protests that nothing more amazes terrifies and troubles him than to treat of your greatnesses and glories because they are unspeakable unexplicable incomprehensible Wherefore with these holy Saints we may well confess our incapacities to celebrate your prayses O great and glorious Mother of God! and so casting our selv's on the ground before the Throne of your Greatnesses we admiringly with faithfull Moyses gaze upon the bush afar off burning in the flames of the Divinity without being diminish'd and reduc'd into ashes we extasiedly reverence in the very bottom of our hearts and Souls and with a chast and awfull silence Gods Royall Sanctuary replenish'd with all sorts of celestiall prodigies We proclaym aloud with S. Gregory Neocesariensis Serm. 2. de Annunc that the sense of this only word Gods Mother exceeds all other Encomiums which Men and Angells can confer upon you We willingly profess with S. Bernardinus Tom. 3. Serm. 1. de Nom. Virg. that since our ignorance permits us not to speak properly we must forcedly have recourse to proportions And as when we discourse of the Divinity whose simple nature cannot be conceav'd by our shallow imaginations we invest him with all the perfections which can be collected from his various creatures adding that he yet infinitly excells whatsoever we have said of him So when we speak of you most sacred Mother of God! and have rallied together all the dispersed rarities ornaments and excellencies wherewith this spacious and specious world can furnish our tongues Pens and fancies we justly conclude that you not only possess them all but incomparably out-passe them We further assert being supported by S. John Damascens orat 1. de Nativit B. M. and S. Ildephonsu's lib. de Virgin parturitione B. V. authority that who so desires to shadow forth that sublime degree of honour and dignity to which you O Glorious Virgin are elevated by becoming Gods Mother in his temporall generation within your bowells can propose to himself no less or lower Idea than the divin words eternall generation in his Fathers bosome For as Gods Son is eternally emanated from the Fathers fruitfull understanding receaving an entire communication of himself without any alteration or division of his substance so he is temporally born of you his blessed Mother without the least blemish corruption or violation of your Virginall integrity Finally if we may be permitted to soar yet higher upon the wings of our contemplation presuming on the Angelilicall Doctors assistance 1. p. q. 25. ar 6. ad 4. we clearly perceive through the curtain of this inaccessible Splendor That you O highest and holyest of all creatures by receiving the honour of being Gods Mother are united to a Terme of Infinite perfection whereby you are in a certain manner elevated to a divin order and by a most necessary undeniable consequence you appear in some sort to enter into the possession of an Infinit perfection O Maternity O Dignity O sublimity what eyes but those of your divin Son humaniz'd can support the piercing lustre of this pure and perfect object Having thus follow'd you O singularly blessed Virgin Mother with our borrow'd Speculations to the Non plus ultra of all created height and perfection and yet finding our affections desirous to feed themselv's somewhat longer in this fair and delicious field of your prayses We crave your leave to descend to such Figurative and Enigmaticall expressions as your faithfully devoted Doctors have found out to Paraphrase upon your unparalleld Excellencies We therefore exclaim with the Blessed Archbishop Proclus in his admirable Oration had upon our Saviours Birth-day in the Councill of Ephesus You O Mother of God! are the pure Treasury the perfect Ornament the prime honour of Virginity you are the spirituall Paradise of the second Adam the delicate Cabinet of that divin Marriage which was made between the two Natures the great Hall wherein was celebrated the worlds generall Reconciliation you are the Nuptiall bed of the Eternall Word the bright Clowd carrying him who hath the Cherubins for his chariot the Fleece of Wool fill'd with the sweet dew of Heaven whereof was made that admirable robe of our Royall Shepheard in which he vouchsafed to seek after his lost sheep you are the Maid and the Mother the humble Virgin and the high Heaven both together you are the sacred Bridg wherby God himself descended to the Earth you are that piece of cloath of which was compos'd the glorious garment of Hypostaticall union where the worker was the Holy Ghost the Hand the Vertu of the most high the wool the old spoiles of Adam the woof your own immaculate Flesh and the shittle Gods incomprehensible goodness which freely gave us the ineffable person of the Word Incarnate We continue our glad exclamations with the glorious Martyr Methodius orat in hypopante you O most Amiable and Admirable Mother of God! are the Container of the Incomprehensible the Root of the worlds first best and most beautifall Flower the Mother of him who made all things the Nurse of him who provides nourishment for the whol universe the Bosom of him who infolds all being within his Breast the unspotted Robe of him who is cloth'd with light as with a garment you O sacred Virgin are the Sallie-port through which God penetrated into the world you are the Pavilion of the Holy Ghost and you are the Furnace into which the Almighty hath particularly darted as it were the most fervent Sun-beams of his dearest love and affection We cheerfully salute you O incomparable Virgin-Mother with S. Andrew of Jerusalem Serm. de Annunciat All hail holy Temple of the Holy of Holyes triumphant Throne of incorruptible life blessed Chariot of the bright-shining Sun All Hayl fruitfull Earth alone proper and only prepar'd to bring forth the Bread-corn by which we are all sustain'd and nourished happy leaven which hath given relish to Adam's whol Race and season'd the Past whereof the true life-giving and soul-saving Bread was compos'd Ark of honour in which God himself was pleas'd to repose and where very glory it self became sanctifi'd Golden Pitcher containing him who provides sweet Manna from heaven and produces Honey from the rock to satisfy the appetites of his hungry people Spirituall Mirror of sacred Contemplation by whom the Prophets inspired from Heaven prefigur'd Gods descent to the earth you O most lovely Lady Mother are the incomprehensible secret of the divin Economy The admirable house of Gods humiliation through whose doore he descended to dwell amongst us The living
not depart from your heart and that you may obtain relief by her intercession swerve not from the example of her conversation following her you stray not calling upon her you despair not thinking on her you err not she holding you fall not she protecting you fear not she guiding you faint not How properly then O children of Mary do we entitle our Mother Powerfull since says our learned and devout Doctor Damian the Almighty hath so highly priviledg'd her with all Power in Heaven and Earth in so much as she makes her addresses to the sacred Altar of our reconciliation non solum rogans sed etiam imperans Domina non ancilla Not onely entreating but also commanding as a Mistris not a handmaid wherefore I conclude this digression with the mellifluous Saint Bernard whatsoever you desire to offer up to the divin Majesty be sure to deposit it in Mary's hands that so your oblation may ascend to the source of Grace by the same channell whereby grace descended unto you Not but that our Creator can easily distill the dews of his grace without the mediation of this Channell by what other means he best pleaseth but he would mercifully provide this powerfull help for you and therefore take speciall care to place in Marye's powerfull and gratefull hands whatsoever petition you desire to prefer to her divin Son if you will not have it to miscarry and receive a denyall And now returning to the prosecution of my intended purpose Though the generall devotion of all faithfull Christians towards the sacred Virgin Mary is as ancient as our faith and Christianity themselves she being constituted the Churches Mother by the bequest of her blessed Son when he uttered these words to St. John as his last will and testament on the Cross Son Behold thy Mother Nor did ever yet any true Catholique acknowledging God for his Father and Christ Jesus for his Brother exclude Mary from being his Mother yet this particular manner of honouring her this pious Method of praying to her this our Confraternity of the sacred Rosary had its first rise and institution from the glorious St. Dominick about four hundred years since and its decayed use was zealously renewed by the Blessed Father Alanus de Rupe about two hundred years past as the Ecclesiastical Histories largely declare which being obvious to every ones perusall and I hastning to other matters which are to us of more importance purposely pass over that I may come to the performance of my first promise and proposition which is to declare the Dignity of the Rosary and the Duty of us who are of it The Masters greatness says Salomon redounds to the servants glory and the Parents honour to the renown of the children Since therefore you O devout Rosarists have as befits humble servants made choyce of so high a Mistris and as beseems good children have promised loyaltie to so Honourable a Mother great surely is your glory your honour your happiness A Mistriss of such Majesty A Mother of such excellency that the sole consideration of her greatness and goodness is a sufficient charm to engage the whol world in her service to contain all Christians in their filial duty and affection I have already given you a glimps in generall of your Mistrâ—sses and Mothers greatnesses priviledges and prerogatives and to descend to the particular mention of all the honourable titles high qualities admirable epithets which heaven and earth Angells and Men the Scripture and the Church bestow upon this Blessed Virgin were to write whol volumes not to recite a succinct Oration She is represented by the Tree of life in the Terrestriall Paradise by the Ark of Noah upon the waves of the Deluge by the Tabernacle of the Testament made of incorruptible materialls signifying her virginity her purity her impeccability by the Ark of the Covenant which contained the tables of the Commamdements as she did their Author She is prefigured by the Altar of Perfumes the types of her odoriferous vertues by the golden Candlestick She bearing him who is the True Light of the World By the Gate of Heaven in the Prophets By Jacobs Ladder in Genesis By the Valiant Woman in the Proverbs By the Ever burning never consuming Bush in Exodus By the Hill elevated on the Mountain top in Isay By the Citie of God whereof such wonders are spoken in the Psalms By the sweet smelling Balsome the still flourishing Cypress upon Mount Sion The ever flowing vein of Honey The fair Olive of the fields The Lilly amongst the thorns The Rose of Jericho The Palm of Cades The Royall Throne of Salomon The strong Tower of David The Fleece of Gedeon The miraculously flourishing Rod of Aâ—ron The Eastern Gate of Paradice The Angell qualifies her full of Grace The wise-man abounding with delights The Spouse a Garden of pleasure The Gospell the mother of Jesus The Church the exemplar of Perfection Heaven the Queen of the Vniverse Earth the Phoenix of Mankind and all the World the Fountain of their felicity The Celestiall Spirits acknowledg her for their Empress the Apostles for their Mistris the Martyrs for their Mirrour the Confessors for their Pattern the Virgins for their Glory all Christians for their powerfull Patroness and Advocate Judg now O faithfull Rosarists by these few mentioned Titles of the miraculous Excellency Greatness Glory Dignity of her to whose honour you have dedicated your hearts your loves your lives your services Surely you cannot but joyfully confess with me that after a Christ Jesus Heaven never produced any thing more holy the World never had any thing more worthy the Sun never saw any thing more admirable amiable precious and perfect than our ever blessed and honoured Mistris and Mother Mary And consequently we must conclude also that very great is our own dignity who have the honour to be of her particular family by means of this pious Institute of the Confraternity of the Rosary 1. An Institute not of a novell invention but as you have heard of above four hundred years standing and antiquity 2. An Institute of that large extent that it hath spread it self over the whol habitable world and acknowledges no other limits than those which bound the universall Catholique Church 3. An Institute of that generality that no person is exculded from its participation not the Husbandman in the fields not the Trades-man in his shop not the Traveller in his journey not the unlearned for his ignorance not the Woman by her sex not the Married by their state not the Younglings by their simplicity not the Aged by their impotency not the Sick by their infirmity Briefly not any devout and faithfull Christian by any calling employment condition whatsoever 4. An Institute of that easiness to learn and facility to practice that it requires no more knowledge than the skill to recite the Pater and Ave no more expences than the price of a pair of Bedes no other place than where every
Son our Lord. I Believe in the second Person of the sacred Trinity the Son whom the Father begot from all Eternity communicating to him all his own Essence Greatness Perfection who continuing God became Man for the Salvation of Sinners was nam'd Christ Jesus and is the Soveraign Lord and King of all Souls O divin word which descended from Heaven to Earth to deliver me from sin and Satan be you my Lord by Election as you are by Creation and Redemption I freely give and bequeath my self to you for your perpetuall Bondslave Live O Jesu and reign in my Soul as you do in the whol extent of this large Universe Who was conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary I Believe that Gods Son that he might become Man did vouchsafe to unite to his divin Person a Rationall soul and a human body which the Holy Ghost miraculously form'd in the chast bowels of the blessed Virgin Mary and of her proper and pure blood so that he was truly conceiv'd in her and truly born by her without any prejudice to her Virginity O Jesu the lover of Purity who chose the chastest woman of the World for your Mother by the Immaculate Purity of your Conception and Nativitie give me the gift and grace of purity of Life and Conversation Suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucify'd dead and buryed I Believe that the Son of God Incarnate endured very severe Torments in his humanity for the Worlds Redemption that he was adjudg'd to dy by the Prefident Pilate and that after his death he was buryed and laid in a Sepulchre O Jesu the Redeemer of my Soul your death is the only hope of my Life be you graciously pleas'd to apply to me one single drop of your sacred Bloud and I shall rest secure in this Life and be happy for all Eternitie He descended into Hell the third day he arose again from the Dead I Believe that in the death of my blessed Saviour his Soul was really seperated for a time from his Body to descend into that part of Hell which was call'd Limbus Patrum where all such souls as from the Worlds first beginning departed this life in a good estate were till then detaind I believe that he deliver'd them from that Dungeon and that upon the third day his Soul return'd to his buryed Body became reunited unto it and rays'd it up to Life and Immortality O most glorious Soul of Christ my Saviour which thus mercifully visited the Patriarchs lying in the sad Prison of Limbus vouchsafe to give me also a gracious vâ—sit that whil'st I live I may duly and devoutly love and honour you and when my Soul shall be call'd out of this imprisoning Body it may be rays'd up to Contemplate admire and prayse your greatness goodness and glorie for all Eternitie He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Allmightie I Believe that Jesus my Redeemer being by his own power resuscitated from death to life ascended up to Heaven by his own strength where he sits at the right hand of God his Father to whom he is every way equall as the chief of all the Blessed full of glory and felicity O Jesu my Redeemer how worthy are you thus to triumph to reign to be exalted above all creatures But O forget not in the state of your greatness the condition of your miserable Creature bought with the price of your precious Bloud O King of glory grant that all my thoughts words actions and desires may aym at nothing but your only honour From thence he shall come to judge the Quick and the Dead I Believe that Christ Jesus when he shall please to put a Period to time and all sublunary things will descend visibly from Heaven in his glorious Humanity to judg all Manking both the good and the bad and publickly to reward to punish every one according to their works Ah! just Judg of all consciences what shall I then do or what shall I answer when you shall question me concerning my whol lives transactions I believe in the Holy Ghost I Believe in the third person of the sacred Trinitie the Holy Ghost who joyntly proceeds both from the Father and from the Son and is to them equall in Greatness in Majestie in all things whatsoever O sacred Spirit the God of Infinit Love and Charity breath upon my flinty heart mollify it into meekness towards my Neighbour and melt it into the sweet affections of your pure and perfect Love I believe the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints I Believe the Catholick Church to be the only Church of Christ that it is holy universall apostolical and infallible in things appertaining to Faith and that in this Church there are found many pious Souls pleasing to the divin Majesty which mutually help each other by their prayers and good works O my Lord and my God! I render you most humble and hearty thanks for having made me a child and member of this holy Church in which I have so great hopes and so many helps to save my soul give me your grace good Jesu that I may improve this signall favour and persever in this saving Faith that from it I may pass to the clear vision of your prepared glory The Forgiveness of Sins I Believe that God is both able and willing to forgive me my Sins and that he hath left power in his Church to remit them be they never so heynous and enormous and this especially by the Priests absolution in the Sacrament of Penance O God of Infinit goodness and mercy let all Creatures Eternally prayse and magnifie your sacred Name for having given such power to men and such comfort to poor sinners The Resurrection of the Flesh I Believe that the very body in which my Soul now lives and breaths and all human bodyes though after death they are redâ—c'd into dust in their graves shall at the end of the World and at the great day of generall Judgment be rays'd to lâ—fe by Gods omnipotent command and his Angells ministry to be then rejoyn'd to their same souls and to live for evermore O Dread Soveraign in whose hands are life and death and to whose beck all things are obedient Ingrave deeply in my heart and soul the hope of a happy Resurrection that the horrour of this temporall dissolution and death of my body may not over-terrify and dismay me And life everlasting Amen I Believe that the good shall live in Heavenly glory for all Eternitie and that the wicked shall live eternally in infernall torments O good God! grant that I may so live in your grace during this my short Pilgrimage that I my live with you in glorie in your Eternall Paradise Amen §. 3. Of the Pater Noster or our Lords Prayer The second part of the Rosary THe Pater Noster is the Prayer which our Lord Jesus taught his disciples informing them from his own sacred mouth
to be recited in the each Decade That so the pious Rosarist may entertain his devotion by mentally ruminating upon one or more or all of them as his leisure shall permit and his zeal suggest unto him Our Father c. The Blessed Virgin Exceedingly rejoyc'd 1. At her Eternall Preelection THat she amongst all the women of the world was made choyce off from all Eternity to be the sacred Daughter of God the Father the worthy Mother of God the Son the glorious Spouse Temple and Tabernacle of God the Holy Ghost Hail Mary c. 2. At her singular Benediction THat she should be that Blessed one above all creatures indu'd with all the gifts graces vertues and perfections answerable to so high an Election Hail Mary 3. At the Reparation of Mankind THat she should be ordain'd for the Cooperatrix of the worlds Redemption the Mediatrix of Mankind the Advocatrix of sinners the Lady Queen and Empress of Heaven and Earth Hail Mary 4. At the Angelicall Salutation THat she should be thus particularly visited and thus honorably saluted by so noble an Oratour and so high an Ambassador as was the Archangell Gabriel sent purposely unto her from the sacred Trinity upon business of such great weight and concernment Hail Mary 5. At the Angelicall Consolation FOR when she was troubled not at his Apparition because she was well acquainted with Angelicall visits and accustomed to these like visions but at the contents of his message which trouble was only a certain fear apprehension admiration the Angell presently and familiarly calls her by her Name and comforts her saying Fear nothing O Mary I come not to deceive you but to declare divin Mysteries unto you you have found Grace with God and what need that Soul fear says S. Gregory which is in Gods Grace favour and friendship Hail Mary 6. At the Angelicall Revelation FOr he inform'd her that she was to conceive in her womb without sin without seed without Man and bring forth a child without sorrow without pain without violation of her virginall integrity and call his Name not impose it JESUS which signifies a Saviour He shall be Great above the common sort of sons and the Son of the most High not as the Saints by Grace and Adoption but by nature and essence And our Lord God shall give him the Seat of his Father David not his materiall Throne and temporall Kingdom but a spirituall and eternall Jurisdiction over all the Faithfull And he shall reign in the house of Jacob in the Church Militant and Triumphant for evermore Hail Mary 7. At the Angelicall Instruction FOr when she had reverently reply'd How can this be since I know not man but have vow'd my virginity to God my Maker he carefully and punctually instructs her in the manner and circumstances The Holy Ghost shall descend upon thee and the vertu of the most High shall overshadow thee and therefore fear not thy Chastity but know thou shalt hereby receive an addition to thy former purity Hail Mary 8. At her being with Child FOr she had no sooner signifi'd her obedient consent by uttering those humble words Behold the Handmaid of our Lord he it unto me according to thy speech whereby she prayd that God would be pleasd to fulfill what his Angell had declar'd unto her but she immediatly became with child of the Word Incarnate Hail Mary 9. At her Conception by the Holy Ghost O The joy of her Heart when she was ascertaind of her Conception of Christ in her womb not according to the common and naturall order but by the Holy Ghosts supernaturall power and operation And that she waâ— to be his Mother without a husband as God was his Father without a wife Hail Mary 10. At her Marriage with S. Joseph WHich was done undoubtedly in obedience to the divin â—…ctamen for her comfort crâ—dit assistance and many other important reasons without the least â—…tion of carnall Concupiscence in either of the marryed couple Hail Mary Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. These Prayers Angelicall with bended knee We offer holy Virgin up to thee Steer us a prosperous course while here we tarry And in Deaths Pangs assist us Blessed Mary Remember Virgin that no Age hath known Any by thee deserted that has flown To thy Protection or implor'd thy Ayd By which encouragement most sacred Mayd Mother of Virgins I to thee repaire And for thy help address my humble pray'r Mother of God! desert me not but hear And listen to me with a gracious ear Affections Elevations Petitions O Eternall Father who were mercifully pleas'd to send down your heavenly messenger to treat with Her who before all time was design'd to be the worthy Mother of your Co-eternall Son my sweet Saviour Christ Jesus concerning the weighty Mystery of Mans Redemption by his Incarnation Dispose my Soul I beseech you to receive the Influences of your grace that so I may not hinder the effects of those mercies which in the Councills of your Eternall Providence you design'd for me Give me O my Creator a promptitude to obey your precepts Give me Purity Prudence Modesty and all other vertues and perfections which so highly pleas'd you in the Blessed Virgin O that my whol Employments might be henceforth so unmixt with worldly affections so free from vain Interests so retired from secular disturbances so conformable to sacred Maries most perefect examples that I might converse with Angells conceive Jesus in my soul nourish him in my interiour with my innocent affections and bring him forth by my actions of Piety towards the divin Majesty and of charity towards my neighbour O Jesu the only Son of the Eternall Father who by the Holy Ghosts wonderfull operation were graciously pleasd to descend into the womb of an humble Virgin and there to cloath your self with our Humanity Let your powerful Grace descend into my poor soul and adorn it with such vertues and perfections as are to your self most pleasing and acceptable O the profound Humiliation of Gods Son and the perfect Humility of Gods Mother He being the dread Soveraign of Heaven and earth annihilates himself to take a servants form She being declard Gods Mother takes upon her a Handmaid's title O King of Humility Grant me this Royall vertu which is the root and Ground-work of all others by the intercession of your most humble and holy Mother O glorious Empress of both worlds I rejoyce at your titles of honour and greatness and especially that you were the only one chosen out amongst all women to be Gods worthy Mother By this Supreme Mystery of your divin Sons Incarnation obtain for me I beseech you that I may also conceive and carry your sweet Son Jesus alwaies in my heart and soul and continually produce the fruits of good works answerable to my christian obligation and profession that so he dwelling with me and within me continually during this my
At his conducting the souls of the saints with him into heaven ACcording to that passage of the Psalmist He ascending on high led captivity captive which S. Thomas understands of the Patriarâ—…â—…ee'd from the captivity of Limbus Hail Mary 8. At his opening Heaven gates for our entrance ANd preparing places against our coming as himself said I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may also be So that Christs Ascension say's S. Leo is our Promotion and whither the glory of the head is gon before the hope of the body is call'd to follow after Hail Mary 9. At his being appointed the Advocate of Mankind WE have say's S. John an Advocate with God the Father Christ Jesus the Just and he is the propitiation for our sins Hail Mary 10. At the great Fruit and Profit redounding to us by his Ascension FOR as S. Thomas proves the withdrawing of his corporall presence increases our Faith elevates our Hope inflames our Charity and therefore He himself said It is expedient for you that I go Hail Mary Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. These Prayers Angelicall with bended knee c. Affections Elevations Petitions O My glorious Lord Jesu It is just that you should Ascend to the Highest Heaven who descended to the center of the earth And that you should be exalted above all Angells since you humbled your self under all men O my Soul design'd for an Eternity where wilt thou ground thy feet that thou mayst securely take thy flight towards Heaven thy happy home the finall end of thy Pilgrimage and the only aim of all thy endeavours Look upon Christ thy Captain and learn by his most perfect example to ground thy self in Humility and to content thy self with crosses contempt and poverty which were his three individuall companions during the whol time of his earthly Pilgrimage O Jesu the amiable Object of all my affections And who should be the absolute pattern of all my actions I am resolv'd to leave all for the love of you and to forsake all that I may freely follow you For alas what are all worldly pleasures greatnesses and glories or what sweet Object can the whol Universe shew my eyes which can fully satisfie my heart And ha why then should I any longer miserable and ill advised wretch that I am let my self be surpriz'd with the false lustre of earthly vanities why should I fix my love upon fond toyes and trifles which only fool my senses but fill not my soul No my soul let 's now at last leave the Earth and look up to Heaven Thither Christ is ascended There our Treasure is plac'd and let our affection be there also fixed and O what shall hinder us a moment of brutish pleasure a grain of self-interest a sparkle of soon fading glory O meer Nothings and less than Nothings No my good Jesu I feel my self by the secret impulse of your inacting grace in my spirit so forcibly mov'd to sent you to obey you and to bestow on you the whol remainder of my life and love that if it should hereafter happen and ah my frailtie how can I trust thee which hast so often betray'd my best intentions and broken my strongest resolutions If therefore it shall fall out that my eyes or any respect of this Worlds most pleasing Objects hinder me from seeing your beauty contemplating your bounty and reflecting upon your mercy Tear them out of my head that I may behold you with my spiritual Eyes O Iesu the true light of my soul without disturbance or distraction If my right hand or any thing I possess or which is as near to my heart as my arm is to my hand becomes the occasion of my offending you hinders me from fast holding you diverts me from serving you diligently devoutly and according to my obligation and duty Cut it off O Jesu my soveraign Good my sole Riches and Treasure that I may clip you embrace you and be inseparably united to you with all the affections of my soul If my very heart it self or that which is nearer and dearer to me than this fountain of Life hinders me from bequeathing my self entirely to you from purely seeking you from perfectly loving you pluck it out of my breast O Jesu the only beloved of my Soul that henceforth I may have no thought but of you no will but yours no affection but for you no life but in you So shall I want neither eyes nor hands nor heart living thus spiritually during this my Pilgrimage in the heart of Jesus which is my seat my Sun my center my all till I become happily translated to live with him and be more perfectly united to him in his eternall Paradise The third glorious Mysterie Sends down Our blessed Saviour sends down the Holy Ghost to his Church Acts 2. Our Lord to his Apostles joyn'd in Quite Sends down the Holy Ghost in tongues of fire Our Father c. The glorious Virgin-Mother exceedingly rejoyc'd 1. At the miraculous manner of the Holy Ghosts coming FOr the Disciples returning back from Mount Olivet where our Saviour ascended to Jerusalem went into the same upper Room in which he had celebrated his last supper continuing there unanimously in prayer with Mary the Mother of Iesus and many other devout men and women untill the tenth day when sodainly about the third hour of the morning there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind filling the whol house as it were with fire which dividing it self into severall parts resembling cloven tongues setled upon each ones head and replenish'd their hearts with the Holy Ghost Hail Mary 2. At the fullfilling of Christs promises FOr he had told them if I depart from you the Holy Ghost shall descend unto you he shall teach you all truth and inform you of what is to come hereafter all which was now fully accomplish'd Hail Mary 3. At the multiplication of tongues or speaking of all languages WHereby the blessed Virgin clearly saw that the Apostles were not only design'd to preach the faith of her Son Christ Jesus to the whol World but joyfully perceiv'd they were also indu'd with all such perfections as were necessary in order to the effecting so great a work Hail Mary 4. At the Apostles confirmation in grace and goodness FOr the sacred Virgin who had sadly seen their former frailty and the feebleness of their Faith knew to her great content that they were now so strengthened with Gods holy Spirit as they were out of all danger for the future both of falling into infidelity and also of sinning mortally Hail Mary 5. At the Apostles patience courage and constancy in their persecutions FOr they who were lately so fearfull are now so cheerfull in their sufferings that they esteem it a speciall honour to indure shame for the holy name of Jesus Hail Mary 6. At the confutation of the Iew 's and Infidels
Instructer of the Apostles and therefore is described by S. John in his Revelations with a Crown of twelve Starrs upon her head Hail Mary 10. At her being crown'd with the verdant and perpetually florishing Aureola of Innocency Purity FOr as she was of such extraordinary Purity that under God-man a greater cannot be conceiv'd says Saint Anselm And of such unimitable Innocency that from the first instant of her Conception to the last moment of her life She preserv'd it absolutely entire without the least spot or blemish so She enjoyes a Crown of extraordinary Clarity far above all others the same God-man only excepted Hail Mary Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the holy Ghost c. These Prayers Angelicall c. Affections Elevations Petitions O King of Glory How great is your bounty and how excessive is your liberality You confer upon men whol Torrents of pleasurs and full Oceans of delights for their Cups of cold water given for your sake You bestow on thē magnificent Crowns and blessed Kingdoms for their morsells of bread bestow'd upon their necessitous brethren And shall we question whether your own dear Mother whose pure Blood gave your Body its Being in whose chast entralls you so long lodged upon whose Breast-milk you so sweetly fed is now highly rewarded by you in heaven She cloath'd you O word Eternall and Incarnate with the robes of her Humanity and can we doubt but that you have vested her with the light of your Heavenly glory and crown'd her with the glittering Jewells of Wisdom Power Dominion and whatsoever may beseem the Soveraign Empress of Men and Angells O Virgin O Mother How great is your Glory How singular your Honor How Eminent your Dignity Since you are the Mother of Grace which is God himself you are seated on the right hand of God himself in his Glory Since you have the advantagious quality above all creatures of being Gods Mother you surely have an advantagious Crown above all Creatures which constitutes you Queen of Heaven For to what Woman besides your happyest self Or to which of the Angells howsoever high holy and perfect did euer God say you are my Mother you begot me bore me brought me forth O Mother of God! O Title of Titles O words few in number but full of numberless Mysteries and miracles O Quality containing all the Abyssall perfections which can possibly fall within the compass of Mens and Angells Imagination thinking upon a pure creature Mother of God! Be you praysed honoured and admired next to your Son Jesus by all Creatures in Heaven and Earth for evermore You have sufficiently shew'd me O sacred Mother by your divin example the ready way to reall glory and happiness Which is To prefer Gods honour love and service before all things els whatsoever But alas How Poorly have I hitherto practis'd your instructions and how ill have I imitated your examples Your continuall Exercise was to magnifie the Divin Majesty with heart and mouth and therefore you have deserv'd to be blessed prays'd and proclaim'd happie by all succeeding generations because the Almighty wrought great things in you placing you upon the worlds Theater as the Prime work of his hands and the most accomplish'd pattern of all created perfections But I on the contrary have made small account of God and his service and how then can I expect to obtain the blessing of him others or hope he should effect great things in me by me for me Yet if he and all others call me not blessed in the last great Judgment day I must remain accursed for all Eternity And if he work not great things in me what can all other things avail me in order to my happiness Ha! How long then shall my affection be fastned to falshoods follies vanities How long shall my soul be enslav'd to these sordid passions and to the base customs of my corrupted nature which are repugnant to Reason contrary to my Creators Law opposite to his profer'd grace destructive of my expected glory O my Lord and my God! I will no longer forget you I will even now begin to praise you with heart and mouth in all before all above all your only love honour and service shall be the first in my esteem the first in my affections the first in my actions For alas what els have I to esteem desire love in Heaven and Earth but you the God of my heart my soveraign good my All for time and Eternity And thou my poor Soul Take courage Eternity draws on Thy glorious Mother with millions of blessed Saints and Angells more beautifull than so many Suns in the mid-day of their brightness invites thee to be with her satiated with her Sons amiable countenance and absorp'd in the boundless Sea of his beatifying delights Thy beloved Lord himself expects thee with a Crown of evelasting rewards in his right hand and with these sweetly alluring words in his sacred mouth Come my Love my Dove my Fair one come thou shalt be crown'd for having serv'd me faithfully lov'd me fervently suffer'd for me freely and accomplish'd my will fully Live henceforth with me eternally in Satiety and security THE FIRST APPENDIX JESVS Or the Confraternity of the most sacred Name of JESUS With Elevations sutable thereunto IN so much as there is a certain pious Fraternity of the most holy Name of Jesus which had its first rise and origin from that of the sacred Rosary Et ex illa tanquam ex Matre filia prognata sit being as it were the Daughter of that Mother and to which it is so firmly fastned and so neerly allied as that generally in Catholique Countreys all they who are children of the Blessed Mothers Rosary are also thus Members of the Son's Society It will not be amiss after this large Declaration of the Rosary to annect a brief description of this Confraternity that so nothing may be wanting which may conduce to the devotion of faithfull Christians and enrich them with spirituall Benefits This pious Confraternity of the sacred Name of Jesus was begun in Italy by Didacus a Victoria a Doctor of Divinity and devout Preacher of S. Dominicks order in the year 1564. and soon after promulgated throughout Spain by Joannes Micon who was another learned Doctor and zealous Preacher of the same Order the Disciple of that Blessed and famous man Ludovicus Bertrandus The Reason and End of the Institution thereof was to extirpate that execrable and then Customary vice of Swearing by Gods holy Name and blaspheming the divin Majesty The Rules of this Confraternity are these 1. They who desire to be of it are either to have their Names enrolled into a Book provided for that purpose as it is said of the Rosary or to be admitted into this Confraternity by such as have power from the Superiors of Saint Dominick's Order by some other legall lawfull and formall way 2. Upon the day of our Redeemers Circumcision which
mortall infirm and miserable life upon â—arth and depressing this humanity thus united to the Word in the state and mysterie of your mortall wayfaring unregarded and suffering life for this Humanity being in this sort elevated into the Throne and estate of a divin Person should not have been in any other condition than of Glory and Splendour Of Splendour I say befitting the Divinity to which it is inseparably united And yet O Love O Bounty you depress it for me even to an estate and form of an humble life and serving your own creatures and at last even to the opprobrious cruell and servill punishment of the Cross 13. An Oblation of our selv's to Jesus in honour of this his double estate of being a servant THerfore in honour of this double estate and form of servant unto which you have been pleas'd to reduce your Supream Greatness I offer and present my self unto you O Jesu I render my self for ever a Slave to you and to your Adorable Humanity I render my self Slave to your Love Slave to your Greatness and Slave to your depressions I embrace this condition and make it universally and totally subjecting all whatsoever is in me For my will is that all that which I am my will is that my life of nature and of grace and all my actions be yours and your sacred Humanities as things belonging to it in a new manner by this qualitie and condition of servitude towards it which I now here offer And I require that my life my estate and my Soul carry a Particular badge of this my belonging dependency and servitude to you and to your Humanity thus Deifi'd and thus depressed both together 14. The Continuance of this Oblation of Servitude AND could I but come to the knowledge of any estate and reference of my self towards you more dependent of you and any relation more humble and more strict than this of bondage and servitude I would forthwith embrace it therby to refer my self to you as a thing due both to the greatness of the estate to which your Humanity is elevated by the Hypostaticall union as also the excess of its love and of that voluntarie depression whereunto it humbled and annihilated it self for my salvation and for my glorie 15. A confirmation of this our Oblation of Servitude BUT alas what shall I do your greatnesses are permanent our duties of Fealtie are perpetuall and I come late to these lights and yet they also are unsteady and our minds do easily permit themselv's to be diverted from things so great so worthy and so just But I will confirm my self in these verities and in these Intentions I will repair the time past I will render my self yours even for all that time in which I might have known you and might have serv'd you I will bequeath unto you for ever all that I am and all that I can I will that all that which is in me reflect towards you and serve you only and perfectly I will have no other conduct motion or sense but by you and for you And I will that in vertu of this present cogitation intention and oblation each moment of my life and each action of the same appertain to you O Jesu and to your sacred Humanity as if I made a particular tender of them all unto you 16. An ardent desire of an inseparable union with Christ O Only Son of God! The Tye wherby you have fastn'd your self to us is indissoluble nor was Death which you suffred nor Hell which you entred nor Mens sins which you carryed able to break it I would also make with you an indissoluble knot O Jesu my Lord You can grant me this favour And that on my part I may dispose my self thereto I Adore you in the unity you have with the Father Unity which renders you inseparable from him I adore you in the Union which you have with us Union so strong that nothing can dissolve it Union so inward that it cannot be more intrinsecall and immediate since that it penetrates even to the bottom of human Being In the honour and in the efficacy of this union I offer up to you this my desire of being united to you for evermore And I make irrevocable as much as possibly I may this my Oblation Donation and servitude to you and to your humanity as being holy and sacred by reason of your Divinity it self which is substantially and personally resident therein 17. The Humanity of Jesus is the Temple of the Divinity O Holy Humanity you are the Temple of the Divinity and even so he calls you who chose you for himself and united you to himself and who hath the words of life for he said to the Jews Dissolve this Temple and I will in three days build it up again And those gross and materiall minds apply'd this discours to their Temple and to their stones But O Jesu according to your own Apostle you spake of another Temple of the Temple of your body A Temple principall singular and particular of the Divinity which was pleas'd to choose this Body this Humanity to triumph in it and by it and render it self visible in its greatnesses in the midd'st of the Earth 18. What great things are wrought in this Humanety THE Divinity therfore reposeth in you O sacred Humanity as in its Temple Temple living and animated Temple consecrated by the unction of the Divinity it self which is present subsistent and living in you to take up there its repose to be there acknowledg'd and ador'd and there to operate divin and adorable actions And it reposeth in this Humanity more holily more divinly and more admirably than even in the order and state of glory And it cooperats there things more high and more great than it doth in Heaven For we see that in it God is Man and Man is God God is born and dying God is living and suffering and Man-God is satisfying in the tearms of Justice to the Divin Justice A thing far surpassing all present and possible condition of Grace and Glory 19. This Humanity is holy by the Divinity it self which is a substantiall sanctity flowing from him into himself and thence into us I Also Reverence and Adore you O sacred Humanity as the most holy thing after God which God himself finds amongst the Treasures of his Wisdom and amongst the unexhaustible depths of his absolute power For notwithstanding that you resemble us in nature you are not like to us in Grace because the Grace and Sanctity which is proper to you is not such as is proper to Angells and men which though it were infinitly multiply'd could never arrive to the shadow of your sanctity but would be still infinitly distant But you are holy with a holiness incomparably higher with a holiness proper to your self with a holiness which is adorable with a holiness issuing from the divin Essence and Person as from its act and from its proper
and of your being her Son and likewise in the honour of this that she is the only one amongst all Creatures who hath this admirable estate and this singular relation to you and I humbly beg of you that in this quality you will vouchsafe me a share in your eternall way 's and mercyes AMEN A concluding Prayer to the sacred Virgin-Mother upon the same subject O Holy Virgin Mother of God! Queen of Men and Angels Mervail of Heaven and Earth I reverence you in all â—he ways that I can according to God that I should according to your own Greatness and according as your divin Son Christ Jesus our Lord would have you reverenc'd upon Earth and in Heaven I make to you an Oblation of my soul and my life and will belong to you for evermore and I will render you some particular Homage and Dependencie in all future time and Eternity O Mother of grace and mercy I make choyce of you for the Mother of my soul in honour of that choyce which God himself made of you for the Mother of his Son O Queen of Men and Angels I accept and acknowledg you for my Soveraign Mother in honour of that Dependency which my Saviour and my God had on you as upon his Mother And in this Quality I bequeath unto you all power over my soul and over my life as much as according to God I can bequeath it O sacred Virgin Mother look upon me as upon your own thing and in your goodness use me as the Subject of your power and as the Object of your pity O Source of Life Fountain of Grace Refuge of Sinners I have recourse unto you hoping therby to be freed from sin furnish'd with Grace and preserv'd from eternall Death O take me into your tuition let me have a part in your priviledges and obtain for me by your greatnesses and by this right of my appertaining to you that which I deserve not to obtain by reason of my offences and let the last hour of my Life that hour which is to decide my Eternity be in your hands in honour of that happy Moment of the Incarnation wherein God became Man and you were made Gods Mother O Virgin and O Mother both together O sacred Temple of the soveraign Deity O Mervail of Heaven and of Earth O glorious Mother of my God! I am yours by the generall Title of your greatness but I will be also yours by the particular Title of my own choyce and by this act of my own Free-will Wherefore I give my self wholly to you and to your only Son Christ Jesus my Lord and Saviour and I resolve to let pass no day without rendring to him and to you some particular homage and some speciall testification of this my dependency and servitude in which my desire is to dy and live for Evermore THE THIRD APPENDIX JOSEPH OR Devotions to S. Joseph the Glorious Husband of the Virgin Mary and reputed Father of Christ Jesus With Elevations unto him THE many Excellencies Priviledges and Prerogatives of Saint Joseph are largely deduced by severall Learned Writers Out of Whom these few following are selected wherupon to ground our Devotion to this great Saint and to lay a foundation for the ensuing affective Acts and Elevations 1. Saint Joseph was sanctifi'd in his Mothers womb Which favour seems in some sort due to him who was to have so neer a relation to the Word Incarnate the Source and Origin of all sanctity and who was design'd from all Eternity in the Conclave of the Adorable Trinity to be the President of Gods great Councill of State upon Earth the Angell Guardian of the Queen of Angells the reputed Father and the reall Fosterer Nurser Conductor and Governor of JESVS the worlds Messias and the Head of his holy Family Now since Gods Family consisted only of two Persons Jesus and Mary who were of more worth and dignity than all the rest of Heavenly and Earthly Creatures together it was convenient that He who was to govern them should also resemble them in Greatness Dignity and Sanctity and consequently that he should possess in some measure by an anticipated pardon of his Originall sin and by an advanced favour of sanctifying Grace that Puritie which the Son possessed by Nature and the Mother by Priviledge 2. He was the next after the sacred Virgin who made an express Vow and promise to God of Perpetuall virginity And this Resolution Intention and Promise both of Her and Him was reveal'd to each other respectively and renewed by them jointly before they were contracted together by formall Matrimony For how els could Blessed Mary who had oblig'd her self to virginall Integrity have consented either in Prudence or Justice to give the Power over her body to a person of whose Chastity she might be ignorant or doubtfull of his Constancie Surely the known Purity of her Chast Bridegroom gave her the confidence to treat and converse with him as securely as she did with the holy Seraphins 3. He no sooner perceiv'd his Blessed Spouse to be bigg with child but he cast about how he might handsomly retreat from her company not as harbouring the least doubt or distrust of her Innocency being more certain of her Invisible Chastity than of her visible appearing to be with child and knowing that it was more easy for a Virgin to conceive than for Mary to deceive him or distain her own honour But out of a deep and humble sense of his due respect towards her Son and her self as judging himself altogether unworthy to contemplate with his eyes and carry in his arms the Divin Word Incarnate and to converse intimately and familiarly with the glorious Mother of this God Man who was shorthly after to be born into the World 4. He govern'd Gods Family for above thirty years space As the Divin Providence hath establish'd three Orders in the World That of Nature that of Grace and that of Hypostaticall Vnion So he hath chosen and appointed three sorts of servants for the conduct and government of these Orders The Angells serve him in the order of Nature the Apostles in the order of Grace but he chose S. Joseph alone after the sacred Virgin to serve him in the third Order which is that of Jesus in the ineffable Mysterie of his Incarnation O the Excellency the Eminencie the Greatness of Saint Joseph O his honour and happyness to enjoy so long the Innocent embraces of Jesus in his Childhood The holy Entertainments of Jesus in his riper years The divin actions examples and instructions of Jesus in his perfect age And to live so long in company and conversation with the most holy and accomplish'd Princess that ever was 5. He together with his sacred Spouse circumcis'd Jesus in the Stable of Bethleem eight day 's after his Birth into the world and according to the divin Order and command which was signifi'd unto him by an Angelicall Messenger impos'd upon him that glorious
dignity Hail Mary 8. He was an Instrumentall Cooperator with God in his great design of mans Redemption Hail Mary 9. He was in some sort the Saver of his Saviour by sheltring him from his enemy's Tyranny Hail Mary 10. His life was a continued Contemplation Recollection and Extasy in the perpetuall presence of Gods Son and Gods Mother Hail Mary Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. These Prayers Angelicall c. The fourth Decade Of his return from Egypt and of his Death SAint JOSEPH inform'd by Angelicall Revelation of Herods death returns home with Jesus and Mary Our Father c. 1. He Jesus and Mary after their banishment dwell together in Nazareth Hail Mary 2. He conducted Jesus when he was twelve years old to the Temple in Jerusalem Hail Mary 3. He there lost Jesus to his unspeakable grief and sorrow Hail Mary 4. He retriv'd him after three days enquiry sitting amongst the Doctors Hail Mary 5. He reconducts him home to Nazareth where Jesus the great Monarch of both worlds was subject and obedient to Joseph's command Hail Mary 6. And as he had the Priviledg to enjoy the Innocent embraces of Jesus in his childhood so he had the honour to enjoy his holy entertainments in his riper years and his divin actions examples and instructions in his perfect age Hail Mary 7. He also had the honour to govern the sacred family of Jesus and Mary for thirty years space Hail Mary 8. He had the happiness to be assisted by Jesus and Mary in his last Agony Hail Mary 9. Having compleated the course of his Earthly Pilgrimage he chang'd this life for Eternity Hail Mary 10. He sweetly breath'd forth his soul in a high act of sigh and love in the sacred embraces of Jesus and Mary Hail Mary Glory be to the Father c. These Prayers Angelicall c. The fifth Decade Of his Glory SAint JOSEPH was elevated to Heaven upon the day of his Son 's triumphant Resurrection Our Father c. 1. He is inthron'd there above next to Jesus and Mary as he was here below neerest and dearest unto them Hail Mary 2. He is adorn'd with a Garland of virginity for having preserv'd it unblemisht to his last breath Hail Mary 3. He is enobled with the Aureola of Doctorship for having instructed the ignorant and particularly the Egyptians in the time of his so journing amongst them Hail Mary 4. He is rewarded with a Crown of Martyrdom for having hazarded his life for his Sons preservation Hail Mary 5. He is a Powerfull Protector of all them who are particularly devoted unto him as having great credit with the All powerfull Jesus Hail Mary 6. He is the generall Patron of the Church Militant as being the speciall Favourite of its head Christ Jesus Hail Mary 7. He bears a singular affection to all that sincerely love Jesus and Mary as being so neerly allyed unto them Hail Mary 8. His Petitions are presented to the Throne of Mercy with a Fathers confidence and his Requests will not easily be rejected by Jesus in heaven who was so obedient to Joseph upon earth Hail Mary 9. He is the chief Patron of all Contemplatives Hail Mary 10. He is the great Master Guide and Directors of the Interiour hidden and spirituall life Hail Mary Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to Holy Ghost c. These Prayers Angelicall with bended knee c. Credo c. as in the great Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary Conclude this Rosary with these ensuing Elevations ELEVATIONS TO S. JOSEPH TO Honour God in him and him in God in his Dignity of being the reputed FATHER of the Word Incarnate and the BRIDEGROOM of the Blessed Virgin MARIE And to offer up our selv's to him in the state of dependencie which is due to him upon these titles and to correspond by our inward devotion to that power which he hath over us by consequence of the power he had over the Son and Mother of GOD. GReat and glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph The worthy Bridegroom of Mary and esteemed Father of Jesus In the honour of Gods beholding and electing you in the Councill of his Eternall Wisdom and of his placing you at the time appointed by his divin Providence in these two high and sublime estates In honour and union of all the singular graces prerogatives priviledges and perfections which he plentifully heap'd upon you in order to render you capable of these eminent offices and undertakings In honour and union of your souls extraordinary sanctity of your Bodies virginall Purity of your profound humilitie of your perfect Obedience of your voluntary Povertie and of all the rest of your consummated vertues In honour and union of your dear affection to Jesus and Mary of the continuall application of your spirit towards these two divin objects of the tenderness of your devotion unto them and of your silent solitarie retired recollected and contemplative life with them In honour and union of all the services you rendred to the Word Incarnate in the state and order of his hypostaticall postaticall union with our nature In honour and union of that last Act and sigh of love wherein you sweetly breath'd forth your faithfull soul in the embraces of Jesus and Mary your divin Son and dear Spouse In honour homage and union of all your other Greatnesses and especially of the right power and jurisdiction you had over Jesus and Mary in quality of Father and husband and of the subjection obedience and duty they rendred you Finally in acknowledgment of your having been establish'd the Head the Steward and the Director of Gods Family upon Earth The Father the Tutor and the Trainer up of Jesus the Bridegroom the Guardian and the Helper of the holy Virgin Mary I do now choose you O great and glorious Patriarch for my particular Patron for my powerfull Protector for my pious Father and for my chief Soveraign next after Jesus and Mary And upon this score I do here yeild and resign unto you all the power I have over my self desiring to become your servant and Bondslave willing to submit my self to you as my Saviour Jesus was subject unto you and begging your leave to place all the future transactions motions and passages of my life during this my earthly Pilgrimage under your sacred conduct government and protection Make me worthy O glorious Father by your merits to become with you a faithfull Member of Jesus and Maries Family and to be thereunto firmely and intimately united associated and incorporated by Grace and Sanctity And obtain for me by your powerfull intercession that I may never be separated from sweet Jesus and Mary in my life in my death in my Eternity Take also O powerfull Protector the last moment of my life that Moment which must decide my Eternity into your pious care and Custody Assist me then I beseech you in that harsh Passage
and obtain for me a happy death and departure out of this World in the Faith Favour and Affection of Jesus To whom be all honour prayse and glory for Evermore Amen ELEVATIONS TO THE SACRED TRINITY UPON EARTH Iesus Maria Ioseph In honour and homage to the Glorious Trinity in Heaven the Father Son and Holy Ghost O JESU Son of the living God and Saviour of the World O Mary Mother of Jesus and Mediatrix of Mankind O Joseph Bridegroom of Mary and esteemed Father of Jesus O sacred Trinity Jesus Maria Joseph I honour you reverence you admire you in your excellent eminent sublime Greatnesses in which you seem to be an express Image of the Incomprehensible Trinity and I adhere to you in union of the perfect homages which you rendred to the Father Son and holy Ghost by your high Estate and holy operations The deep Mystery of the divin Trinity is Invisible to our eyes Ineffable to our Tongues Incomprehensible to our Spirits And behold the poor Bethleem stable affoards us a human Trinity Jesus Maria Joseph uppon Earth which views adores and Imitates the Trinity of the Empireall Heaven the Father Son and Holy Ghost This is Increated that is both created and Increated in the Person of the God-Man Jesus This is divin and Eternall That is Deifi'd and temporall The one is Adorable the other honorable The one is admirable in its greatness The other amiable in its sweetness In the one is a unity of Essence in a Trinity of Persons In the other is a union of Love of Grace and of Spirit in a Trinity of Essence and of Persons In the Divin Trinity the Father begets his Son in Eternity In the other by a reverted order the Son gives Being in Time both to the Father and to the Mother In the first the Father and the Son and the Father by the Son produces the holy Ghost in unity of origin In the second Jesus and Mary and Jesus by Mary gives the Life and Being of Grace to Joseph in the unitie of spirit So that Mary hath an admirable resemblance to the Eternall Father the Son of Mary hath an express unity with himself and S. Joseph represents the Holy Ghost For the Father in Heaven is the only Parent without a Mother and Mary upon Earth is the only Parent without a Father And as nothing greater can be attributed to God than his being the Father of a God so nothing more sublime can befall a pure creature than to be the Mother of the same God whereof God is Father The Holy Ghost is the sacred knot and Tye of the divin Persons And Joseph hath a union with Mary as his Spouse and with Jesus as his Father The Holy Ghost form'd Jesus in the Virginall Cloyster of Maryes Womb And Joseph fed him educated him and preserv'd for us far more fortunately than the ancient Joseph of Egypt â— this Bread of the Elect this blessed pledg of our future happiness this Eternall Bliss of Men and Angells Wherfore O Jesu We acknowledg honour and adore you in your Eternall heights and greatnesses we prayse bless and love you in your temporall humiliations sweetnesses we contemplate you in Heaven with the Eye of Faith betwen the Father and the holy Ghost We admire you upon Earth between Mary and Joseph And I invite and conjure all Creatures to prayse bless and adore your divin Majesty in both these estates O Mary We also look upon you as upon Gods sacred Mother and in this supream dignity I salute reverence and honour you with the singular homage of Hyperdulia which is due to your Excellencies and Greatnesses O Joseph I likewise honour you as the reputed Father of Jesus and Bridegroom of Mary and in regard of these two Eminent qualities I subject my self to the power which is given you over my soul by consequence of the Jurisdiction you had over Jesus my Saviour I offer my self to you O Great Saint Joseph Father and Husband without Paragon to be by you presented to Mary I give my self to you O glorious Mary Virgin and Mother without Paralell to be by you addressed to Jesus I consecrat my self to you O Great-little-God-man Jesus as your servant and bondslave to become associated in this qualitie with the domestiques of your sacred Family O Jesu my King reign in my Soul and exercise the absolute power you have over my spirit O Mary my Soveraign Queen after my King Jesus possess my heart and my will to consign them over to your Son O Joseph My chief Prorector after Jesus and Mary take my Body and senses into your safe custody to be consecrated to Jesus O Jesu annihilate and absorp my soul in your affection O Mary Inflame my heart with the love of Jesus O Joseph Bless all my labours and endeavours and present them to Jesus and Mary Let the whol world be replenish'd O Jesu with your mercies be assisted O Mary with your favours be secured O Joseph under the shadow of your Protection For You O JESU are the Fountain issuing forth of the Terrestriall Paradise Mary's Virginall Womb is the Origin of all our happiness you O Mary are the Prime Bason of this Fountain and the pure Glebe from whence it proceeded And you O Joseph are the River who disperse abroad these waters of Life by your efficacious intercessions O Jesu you are the fruit of life O Mary you are the Paradise that bore it and the Tree that brought it forth And you O Joseph are the Cherubin appointed by God to guard it O Jesu You are the sacred Propitiatory of the world O Mary You are the Mysticall Ark of our Reconciliation And you O Joseph are the High Priest who alone are permitted to enter into this Holy of Holies to be the faithfull Coadjutor of Gods great Counsell in the world and the Feoffee in trust of his treasures and secrets In honour therefore of these three ineffable Tâ—es and unions between these admirable subjects which are the greatest under Gods command and Jurisdiction I most humbly beg of you O Jesu Mary and Joseph 1. A chast and filiall Fear of God that nothing either in life or death may separate me from his grace and friendship 2. A faithfull fervent and perseverant Love of God and my neighbour with a generous zeal of the divin honour and my own salvation 3. A good and happy end of my life consummated in the act and exercise of these sacred affections O JESU Be an Advocate for me your Bondslave to your Eternall Father O Mary intercede for me your servant to your Son O Joseph pray for me your child to Jesus and Mary O Jesu shew your wounds suffer'd for my sake O Mary discover your Breasts which suckled Gods Son O Joseph represent your hands which nourish'd the Word Incarnate O Jesu replenish my Soul with the abundance of your celestiall blessings by the effusion of efficacious grace upon it which may intimately