A BRIEFE EXPLICATION OF THE OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARIE MOTHER OF GOD Together with à small Treatise Concerning the institution thereof c. Composed by the R. F. E. VV. Priest and Monke of the Order of S. Benedict PRINTED AT DOVAY BY LAVRENCE KELLAM 1652. Permissu Superiorum THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIE TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPEVLL LADIE THE LADIE THROCKMORTON WIFE TO SR. ROBERT THROCKMORTON Of Coughton Court in the Countie of Warwicke Knight MADAME I hauing had à good part of my education with your vertuous Grand mother of happie memorie à myrrour of Charitie and Christian pietie and with your truely noble Father one of that blest number mentioned by the Royall Prophet Psal 127. fearing our Lord and walking in his waies who though be inherited large and well gotten possessions might well be saied to haue eaten the labours of his hands he hauing managed and improued them with singular prudence dispenced them to the admiration of all that knew him to whome our Lord made good his promise bestowing vpon him à loyall pleasing consort enriched with all dowries of nature grace rendring her like to à fruitfull vine by blessing her with à numerous honourable and hopefull issue like to soe manie Oliue branches circuiting his table And being by the speciall mercie of God and their furtherance conducted to à peacefull harbour where I found commodious leasure to reflect vpon the perillous waies I had formerly fieered to praise God for his ineffable goodnesse and consider how I might disengage myselfe in some small measure to them and the residue of my well experinced friends at least shew my willingnesse not to be vngratefull And hauing long since learnt that we are not borne to our selues but that our Parents friends and countrey lay iust claime vnto vs yet wanting meanes equall with my dâ—sires to dischardge this threefold obligation I at length made choise to compose this worke in honour of the most B. Virgin Mother of God whose Dowrie this our now distracted couÌ„trey was sometymes not vndeseruedly stiled both in respect of the peculiar deuotion our religious Predecessors aboue other nations of the Christian world bore towards her and her reciprocall procuring by her powerful intercession innumerable select fauours for them and with all humble instance to beseech that immatulate benigne Mother of mercie who aboue all pure creatures hath euer freest accesse to the infinite treasures of our deare Sauiour and her beloued sonne Christ Iesus and can best dispence them to his liking to impart to each of these my creditors in my behalfe their due proportion they all or the most sincere part of them ioyntly meeting in spirit at her throne of glorie by their deuout recitall of her little office In this my worke if I may call it myne I haue indeauored to my small Myte to emulate those glorious lights of Gods holy Church S. Gregory Nazianzen and S. Basile in this one poynt that is recorded of them vdzt That they interpreted the holy Scriptures not according to theit owne talent of witt and learning which yet was highly eminent but according to the Rule and authoritie of their ancients Soâ— that if each holie writer should demand of mee his owne I might vaunt as vainely as Aesops Bird the Sentences being theirs I hauing onely contributed the collection fashioning traÌ„slation placing as I conceaued might probably delight with profitt Wherein I bestowed such houres as conuentuall Acts obedience and frequenting schooles left to my free disposall This small portion then which I hauing now obtained leaue to publish may in some sort though not absolutely call myne was by mee as farre as I well might some twelue yeares past designed to haue been dedicated to that Saintlike Ladie my approued friend and your deare Mother But she hauing fought à good combate consummated her happie course conserued her faith and being about two yeares since called by the celestiall spouse to receiue à Crowne of glorie for her reposed amongest her Nine exquisite Daughters who with heroicall pietie render themselues genuine braÌ„ches of that specious Vine mutually representing each the other and labouring to adorne their pure soules with all solide vertues that they may one day happily be transferred hence to the compleating as farre as their number extends those Nine Quires of B. Spiritts I haue deseruedly elected your La to Patrorage these my â—npolisht lines you being by prâ—â—eminence of birth the prime branch and one of that mysterious number who if I may not to preuent 〈◊〉 and for ciuilitie sake say doth best yet I may securely say doth exceeding fitly personate to the very life that reall friend of myne Be pleased then to accept of this meane expression of my gratefull affection it being yours thus already of right and the ambitious desire of MADAME Your Ladiships obliged friend and seruant E. W. This 25. of May 1690. APPROBATIONS HOc opus cui titulus est A briefe Explication of the Office of the Blessed Virgin MARIE Mother of God c. totum accurate legi cumque nihil in eo inuenerim à fide Catholica aut bonis moribus alienum sed omnia valde sana sancta quae potenter allicere possint legentium animos qui in vulgari lingua samilia prius non viderunt ad Officum B. V. Mariae deuote recitandum dignum iudico vt typis mandetur Datum Duaci 14. Septembris 1652. F. RVDESINDVS BARLOE Ord. S. Bened. Sac. Theol. Doctor Professor HAuing perused and diligently examined this worke intituled A briefe ExplicatioÌ„ of the Office of the Blessed V. MARIE c coÌ„posed by the R. F. E. W. I find it in euerie part consonant to the Catholike faith pietie and most efficacious to the stirring vp of Christian soules to à deuout reciting of the same and therefore Iudge it most worthie the presse In witnesse whereof I haue subsigned at Doway the last of Sept. 1652. EDWARD DANIEL Doctour in Sacred Diuinity reader of the same in the English Coll. of Doway AN EXPLICATION VPON THE OFFICE OF THE B. VIRGIN MARY CHAPT I. Containinge the scope and methode of this worke MY purpose is to leaue nothing vntouched which pious Catholiks deuoted to the glorious mother of God and accustomed to recite frequently the holy office instituted to be said in the honour of soe powerfull an aduocate may desire to vnderstand and therefore I am to discusse some generall questions and handle such transcendent points as may concerne the whole office before I can come to treate of particulars Three things I find cheifly which may be doubted of or demaunded by those who are either litle conuersant in the ceremonies of the holy Church and Ecclesiasticall Institutions or els are of a different Religion which teacheth them to carpe at euery thing which they doe not comprehend and to censure as superstitious what their new fancies doth not admitt To the end therefore that the lesse learned Catholiks may become sufficiently instructed
alsoe very many from falling into sinne poureth forth a fragrant odour in so much that whosoeuer shall piously call her to mynd shall experience himselfe sprinkled there with Of the Canticle or Hymne Te Doum laudamus THe auncient custome of recyting this Canticle or Hymne in the diuine Office maie bee proued by the Rule of our holie Father S. Benedict where he appointeth that after the fouerth Responsory to wit of the third Nocturne the Abbot doe beginne the Hymne Te Deum laudamus Concerning the originall institution of this Hymne S. Darius Bishop of Milan who liued in the tyme of Iustine the elder about the yeare of our Lord. 540. as S. Gregory affirmeth in his 3. Booke of dialogues the 4. Chap. in his Chronicles writeth as followeth By l. 1. c. 10. Chronicâ— blessed Ambrose saieth he Augustine was baptised and confirmed in the name of the holie and vndiuided Trinitie all the faithfull of the Cittie being present and beholding it at which tyme according as the holie Ghost gaue them to speake they pronounced the Hymne Te Deum Laudamus all that were present hearing seeing and admiring which hath been generally receiued and religiously sung euer since by the vniuersall Church in all ages euen vnto these our daies The Title and argument of the 92. Psalme and first in the Laudes PRaise of Canticle to Dauid himselfe in the date before the Sabbaoth when the earth was founded It seemeth tâ—at he who appointed this title was desirous that the insuing Psalme should bee sung vpon the Sixt Feria or Fryday which is the daie before the Sabbaoth because therein is declared that the earth was founded or according to some bookes inhabited Which is fitly saied to haue been done on the Sixt Feria for on that daie maÌ„ was formed who should bee Lord of the earth and by this the earth was first established which was created for man On this daie not onely man but alsoe all liuing creatures were created which inhabite the earth and therefore on this daie the earth began first to bee inhabited On the same daie alsoe by the Passion and death of Christ Iesus our Lord and Sauiour the earth was renouated and the Kingdome of Christ established the Prince of the world being cast forth All which notwithstaÌ„ding the holie Church doth appoint this Psalme to bee sung at Laudes vpon Sunday about Sunne rising or daie breake because although our Sauiour purchased his Kingdome with the price of his most pretious bloud shed for mankind on the Sixt Feria and thereby layed the foundation of the new earth yet he receiued possession of his Kingdome at his glorious resurrection early in the morning vpon Sunday at which tyme he put on beauty and strength The words of this Psalme maie bee applied both to the Creation Reparation of the world as followeth The exposition of the Psalme OVr Lord hath reigned he hath put on beautie glorie and regall Majestie Our Lord hath alsoe put on strength power and fortitude which are equally requisite to support à Kingly diademe and hath girded prepared armed and setled himselfe to reigne If these words bee referred to the Creation of the world Christ as God is saied to haue begun to reigne when he had created the world for then he first of all began to haue subiects vpon the earth ouer whome he might exercise dominion But if they bee referred to the reparation of the world Christ as man at the tyme of his Resurrection did receiue the gouernment of the Vniuerse put on the beautie of à glorified body and put on fortitude all power being giuen him in heauen and vpon earth and girded or setled himselfe earnestly to ptopagatâ— his Kingdome to the vtmost confines of the earth It is manifest that our Lord hath reigned in this sort For he hath established firmely fixed the round world as the center of the vniuerse which shall not bee moued according to that of Ecclesiastes Generation passeth and generation Eccle. 1. cometh but the earth standeth for euer Christ likewise by his dolorous passion and glorious resurrection hath founded and established the Militant Church spred through all the regioÌ„s of the earth in one faith and religion which shall not bee moued but shall perseuer in the same faith and worship vnto the end of the world for Christ shall reigne in the house of Luc. 1. Iacob for euer and of his Kingdome there shall bee noe end Thy seat ô Lord is prepared from that tyme to wit from the Creation of the world or the resurrection of Christ Yet thou didst not theÌ„ beginne to haue à being for thou according to thy diuine nature art from euerlasting from eternitie Concerning which you are to note that the word art doth not here signify the simple existence of the diuine nature but the fulnesse of his being wherein all things are contained For God was not poore or had need of any thing before he created the world neither was he more wealthy or better stored after he had created it for he created not the world that himselfe might encrease thereby but that he might communicate his goodnesse to vs therefore he created not the world as being compelled by any necessitie but as being moued thereunto by his infinite charitie and mercy and with the same charitie and mercy he hath repaired it for Soe God loued the Ioh. 3. world that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne that euery one that beleeueth in him perish not but maie haue life euerlasting The riuers ô Lord haue lifted vp the riuers haue lifted vp their voices The riuers haue lifted vp their waues aboue the voices of many waters The surges of the Sea are maâ—uâ—lous maruelous is our Lord on high If the words of these verses bee referred to the first sense they signify the manner whereby God almightie made the earth habitable that it might bee à firme seate for all liuing creatures For iâ— the beginning of the Creation the waters couered the superficies of the Vniuerse and the inundations of the waters were eleuated with à terrible motion but God who is infinitely more high more excellent and powerfull repressed their furie closed part of them in the concauities of the earth and appointed limits to the rest which they shall not transcend In the Second sense by the riuers which lifted vp their voices is vnderstood the Apostles and other principall planters of the Christian faith who being filled with the waters of life did passe through the world like vnto soe many heauenly riuers and eleuate their voices preaching the Ghospell of Christ with great freedome By the riuers which lifted vp their waues is vnderstood the Iewes who euen in the very beginning contradicted the Ghospell in all places raised persecutioÌ„ against the disciples of Christ By the surges of the Sea which are farre greater theÌ„ the waues of the riuers is vnderstood the persecutions of the Infidels other aduersaries of the
note that the Iewes in reuerence of their Sabbaoth did number the daies of the weeke from that daie calling the daie immediatly following the first of the Sabbaoth and soe forth of the rest The Gentils called the daies of the weeke by the names of the Planets to wit SuÌ„nedaie Moonedaie c. but the holie Church doth call our Sabbaoth which was the first of the Sabbaoth according to the Iewish accouÌ„t our Lords daie in honour of the Resurrection of our Sauiour on that daie and the daie immediatly following the first Feria and soe forth of the rest signifying thereby that all good Christians ought euery daie to feriate that is to liue holily abstayning from sinne vaine vnnecessary imployment yet not desisting from lawfull labours The sense therefore of this title is The Psalme written by Dauid for the glorie of the Resurrection of Christ which was to bee vpon the first of the Iewish Sabbaoth when Christ rysing on that daie should haue all power giuen him in heauen and vpon earth THE ARGVMENT HOlie Dauid by this Psalme doth intend to shew how of the innumerable multitude of men onely Christ and some few few indeed I maie saie in respect of the multitude of others shall enter into the celestiall house of our Lord. And therefore least perhaps any should beleeue that the residue of mankind did not belong to God but were created by some other Principle as afterwards the Marcionists and Manichees did suppose he declareth and prooueth in the beginning of this Psalme that man and all things else whatsoeuer are our Lords as being their Creator and conseruer which being soe he admireth the inscrutable iudgements of almightie God that out of the plenitude of the earth soe small à number compared with the rest should ascend inâ—o the mount of our Lord that is into his holie Church and that euen of those all should not perseuer in his holie place and dispose themselues to receaue the benediction and the mercie from their Sauiour that is to bee made partakers by him of the merits of his death and Passion but onely such as should haue the fower conditions he there specifieth Next the Prophet addresseth himself towards the Princes of darknes commaunding them to open their gates that Christ maie enter and set free the captiue soules whose ransome he hath paied vpon the Crosse And lastly he speaketh â—o the celestiall powers to open their gates that Christ and his blessed traine and all others that shall euen vntill the end of the world take vp their Crosse and follow him maie enter and keepe an eternall Sabbaoth The exposition of the Psalme THe earth is our Lords and the fulnes thereof all things therein contained to wit men beasts all that groweth thereon or is within her bowells the round world the circumference of the earth and all that dwell therein all these are our Lords as being their Creator gouernour conseruer Because he hath founded firmely placed it the earth or round world vpon the sea vpon certaine armes of the Ocean which inuiron it Yet this is not to bee vnderstood as though the earth properly speaking were aboue the sea for the earth is the Center of the vniuerse whence it is necessarie that it bee in the middest of the world and consequently according to its naturall seate incompassed by the waters and for the greatest part in the middest of them but it is saied to bee placed aboue the sea because by the diuine prouidence it is not wholly ouerwhelmed by the waters but that part which boundeth vpon the sea and the superficies thereof is higher then the sea that creatures maie liue and feed thereon Me then saieth our Lord will Ierem. 5. v. 22. you not feare who haue set the sand à limit for the sea an euerlasting precept that shall not passe the waues thereof shall swell and shall not passe ouer it And vpon the riuers hath prepared it made it an habitation fit for men and other liuing creatures The two precedent verses as likewise the rest of this Psalme maie bee explained in à more spirituall sense as followeth The earth the Church militant remaining vpon earth producing plentifull fruit of holie conuersation is our Lords and the fulnes thereof the whole vertue grace perfection of the faithfull ought by all right to bee ascribed vnto him as being the author and giuer thereof the round world the holie Church spread through all the confines of the earth or collected of people from all the ends of the earth and all that dwell therein all the true beleeuers established in Ecclesiasticall vnitie of faith and operation All these belong to our Lord Iesus Christ who hath purchased them with his pretious bloud That he might present to himself Ephe. 5. à glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle Because he hath founded it vpon the Sea vpon secular men wallowing and wauering as the Sea from one vanitie and inconstancie into an other or thus He hath founded it he hath strengthned his Church vpon the Sea vpon the persecutions tribulations bitternesses and inconstances of the world Yet this is not to bee vnderstood that these before named are the bases or foundations of the Church but that Christ hath established his Church in such sort against them that although they should neuer soe much endeauour to subuert her as the vast billowes of the sea doe menace to inuolue and swallow vp the earth yet she shall subsist and neuer bee altogether ouercome by them And vpon the riuers vpon vices gliding like riuers inordinately and without ceasing from one sensuall pleasure to another but neuer satiating hath prepared it disposed the holie Church to combate against them VValking in flesh saieth the Apostle we 2. Cor. 10. warre not according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnall but mightie to God Since therefore all things are our Lords as hath been proued VVho shall ascend into the Mount of our Lord who from the seruitude of sinne shall ascend to the obedience of the holie Church who shall forsake the world and enter into religion who from imperfection shall ascend to perfection who from this vale of teares shall ascend into the Kingdome of heauen Or who shall stand in his holie place who shall perseuer to the end in the saied mount of our Lord verily all men shall not It is true indeed that many wicked and reprobate people doe ascend into the mount of our Lord but they stand not there for that belongeth onely to them in whome are found the fower properties following The innocent of hands who hath not iniured any man by his actions and of cleane heart who hath his heart purified from the staine or guilt of sinne and affection thereunto that hath not taken his soule in vaine that hath not neglected to fulfill those things for which his soule was created and infused into the body to wit to adorne it with vertues