is God V. The love of Jesus Christ hath united us V. Let us rejoyce and praise him V. Let us fear and love the living God V. And love one another with a sincere heart Then the Antiphon is repeated Where charity and love is there is God V. When therefore we are assembled V. Let us beware we are not divided in mind V. Let all quarrels and contentions cease V. And let Christ be among us Then the Antiphon is repeated the third time Where charity and love is there is God V. Grant that we may see with the blessed V. Thy face in glory O Christ our Lord. V. There to enjoy a happy and immense joy V. For ever and ever Amen Then the Superior or he that washes the feet of others washeth his hands wipes them and putting on his Coap he stands upright with his head bare says Pater noster c. V. And lead us not into temptation R. But deliver us from evil V. Thou hast enjoyned O Lord R. That thy Laws be exactly observed V. Thou hast washed thy Disciples feet R. Despise not the work of thy hands V. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray GRant O Lord we beseech thee that we may worthily discharge this our duty and since thou vouchsafest to wash thy Disciples feet despise not the work of thy hands which thou hast commanded us to retain and imitate that as we here cleanse all filth from our Bodies so thou wilt be pleased to free our Souls from all sins Which we beseech thee to grant us who livest and reignest God for ever and ever Amen THE MASS FOR THURSDAY IN Holy Week The station in the Church of St. John of Lateran This day in Rome the station is in this Church because the Pope did formerly bless the Holy Oyls there upon this day The INTROIT The Church representing to us in this Mass how our Saviour instituted the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist it being the Eve of his Passion as a perpetual Monument and to apply the fruit of it unto us she teacheth us by the example and words of Saint Paul that we ought to look upon the Cross of Christ as our onely glory for it is by its vertue that we are freed from the tyranny of the Devil that we are raised from death It is by it that Jesus Christ grants from corporal death of sin as we must be raised to the life of grace in this world as he will hereafter he will when he pleases give us the Life of Glory in Everlasting Bliss 'T is true that to glory in the Cross of Christ we must suffer much But what will that glory be which God hath prepared for the patience of the just what will their happiness be when for their vertues in this exile he shall give them crowns in heaven for short and temporary pains immortal and incomprehensible rewards The consummation of their felicity will be at the day of judgment when Jesus Christ after he hath raised them again shall inanimate them with his happy life and spirit as all the members of one body are filled and enlivened by one soul BUt we ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our Salvation Life and Resurrection and by whom we are redeemed and saved PSALM LXVI As the Sacrifice of the Cross is an effect of God's Mercy so his Grace whereby we are enlightened to acknowledge this inestimable benefit and whereby we are made worthy to reap the fruit of it is an effect of his Bounty and Mercy which we ought to beg of him GOd have mercy upon us and bless us illuminate his countenance upon us and have mercy upon us But we ought to glory c. KYRIE ELEISON LOrd have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us All the rest as before pag. 30â— As the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is a Consequent and Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God on this day whereon our Saviour instituted this most venerable Sacrament the Church commands that Hymn to be sung which the Angels did sing at his Birth GLory be to God in the Highest and on Earth peace to men of good will We praise thee we bless thee we adore thee we glorifie thee we give thanks to thee for thy great glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely begotten Son Jesus Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father who takest away the Sins of the World have mercy on us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father have mercy on us For thou onely art Holy Thou onely art the Lord Thou onely O Jesus Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father Amen The Bells are rung during the Gloria in excelsis but are not rung again till Holy Saturday to teach us that the preaching of the Gospel and the voice of those who ought to excite others to follow Christ were silent during this Passion-time The COLLECT The people considering on the one side that Judas having received so many Testimonies of Favour from Jesus Christ after he had been admitted to his Table was yet so blind with covetousness that he betrayed his Master and God into the hands of the Jews who put him to death upon the Cross and transported with despair fell headlong into Hell On the other side the good thief made sensible by his pains repented himself of his sins and acknowledged our dying Saviour's divinity and putting his whole hopes and confidence in him deserved to receive the fruit of his Death and Resurrection They beseech God that they may nor approach his Table as Judas did but may obtain the same Grace with the penitent thief that so they may reap the advantage of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour O God who hast punished the sin of Judas and rewarded the confession of the repenting thief grant unto us the effect of thy mercy to the end that as our Lord Jesus Christ hath dispensed to each of them at his Passion according to their merit so having destroyed the old man in us he will grant us grace to have part with him in his glorious Resurrection Who liveth and reigneth one God world without end This Prayer is only said The Lesson out of the first Epistle of the Apostle St. Paul to the Corinthians Chap. 11. 1. The Apostle blames them for their disorder in their Feasts called Agapae as we have explicated before 2. He treats of the institution of the Eucharist and teacheth us that Christ did institute this Sacrament to renew in us the memory of his incomparable love restified by his dying for us 3. He shewed how we ought to prepare our selves worthily to receive this Adorable Sacrament
together at that sight and saw the things that were done returned knocking their breasts And all his acquaintance stood afar off and the women that had followed him from Galilee seeing these things ANd behold a man named Joseph who was a Senator a good man and a just he had not consented to their council and doings of Arimathea a city of Jewry who also himself expected the Kingdom of God This man came to Pilate and asked the body of Jesus And taking it down wrapped it in sindon and laid him in a monument hewed of stone wherein never yet any man had been laid The OFFERTORY taken out of the 101st Psalm The Church represents unto us how our Saviour in his Passion became a figure of his Martyrs who desiring to be freed from death by humane instinct and as it were forsaken by him for a time in that he granted not that unto them whilst they suffered which they might seem to desire by their natural inclinations might repeat from the bottom of their hearts those words full of love and piety which our Saviour as an example of these generous champions spoke himself Father if it be possible let this cup of sufferings pass from me that I taste it not but let thy will be done not mine O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come unto thee turn not thy face from me c. SUSCIPE SANCTE PATER till the Secret as before pag. 56 57 58. The SECRET The Faithful meditating upon our Saviour's Passion beseech God to grant them desires and resentments of love and duty and to excite us the rather we must confess our own sms and reflect that they were the cause of our Saviour's Crucifying Secondly We must consider the eternal torments which we have merited that so we may with consent undergo any torments in life Thirdly Let us contemplate that we shall have an eternal recompence whereunto we aspire by the grace of Jesus Christ and confess that all the afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared to the future Glory Fourthly We must call to mind all the pains our Saviour indured for us having frequently in our thoughts how much his Divine Majesty suffered for us his unprofitable servants should not without confusion to our selves be unwilling to suffer but readily and cheerfully for our benefits undergo these temporal light pains ACcept O Lord we beseech thee this Offering and grant that we may receive with pious affections and resentments that which we celebrate in memory of the Passion of our Lord thy Son Through the same Jesus Christ c. Against the Persecutors of the Church Protege nos c. as before pag. 90. Or for the Pope Oblatus c. as before pag. 90. The Preface Canon c. till the Communion as before from 60 to 70. The COMMUNION out of the 101st Psalm The Church tells us that in receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which represents to us his Passion and as it were incorporates us with him we ought to imprint in our hearts a lively apprehension of this adorable Saviour who being presented upon the Cross with Gall and Vinegar to drink besought God his Father with abundance of tears and loud crys to grant us life everlasting in participation of his Sufferings and Resurrection I Mingled my drink with tears because lifting me up thou hast thrown me down and I withered away like grass but thou O Lord endurest for ever Thou rising up shalt have mercy on Sion because it is time to have mercy on it The POST-COMMUNION The Faithful beseech God to withdraw their irregular affections from these worldly fading goods and to make them apprehend how as they are Christians their happiness is not to be placed in this temporal life wherein God oftentimes delivers them up unto persecutions even unto death But that they are to regard Eternity to which the Name of Christian entitles them Therefore they are to consider that he whose Name they bear was so treated before them to teach them by his example to contemn this world and to aspire Celestial Blessings which he by the Merits of his Death and Passion hath opened unto them GRant O Almighty God we beseech thee that we may with a holy confidence believe that thou hast opened a passage for us to Eternal Life by the Temporal Death of thy Son represented in these Adorable Mysteries Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Against the Persecutors of the Church Quaesumus Domine c. as before pag. 91. Or for the Pope Haec nos quaesumus as before pag. 91. Let us Pray Humble your selves and bow down your heads to God LOok down O Lord we beseech thee upon this thy Family for which our Lord Jesus Christ doubted not to be betrayed into the hands of the wicked and so undergo the torments of the Cross Who liveth and reigneth with thee c. All the rest as before pag. 79. 〈◊〉 Hollar focit UPON THURSDAY IN Holy Week AT PRIME Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Credo c. Deus in adjutorium is not here said to mind us that Jesus Christ was abandoned by God the Father to sufferings and death Nor is any Hymn used to instruct us that the Jews had dishonoured God by putting his Son to death PSALM LIII In this Psalm the Church proposeth unto us a certain model of perfect Prayer First We ought to beg of God what may conduce to our salvation Secondly We ought to ask it in the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ for there is no other Name given to men by which they can be saved Thirdly We must have a firm faith in God's omnipotence Fourthly We are to look upon God as our Judge who gives to every man according to his works and therefore the confidence wherewith we pray is grounded upon the testimony of our conscience that it is not guilty of any thing which may render us unworthy to present our selves before his Divine Majesty Fifthly We must place all our confidence in God's mercy in the verity of his promises and not in our merits Sixthly We are to beg the grace to love justice so that no persecution whatever may cause us to swerve from it Seventhly We must not desire punishment upon the wicked out of hatred or revenge but out of charity for their correction as long as there is hopes of their amendment and to the end that others by their chastisements may fear to imitate them and that the empire of sin being overcome God alone may reign in this world Eightly We ought to beg that the adversities and misfortunes of this life may not deject us nor prosperity charm our senses and affections but that we may rely upon God and glorifie him Ninthly And to glorifie God as we ought we must offer up our selves to him in the spirit of sacrifice and annihilation that is of Pennance Tenthly The service and duty we offer up to God must
be free not servile Eleventhly We must acknowledge our selves unable to make a voluntary and true offering of our selves if the grace God do not deliver us from our sins which we must pray for from our very hearts O God save me in thy Name and in thy strength judge me O God hear my prayer with thine ears receive the words of my mouth Because strangers have risen up against me and the strong have sought my soul and they have not set God before their eyes For behold God helped me and our Lord is the receiver of my soul Turn away the evils to mine enemies and in thy truth destroy them I will voluntarily sacrifice to thee and will confess to thy Name O Lord because it is good Because thou hast delivered me out of all tribulation and mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies PSALM 118 or 119. The Royal Prophet teaches us in the first part of this 118th Psalm that mans true felicity consists in living free from sin and in keeping God's law for his love and because he so commands us Secondly He teacheth us that to observe the law of God as we ought we must ask his grace to learn it from our youth Thirdly How that knowing it we must praise his Majesty and beg his grace to observe it with a true heart void of fear or confusion Fourthly That to render us worthy of this grace of perseverance in the obedience of divine law we ought to meditate continually upon it it must be the object of our entertainment and we must have a greater care and pleasure to accomplish it than worldly covetous men have to get and preserve their perishing riches BLessed are the immaculate in the way which walk in the law of our Lord. Blessed are they that search his testimonies that seek after him with all their heart For they that work iniquity have not walked in his ways Thou hast very much commanded thy commandments to be kept Would God my ways might be directed to keep thy justifications Then shall I not be confounded when I shall look throughly in all thy commandments I will confess to the indirection of heart in that I have learned the judgments of thy justice I will keep thy justifications forsake me not wholly Wherein doth a young man correct his way in keeping thy words With my whole heart I have sought after thee repel me not from thy commandments In my heart I have hid thy words that I may not sin to thee Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy justifications In my lips I have pronounced all the judgments of thy mouth I am delighted in the way of thy testimonies as in all riches I will be exercised in thy commandments and I will consider thy ways I will meditate in thy justifications I will not forget thy words In this second part of this 118 or 119 Psalm the Prophet David farther teacheth us the conduct which God is pleased to use to those who with a faithful heart intend the observing his Commandments 1. God brings to their knowledge that this life is but as death that so they may be brought to find out the true life which consists in knowing and loving him 2. He shews them that in this world men are intangled in sin and ignorance to the end to raise them to a desire to be enlightened by his grace 3. God inspires them with a consideration that this life is but a banishment that looking upon themselves as strangers and exiled persons surrounded with ambushes enemies and miseries they may thirst after their true country which is Heaven 4. God exercises the Faithful by persecutions and other traverses that so he may bring them to conform and submit to his will 5. He often permits them to be perplext and disquieted to humble and make them sensible of their own weakness and the want they have of God's continual assistance to the end they make their addresses unto him placing all their hopes in his mercy and not in their own strength 6. God frees them from sin and confirms them in vertue dilates and enlarges their hearts by filling them with his love that they may with exact diligence and fervent perseverance walk in his paths REnder to thy servant quicken me and I shall keep thy words Reveal mine eyes and I shall consider the marvellous things of thy law I am a sojourner in the land hide not thy commandments from me My soul hath coveted to desire thy justifications at all time Thou hast rebuked the proud cursed are they that decline from thy commandments Take from me reproach and contempt because I have sought after thy testimonies For princes sate and they spake against me but thy servant was exercised in thy justifications For both thy testimonies are my meditation and thy justifications my counsel My soul hath cleaved to the pavement quicken me according to thy word I have uttered my ways and thou hast heard me teach me thy justifications Instruct me the way of thy justifications and I shall be exercised in thy marvellous works My soul hath slumbered for tediousness confirm me in thy words Remove from me the way of iniquity and according to thy law have mercy on me I have chosen the way of truth I have not forgotten thy judgments I have cleaved to thy testimonies O Lord do not confound me I ran the way of thy commandments when thou didst dilate my heart CHrist became obedient unto death for us Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before pag. 6. At the Third Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. In this third part of the 118th or 119th Psalm the Prophet represents unto us the state of a soul which God hath dilated And first he shews us the need we have of an abundant and omnipotent grace to acquit our selves of our obligations 2. That we must stand vigilantly upon our guard lest the tempations arising from covetousness or other exteriour and sensible objects trespass upon our modesty temperance or chastity 3. That with resolution and courage we ought to repel and overcome the reproaches and persecutions of the wicked SEt me a law O Lord the way of thy justifications and I will seek after it always Give me understanding and I will search thy law and I will keep it with my whole heart Conduct me into the path of thy Commandments because I would it Incline my heart into thy testimonies and not into avarice Turn away mine eyes that they may see not vanity in thy way quicken me Establish thy Word to thy servant in thy fear Take away reproach which I have feared because thy judgments are pleasant Behold I have coveted thy Commandments in thy equity quicken me And let thy mercie come upon me Lord thy salvation according to thy Word And I shall answer a word to them that upbraid me because I have hoped in thy words And take not away out
of my mouth the word of truth utterly because I have much hoped in thy judgments And I will keep thy law always for ever and for ever and ever And I walked in largeness because I have sought after thy Commandments And I spake of thy testimonies in the fight of Kings and was not confounded And I meditated in thy commandments which I loved And I have lifted up my hands to thy Commandments which I loved and I was exercised in thy justifications In this fourth part of the 118 or 119 Psalm the Royal Prophet teaches us to renew our spiritual life and first he shews us the chief affliction of the Faithful being in their not enjoying Almighty God yet their hopes thereof is their onely joy and sole comfort in which hope their soul is much elevated towards Heaven that they descend not to take content in earthly pleasures 2. The Prophet shews us how to reject temptations that assault us when we see the wicked prosper and how to behave our selves in persecutions by considering the punishments threatned to the wicked and the reward promised to the just 3. We must raise in our selves a zeal and holy horror against the disorders the wicked commit in this life and beware lest by a vain compliance we partake with them 4. Being truly sensible of our abode here amongst the wicked it will be requisite that we truly and really desire to return into Heaven our proper Country 5. Since to observe Gods Commandments is the way to get securely thither we are to walk with great care and particular circumspection 6. That we may avoid the ambushes and snares which environ us whilst we are in this World we ought to have continual recourse to God by prayer and meditation of his Law by strictly examining our very thoughts by searching into the very bottom of our hearts left blinded with self-self-love we lose our selves 7. That we apply our selves and converse with good wise and knowing persons in a spiritual life by adhering to our Councils and imitating their prudence and vertue and by partaking in their necessities and sufferings 8. We must beware of too much confidence of our selves but always acknowledge that the good conduct of our life is a gift from Gods mercy BE mindful of thy word to thy servant wherein thou hast given me hope This hath comforted me in my humiliation because thy word hath quickned me The proud did unjustly exceedingly but I declined not from thy Law I have been mindful of thy judgments from everlasting O Lord and was comforted Fainting possessed me because of sinners forsaking thy Law Thy justifications were song by me in the place of thy peregrination I have been mindful in the night of thy name O Lord and have kept thy Law This was done to me because I sought after thy justifications My portion O Lord I say to keep thy Law I besought thy face with all my heart have mercy on me according to thy word I thought upon my ways and converted my feet unto thy testimonies I am prepared and am not troubled to keep thy Commandments The cords of sinners have wrapped me round about and I have not forgotten thy Law At midnight I rose to confess to thee for the judgments of thy justification I am partaker of all that fear thee and that keep thy Commandments The Earth O Lord is full of thy mercy teach me thy justifications In this fifth part of the 118th or 119th Psalm the Faithful who have received the Word of God with a firm faith are taught their obligation to beg of God the gift of knowledge and understanding to apprehend and tast heavenly things with submission to divine truths that understanding which gives them a gust and sense of things belonging to God first to the end they may be able with gladness to bear the afflictions of this World acknowledging they avail to amend our lives Secondly That they may prefer heavenly benefits which God hath promised in his Law before the fading goods of this life Thirdly That they may acknowledge that man was made to be just to preserve peace and unity in a holy conversation which they ought to have with one another to love God above all Creatures to serve him ardently through the whole course of this life humbly adoring the justice of his judgments Fourthly That finding more consent in Gods service than in any worldly pleasures they may in some manner comprehend the consolation and happiness they shall find hereafter by the comfort he offords his servants in their present afflictions Then the Royal Prophet teaching the Faithful that the wicked apprehend not these truths their hearts being besotted in wickedness which draws upon them their damnation he exhorts them to beseech God to purifie their hearts and elevate them above the things of this World and to dispose them to take consent onely in his honour and service and to place their onely joy desires pretentions and repose in him THou hast done bounty with thy servant O Lord according to thy Word Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge because I have believed thy Commandments Before I was humbled I offended therefore I have kept thy Word Thou art good and in thy goodness teach me thy justifications The iniquity of the proud is multiplied upon me but I in all my heart will search thy Commandments Their heart is curded together as milk but I have meditated thy Law It is good for me that thou hast humbled me that I may learn thy justifications The Law of thy mouth is good unto me above thousands of gold and silver Thy hands have made me and formed me give me understanding and I will learn thy Commandments They that fear thee shall see me and shall rejoyce because I have much hoped in thy words I know O Lord that thy judgments are equity and in thy truth thou hast humbled me Let thy mercy be done to comfort me according to thy word unto thy servant Let thy commiserations come to me and I shall live because thy Law is my meditation Let the proud be confounded because they have done unjustly toward me but I will be exercised in thy Commandments Let them be converted to me that fear thee and that know thy testimonies Let my heart be made immaculate in thy justifications that I be not confounded The Church having taught us how necessary Gods grace is for us to accomplish his Commandments that we may enjoy eternal bliss tells us farther that his grace is not given to men but by the merits of Jesus Christ and that to the same end he became man and suffered death for us V. Christ became obedient unto death for us Pater noster c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before pag 6. THE PRAYER Respice quaesumus c. as before pag 130. At the Sixth Hour Pater noster c. Ave Maria c. PSALM 118 or 119. The Prophet David in the sixth part of this
c. V. The tender Infant as he lies In the cold manger shrinks and cries As little children use While his chast Mother binds his hands His feet his legs in swathing bands Nor does he worse refuse V. Hail Holy Cross c. V. He does not only not refuse But out of pure love freely chuse Death on this bitter Cross Where he the innocent Lamb was slain Eternal Life for us to gain And so repair our Loss V. Dear are the nails c. V. Behold the gall and vinegar The mocking reed and cruel spear Their hate his love display Behold the body cold and wan Whence streams of blood and water ran To wash our stains away V. Hail Holy Cross c. V. Bend gentle tree O quickly bend Thy softned branches and suspend Thy native stubborn heart O give at least this small relief To the God of Heaven but man of grief At least abate his smart V. Dear are the nails c. V. 'T was thou alone wert worthy thought To bear him who our ransom brought And on thee paid it down 'T was he alone and his dear blood That sav'd us from the common flood Which else the world would drown V. Hail Holy Cross c. V. All glory to the sacred Three One individed Deity All honour bliss and praise O may we still adore thy Name Thy Pow'r and Goodness still proclaim Beyond the end of days Amen V. Dear are the nails c. When the adoration of the Cross is near finished the Candles upon the Altar are lighted and the Deacon taking the corporal case carries it to the Altar spreading the corporal upon the Altar after the usual manner and puts it directly against the Purificatory And the Adoration being ended he places the Cross upon the Altar The Sub-deacon takes the Missal from the Epistle and carries it to the Gospel side Then a Procession is made to the place where the blessed Sacrament is reserved The Subdeacon goes first with the Cross between two Acolytes they carrying Candlesticks with lighted Tapers and the Clergy follows in order the Priest last with those that Officiate When they are come unto the place where the blessed Sacrament is the Tapers are lighted and not put out till after the Communion The Priest kneels and prays a while the Deacon in the mean time opens the Tabernacle wherein the blessed Sacrament is Then the Priest rising up puts Incense into the Censors without blessing it then kneeling again he takes one of the Censors and incenseth the Holy Sacrament Then the Deacon taking the Chalice wherein the blessed Sacrament is out of the Tabernacle he puts it into the Priests hands who covers it with the ends of the vail that is upon his shoulders and so they go in order as they came the Priest with the blessed Sacrament under the Canopy the two Acolytes incensing and all the people singing this Hymn A Broad the Regal Banners fly Now shines the Crosses mystery Vpon it life did death endure And yet by death did life procure Who wounded with a direful spear Did purposely to wash us clear From stain of sin pour out a flood Of precious water mixed blood Fully accomplisht are the things David in faithful Meeter sings Where he to nations does attest God on a tree his reign possest O lovely and refulgent tree Adorn'd with purpled majesty Cull'd from a worthy stock to bear Those limbs which sanctified were Blest tree whose happy branches bore The wealth that the World restore The beam that did that body weigh Which rais'd up Hell's expected prey Hail Cross of hopes the most sublime Now in this Morning Passion-time Improve religious souls in grace The sins of criminals efface Blest Trinity Salvation's spring May every soul thy praises sing To those thou grantest conquest by The Cross-Rewards apply Amen When the Priest shall come to the steps of the Altar the Deacon kneeling first shall take the blessed Sacrament and place it upon the Altar Then the Priest standing upright puts Incense into the Censor and incenseth the B. Sacrament upon his knees Then the Vail is taken off his shoulders and he goes up to the Altar where he kneels again and takes the Hoast out of the Chalice putting it upon the Patten which he takes from the Deacon After this he puts the consecrated Hoast upon the Corporal without any words or making the sign of the Cross Then he puts the Patten not under the Corporal as is usual but above to represent Jesus Christ in his Sepulcher If by chance he hath toucht the Hoast he must wash his singers in some Vessel and dry them upon the Purificatory and to do this also he must go down the steps of the Altar The Deacon takes the Chalice and without wiping it he goes to the Epistle corner and puts Wine into it the Sub-deacon also puts in a little Water without blessing it and so presents the Chalice to the Priest without either kissing his hand or the Chalice The Priest placeth the Chalice upon the Corporal without making the sign of the Cross or saying any thing The Deacon covers it with the Pall. The Priest puts Incense into the Censor without a blessing to signifie that the Author of all blessing is dead Then he incenseth the Oblation of Wine and Water to teach us thereby that Bloud and Water issued out of our Saviours side when he was pierced upon the Cross and kneels not when he incenseth the Oblation to signifie to us that this Wine and Water is not to be consecrated LEt this Incense O Lord blest by thee ascend unto thee and let thy mercy descend upon us After the Priest hath incensed the Oblation he incenseth the Altar testifying that as the Sacrifice which is offered is insinitely more Holy than the Sacrifices of the old Law so he ought to beg of God a more perfect preparation and a greater sanctity of Life than that which the Royal Prophet required in this 140 Psalm of being able to correspond by his Prayers to the sanctity of the Sacrifice which was but a Figure of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ LEt my Prayer O Lord be directed as Incense in thy sight the elevation of my hands as Evening Sacrifice Set O Lord a watch to my mouth and a door round about my lips that my heart decline not into the words of malice to make excuses for sins The Priest gives the Censor to the Deacon without being incensed himself as refusing that Honour upon this day wherein Jesus Christ was so affronted with Ignominies and he prays God to inflame his heart as well as all others with a more fervent Charity than the fire in the Censor MAy our Lord kindle in us the fire of his love and the flame of his eternal charity Amen The Priest having delivered the Censor to the Deacon goes down from the Altar on the Epistle side and being near the Credence with his Face to the People he washeth his hands silently
Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us R. This night without Sin V. Have mercy on us Lord. R. Have mercy on us V. Let thy mercy O Lord come on us R. Even as we have trusted in thee V. O Lord hear my Prayer R. And let my Cry come unto thee V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray VIsit we beseech thee O Lord this Habitation and repel far from it all Snares of the Enemy Let thy holy Angels dwell therein to preserve us in peace and thy Blessing be upon us for ever through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with thee liveth and Reigneth in the Unity of the Holy Ghost One God for ever and ever Amen V. Our Lord be with you R. And with thy Spirit V. Let us bless our Lord. R. Thanks be to God THE BLESSING V. The Almighty and Merciful Lord the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost bless and keep us R. Amen THE ANTHYMN OF THE HOLY VIRGIN HAil Queen advanc'd to heavenly Reign Hail Lady of th' Angelick Train Hail Root hail Gate that did disclose The Light which to the World arose Virgin rejoyce whose Form divine All others Beauty do's out-shine Be ever bless'd thrice-beauteous Maid By thee let Christ be for us pray'd V. Vouchsafe that I praise thee O sacred Virgin R. Give me force against my Enemies Let us Pray GRant O merciful God defence unto our Frailty that we who make Commemoration of the Holy Mother of God may by the help of her Intercession arise from our Iniquities Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. R. Amen V. Let the Divine Help always remain with us R. Amen THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY IN Holy-Week FOR THVRSDAY at MATTINS ON this Day the Church represents unto us That Jesus Christ supped with his Apostles washed their Feet prayed in the Olive-Garden and that he was betrayed by Judas into the hands of the Jews These three following Days after having said Pater noster Ave Maria and Credo at Mattins and Prime without farther Ceremony they begin Mattins and Vespers with an Anthymn of the First Psalm and every Anthymn is repeated as on double Feasts Domine labia mea c. and Deus in Adjutorium are omitted to signifie that Jesus Christ was then abandoned by his Father to Torments and Death The Invitatory is likewise omitted Neither the Hymn nor Gloria Patri are said to shew us that the Honor due to the Blessed Trinity was violated by the excessive Wickedness and Infidelity of the Jews Fifteen Wax Tapers are lighted because there are recited two Canticles and thirteen Psalms in the Mattins and Laudes which are all sung under one and the same Anthymn Whereby are represented unto us the Light of the Faith which the Prophets in the Old Testament foretold unto the People And a Taper is extinguished at the end of each Psalm to declare that the Light of that Faith whereof the Prophets spoke unto the Jews was in them extinguished after they had crucified the Saviour of the World And at the end of the Canticle of Zachary the Father of St. John Baptist they put not out that Taper which represents Jesus Christ whom St. John Baptist declared to be the true Light of the World to shew that tho' Jesus Christ died according to his Humanity yet that he was always living according to his Divinity They also hide that Taper to signifie that the Divinity of Jesus Christ was hid under the Veil of his Humanity It likewise represents Jesus Christ in his Sepulcher Afterwards they shew the lighted Taper to represent his Resurrection AT THE FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 68. That which the Royal Prophet foretold in this Psalm of the Mystery of the Passion of Jesus Christ the Church proposes unto us according to the Explication left us by the Apostles as well in the Book of their Acts and in their Epistles as in the Book of Gospels First She represents us with the Sufferings and Death of Jesus Christ which the Prophet compares to an overflowing of the Waters and to a Tempest and to a Wreck Secondly She presents us with the Prayer which our Saviour made to God his Father at the access of his Grief when in the condition of a Slave which our Infirmities occasion'd being in appearance forsaken of God his Father since in his Sufferings he denied him that which he desired through a propension of Humane Nature wherewith he was clothed drawing from the bottom of his Heart these Words full of Love and Piety My Father if it be possible let the Chalice of my Sufferances pass without my drinking it however thy will be done not mine That which he earnestly desired 't is that made his Innocency appear and that he voluntarily suffered those Pains for the Sins of Men and not for his own having never committed or been able to commit the least Sin And though his Passion seems ridiculous and is an Object of Scandal and Abomination in the judgment of the Jews and Gentiles yet the Faithful are not thereat troubled Thirdly The Church shews us that in this Psalm the Prophet foretells how our Saviour was to be betrayed by one of his Disciples and abandoned by his others and how many Outrages and Contempts the Jews would cast upon him Fourthly In this Psalm is declared the Zeal Jesus Christ had for the Honor of his Father his Resignation to his Father's Will his Submission to his Conduct and his Contempt of his own proper Interest For so the Apostle St. Paul in the fifteenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans explicates one part of this Psalm Fifthly According to St. Luke in the first Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and of St. Paul in the second Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans in this Psalm is described the Punishment which was prepared for the Traytor Judas and the other Persecutors of Jesus Christ wherewith this adorable Saviour threatens them not through any Hate or Revenge but through the Zeal of God's Justice considering the Reprobation of those Wretches in the Decrees of his Providence Sixthly We are instructed in this Psalm That Jesus Christ having by his Death repaired the Honor of God his Father he was also to rise again and build his Church which through Sin was lost and establish his Faithful in the possession of the Heavenly Inheritance signified by Jerusalem and lost by Sin Establishing on Earth a more agreeable Sacrifice than that of Calves which was offer'd him in the Old Law to wit the Sacrifice of his own Body and Blood Ant. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me and the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me SAve me O God because waters are entred into my Soul I stick fast in the mire of the depth and there is no sure standing I am come into the depth of the sea and a tempest hath overwhelmed me I have laboured crying my jaws are made hoarse my eyes have failed whilst I hope
to fear but also to love him Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment GOd is known in Jewry in Israel his name is great And his place is made in peace and his habitation in Sion There he brake the powers of bows the shield the sword and the battel Thou dost illuminate merveilously from the eternal mountains all the foolish of heart were troubled They slept their sleep and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands At thy reprehension O God of Jacob they have slumbred that mounted on horses Thou art terrible and who shall resist thee from that time thy wrath From heaven thou hast made thy judgment heard the earth trembled and was quiet When God arose unto judgment that he might save all the meek of the earth Because the cogitation of man shall confess to thee and the remains of the cogitation shall keep festival-day to thee Vow ye and render to our Lord your God all ye that round about him bring gifts To the terrible and him that taketh away the spirit of princes terrible to the kings of the earth Ant. The earth trembled and was quiet when God arose unto judgment PSALM 76. The Church here shews us That if the Faithful of the Old Law acknowledg'd their Sufferings to be occasioned by their Sins and that they deserved the Torments they suffered and that they received no Comfort but by considering the Effects of Gods Bounty in the Conduct of his People whereof there had been great and many Examples given How much more ought the Faithful of the Law of Grace to be comforted in their Afflictions by the Example and Promises of the Son of God our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ considering that what they suffer is nothing if compared to what our Redeemer suffered to take away our Sins and make us happy Then it shews us the Assurance he gives us to obtain by his Merits of God his Father either to avert the Evils of this Life or at least to mitigate them or to enable them to support them or that he wholly frees them from those Calamities and afterwards he raises them to the enjoyment of that Happiness wherein there is no fear of Ill and wherein they cannot lose the Sovereign Good Ant. In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands WIth my voice I have cried to our Lord with my voice to God and he attended to me In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands in the night before him and I was not deceived My soul refused to be comforted I was mindful of God and was delighted and was exercised and my spirit fainted Mine eyes prevented the watch I was troubled and spake not I thought upon old days and the eternal years I had in my mind And I meditated in the night with my heart and I was exercised and I swept my spirit Why will God reject for ever or will he not add to be better pleased as yet Or will he cut off his mercy for ever from generation unto generation Or will God forget to have mercy or will he in his wrath keep in his mercies And I said Now have I begun this is the change of the right hand of the Highest I have been mindful of the works of our Lord because I will be mindful from the beginning of thy merveilous works And I will meditate in all thy works and in thy inventions I will be exercised O God in the holy is thy way What God is great as our God thou art the God that dost merveilous things Thou hast made thy power known amongst peoples thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and Joseph The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee and they were afraid and the depths were troubled A multitude of the sounding of waters the clouds give a voice For indeed arrows do pass the voice of thy thunder in a wheel Thy lightnings shined to the round world the earth was moved and troubled Thy way in the sea and thy paths in many waters and thy steps shall not be known Thou hast conducted thy people as sheep in the hand of Moyses of Aaron Ant. In the day of tribulation I sought God with my hands V. Arise O Lord. R. And judge my cause VII LESSON Out of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians chap. 2. The Church instructs us by the Words of the Apostle St. Paul how on that day Jesus Christ being to leave this World and go unto his Father and that having celebrated the Pasch with his Disciples he instituted at this last Supper he eat with them the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a perpetual Testimony of his Passion and the fulfilling of the Figures of the Old Law and as the greatest Miracle he ever did which he also left in his Church to comfort all the Faithful afflicted by his absence and to ingrave in their Hearts a deeper Impression of that Divine Love which he testified by dying for us In this Seventh Lesson the Apostle treating of the Agapes which were Feasts instituted among the Primitive Christians in imitation of the last Feast our Saviour Jesus Christ made with his Apostles to keep Union among the Faithful he speaks against the Rich who called not the Poor to their Table but came to the Eucharist full of Wine and Meat for according to the ancient Custom every one having taken a small Repast he then came unto those Holy Mysteries But the Council of Laodice held about the Year 364 forbad to celebrate in the Churches this Ceremony of the Agapes for the Irreverences that might be committed and soon after the Apostles time they never communicated but fasting as Tertullian witnesseth ANd this I command not praising it that you come together not to better but to worse First indeed when you come together into the Church I hear that there are schisms among you and in part I believe it For there must be heresies also that they also which are approved may be made manifest among you When you come therefore together in one it is not now to eat our Lords supper For every one taketh his own supper before to eat And one certes is an hungred and another is drunk Why have you not houses to eat and drink in or contemn you the church of God and confound them that have not What shall I say to you praise I you in this I do not praise you The Church represents unto us the Ingratitude and Wickedness of the Jews who endeavoured the Death of our Saviour whilst he even fed them with his own Flesh and gave them his own Blood to drink That also those by receiving it might have eternal Life She likewise admonisheth us to take care that â—e do not crucifie Christ in our own selves as the Jews crucified him on the Cross by profaning and defiling his precious Blood â—â—d by smothering in
c. AT LAUDS PSALM 50. Ant. Be justified O Lord in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged The Church represents unto us in the Person of David the Pattern of a true Penitent and also shews us First That Sinners must never despair of Gods Mercy but always acknowledge that though their Sins are never so great yet that his Mercy is far greater David received the Sacraments of the Law and Circumcision whereby the Sins wherein he was conceived were taken away he also received Holy Unction and God promised unto him that from his Loins the Messias should be born and that he and his Son should build his Temple And in the mean time David becomes an Adulterer and Murderer but being touched afterwards with a true Penitence and Compunction of Heart he cried for Mercy unto God and obtained it Secondly The Church shews us That all Sinners must follow the Example of David and put their whole confidence in the Mercy of God that they must always acknowledge their Sins and ever have them before their Eyes For will not God vouchsafe to forgive those Sins which Man will not acknowledge They must consider that God esteems those Injuries done to their Neighbors as if done to himself and therefore we ought to render an Account only to him They must look upon themselves as Lepers and People rejected and separated from other Men as impure Men as Strangers and Profane They ought to have a pure and sincere Heart They must shake off the Old Man to be renewed in God that is they must contemn all Pleasures of the Flesh all Voluptuousness and all Popular Praise and settle their whole Love on things invisible and entirely Divine And it is not sufficient only to correct their Lives and sin no more but they must also satisfie unto God for their past Sins and Offences by a true Compunction by humble Sighs by offering up a contrite Heart and by Alms which must accompany all the Exercises of Penance They must suffer all things with Patience and invincible Courage accepting and receiving their Punishments as just Pains for their Crimes And in demanding any Favours or Graces from God they ought not to think they merit them but only propose to themselves to honor his Magnisicence and Bounty that he may be acknowledged faithful to his Promises in hearing the truly Penitents and irreproachable in his Judgment by chastising Sinners Lastly They must edifie their Neighbor by the Example of their good Lives and endeavor the Conversion of the Wicked They must beg of God that their Sins may not be the Cause that others should be deprived of the Goods God would have granted unto them by their Intercession if they had not rendred themselves unworthy of that Ministry as we see that David ask'd of God that the Promises he had made to him to employ him in the building of his Temple should not be without effect although himself was unworthy that Grace yet that he would please to grant his Son the favour of finishing that great Work Deal favourably O Lord in thy good will with Sion and let the walls of Jerusalem be built up Then shalt thou accept sacrifice of justice oblations and holocausts then shall they lay calves upon thy altar HAve mercy on me O God according to thy great mercy And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out mine iniquity Wash me henceforth from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Because I know my iniquity and my sin is always against me To thee only have I sinned and have done evil before thee that thou maist be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged For behold I was conceived in iniquities and my mother conceived me in sins For behold thou hast loved truth the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness and the bones humbled shall rejoyce Turn away thy face from my sins and blot out my iniquities Create a clean heart in me O God and renew a right spirit in my bowels Cast me not away from thy face and thy holy Spirit take not from me Render unto me the joy of thy salvation and confirm with a principal spirit I will teach the unjust thy ways and the impious shall be converted to thee Deliver me from blood O God the God of my salvation and my tongue shall exalt thy justice Lord thou wilt open my lips and my mouth shall declare thy praise Because if thou wouldst have had sacrifice I had verily given it with whole burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit a contrite and humble heart O God thou wilt not despise Deal favourably O Lord in thy good will with Sion and let the walls of Jerusalem be built up Then thou shalt accept sacrifice of justice oblations and holocausts then shall they lay calves upon thy altar Ant. Be justified O Lord in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged PSALM 89. The Church represents unto us First That God alone is only Eternal and that he is our sole and sovereign Good She likewise shews us Secondly The Inconstancy Frailty and Miseries of Mans Life whereinto they have put themselves through their â—â—ns Thirdly She offers unto us the Means which God preâ—â—nts us to be delivered and to get us Eternal Life which consist in patiently bearing the Punishments wherewith he inflicts â—s to make us return unto him Fourthly She prays unto God to have mercy on us and to conduct us by the continual assistance of his Grace ANTHYMN The Church shews us by the Example of our Saviour Jesus Christ with what Patience we must undergo the Evils of this life which we deserve for Sins Ant. Our Lord was led like an innocent lamb to the slaughter and he opened not his mouth LOrd thou art made a refuge for us from generation unto generation Before the mountains were made or the earth and the world formed from everlasting even unto everlasting thou art God Turn not away man into humiliation thou saidst Be converted ye children of men Because a thousand years before thy eyes are as yesterday that is past And as a watch in the night things that are counted nothing shall their years be In the morning as an herb he shall pass in the morning he shall flourish and pass in the evening he shall fall be hardned and withered Because we have fainted in thy wrath and in thy fury we are troubled Thou hast put our iniquities in thy sight our age in the light of thy countenance Because all our days have failed and in thy wrath we have failed Our years shall be considered as a spider the days of our years in them are seventy years And if in strong ones eighty
to the Precepts of his Gospel with the fidelity of a sincere Heart and consider that that Infinite Wisdom cannot be deceived which penetrates the most hidden Secrets of our Soul LEt us hasten therefore to enter into that rest that no man fall into the same example of incredulity For the word of God is lively and forcible and more piercing than any two-edged sword reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit of the joynts also and the marrows and a discerner of the cogitations and intents of the heart And there is no creature invisible in his sight but all things are naked and open to his eyes To whom our speech is Having therefore a great high-priest that hath entred the heaven Jesus the Son of God let us hold the confession For we have not a high-priest that cannot have compassion on our infirmities but tempted in all things by similitude except sin RESP. The Church represents unto us That this Sovereign Priest felt the Temptations and Infirmities of Humane Nature by offering himself unto God for us as a Sacrifice and Victim R. They have delivered me into the hands of the wicked and have cast me among the impious and have not spared my soul The strong are gathered together against me and like giants have stood against me V. Strangers have rose up against me and the strong have sought my soul And like giants c. VIII LESSON The Church describes to us a holy Bishop in general and a Pattern of one very particularly in JESUS CHRIST LEt us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid For every high-priest taken from among men is appointed for men in those things that pertain to God that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins that can have compassion on them that be ignorant and do err because himself also is compassed with infirmity and therefore he ought as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins RESP. The Church in the precedent Lesson having proposed unto us the Description of a Holy Bishop in this she presents us in the Person of Caiphas with a Wicked one R. The wicked delivered Jesus to the chief princes of the priests and to the elders of the people But Peter followed him afar off that he might see the end V. But they led him to Caiphas the prince of the priests where the Scribes and Pharisees were met together But Peter followed c. IX LESSON The Apostle teacheth us That as in the Old Law none could intrude himself to exercise the Function of Priesthood without a successive Vocation so JESUS CHRIST intruded not himself into the Pontifical Dignity but received it from God his Father Then he treats of the Prayers accompanied with the Sighs and Tears JESUS CHRIST offered on the Cross and which God accepted in regard of his Dignity and the Love he bare towards him as his Son 2. The Apostle declares unto us the Excellency of CHRIST's Priesthood above that of Aaron's 1. Because being Immortal he was an Eternal Priest 2. Because he was the Son of God and one and the same God with his Father 3. In being the Beginning of our Salvation 4. In that he offered up himself 5. Because he needed not to have been offered up a Sacrifice for his own Sins he having none nor being able to commit any because he was the Source and Fountain of all Goodness NEither doth any man take the honor to himself but he that is called of God as Aaron So Christ also did not glorifie himself that he might be made a high priest But he that spake to him My Son art thou I this day have begotten thee As also in another place he saith Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedeck Who in the days of his flesh with a strong cry and tears offering prayers and supplications to him that could save him from death was heard for his reverence And truly whereas he was the Son he learned by those things which he suffered obedience And being consummate was made to all that obey him cause of eternal salvation called of God a high-priest according to the order of Melchisedeck RESP. The Church presents unto us the extremity of Christs sufferings and that by his Passion he has given us an example of perfect Patience and Obedience R. My eyes are darkned with my tears for he is far from me that did comfort me See all people if there be any sorrow like to my grief V. O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like to my grief My eyes are darkned with my tears because he is far from me who did comfort me See all ye people if there be any grief like mine AT LAUDS Ant. GOod spared not his own Son but delivered him for us Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 65. PSALM 142. The Church shews us that in all our afflictions we must have recourse to Gods Mercy with an humble confidence and faithful submission to his Will and we must acknowledge that our Sins brought on us our Miseries and we must pray his Divine Majesty to conduct us with his Holy Spirit lest the extremity of our sufferings transport us to do unlawful Actions Ant. My spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled LOrd hear my prayer with thine ears receive my petition in thy truth hear me in thy justice And enter not into judgment with thy servant because no man living shall be justified in thy sight Because the enemy hath persecuted my soul he hath humbled my life in the earth He hath set me in obscure places as the dead of the world and my spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled I was mindful of old days I have meditated in all thy works in the facts of thy hands did I meditate I have stretched forth my hands to thee my soul is as earth without water unto thee Hear me quickly O Lord my spirit hath fainted Turn not away thy face from me and I shall be like to them that descend into the lake Make me hear thy mercy in the morning because I have hoped in thee Make the way known to me wherein I may walk because I have lifted up my soul to thee Deliver me from mine enemies O Lord to thee I have fled teach me to do thy will because thou art my God Thy good spirit will conduct me into the right way for thy name sake O Lord thou wilt quicken me in thine equity Thou wilt bring forth my soul out of tribulation and in thy mercy thou wilt destroy mine enemies And thou wilt destroy all that afflict my soul because I am thy servant Ant. My spirit is in anguish upon me within me my heart is troubled ANOTHER ANTHYMN The Church shews us the difference 'twixt Christ's and our Sufferings Ours
are the punishments of our Sins and those of JESUS CHRIST are the effects of his Love towards us that thereby he might open Heaven for such as honor him with a sincere Heart as the good Thief did who beholding JESUS CHRIST hanging on the Cross all torn with stripes overwhelmed with shame and confusion drinking Gall covered with Spirtle and so outragiously scoffed at by all the People yet was he no ways scandaliz'd but on the contrary publickly acknowledged he was God he silenced his fellow Malefactor who cursed this Innocent he confessed his Sins he discoursed after a wonderful manner of the Resurrection and prayed JESUS CHRIST who expired on the Cross to be mindful of him when he came into his Kingdom Ant. The one thief said to the other We indeed justly receive worthy of our doings but what hath this man done Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom The Psalm Deus Deus meus ad te de luce vigilo c. as before p. 69. CANTICLE OF HABACCUC Chap. 3. The Prophet Habaccuc represents unto us under the Figure of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Captivity of Babylon and Egypt the deliverance of the Faithful by our Saviour JESUS CHRIST from the slavery of Sin and tyranny of the Devil Ant. When my soul shall be troubled O Lord thou shalt be mindful of mercy LOrd I heard thy hearing and was afraid Lord thy work in the midst of years quicken it In the midst of years shalt thou make it known when thou art angry thou wilt remember mercy God will come from the south and the holy One from mount Paran His glory shall cover the heavens and the earth is full of his praise His brightness shall be as the light horns in his hands there is his strength hid Before his face shall death go and the devil shall go forth before his feet He stood and measured the earth he beheld and dissolved the Gentiles and the mountains of the world were broken The hills of the world were bowed by the ways of his eternity For iniquity I saw the tents of Ethiopia and the skins of the land of Median shall be troubled Why wast thou angry with the rivers O Lord or was thy fury in the rivers or thine indignation in the sea Who wilt mount upon thy horses and thy chariots salvation Raising thou wilt raise up thy bow the oath to the tribes which thou hast spoken Thou wilt cut the rivers of the earth The mountains saw thee and were sorry the gulf of water passed the depth gave his voice the height lifted up his hands The sun and the moon stood in their habitation in the light of thine arrows they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear In fretting thou wilt tread down the earth in fury thou wilt astonish the Gentiles Thou wentest forth the salvation of thy people salvation with thy Christ Thou struckest the head out of the house of the impious thou hast discovered the foundation even to the neck Thou hast cursed his scepters the head of his warriors them that came as a whirlwind to disperse me Their exultation as his that devoureth the poor in secret Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses in the midst of many waters I heard and my belly was troubled at the voice my lips trembled Let rottenness enter in my bones and swarm under me That I may rest in the day of tribulation that I may ascend to our girded people For the fig-tree shall not flourish and there shall be no spring in the vines The work of the olive-tree shall deceive and the fields shall not yield meat The cattel shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls But I will joy in our Lord and will rejoyce in God my Jesus God our Lord is my strength and he will make my feet as of the harts And upon my high places he the conqueror will lead me singing in psalms Ant. When my soul shall be troubled O Lord thou shalt be mindful of mercy ANOTHER ANTHYMN The Church sets before us the Example of the good Thief that by his Example we must have recourse unto Christ in all afflictions and hope for Eternal Goods which by his Death he has merited for us Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom PSALM Laudate Dominum de coelis c. as before p. 74. VERSICLE taken out of Psalm 142. The Church represents unto us the Blindness and Insolency of the Jews who having put JESUS CHRIST to death glorified therein as if they had vanquished him and destroyed his Power for they believed not he would triumph over Death by a speedy Resurrection He hath set me in obscure places R. As the dead of the world AT BENEDICTUS ANTHYMN The Church hath shewed us how Iniquity hath lied against it self for the Jews Maugre all their Power were enforced to publish JESUS CHRIST to be their true King and whereas they thought by the punishment of the Cross to have destroy'd his Kingdom they have thereby more powerfully established it They put over his head his cause written This is JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS The Canticle of Zachary Benedictus c. as before p. 78. V. Christ made himself for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross Pater noster c. Miserere c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus as before p. 80. AT COMPLINE As before p. 82. V. Jesus Christ made himself for us obedient unto death even the death of the cross Pater noster c. Miserere mei Deus c. as before p. 13. 65. THE PRAYER Respice Quoesumus c. as before p. 80. THE NIGHT-OFFICE ON Holy-Friday FOR SATURDAY AT MATTINS FIRST NOCTVRN PSALM 4. This Psalm declares unto us that we cannot raise up our selves to love and seek after the true good whilst our Hearts are loaded with the weight and cares of this World and that being but once enlightened with the Grace of God we then begin to afflict our selves in the secret of our Soul and being touch'd to the very bottom of our Hearts we then offer to his Majesty all our past life and for the future resolve by his assistance entirely to change it Then our Lord begins to make us relish his Sweets ad Delights and to heap on us all Joys Then we find in that Sovereign Good another Wine and another Oyl than they below do so as we neither repine at the prosperity of the Wicked nor fear their Malice having all our confidence in God Ant. In peace in the self-same I will sleep and rest WHen I invocated the God of my justice heard me in tribulation thou hast enlarged to me Have mercy on me and hear my prayer Ye sons of men how long are you of heavy heart why love you vanity and seek lying And know ye that our Lord hath made his
putting to death the Redeemer of the World She also admonisheth them to acknowledge their Sins and to beg Gods pardon for them Jerusalem arise and put off thy garments of mirth cover thy self with ashes and haircloth For in thee is slain the Saviour of Israel V. Draw forth tears as a torrent day and night and let not the apple of thine eye besilent Because in thee was slain the Saviour of Israel LESSON III. Taken out of the Fifth Chapter The beginning of the Prayer of the Prophet JEREMY The Prophet prays unto God to have mercy on his People REmember O Lord what is fallen to us behold and regard our reproach Our inheritance is turned to aliens our houses to strangers We are made pupils without father our mothers are as it were widows Our water we have drunk for money our wood we have bought for a price We were led by our necks no rest was given to the weary We have given our hand to Egypt and to the Assyrians that we might be filled with bread Our fathers have sinned and they are not and we have born their iniquities Servants have ruled over us there was none that would redeem us out of their hand In peril of our lives did we fetch us bread at the face of the sword in the desert Our skin was burnt as an oven by reason of the tempests of famin They humbled the women in Sion and the Virgins in the cities of Juda. Jerusalem Jerusalem Convert unto the Lord thy God VERSICLE taken out of the First Chapter of the Prophet Joel The Church having represented unto us the Prayer which the Prophet Jeremy offered unto God to endeavor to avert those Miseries which threatned the City of Jerusalem she likewise shews us in the following Versicles the admonition God gave unto the Jews to do Penance by the Month of the Prophet Joel that they might avoid those Miserie 's their Sins would draw upon them Mourn as a virgin my people girded with sackcloth upon the husband of her youth Because the day of our Lord is at hand a very great and bitter day V. Gird your selves and mourn ye priests howl ye ministers of the altar lie ye in sackcloth Because the great day of our Lord is at hand Mourn as a virgin c. SECOND NOCTVRN PSALM 23. The Church yearly commemorating on this Day the Sepulcher of JESUS CHRIST represents unto us That this Sovereign Lord and Creator of all things was that amiable Saviour who out of his Love to us voluntarily suffered Death and Burial that by his Death having delivered us from the Tyranny of the Devil and Slavery of Sin might also by his Resurrection and Ascension open Heaven unto those that lead a Vertuous Humble Innocent and Chast Life Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in THe earth is our Lords and the fulnest thereof the round world and all that dwell therein Because he hath founded it upon the seas and upon the rivers hath prepared it Who shall ascend into the mount of our Lord or who shall stand in his holy place The innocent of hands and of clean heart that hath not taken his soul in vain nor sworn to his neighbor in guile He shall receive blessing of our Lord and mercy of God his Saviour This is the generation of them that seek him of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory Our Lord strong and mighty our Lord mighty in battel Lift up your gates ye princes and be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in Who is this king of glory The Lord of powers he is the king of glory Ant. Be ye lifted up O eternal gates and the king of glory shall enter in PSALM 26. The Church declares unto us That we should not fear the Accidents and Miseries of this Life since God is our Safety and Salvation and what help are we nor to expect from him whose only Son was Sacrificed for us And what should we fear since by his Death he has overcome all things that might hurt us and since he has ascended into Heaven there to give us refuge and which now is open to us in all our Miseries and Afflictions since from his Throne of Glory he pours forth upon us his Graces to purifie us conduct us and make us surmount all difficulties and obstacles to our Salvation and to convert our Patience to the shame and confusion of our Enenlies Therefore let us be careful not to render our selves unworthy his Protection and take heed lest the fear of trouble make us commit unlawful Actions We must also most strictly observe his Commandments and wholly apply our selves to his service in hopes of attaining to that Eternal Felicity he has promised us Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living OUr Lord is my illumination and my salvation whom shall I fear Our Lord is the protector of my life of whom shall I he afraid Whilst the shameful approach upon me to eat my flesh Mine enemies that trouble me themselves are weakned and are fallen If camps stand together against me my heart shall not fear If battel rise up against me in this will I hope One thing I have asked of our Lord this will I seek for that I may dwell in the house of our Lord all the days of my life That I may see the pleasantness of our Lord and visit his temple Because he hath hid me in his tabernacle in the day of evils he hath protected me in the secret of his tabernacle In a rock he hath exalted me and now he hath exalted my head over mine enemies I have gone round about and have immolated in his tabernacle an host of jubilation I will sing and say a psalm to our Lord. Hear O Lord my voice wherewith I have cried to thee have mercy on me and hear me My heart hath said to thee my face hath sought thee out thy face O Lord I will seek Turn not away thy face from me decline not in wrath from thy servant Be thou my helper forsake me not neither despise me O God my Saviour Because my father and my mother have forsaken me but our Lord hath taken me Give me a law O Lord in thy way and direct me in the right path because of mine enemies Deliver me not into the souls of them that trouble me because unjust witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath lied to it self I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living Expect our Lord do manfully and let thy heart take courage and expect thou our Lord. Ant. I believe to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living PSALM 29. In this
Psalm the Church tells us that altho' the Wicked think they can do much because they can kill those who love and fear God yet they cannot utterly destroy them for in spite of them they will rise again and triumph over Death and their Persecutions as JESUS CHRIST has assured them by his Resurrection who brought his Enemies to that condition as they had no reason to rejoyce in the Death they had inflicted on him Ant. Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell I Will exalt thee O Lord because thou hast received me neither hast delighted mine enemies over me O Lord my God I have cried to thee and thou hast healed me Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell thou hast saved me from them that go down into the lake Sing to our Lord ye his saints and confess to the memory of his holiness Because wrath is in his indignation and life in his will At evening shall weeping abide and in the morning gladness And I said in my abundance I will not be moved for ever O Lord in thy will thou hast given strength to my beauty Thou hast turned away thy face from me and I became troubled To thee O Lord I will cry and I will pray to my God What profit is in my blood whilst I descend into corruption Shall dust confess to thee or declare thy truth Our Lord hath heard and had mercy on me our Lord is become my helper Thou hast turned my mourning into joy unto me thou hast cut my sackcloth and hast compassed me with gladness That my glory may sing to thee and I be not compunct Lord my God for ever will I confess to thee Ant. Lord thou hast brought forth my soul out of hell VERSICLE taken out of Psalm 63. The Church proposes unto us 1. That altho' JESUS CHRIST had power to raise his one Body from Death to Life yet he begged that favor from God his Father thereby to give us an Example of perfect Submission and Obedience 2. That as JESUS CHRIST by his Resurrection and Ascension was made the source of all Grace and Salvation to those who rendred him a punctual obedience so was he confirm'd the Sovereign Judge to condemn those to Eternal Flames who should die in their Iniquities V. But thou O Lord have mercy on me R. And raise me that I may be thankful for them LESSON IV. Taken out of the Treatise of St. Augustin upon the Sixty third Psalm In this Lesson St. Augustin teacheth us That Jesus being both God and Man suffered only as he was Man It was necessary he should be God that he might reconcile us to God his Father being in the quality of a Mediator between God and Man It was needful he should be Man to the end he might be able to satisfie in all rigor the Justice of God his Father for the Sins of Mankind MAn shall penetrate into the depth of his heart and God shall be exalted They have said Who shall see us They are wearied in searching after wicked Councils Man has penetrated into the wicked Councils and has suffered himself to be taken like a Man for unless he had been a Man he could not have been taken seen whipp'd crucified or died Therefore it was a Man that underwent all these Passions which unless he had been Man could have had no effect upon him For had he not been Man Man had never been delivered Man then penetrated into the depth of the heart that is to say into the Secret of the Heart presenting his Humanity to their sight but concealing his Divinity from them and hiding from them his form of God wherein he was equal to his Father and only permitting to their sight the form of a Servant wherein he was less than his Father RESP. The Church represents unto us That JESUS CHRIST declared his Divinity even in his Death by those Miracles he then did and by his descent into Hell by destroying the Empire of Death and the Devil R. Our Pastor is retired the Fountain of living Water is vanished and the Sun lost its Light at his passage For he is now taken who led the First Man Captive To day our Saviour hath broke both the Locks and Gates of Hell V. He hath destroyed the prisons of Hell and overthrown the Powers of the Devil For he himself was taken who led Captive the First Man LESSON V. In this Lesson St. Augustin declares the Iniquity of the Jews who persecuted JESUS CHRIST even to his Grave TO what excess did their Search and Care transport them and how they fainted in their Searchings That our Lord being dead and buried they should set a Guard over his Sepulcher for they said unto Pilate That Seducer By that name they called our Lord Jesus Christ to the comfort of his Servants when they are called Seducers Therefore they said to Pilate That Seducer said yet living After three days I will rise again Command therefore the Sepulcher to be kept till the third day lest perhaps his Disciples come and steal him and say to the People He is risen from the dead And the last error shall be worse than the first Pilate said to them You have a Guard go guard it as you know And they departing made the Sepulcher sure sealing up the Stone with Watchmen RESP. The Church proposes unto us all the Sufferings of JESUS CHRIST O all ye that pass by this way behold and see if there be any grief like mine V. All ye people behold and see my grief if there be any grief like mine LESSON VI. St. Augustin represents unto us the malice and obstinacy of the Jews who instead of owning the truth of Christs Resurrection whereof they had such certain Testimonies yet they still persisted in their Infidelity running headlong on their own ruin and destruction THey set a Guard of Soldiers to keep the Sepulcher In the mean time the Earth trembled and our Lord arose signalizing his Resurrection by so many Miracles that the very Soldiers who guarded his Body became Witnesses and could have declared it if they had willed to have spoken truth But Avarice which had possessed that Companion-Disciple of Christ had likewise entred the Hearts of those Soldiers who kept the Sepulcher We will give you Money said they and say That whilst ye were asleep his Disciples came and stole him away Truly they failed in their vain Searches Unhappy as ye are What have ye said Where is your Subtleness and Cunning Are ye so blind Have ye so little Sense Are ye so wicked and malicious to utter such Words O unhappy Craft What hast thou said Dost thou forsake so much the Light of Counsel and Piety And art thou so much drowned in Cunning and Wickedness as to say this Do ye say That whilst ye slept his Disciples came and stole him away You produce sleeping Witnesses but rather you have slept your self since you are lost in your vain Search