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V. Our Lord Jesus Christ coming to judgment. The Meditation.-Our Saviour will come in power and majesty, to judge the living and the dead, and to return to every one according to his works.

O Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on us (Ten Times.)-Glory be to the Father, &c.

The Prayer

O JESUS! whose name is above all names, that in the name of Jesus every knee may bend, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and in hell: whose body that was nailed to the cross for mankind, the Almighty raised from death glorious and immortal; who by thy ascension triumphed over death, and held captivity captive. Who according to thy promise, sent down the Spirit that proceedeth from the Father and the Son, the comforter and the enlivener who stretching forth the bounty of thy almighty hand, shed upon the chosen children of Adam that glory that neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man; and who will come forth in power and majesty to judge the living and the dead, before whose throne all mortals will appear, grant us to celebrate those mysteries to thy honour and our own salvation: who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest, one God, for all eternity. Amen.

N. B. The repeating the above prayers or meditations is not ab solutely necessary. Those who cannot meditate on the mysteries, let them say the creed beforehand in this Rosary and in that cỉ the blessed Virgin.

On the ROSARY of the BLESSED Virgin.

THE devotion called the Rosary, is a pious orm of prayer, so much esteemed by the most learned and holy servants of God, as to be styled by one among the rest, "An abridgment of the Gospel, a history of the life, sufferings, and triumphant victory of Jesus Christ, and an exposition of all our Redeemer did in

the flesh, which he assumed for our salvation." ht consists of fifteen Our Fathers and a hundred and fifty Hail Maries, to commemorate the fifteen principal mysteries of our Redeemer's sacred life, and also to honour his blessed Mother, who had so great a share in all that concerned her dear Son. This pious practice is not as general as it should be; young persons, in particular, are more subject to distraction and indevotion in saying the Rosary, than in any other spiritual exercise; owing partly to the frequent repetition of the same prayer, but much more to the little attention they pay to the sense of the words they pronounce. Some children, perhaps, may not be sufficiently acquainted with the explanation of the few prayers contained in the Rosary, to give their minds occupation while they recite them; but that cannot be your case; therefore, as you are already in the habit of saying a part of the Rosary every day, you will be much less excusable than others, if you acquit yourself of that duty with the disedifying precipitation and indevotion unfortunately too common at your age. To avoid this, you should endeavour to conceive a due esteem for this holy exercise, and to impress upon your mind that the Rosary, though so easy, so simple, and thereby so adapted to your capacity, is the most perfect, the most sublime, and most profitable of all vocal forms of prayer. It is the most sublime, because it is composed of the most holy and excellent prayers which were ever conceived or pronounced; and it is also the most profitable, because those prayers, from their divine origin, are more pleasing and acceptable to God than all other prayers put together. The first is the Our Father, that heavenly form of prayer left us by our Redeemer, drawn up not by angels or saints, bu by Jesus Christ himself, in which he deigned to teach us how we ought to pray. In that one prayer, which is so short and so easy that all persons may be capa ole of learning it, are contained not only, as your Catechism says, all those things you should ask or hope

for of God, but also all the sublime acts of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, love, and confidence, comprised in all the other books of devotion which were ever written; all other prayers being only a paraphrase or explanation of the Lord's Prayer.

The second is the Hail Mary, composed in heaven, dictated by the Holy Ghost, delivered to the faithfui by the Angel Gabriel, by St. Elizabeth, and the Church of God, containing in the first part an act of praise and thanksgiving for the great mystery of the Incarnation, and in the second an humble petition for the powerful prayers of the Mother of God, now and at the hour of death.

The third is the Doxology, or Glory be to the Father, a sacred verse, which contains an act of supreme adoration to the ever blessed Trinity, and presents to the Majesty of God, not the glory which proceeds from the weak praises of his creatures, nor even the glory that results to God from all the labours and great actions of the Saints, but that eternal glory which the Almighty, as God, possesses in and by himself; which he has enjoyed from the beginning and will enjoy for eternity, and which so little depends on his creatures, that it would not be diminished if all mankind were destroyed.

When you reflect on the sublime excellence of those three prayers which are the first that children learn but often the last they understand, you must perceive not only the sanctity of the Rosary which is composed of such prayers, but also the respect, humility, confidence, and devotion with which it should be said.

Endeavour then to excite those sentiments in your heart, by reflecting for a moment before you begin your Beads, on the justice and merit of giving that small testimony of your veneration for the mysteries of your redemption, and devotion to the Mother of God. Think also of the consolation it will be to you on your death-bed, to have said your Beads devoutly, and thereby implored, upwards of fifty times every

day, the assistance of the Bessed Virgin, for that dreadful hour when you will so much stand in need of her powerful intercession, yet perhaps not be able even to pronounce her name.

In saying the Our Father, think how unworthy any creature is to repeat those very words which the sacred lips of Jesus first pronounced, and endeavour to say it with the utmost humility, love, and confidence; convinced that, by saying that prayer in a proper disposition, you can please God more, and obtain more graces, than if you were to run through all the books of devotion which were ever written. The sentiments which should accompany the repetition of the Hail Mary, are pointed out by a holy and learned writer, who says, that "when an Angel anciently appeared to Patriarchs or Prophets, he was received with due honour, as being exalted above them both by nature and grace; but that when an Archangel visited Mary, he was struck with her superior dignity and pre-eminence, and approaching, saluted her with admiration and respect. Though accustomed to the lustre of the highest heavenly spirits, yet he was dazzled and amazed at the dignity and spiritual glory of her whom he came to salute Mother of God, while the attention of the whole heavenly court was with rapture fixed upon her. With what humility then should we, worms of the earth and base sinners, address her in the same salutation!" As to the Doxology, or Glory be to the Father, it should suffice to animate your devotion in saying it, to reflect that this verse is so much esteemed by the Church, as to be added to all the Hymns, Canticles, and Psalms of her Offices, and thereby daily repeated by her ministers upwards of a hundred times.

The Beads may be said with or without those short considerations and prayers, called the Mysteries of the Rosary; but when you are at liberty to choose a method, you would always do well to make use of them, repeating the Mystery before each Our Father

to reflect on it as well as you can during the te. Hail Maries, and then conclude each decade with the Glory be to the Father and corresponding prayer. That is the very best means you could adopt for restraining your imagination, preventing the distractions which may involuntarily follow from the repetition of the same prayers, and exciting the sentiments of devotion which have been pointed out to you as necessary for saying the Beads devoutly. However, when for want of leisure, or for any other cause, you are obliged to omit the Mysteries of the Rosary, you may very profitably substitute a shorter method, which consists in naming each mystery, or simply calling it to mind at the beginning of the decade, and also the virtue it peculiarly inculcates; afterwards imploring that virtue through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin by the ten Hail Maries. Both methods are divided and arranged according to the days of the week on which they should be said, as follows:

The ROSARY of the BLESSED VIrgin.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

V. HAIL Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. R. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

V. Thou, O Lord, wilt open my lips.

R. And my tongue shall announce thy praise

V. Incline unto my aid, O God.

R. O Lord, make haste to help me.

V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to

e Holy Ghost.

R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever hall be, world without end. Amen. Alleluia. Except from Septuagesima to Easter; then say, Praise be to thes O Lord King of Eternal Glory.

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