Devotions in the ancient way of offices with psalms, hymns, and prayers for every day in the week and every holiday in the year.

Psal. LXXXII.

HAppiest of all, O Lord, are they, * whose very business is thy service:

Who not only bestow an interrupted glance; but stedily fix their eys on Thee:

Who not only visit thy house somtimes; but night and day dwel in thy presence:

If the Sun rise, it finds them at their prayers; and, when it sets, leaves them at the same sweet task;

Every place is a Church to them; and every day a holy Sabaoth.

Every object an occasion of Piety; and every accident an exercise of vertue:

Do they behold the beauteous stars; they presently adore their great Creator:

Do they look down on the fruitful earth; they instantly begin to praise his bounty:

Let War or Peace do what they will; and the inconstant world reel up and down:

They pass through all as unconcern'd; and smoothly go on their regular course:

Looking stil up to that glorious life above; and entertaining this present in hope and solitude:

If they depart somtimes from their proper center; and forsake a while their belov'd retire∣ment:

'Tis to approach, and give light to others; and enflame some cold or ••••ukewarm hart:

While they are thus abroad, their minds are at home with Thee; and nothing can divide them from thy dear presence:

Yet do they wisely make hast to return; and injoy Thee alone in their litle Cell:

There Thou receiv'st them as familiar friends; and freely admit'st them to thy secret sweetnes:

Thou giv'st them a tast from thine own full board; and overflow'st their harts with the wine of gladnes:

Often they feel a litle beam from heav'n * strike gently, and fill their brests with light:

Often that gentle light is kindled into a flame; and chastly burns with pure desires.

Desires that stil mount up. and aim at Thee; *

the supernatural center of all their hopes:

O happy state of reverend Discipline! free from the cares and tumults of this world:

Free from the dangerous allurements of sin; and perpetually solicited with engagements to vertue:

Where they seldom fall, and quickly rise; and make swift advances in the way to heav'n:

Where they live in purity, and dy with confidence; and go to sing among the Quires of Angels.

Blest Providence! who govern'st all things in perfect wisdom; and assign'st to every one his proper place:

If Thou hast pleas'd to dispose our lives, * in circumstances less favourable then these:

O let thy powerful hand supply our wants * and lead us on in our low path:

That, at least, afar off we may follow them, * who strive to tread so near thy steps:

So shal we too, though slowly, arrive, * at the rich inheritance of that holy Land:

So shal we gladly enter those Blysful gates; and dwel for ever in the City of peace.

Glory be, &c.

Antiph. Well done thou good and faithful servant: I gave thee five talents, and thou hast gain'd five more; enter into thy Masters joy.

Our Father: —

First Lesson.

HAve thy thoughts in the precepts of God; and let thy chief busines be his Command∣ments. Deliver him that suffers injury, out of the hands of the proud; and be not faint-hart∣ed when thou sittest in judgement. Be merci∣ful to Orphans as a father, and as a husband to their mother: and thou shalt be as the obedient Son of the Highest; and he will have mercy on thee more then a mother: He that calumniates the poor, upbraids his Maker; but he honours Him that pitys the necessitous. The wicked shal be cast out in his malice; but the just has hope in his death. Our Lord will not accept any person against the poor; and will hear the pray∣er of him that is injur'd. He will not despise the prayer of the Fatherles; nor the widow when she pow'rs out her words of complaint. Do not the Widows tears run down her cheeks; and is not her cry against him that causes them•••• but from the cheek they go up to heav'n; and our Lord who hears them will not be pleased. Turn not away thine eys in anger from the poor; nor give him occasion to curse thee be∣hind thy back: for the prayer of him that cur∣ses thee in the bitternes of his soul shal be heard; He that made him shal hear him. Remember not every wrong of thy neighbour; nor do any thing by injurious practises. If thine enemy be

hungey, give him bread to eat; and if he thirst, give him water to drink: for thou shalt heap ••••ot coals on his head; and our Lord will re∣ward thee. Contemn not the just man that is poor; nor magnify the sinful that is rich. The Great, and the Judg; and the mighty are in ho∣nor; but there's none greater then he that fears God.

R. Lord, with what admirable wisdom dost thou govern the world! Thou mak'st the poor, and appoint'st them their task of innocent work; Thou mak'st the rich, and giv'st them leasure for their better improvement; and both poor and rich, to need and help one another. * O give us harts to comply with this thy blest design; that every one may strive for the good of all. One God created us; one Saviour redeemed us, one holy spirit sanctify'd us, that we all may live in love and unity & mutual assistance: * O give us—

Second Lesson.

BE not eager to grow rich, but use modera∣tion in thy endeavours. Welth hastily got∣ten shal be diminish't; but that which is gather'd with the hand by litle and litle shal be multi∣ply'd. Lift not thine eys to the riches which thou canst not have; for they make themselvs wings as of an Eagle, and fly into the Ayr. Let not thy hart envy siners▪ but be always in the fear of our Lord: then shalt thou hope in the

later end, and thy expectation shal not be dis∣appointed. A deceitful ballance is an abomina∣tion to God; and an equal weight is his delight. There's nothing more wicked then to love mo∣ny; for he that does so will set even his soul to sale. Riches will not profit in the day of wrath; but justice shall deliver from death. The j••••stice of the righteous shall deliver them; and the un∣just shall be caught in their deceitful practises: the justice of the simple shall guide his way; and the wicked shall fall in his own impiety. Better is a dry morsel with joy, then a house full of victims with brawling. Better is a poor man walking in his simplicity, then the rich in crook∣ed ways. Sweet is the laborers sleep, whether he eat much or litle; but the satiety of the rich suffers him not to sleep. Some who have no∣thing, are as if they were rich, and others who abound in wealth are as if they were poor. Some give of their own, and become richer; others take what's not their own, and are al∣ways in want. The sincerity of the just shal direct them; and the deceitfulnes of the perverse shall destroy them.

R. Give me, O thou sweet Disposer of all things! give me neither beggary nor riches; but only things necessary for my sustenance: * Lest per∣haps being full, I be allur'd to deny thee; and say, who is the Lord? or, compel'd by want,

steal, and forswear the name of my God: or ra∣ther, dearest Lord, give me what thou pleasest; since Thy self hast taught me now a more per∣fect Lesson, to submit intirely my will to Thine: only I still may beg, that in all my ways thy Providence govern me, and in all my temptati∣ons thy grace preserve me; * Lest—

Third Lesson.

'TIs better to go to the house of mourning, then to the house of banqueting: for in that the end of all men is signified, and he that is alive thinks what herafter he shall be. All flesh shall wax old as grass: and as leavs growing on a green tree, some bud forth, and others fall off; so is the generation of flesh and blood; one is buried and another is born. If a man live many years, and rejoyce in them all; he must remem∣ber the darksom time, and those many days, which when they come, the things that are past shall be reprov'd of vanity. Rejoyce therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy mind be chearful; walk in the ways of thine hart, and in the sight of thine eys: but know, for all these God will bring thee to Judgment. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth; before the time of aff••••ction come, and the years ap∣proach of which thou shalt say, They please me not. Before the dust return to its ear••••h, from whence it came; and the spirit to God who

gave it. Of making many books there is no end; and much study is wearines to the flesh: Let us hear the Conclusion of all: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

R. In all thy works remember thy last end, when thou must bid a long farewel to all this world: remember that dreadful day of the uni∣versal Judgment, when thou must give account for every idle word; * And thou shalt not sin for ever. Remember the joys prepar'd for the inno∣cent, and the miserys that attend the wicked: Remember how nearly it concerns thy soul, to have a good or bad eternity; * And Thou—

Glory be, &c. * And thou—

Pause a while to ref••••ect, and renew: Then—

Saturday Lauds.

O God incline, &c. as page 18.

Antiph. When thou hadst overcome the sting of death; thou open'dst the kingdom of heav'n to all Believers.