Monastic Breviary

3:2 Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? * many are they who rise up against me.

3:3 Many say to my soul: * There is no salvation for him in his God.

3:4 But thou, O Lord art my protector, * my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

3:5 I have cried to the Lord with my voice: * and he hath heard me from his holy hill.

3:6 I have slept and taken my rest: * and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me.

3:7 I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: * arise, O Lord; save me, O my God.

3:8 For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without cause: * thou hast broken the teeth of sinners.

3:9 Salvation is of the Lord: * and thy blessing is upon thy people.

Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. For the Lord will not cast off his people: for in his hand are all the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his.

For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. (genuflect) Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us: For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts: As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.

Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart. And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.

Hail day! whereon the One in Three

First formed the earth by sure decree,

The day its Maker rose again,

And vanquished death, and burst our chain.

Away with sleep and slothful ease

We raise our hearts and bend our knees,

And early seek the Lord of all,

Obedient to the Prophet's call.

That He may hearken to our prayer,

Stretch forth His strong right arm to spare,

And ev'ry past offense forgiven,

Restore us to our home in heaven.

Assembled here this holy day,

This holiest hour we raise the lay,

And O that He to whom we sing,

May now reward our offering!

O Father of unclouded light!

Keep us this day as in thy sight,

In word and deed that we may be

From ev'ry touch of evil free.

That this our body's mortal frame

May know no sin, and fear no shame,

Nor fire hereafter be the end

Of passions which our bosom rend.

Redeemer of the world, we pray

That thou wouldst wash our sins away,

And give us, of Thy boundless grace,

The blessings of the heavenly place.

Most Holy Father, hear our cry,

Through Jesus Christ our Lord most High

Who, with the Holy Ghost and thee

Shall live and reign eternally.

Amen.

20:2 The king rejoices in thy strength, O Lord; * ‡ and in thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly.

20:3 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire: * and hast not withholden from him the will of his lips.

20:4 For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness: * thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones.

20:5 He asked life of thee: * and thou hast given him length of days for ever and ever.

20:6 His glory is great in thy salvation: * glory and great beauty shalt thou lay upon him.

20:7 For thou shalt give him to be a blessing for ever and ever: * thou shalt make him joyful in gladness with thy countenance.

20:8 For the king hopeth in the Lord: * and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

20:9 Let thy hand be found by all thy enemies: * let thy right hand find out all them that hate thee.

20:10 Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, * in the time of thy anger: the Lord shall trouble them in his wrath, and fire shall devour them.

20:11 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth: * and their seed from among the children of men.

20:12 For they have intended evils against thee: * they have devised counsels which they have not been able to establish.

20:13 For thou shalt make them turn their back: * in thy remnants thou shalt prepare their face.

20:14 Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy own strength: * we will sing and praise thy power.

21:2 O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? * Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

21:3 O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: * and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me.

21:4 But thou dwellest in the holy place, * the praise of Israel.

21:5 In thee have our fathers hoped: * they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them.

21:6 They cried to thee, and they were saved: * they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

21:7 But I am a worm, and no man: * the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.

21:8 All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: * they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head.

21:9 He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: * let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him.

21:10 For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: * my hope from the breasts of my mother. I was cast upon thee from the womb.

21:11 From my mother’s womb thou art my God, * depart not from me.

21:12 For tribulation is very near: * for there is none to help me.

21:13 Many calves have surrounded me: * fat bulls have besieged me.

21:14 They have opened their mouths against me, * as a lion ravening and roaring.

21:15 I am poured out like water; * and all my bones are scattered.

21:15 My heart is become like wax melting * in the midst of my bowels.

21:16 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: * and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.

21:17 For many dogs have encompassed me: * the council of the malignant hath besieged me.

21:17 They have dug my hands and feet. * They have numbered all my bones.

21:18 And they have looked and stared upon me. * They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.

21:20 But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me; * look towards my defence.

21:21 Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: * my only one from the hand of the dog.

21:22 Save me from the lion’s mouth; * and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns.

21:23 I will declare thy name to my brethren: * in the midst of the church will I praise thee.

21:24 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: * all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him.

21:25 Let all the seed of Israel fear him: * because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man.

21:25 Neither hath he turned away his face from me: * and when I cried to him he heard me.

21:26 With thee is my praise in a great church: * I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him.

21:27 The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: * their hearts shall live for ever and ever.

21:28 All the ends of the earth * shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord:

21:28 And all the kindreds of the Gentiles * shall adore in his sight.

21:29 For the kingdom is the Lord’s; * and he shall have dominion over the nations.

21:30 All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: * all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.

21:31 And to him my soul shall live: * and my seed shall serve him.

21:32 There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: * and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

22:1 The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. * He hath set me in a place of pasture.

22:2 ‡ He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: * he hath converted my soul.

22:3 He hath led me on the paths of justice, * for his own name’s sake.

22:4 For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, * for thou art with me.

22:4 Thy rod and thy staff, * they have comforted me.

22:5 Thou hast prepared a table before me * against them that afflict me.

22:5 Thou hast anointed my head with oil; * and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!

22:6 And thy mercy will follow me * all the days of my life.

22:6 And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord * unto length of days.

23:1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof: * the world, and all they that dwell therein.

23:2 For he hath founded it upon the seas; * and hath prepared it upon the rivers.

23:3 Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: * or who shall stand in his holy place?

23:4 The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, * who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.

23:5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, * and mercy from God his Saviour.

23:6 This is the generation of them that seek him, * of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob.

23:7 Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: * and the King of Glory shall enter in.

23:8 Who is this King of Glory? * the Lord who is strong and mighty: the Lord mighty in battle.

23:9 Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: * and the King of Glory shall enter in.

23:10 Who is this King of Glory? * the Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.

24:1 To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: * In thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed.

24:3 Neither let my enemies laugh at me: * for none of them that wait on thee shall be confounded.

24:4 Let all them be confounded that act unjust things * without cause.

24:4 Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, * and teach me thy paths.

24:5 Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; * for thou art God my Saviour; and on thee have I waited all the day long.

24:6 Remember, O Lord, thy bowels of compassion; * and thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world.

24:7 The sins of my youth * and my ignorances do not remember.

24:7 According to thy mercy remember thou me: * for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.

24:8 The Lord is sweet and righteous: * therefore he will give a law to sinners in the way.

24:9 He will guide the mild in judgment: * he will teach the meek his ways.

24:10 All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, * to them that seek after his covenant and his testimonies.

24:11 For thy name’s sake, O Lord, thou wilt pardon my sin: * for it is great.

24:12 Who is the man that feareth the Lord? * He hath appointed him a law in the way he hath chosen.

24:13 His soul shall dwell in good things: * and his seed shall inherit the land.

24:14 The Lord is a firmament to them that fear him: * and his covenant shall be made manifest to them.

24:15 My eyes are ever towards the Lord: * for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare.

24:16 Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me; * for I am alone and poor.

24:17 The troubles of my heart are multiplied: * deliver me from my necessities.

24:18 See my abjection and my labour; * and forgive me all my sins.

24:19 Consider my enemies for they are multiplied, * and have hated me with an unjust hatred.

24:20 Keep thou my soul, and deliver me: * I shall not be ashamed, for I have hoped in thee.

24:21 The innocent and the upright have adhered to me: * because I have waited on thee.

24:22 Deliver Israel, O God, * from all his tribulations.

25:1 Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: * and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened.

25:2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me; * burn my reins and my heart.

25:3 For thy mercy is before my eyes; * and I am well pleased with thy truth.

25:4 I have not sat with the council of vanity: * neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things.

25:5 I have hated the assembly of the malignant; * and with the wicked I will not sit.

25:6 I will wash my hands among the innocent; * and will compass thy altar, O Lord:

25:7 That I may hear the voice of thy praise: * and tell of all thy wondrous works.

25:8 I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; * and the place where thy glory dwelleth.

25:9 Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: * nor my life with bloody men:

25:10 In whose hands are iniquities: * their right hand is filled with gifts.

25:11 But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: * redeem me, and have mercy on me.

25:12 My foot hath stood in the direct way: * in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lesson from the book of Osee

1 The word of the Lord, that came to Osee the son of Beeri, in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias kings of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel.

2 The beginning of the Lord's speaking by Osee: and the Lord said to Osee: Go, take thee a wife of fornications, and have of her children of fornications: for the land by fornication shall depart from the Lord.

3 So he went, and took Gomer the daughter of Debelaim: and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him: Call his name Jezrahel: for yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezrahel upon the house of Jehu, and I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

5 And in that day I will break in pieces the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrahel.

6 And she conceived again, and bore a daughter, and he said to him: Call her name, Without mercy: for I will not add any more to have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them.

7 And I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and I will save them by the Lord their God: and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.

8 And she weaned her that was called Without mercy. And she conceived, and bore a son.

9 And he said: Call his name, Not my people: for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

10 And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, that is without measure, and shall not be numbered. And it shall be in the place where it shall be said to them: You are not my people: it shall be said to them: Ye are the sons of the living God.

11 And the children of Juda, and the children of Israel shall be gathered together: and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall come up out of the land: for great is the day of Jezrahel.

26:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation, * whom shall I fear?

26:1 The Lord is the protector of my life: * of whom shall I be afraid?

26:2 Whilst the wicked draw near against me, * to eat my flesh.

26:2 My enemies that trouble me, * have themselves been weakened, and have fallen.

26:3 If armies in camp should stand together against me, * my heart shall not fear.

26:3 If a battle should rise up against me, * in this will I be confident.

26:4 One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; * that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

26:4 That I may see the delight of the Lord, * and may visit his temple.

26:5 For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; * in the day of evils, he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle.

26:6 He hath exalted me upon a rock: * and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies.

26:6 I have gone round, and have offered up in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: * I will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord.

26:7 Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: * have mercy on me and hear me.

26:8 My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: * thy face, O Lord, will I still seek.

26:9 Turn not away thy face from me; * decline not in thy wrath from thy servant.

26:9 Be thou my helper, * forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.

26:10 For my father and my mother have left me: * but the Lord hath taken me up.

26:11 Set me, O Lord, a law in thy way, * and guide me in the right path, because of my enemies.

26:12 Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; * for unjust witnesses have risen up against me; and iniquity hath lied to itself.

26:13 I believe to see the good things of the Lord * in the land of the living.

26:14 Expect the Lord, do manfully, * and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord.

27:1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: my God, be not thou silent to me: * lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

27:2 Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee; * when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple.

27:3 Draw me not away together with the wicked; * and with the workers of iniquity destroy me not:

27:3 Who speak peace with their neighbour, * but evils are in their hearts.

27:4 Give them according to their works, * and according to the wickedness of their inventions.

27:4 According to the works of their hands give thou to them: * render to them their reward.

27:5 Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the operations of his hands: * thou shalt destroy them, and shalt not build them up.

27:6 Blessed be the Lord, * for he hath heard the voice of my supplication.

27:7 The Lord is my helper and my protector: * in him hath my heart confided, and I have been helped.

27:7 And my flesh hath flourished again, * and with my will I will give praise to him.

27:8 The Lord is the strength of his people, * and the protector of the salvation of his anointed.

27:9 Save, O Lord, thy people, and bless thy inheritance: * and rule them and exalt them for ever.

28:1 Bring to the Lord, O ye children of God: * bring to the Lord the offspring of rams.

28:2 Bring to the Lord glory and honour: bring to the Lord glory to his name: * adore ye the Lord in his holy court.

28:3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, * The Lord is upon many waters.

28:4 The voice of the Lord is in power; * the voice of the Lord in magnificence.

28:5 The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars: * yea, the Lord shall break the cedars of Libanus.

28:6 And shall reduce them to pieces, as a calf of Libanus, * and as the beloved son of unicorns.

28:7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire: * The voice of the Lord shaketh the desert: and the Lord shall shake the desert of Cades.

28:9 The voice of the Lord prepareth the stags: and he will discover the thick woods: * and in his temple all shall speak his glory.

28:10 The Lord maketh the flood to dwell: * and the Lord shall sit king for ever.

28:11 The Lord will give strength to his people: * the Lord will bless his people with peace.

29:2 I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: * and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.

29:3 O Lord my God, I have cried to thee, * and thou hast healed me.

29:4 Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: * thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.

29:5 Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: * and give praise to the memory of his holiness.

29:6 For wrath is in his indignation; * and life in his good will.

29:6 In the evening weeping shall have place, * and in the morning gladness.

29:7 And in my abundance I said: * I shall never be moved.

29:8 O Lord, in thy favour, * thou gavest strength to my beauty.

29:8 Thou turnedst away thy face from me, * and I became troubled.

29:9 To thee, O Lord, will I cry: * and I will make supplication to my God.

29:10 What profit is there in my blood, * whilst I go down to corruption?

29:10 Shall dust confess to thee, * or declare thy truth?

29:11 The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: * the Lord became my helper.

29:12 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: * thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:

29:13 To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: * O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.

30:2 In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: * deliver me in thy justice.

30:3 Bow down thy ear to me: * make haste to deliver me.

30:3 Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, * to save me.

30:4 For thou art my strength and my refuge; * and for thy name’s sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.

30:5 Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: * for thou art my protector.

30:6 Into thy hands I commend my spirit: * thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.

30:7 Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, * to no purpose.

30:7 But I have hoped in the Lord: * I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy.

30:8 For thou hast regarded my humility, * thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.

30:9 And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: * thou hast set my feet in a spacious place.

30:10 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: * my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly:

30:11 For my life is wasted with grief: * and my years in sighs.

30:11 My strength is weakened through poverty * and my bones are disturbed.

30:12 I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; * and a fear to my acquaintance.

30:12 They that saw me without fled from me. * I am forgotten as one dead from the heart.

30:13 I am become as a vessel that is destroyed. * For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about.

30:14 While they assembled together against me, * they consulted to take away my life.

30:15 But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: * I said: Thou art my God. My lots are in thy hands.

30:16 Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; * and from them that persecute me.

30:17 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy. * Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee.

30:18 Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell. * Let deceitful lips be made dumb.

30:19 Which speak iniquity against the just, * with pride and abuse.

30:20 How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, * which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee!

30:20 Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, * in the sight of the sons of men.

30:21 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, * from the disturbance of men.

30:21 Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle * from the contradiction of tongues.

30:22 Blessed be the Lord, * for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me in a fortified city.

30:23 But I said in the excess of my mind: * I am cast away from before thy eyes.

30:23 Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, * when I cried to thee.

30:24 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: * for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.

30:25 Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, * all ye that hope in the Lord.

31:1 Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven * and whose sins are covered.

31:2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, * and in whose spirit there is no guile.

31:3 Because I was silent my bones grew old; * whilst I cried out all the day long.

31:4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: * I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.

31:5 I have acknowledged my sin to thee, * and my injustice I have not concealed.

31:5 I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: * and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.

31:6 For this shall every one that is holy pray to thee * in a seasonable time.

31:6 And yet in a flood of many waters, * they shall not come nigh unto him.

31:7 Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: * my joy, deliver me from them that surround me.

31:8 I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: * I will fix my eyes upon thee.

31:9 Do not become like the horse and the mule, * who have no understanding.

31:9 With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, * who come not near unto thee.

31:10 Many are the scourges of the sinner, * but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord.

31:11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, * and glory, all ye right of heart.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

From the Book Upon the City of God, written by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.

AS to the Prophet Hosea, the deeper his meaning, the harder to pierce. But somewhat may be gotten out of him, and, as I promised, I will give it here. He saith And it shall come to pass that, in the place where it shall be said unto them, Ye are not My people, there it shall be said unto them Ye are the sons of the living God. This was understood even by the Apostles as a Prophetic witness to the call of the Gentiles, who erst had not been God's people. Rom. ix. 24-26.

And since the converted Gentiles are the spiritual children of Abraham, and are therefore rightly called Israelites, therefore he goeth on, and saith: Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land.

If we went on expounding this, we should water down the flavour of the prophetic draught. Let there be remembered, however, that Corner Stone, and let there be acknowledged those twain walls, (which It bindeth in one,) the Jews and the Gentiles, one called the children of Judah and the other the children of Israel, bound together under One Head, and coming up out of the land.

Concerning them that are now Israelites according to the flesh, that will not now believe in Christ, but shall believe hereafter, (that is, their children shall believe, for these shall die, and go to their own place,) this same Prophet giveth witness, where he saith The children of Israel shall abide many days without a King, and without a Prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an Altar, and without a Priest, and without oracles. iii. 4. To whom is it not manifest that such is the state of the Jews now

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

At that time, Jesus said to the people a parable: The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. And so on.

Homily by St. Jerome, Priest at Bethlehem.

The kingdom of heaven is the proclamation of the Gospel, and that knowledge of the Scriptures, which leadeth unto life, and whereof it is said to the Jews: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Matth. xxi. 43 Therefore is this kingdom like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.

By the man that sowed it in his field, many understand to be meant the Saviour, because He is the Sower That soweth in the souls of believers; others understand every man that soweth good seed in his own field, that is, in himself and in his own heart. Who is he that soweth, but our own mind and soul, which take the grain from preaching, and by nourishing it in the soil, cause it to sprout in the field of our own breast?

The preaching of the Gospel is the least of all doctrines. He that preacheth, for his first lesson, God made man, Christ dead, and the stumbling-block of the Cross, receiveth at first but little credit. Compare such teaching as this with the doctrines of the Philosophers, with their books, their magnificent eloquence, and their rounded sentences, and thou shalt see how the grain of the Gospel, when it is sown, is the humblest of all seeds.

But when the doctrines of men grow up, there is therein nothing piercing, nothing healthy, nothing life-giving. The plant is drooping, and delicate, and soft. There are herbs and grass whereof it may truly be said that the grass withereth and the flower fadeth. Isa. xl. 8. But the grain of Gospel seed, though, when it was sown, it seemed to be the least of all seeds, when once it is rooted in the soul of man, or in the whole world, groweth not into an herb, but becometh a tree so that the birds of the air (whereby we may understand, either the souls of believers, or the (angelic) powers bound to the service of God,) come and lodge in the branches thereof. I consider that the branches of the Gospel tree, which groweth from the grain of mustard-seed, are the diverse developments of doctrine, on which the birds above mentioned find resting-places.

We praise thee, O God, * we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, * the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud, * the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim * continually do cry.

bow head Holy, Holy, Holy * Lord God of Sabaoth;

Heaven and earth are full * of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles * praise thee.

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets * praise thee.

The noble army of Martyrs * praise thee.

The holy Church throughout all the world * doth acknowledge thee;

The Father, * of an infinite Majesty.

Thine honourable, true, * and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost, * the Comforter.

Thou art the King of Glory, * O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting * Son of the Father.

During the following verse all make a profound bow: When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, * thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, * thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, * in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come * to be our Judge.

Kneel for the following verse We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, * whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, * in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save thy people, * and bless thine heritage.

Govern them, * and lift them up for ever.

Day by day * we magnify thee;

During the following verse, by local custom, all make a profound bow. And we worship thy Name * ever, world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us * this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, * have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, * as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted, * let me never be confounded.

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew

At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the crowds: The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. This indeed is the smallest of all the seeds; but when it grows up it is larger than any herb and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches. He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and buried in three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened. All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and without parables he did not speak to them; that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, I will open My mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.

Thou art worthy of praise, thou art worthy of hymns, to Thee be glory: to God the Father and the Son with the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

Let us pray.

Grant us, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, ever to think such things as be reasonable, and in every word and work of ours, to do always that is well pleasing in thy sight.

Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.