Response 2. Benediction 3. Lesson 3. Then I lifted up my supplication from the earth, and prayed for deliverance from death. But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Thanks be to God. My child, be not afraid, for I am with thee, saith the Lord. When thou passest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the smell of fire pass upon thee. I will deliver thee from the bond of the wicked, and rescue thee from the hand of the mighty. When thou passest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the smell of fire pass upon thee. Reader. Sir, be pleased to bless us. Minister. The grace of the Holy Spirit enlighten our thoughts and hearts. Amen. I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that He Ecclus. li. 10-12. would not leave me in the days of my trouble, and in the time of the proud, when there was no help. Response 3. I will praise Thy name continually, and will sing praise with thanksgiving; and so my prayer was heard. For thou savedst me from destruction, and deliveredst me from the evil time: therefore will I give thanks, and praise Thee, and bless Thy name, O Lord. But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Thanks be to God. They bound down his limbs upon the bars; but while they ministered live coals, the deacon of Christ laughs them to scorn. cede for us. Blessed Laurence, Martyr of Christ, inter My night has no darkness, but all things grow clear in the light. Blessed Laurence, Martyr of Christ, intercede for us. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Blessed Laurence, Martyr of Christ, intercede for us. (g) Antiphon. Psalm 4. (4) (g) Antiphon. (h) Antiphon. Psalm 5. (5) NOCTURN II. Blessed Laurence prayed saying, Lord Jesus Christ, God from God, have mercy on Thy servant. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble: have mercy upon me, and hearken unto my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will ye blaspheme mine honour and have such pleasure in vanity, and seek after leasing? Know this also, that the Lord hath chosen to himself the man that is godly: when I call upon the Lord, he will hear me. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart and in your chamber, and be still. Offer the sacrifice of righteousness: and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say: Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up: the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart: since the time that their corn, and wine, and oil increased. I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest: for it is thou, Lord, only, that makest me dwell in safety. Glory be, &c. Blessed Laurence prayed saying, Lord Jesus Christ, God from God, have mercy on thy servant. Romanus said to blessed Laurence, I see before thee a young man of fair countenance, hasten to baptize me. Ponder my words, O Lord: consider my meditation. O hearken thou unto the voice of my calling, my King and my God for unto thee will I make my prayer. My voice shalt thou hear betimes, O Lord: early in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness: neither shall any evil dwell with thee. Such as be foolish shall not stand in thy sight: for thou hatest all them that work vanity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into thine house, even upon the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. (h) Antiphon. (i) Antiphon. Psalm 8. (6) (i) Antiphon. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies: make thy way plain before my face. For there is no faithfulness in his mouth: their inward parts are very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulchre: they flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them, O God let them perish through their own imaginations: cast them out in the multitude of their ungodliness: for they have rebelled against thee. And let all them that put their trust in thee rejoice; they shall ever be giving of thanks, because thou defendest them: they that love thy Name shall be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt give thy blessing unto the righteous: and with thy favourable kindness wilt thou defend him as with a shield. Glory be, &c. Romanus said to blessed Laurence, I see before thee a young man of fair countenance, hasten to baptize me. Blessed Laurence answered, My night has no darkness, but all things grow clear in the light. O Lord, our Governor, how excellent is thy name in all the world thou that hast set thy glory above the heavens ! Out of the mouth of very babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies: that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. : For I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. What is man, that thou art mindful of him: and the Son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him lower than the angels: to crown him with glory and worship. Thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet; All sheep and oxen: yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Governor: how excellent is thy name in all the world! Glory be, &c. Blessed Laurence answered, My night has no darkness, but all things grow clear in the light. (j) Verse and Response. Lord, thou hast set upon his head, A crown of precious stones. The Lord's Prayer, (privately.) Absolution 2. Our Father, &c. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. His pity and mercy help us, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, world without end. Amen. Benediction 4. Lesson 4. Pope.) Reader. Sir, be pleased to bless us. Minister.-God the Father Almighty be favourable and gracious unto us. Amen. While the fury of the heathen powers raged against the (Sermon of St. Leo, most chosen members of Christ, those chiefly who were in the order of the Ministry, Laurence the Deacon, having not only the dispensation of the Sacraments, but also of the Church's store, incited the impious persecutor, who promised himself a double price in one man, the gain of the sacred treasure and the ruin of him who surrendered it. Instigated therefore by this twofold flame, avarice and hatred of the truth, to rob him of his treasure and of Christ, he demands of the spotless Sacristan, those stores of the Church of which he was greedy. To whom he, most holy Deacon, by way of showing where they really were laid up, presented vast multitudes of Christian poor, on whose food and clothing he had expended wealth which could not be taken away, but was irrevocably his from the sanctity of his using. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Response 4. Benediction 5. Lesson 5. (Sermon, continued.) Whither speedest thou without thy son, O my father? Whither hurriest thou, holy priest, without thy Deacon? Thou never yet hast offered sacrifice without attendant. What hath in me displeased thy fatherly love? in what have I come short? make trial of his fitness to whom thou hast entrusted the dispensation of the Lord's blood. Thou never yet hast offered sacrifice without attendant. Minister. Christ grant us the joys of eternal life. Amen. Therefore the disappointed robber roars aloud, and kindling into hatred of that religion, which had introduced such an application of worldly goods, he attempts the plunder of another treasure-house, not of gold or silver, to rob it of that store which was of a more holy costliness. He bids Laurence renounce Christ, and prepares against the stubborn Response 5. Benediction 6. Lesson 6. VOL. III.-75. courage of that Deacon's heart, dreadful tortures; and when the first prove fruitless, he proceeds to fiercer. He tears and shreds his limbs with continued scourging, next he gives orders to broil them over the fire, so that, being stretched upon the red hot bars, first on one side, then on the other, the torment might be the greater, and the punishment more protracted. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Thanks be to God. Forsake me not, O holy father, for I have already laid out my stores. I desert thee not, my son, neither do I forsake thee; but a fiercer conflict for the faith of Christ is in store for thee. We, as aged men, receive the onset of the skirmish, thou being young, will have to bear off a more glorious triumph over the persecutor; the Deacon shall follow his Bishop on the third day. I desert thee not, my son, neither do I forsake thee: but a fiercer conflict for the faith of Christ is in store for thee. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Thanks be to God. Reader.-Sir, be pleased to bless us. Minister.-God kindle the fire of His love in our hearts. Amen. tortures. Thou gainest nothing, thou availest nothing, O savage cruelty! The mortal frame is gradually released from thy Laurence departs heavenward, and thy flames fail thee. The love of Christ surpassed the flame, and the fire which burned around him was duller than that which was kindled within him. O Persecutor, thou hast spent thy rage upon the Martyr; thou hast spent it, and added to his palm, while adding to his pain. For what part of thy device has not redounded to the conqueror's glory, when even the instruments of his suffering are converted into decorations of his triumph? Let us then rejoice, dearly beloved, with a spiritual joy, and glory in the Lord concerning the most blessed end of this famous man. God is wonderful in His Saints, in whom He hath ordained for us a sanction and an example, and hath so shown forth His glory through the whole world, that from the rising to the setting sun, among the refulgent lights of the Diaconate, Rome became as honoured in her Laurence, as Jerusalem in Stephen. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Thanks be to God. K |