Lesson II. Ry. In the Mount of Olives He! vile. Is it nothing to you, all ye that prayed to the FATHER: FATHER, if it pass by? behold, and see if there be be possible, let this cup pass from any sorrow like unto my sorrow, Me: the spirit indeed is willing, which is done unto me, wherewith the but the flesh is weak. . Watch and LORD hath afflicted me in the day of pray, that ye enter not into tempta- his fierce anger. From above hath tion. The spirit. he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back; he hath made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and made my strength to fall, the LORD come up upon my neck: he hath hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. the LORD thy God. AND from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths. Jeru- He hath no form nor comeliness; Ry. Behold, we have seen Him, and salem hath grievously sinned; there there is no beauty in Him, He hath fore she is removed: all that honoured borne our sins and for us He sorrows; her despise her, because they have but He was wounded for our transseen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. Her filthinessgressions, are healed. is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came And with. our griefs down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the LORD thy GOD. Ry. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with Me: even now ye shall see the multitude which shall come about Me: * ye shall fly, and I go to be offered up for you. y. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Ye. Lesson III. and with His stripes we y. Surely He hath borne and carried our sorrows. Behold. SECOND NOCTURN. Ant. He shall deliver the poor when he crieth, the needy also, and him that hath no helper. Ps. lxxii., Deus judicium, p. 40. Ant. They corrupt other, and speak of wicked blasphemy, their talking is against the Most High. Ps. lxxiii., Quam bonus, p. 41. Ant. Arise, O LORD, and maintain My cause. Ps. lxxiv., Ut quid Deus, p. 42. y. Deliver Me, O My God, out of the hand of the ungodly. Ry. Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. Our FATHER, secretly. THE adversary hath spread out his On Psalm liv. EAR my prayer, O GOD: and hide not Thyself from my pe and tition. Take heed unto me and hear me. These are the words of one disquieted, in trouble and anxiety. He prays as suffering much, and desiring to be released from evil. Let us now see under what evil he lies when he begins to speak, let us place ourselves by him, that sharing his tribulation, we may also join in his prayer. I mourn, saith he, in my prayer, and am vexed. When does he mourn? when is he vexed? He says, In my prayer. He speaks of the evil men whom he suffers, and that sufferance of evil men he calls his complaint. Think not that the evil are in the world to no avail, or that God makes no use of them. Every wicked man lives either to be corrected himself, or that the righteous may be exercised by him. Ry. My friend hath betrayed Me with a kiss: whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He, hold Him fast: this wicked sign he made, who by a kiss completed the murder: * this wretch threw down the price of blood, and went and hanged himself. y. Good were it for that man, if he had never been born. This. Lesson V. WOULD that they who now try us were converted and tried along with us! yet, though they continue to try us, let us not hate them, for we know not whether any of them will continue to the end in his evil ways. And mostly, when thou thinkest thyself to be hating thine enemy, thou hatest thy brother, and knowest it not. The devil and his angels are shown to us in Scripture as doomed to eternal fire. Their amendment alone is hopeless, against whom we wage a secret strife: for which strife the Apostle arms us, saying, We wrestle not against flesh and blood; that is, not against men, whom ye see: but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Not that by his saying, the world, ye should suppose devils to be rulers in heaven and earth. The darkness of this world, he said. Of the world, that is, the lovers of the world: of the world, that is, the impious and wicked: of the world, that is, of which the Gospel saith, And the world knew Him not. Ry. Judas, most wicked trafficker, betrayed the LORD with a kiss: He, as an innocent Lamb, denied not the kiss of Judas : * for thirty pieces of silver he betrayed CHRIST to the Jews. y. Good were it for that man, if he had never been born. For. Lesson VI. I have beheld unrighteousness FOR and strife in the city. See the glory of the Cross itself. Now on the brow of kings is placed that Cross, which enemies did deride. Effect hath proved strength: He hath subdued the world, not with steel, but with wood. The wood of the Cross seemed worthy of scorn in the sight of the enemies, and standing before that wood they wagged their heads, saying: If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the Cross. He stretched forth His hands to an unbelieving and gainsaying people. If he is just who lives by faith, he is unrighteous who hath not faith. Therefore when He saith, unrighteousness, understand that it is unbelief. The LORD then saw unrighteousness and strife in the city, and stretched out His hands to an unbelieving and gainsaying people: and yet, waiting for them, He said, FATHER, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Ry. One of My disciples shall betray Me this day: Woe unto him by whom I shall be betrayed: * good were it for that man if he had never been born. V. He that dippeth his hand with Me into the dish, he it is that shall betray Me into the hands of sinners. Good. One. THIRD NOCTURN. Ant. I said unto the fools, Deal not so madly. Ps. lxxv., Confitebimur tibi, p. 43. Ant. The earth trembled, and was | This cup is the new testament in my still, when GoD arose to judgment. Ps. lxxvi., Notus in Judæa, p. 43. Ant. In the time of my trouble I sought the LORD. Ps. lxxvii., Voce mea, p. 43. y. Arise, O LORD. Ry. And judge My cause. Our FATHER, secretly. Of the 1st Epistle of S. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians. Lesson VII. Chap. xi. NOW in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the LORD's supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of GOD, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you OR I have received of the LORD that which also I delivered unto you, That the LORD JESUS the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the For blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the LORD'S death till he come. Ry. Could ye not watch with Me one hour, ye, who will be encouraged to die for Me? Or do ye not behold Judas, how he sleeps not, but hastens to betray Me to the Jews? Y. Why sleep ye? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Or. Lesson IX. WHEREFORE whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the LORD unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the LORD. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the LORD'S body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the LORD, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not And together unto condemnation. the rest will I set in order when I' come. Ant. The kings of the earth stand cup, when he had supped, saying, up, and the rulers take counsel to gether, against the LORD, and against His anointed. Ps. ii., Quare fremuerunt, p. 5. Ant. They part My garments among them; and cast lots upon My vesture. Ps. xxii. Deus, Deus meus. MY GOD, my GOD, look upon me; why hast thou forsaken me: and art so far from my health, and from the words of my complaint? 2 O my God, I cry in the day-time, but thou hearest not: and in the night-season also I take no rest. 3 And thou continuest holy thou worship of Israel. 4 Our fathers hoped in thee: they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them. 5 They called upon thee, and were holpen they put their trust in thee, and were not confounded. 6 But as for me, I am a worm, and no man a very scorn of men, and the out-cast of the people. 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying, 8 He trusted in GoD, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, if he will have him. 9 But thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb : thou wast my hope, when I hanged yet upon my mother's breasts. 10 I have been left unto thee ever since I was born: thou art my GOD even from my mother's womb. 11 O go not from me, for trouble is hard at hand and there is none to help me. 12 Many oxen are come about me: fat bulls of Basan close me in on every side. 13 They gape upon me with their mouths as it were a ramping and a roaring lion. my gums and thou shalt bring me into the dust of death. 16 For many dogs are come about me and the council of the wicked layeth siege against me. 17 They pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my bones: they stand staring and looking upon me. 18 They part my garments among them: and cast lots upon my vesture. 19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD thou art my succour, haste thou to help me. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword: my darling from the power of the dog. 21 Save me from the lion's mouth: thou hast heard me also from among the horns of the unicorns. 22 I will declare thy Name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 23 O praise the LORD, ye that fear him: magnify him, all ye of the seed of Jacob, and fear him, all ye seed of Israel. 24 For he hath not despised, nor abhorred, the low estate of the poor: he hath not hid his face from him, but when he called unto him he heard him. 25 My praise is of thee in the great congregation: my vows will I perform in the sight of them that fear him. 26 The poor shall eat, and be satisfied: they that seek after the LORD shall praise him; your heart shall live for ever. 27 All the ends of the world shall remember themselves, and be turned unto the LORD and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him. 28 For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the Governour among the people. 29 All such as be fat upon earth: have eaten, and worshipped. 30 All they that go down into the dust shall kneel before him and no man hath quickened his own soul. 31 My seed shall serve him : they shall be counted unto the LORD for a generation. 32 They shall come, and the heavens shall declare his righteousness: unto a people that shall be born, whom the LORD hath made. Ant. There are false witnesses risen up against Me, and such as speak wrong. Ps. xxvii., Dominus illuminatio, p. 16. Ry. They part My garments among them. y. And cast lots upon My vesture. Of the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Lesson I. Chap. ii. Lesson II. THEY say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom. What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken unto thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea who can heal thee? Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. All that pass by clap the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath their hands at thee; they hiss and not withdrawn his hand from destroy-wag their head at the daughter of ing: therefore he made the rampart Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city and the wall to lament, they languished that men call The perfection of beauty, together. Her gates are sunk into The joy of the whole earth? the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the LORD thy GOD. Ry. All My friends have fled from Me, and they that laid snares for Me have prevailed against Me: he whom I loved hath betrayed Me: * and with terrible eyes they smote Me with a cruel stroke, and gave Me vinegar-to drink. Y. They cast Me out among the wicked, and spared not My soul. And. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the LORD thy God.. Ry. The veil of the temple was rent, * and the earth did quake; the thief cried from the Cross, saying: LORD, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. y. The rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And. Lesson III. Chap. iii. I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me he is turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travel. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath inclosed my ways |