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- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
In "Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ," Thomas √† Kempis presents a profound exploration of Christian spirituality through a reflective lens, drawing deeply on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Written in a devotional style characterized by its simplicity and earnestness, the text is a rich tapestry of prayer, contemplation, and meditative insights. Set against the backdrop of medieval spirituality, this work invites readers to engage in personal introspection and foster a closer relationship with the divine, emphasizing humility, devotion, and the transformative power of prayer. Thomas √† Kempis, a prominent figure in the devotio moderna movement, crafted this work as part of a broader tradition that sought to bring lay Christians into direct experience of God through personal reflection and piety. Having lived much of his life in the quiet confines of the Augustinian community, his own spiritual journey was marked by a desire to transcend mere theological knowledge and cultivate genuine faith. His unique perspective, steeped in the contemplative practices of his time, informs the deeply personal yet universally relevant prayers found within this text. This timeless work is highly recommended for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of Christian devotion and explore the richness of a life anchored in prayer. √Ä Kempis's insights resonate across centuries, offering wisdom that remains relevant to modern seekers of faith. Readers are encouraged to immerse themselves in these meditations, allowing the text to nurture their spiritual journey and inspire a more profound connection with Christ. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - An Author Biography reveals milestones in the author's life, illuminating the personal insights behind the text. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
In his dedication1 of the first English translation of this book, "To the Verie Venerable, His most honored deare Lady Marie Tredway First Abesse of Sion. Canonesses Regulars of S. Augustins Order established at Paris. And to her vertuous daughters," the Rev. " Thomas Carre " (for forty years their chaplain) wrote thus: " I tooke the libertie in the year 1636. To addresse unto you the following of Christ under the name of Thomas of Kempis your brother: where I told you that if that truth should chance to be contested you should rather use prescription then processe &c. ... I now returne to you againe with another present of the same Authour and brother, which is contested by none."
The words " contested by none " are perhaps stronger than one would nowadays care to use; but the matter is one which cannot be fitly discussed in a short introduction like the present. Those who are curious about it will find it exhaustively treated by Dr. M. J. Pohl, in an essay2 published in 1895, and at pages 385 to 397 of his edition of the text.
I shall here take the question of authorship for granted, and shall confine myself to setting out a few facts about Thomas a Kempis which may possibly be of interest to those using a book so much more subjective in its form than the " Imitation "; and to a brief account of former translations of it into English.
Thomas a Kempis was so called from Kempen,3 the place of his birth. His family name was Haemerken.4 His parents (John and Gertrude) were in humble circumstances. He was born in 1380, and had a brother, John, fifteen years older than himself. Soon after his birth his brother left Kempen, and a few years later joined the "Brotherhood of the Common Life " 5 at Deventer. When Thomas was in his thirteenth year he also left home and went in search of his brother. What befell him shall be told in his own words:
" When I reached Deventer, whither I had gone in order to pursue my studies, I asked my way to the house of the Canons Regular at Windesheim. There I found my brother. He advised my going to Master Florentius, Curate of the Church at Deventer, a devout and much revered priest, whose good report, spread throughout the Upper Provinces, had already drawn me to love him. . . . When I presented myself before this reverend father he welcomed me at once, kept me of his charity for a while in his own house, placed me at school, and provided me with the books which he thought I needed. Afterwards he found me a home with an honourable and devout lady, who was most good and kind to me and to many other students. Being thus brought into touch with this holy man [Florentius] and his brethren, I marked well, and rejoiced in, their devout life and conversation. . . . Never before do I remember to have seen men so devout, and so full of love towards God and their fellow-men. Living in the world, they were altogether unworldly."6 " They were of one heart and one mind in God: what each possessed was held in common: and being content with plain food and clothing, they took no thought for the morrow."7 " Master John Boeme, Rector of the school, was also choir-master; and by his orders I used to sing in the choir along with my schoolfellows. Whenever I saw my patron Florentius standing in the choir, his mere presence, even though he did not look about, filled me with such awe that I did not dare to chatter."8 "It happened once, as I was near him in the choir, that he turned to the book, and joined us in singing. Being close behind me, he put his hands on my shoulders; and I stood like a statue, scarcely daring to move, so overcome was I by the great honour he had done me."
Later — it must have been in the year 1398 — Florentius Radewyn took Thomas back into his own house; and our author tells the story of that part of his life thus:
" In this house some twenty priests lived together in community. , . . There were also three lay-brothers, of whom one was the procurator and did the marketing, one was in charge of the kitchen, and the third mended the clothes."9 " Here I learnt to write neatly, and studied Holy Scripture, moral philosophy, and the practice of devout meditation. . . . What I earned as a copyist I made over to the common purse, and all that I needed was provided for me by my beloved Master Florentius, who was like a father to me in all things."
In the year 1 399, moved thereto by a dream and by the advice of the saintly Florentius, he sought admission to the newly established monastery of Agnetenberg,10 of which his brother was then Prior.11 Seven years later he was professed, and in 1413 — being then thirty-three years old — he was ordained priest.
At Agnetenberg he spent practically the rest of his life;12 and died there in the year 1471. In 1425 he was made Sub-Prior of the monastery, and he acted (probably in 1432) for a short time as its Procurator; but the office was not one to which he was suited, and he was soon relieved 01 it, and re-elected Sub-Prior. This post he seems to have resigned somewhere about the year 1456, and to have afterwards held no particular office in the monastery. From the time of his admission to the monastery till within a few months of his death he kept the monastery Chronicle; and his death is thus recorded in it by its continuator:
"In the same year (1471), on the feast of St. James the Less, after Compline, died our dearly loved Brother Thomas Haemerken,13 born at Kempen, a town in the diocese of Cologne. He was in the ninety-second year of his age, the sixtythird [it was really the sixty-fifth] of his religious clothing, and the fifty-eighth of his priesthood. In his youth he was a disciple, at Deventer, ot Master Florentius, who sent him to his [Thomas's] brother, who was then Prior of Agnetenberg. He was then twenty years of age; he received the habit from his brother after six years probation,and throughout his monastic life he underwent great poverty, temptations, and labours. He copied our Bible and many other books, some for the use of the convent, and others for sale. Further, for the edification of the young he composed divers small treatises in a plain and simple style, but full of wisdom and practical utility. He had a special devotion to the Passion of our Lord, and excelled as a comforter of the tempted and distressed. At length, in his old age, after suffering from dropsy of the legs, he fell asleep in the Lord. He was buried in the East Cloister, by the side of Brother Peter Herbort."14
Thomas a Kempis is described by his contemporaries as a man of somewhat less than average height, with a brownish, high-coloured face, lit up by bright piercing eyes, the sight of which was so good that even in extreme old age he did not need spectacles.
During his sub-priorate he acted as novicemaster, and throughout his monastic life he was a laborious and beautiful copyist.15 He was no scholar in the then (Renaissance) sense of the term, nor was he a great orator; but he is said to have been always ready to preach — and preach well — after making a brief meditation, or, if tired, taking a short nap. He was ever the first to come to choir and the last to leave it. During the chanting of the Psalms he stood upright, never leaning or supporting himself in any way; and he was often noticed to be standing on tiptoe, with his eyes raised heavenwards. To one who twitted him with being fonder of Psalms than of salmon (apparently a not uncommon monkish pleasantry) he is said to have answered: " Yes, but I hate to see men not attending to them." He was happier in his cell than out of it, and took little or no interest in the affairs of the outside world. His favourite motto (see Frontispiece) is said to have been, " I sought for rest, but found it not save in a little corner with a little book." Of a true Religious, he tells us, " silence should be the friend, work the companion, and prayer the helper."16 He scourged himself in his cell at least once a week, singing the while a hymn, the first words of which were " Stetit Jesus."17
Such, briefly, were the chief characteristics of the author of this book; and we may now pass on to consider the previous English "translations " of it.
The first is that of Father Miles Pinkney,18 who wrote under the name of "Thomas Carre." It was published in Paris in 1664, and is now very rare. Carre's translation—though every now and then a difficult phrase is shirked in it—is complete and faithful. Its fault is that it is so faithful in the way of simply turning the Latin words into Latin-English, that were it reproduced few people would care to use it.
The next in order is a Protestant translation by Henry Lee, LL.B., the first edition of which was published in 1760, and the second (identical with the first) in 1762. Its title-page runs thus: "Meditations and Prayers on the Life and Lovingkindnesses of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in four Parts, etc. Written originally in Latin by Thomas a Kempis, and now translated into English for the Benefit of devout Christians by Henry Lee, LL.B., etc."
But in his preface the " translator " writes thus: "It will be proper to observe that as Castalio and Dean Stanhope have taken liberties, and great ones too, in many places, in their versions of the 'Imitation of Christ,' so the like and perhaps greater liberties have been taken in the translation of this work. . . . One chapter in the Second Book is wholly left out. I must remark, too, that as I have often abridged some of his sentiments, where he seems to have grown languid; so I have altered and enlarged upon others, where it was needful either to rectify some error, or to set some circumstance as far as I was able in a clearer light. ... I have inserted some particulars which he had omitted, and which were I thought necessary to be added, as well as have endeavoured for a further manifestation of the wisdom of God in the mystery of the Gospel to point out what is little attended to, the end of their being recorded; occasionally shewing also the accomplishment of the prophecies in God our Saviour, and particularly of the Psalms. Lastly, to several or most of the Prayers are added some few expressions in order to adapt them the more to the occasion, and to make them the more evident petitions for a conformity to the Son of God. ' All which ' (to use Dr. Stanhope's words in his preface to the ' Christian Pattern ') ' the reader hath this warning of, to prevent any objections, which might otherwise be raised against the faithfulness of the undertaking.' For I was not so desirous of servilely following the letter, in order to gain any reputation of being the faithful translator, as of preserving the spirit and following the plan, and enforcing the purpose of the author, though it could not well be done otherwise than by impartially omitting what seemed foreign to it, or by adding what I was persuaded would contribute to it."
The outcome of Mr. Lee's system of " translation" is that only about three-tenths of his book come from Thomas a Kempis, the rest being Mr. Lee's; and that its title-page is therefore misleading.
We now come to another Protestant " translation " by the Rev. Dr. S. Kettlewell, two editions of which were published in 1892, and a third (after his death) in 1894.19
Dr. Kettlewell writes thus (page xlvii of the Preface, ed. 1894):
" It is necessary to notice that a translation of the ' De Vita ' was made into English by Henry Lee, LL.B., in 1760, But in this case, so much of the translator's reflections and other references to Scripture are added, that it is difficult to tell what is really Lee's and what belongs to Thomas a Kempis, to whom the whole volume is inscribed [sic]. It is most desirable, therefore, that a new translation be made of the 'De Vita,' in which rarely is there a word given but what has been written by the devout author himself. This is as necessary as the re-authentication of its real author; that the public may have some confidence that they are using a most precious and veritable treatise of the author of the ' Imitation ' — Thomas a Kempis."
And further on in his Preface (para. 13, page li), Dr. Kettlewell writes:
" A few observations must be made about this undertaking before concluding. As in some of the former editions of the ' Imitation ' it was found desirable to omit certain passages, so also has it been felt advisable to do so, even to a greater extent, in the 'De Vita.' Any words sanctioning Mariolatry, and the Invocation of Saints and Angels, or any occasional allusion to some corruption or error prevalent in the Pre-Reformation Church, are carefully excluded. Indeed three entire chapters are left out: two in the second Part, which to a certain extent repeat what had gone before; the other chapter is in the third Part, founded on Christ's appearance after His Resurrection to the Virgin Mary."
The three omitted chapters are XXVI and XXXIV of Treatise I, Part II, and Chapter VI of Treatise II, Part I.
But besides these entire chapters I have counted fifty-six (evidently intentional) omissions of words, sentences, and paragraphs, running sometimes to a whole page or more; and the statement that " rarely is there a word given but what has been written by the devout author" seems to me inadequate. I have noted forty-five passages (not infrequently running to a whole sentence at a time) in which, apart from omissions, the sense of the original has (clearly of set purpose) been altered; and some of these changes are grotesque, to use no stronger term.
As instances of what is meant, I may cite the following:
(1) At page 216, in order to avoid a reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the author's words: "Conforta me, Deus mens, in omni pressura cordis mei propter meritum sacratissimae passionis tuae et vehementes dolores et uherrimas lacrimas beatissimae matris tuae Marine, quas ex compassione et aspectu vulnerum tuorum juxta crucem stando et amarissime flendo effudit "; are translated thus: " Comfort me, my God, in every trouble of my heart, by the merits of Thy most sacred Passion; and by the vehement grief and the plenteous tears, which Thou, out of compassion for me, didst pour forth on the Cross."20
(2) At page 339 (in order to get rid of a reference to the sign of the Cross), Thomas a Kempis is made to say — in a prayer addressed to God the Holy Ghost — "Against all terrors of the night, and temptations of the devil, grant me the gift of faith in Thy Cross and Passion "!21
Five-sixths of Chapter X,22 Treatise II, Part I, are so trimmed and edited that the text is scarcely recognizable in the " translation."
From all this it seems plain that those who use either Mr. Lee's or Dr. Kettlewell's " translation," hoping to find in it a veritable treatise of Thomas a Kempis, will be disappointed, and that Father " Carre's " is the only English translation (in any true sense of the word) of the " De Vita " which has yet appeared.
That work cannot, unfortunately, be republished; for to revise it, without re-writing it, would be practically impossible, and to reprint it as it stands would be to print something which scarcely any one would read. This fact, the appearance last year of Dr. Pohl's text, and the kind suggestion of a friend, have led to the present attempt. It has been a labour of love; and that it may be useful to those into whose hands it may come is the earnest hope of
The Translator.
October, 1903.
1. Written in 1663, shortly after the parliament of Paris had adjudged Thomas a Kempis to be the undoubted author of the " Imitation of Christ."
2. 'Ueber ein in Deutschland verschollenes Werk des Thomas von Kempen " (Kempen, A. Wefers'sche Druckerei).
3. Kempen (Rhein) is a small town, lying about fifteen miles north-west from Diisseldorf, in one of the patches of territory between the Rhine and the Meuse formerly belonging to the archiepiscopal principality of Cologne. It is now included in Rhenish Prussia, has a population of about six thousand souls, and is an important railway junction. "Kempen " and " Kempis " are variants of the same word. In Germany and Holland, during the Middle Ages, place-names ending in e and en were latinized by changing those endings into is. The is does not appear to have been inflected; and both in documents written in Latin, and in ordinary speech, either form, e.g. , " Kempen " and " Kempis," seems to have been used indiscriminately.
4. The Latin form of the name is Malleolus; englished it would be "Little-hammer." John Haemerken the elder is believed to have been a worker in metal, and he was probably also known as John Hamer. In the monastery chronicles Thomas's elder brother is not called Haemerken, but is referred to as "John Hamer," "John Hamer de Kempis," "John a Kempis," "John Kempis," or "John Kempen."
5. The "Brotherhood of the Common Life," founded by Gerhard Groot, was approved by Pope Gregory XI in A.D. 1376. Its principles were that, although its members should not be bound by perpetual vows, they should live in obedience and chastity, should have everything in common, should earn their own livelihood, and should spend their leisure in prayer and in works of charity. When dying (of the plague) in 1384, Gerhard Groot named riorentius Radewyn as his successor, and advised the adoption by the Brotherhood of the rule of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, with a condition that those only should be admitted to the Order who were prepared to work for their living. Effect was given without delay to these instructions; and in 1 387 a monastery was founded at Windesheim, a place lying about four miles to the south of Zwolle (the now chief town of the province of Overyssel) in the diocese of Utrecht. Two new Houses and one already existing Augustinian foundation soon placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the Prior of Windesheim; and in A.D. 1395 the Windesheim community was by Pope Boniface IX constituted an autonomous congregation, to which convents in other dioceses might associate themselves. The Augustinian canons of Holland, Germany, and the north of France largely availed themselves of this permission, with the result that, by the absorption of existing foundations, and the establishment of new (of which Agnetenberg was among the chief)} the Windesheim congregation numbered in the early days of the sixteenth century more than eighty affiliated Houses of men and women. There was also another branch of the Brotherhood (chiefly lay and educational) with its headquarters at Deventer. Both branches suffered greatly in the troublous times of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and at the close of the eighteenth century only one House of each branch was in existence. Both were suppressed by a decree of the Emperor Napoleon I, dated 14 November, 181 1. The last surviving brother died at Zevenaar in 1854.
6. "Lives of the Disciples of Florentius," chap, i, § 2.
7. Ibid., § 3.
8. "Life of Florentius," chap, xi, § 2, xvii h
9. " Life of Arnold Schoenhoven," § 2.
10. Agnetenberg is a small wooded eminence some two miles to the north-east of Zwolle. The monastery was founded in a.d. 1398. In a.d. 1559 its revenues were appropriated to the endowment of the newly established bishopric of Deventer. In a.d. 1573 the few monks who had remained there were driven out, and the monastery was demolished by the Dutch soldiers then fighting the Spaniards. In a.d. 1581 its ruins and what was left of its belongings were granted by the States-General to the province of Overyssel. No trace of the monastery remains: what is supposed to have been its site is now a cemetery, and close to it is a small inn which is a favourite summer afternoon resort of people from Zwolle.
11. John a Kempis left Agnetenberg in 1408. He served as superior of five other houses, and died in 1432 at one of them, the convent of Bethania near Arnheim.
12. He does not seem to have left the monastery after his Profession except upon one occasion, that, namely, of an interdict laid upon the diocese of Utrecht in 1429. This interdict was resisted by many of the laity, and the monks of Agnetenberg had to choose between obedience to the interdict and quitting their monastery. They chose the latter alternative, and took refuge at Lunenkerk in Friesland. There Thomas remained with them till 1431, when he was sent to Bethania, to attend his brother who was then in failing health. In 1432 the interdict was taken off, and the monks returned to Agnetenberg, where Thomas (after his brother's death) rejoined them.
13. In everyday life he was probably known as Thomas Kempis. In the monastery Chronicle he four times refers to himself by name; once (in the record of his Profession) as "Thomas Hemerken de Kempis," on the other three occasions as " Thomas Kempis." He signs his autograph copy of the *' Imitation "as *' Thomas Kempis," and four out of the five volumes of his copy of the Bible (cf. note 2, page xxi) are also thus signed: the fifth volume (the New Testament, and the earliest in date) is signed "Thomas de Kempis." In the British Museum Library the works of Thomas a Kempis and the literature connected therewith are catalogued under the name **Haemmerlein."
14. "Chronicle of Agnetenberg," page 137.
15. His most important work of this nature was a copy of the Vulgate, which it took him fifteen years to write. It is in five stately volumes, which were bound in 1576, and is preserved in the Grand-Ducal Library at Darmstadt. The medallions upon the covers of this book have been copied from those on its binding. What the handwriting of Thomas was like may be seen from specimens given of it in Dr. Kettlewell's "Authorship of the de Imitatione Christi" (Rivingtons, 1877), and from an exquisite facsimile of his autograph copy of the " Imitatio " published by Messrs. Elliot Stock and Co. in 1879.
16. "Spiritual Exercises," ii, 15, § I.
17. The words of this hymn are not known. It was probably of Thomas h. Kempis' own composition; but it is not among the twenty hymns printed by Sommalius in his collection of our author's works.
18. An interesting biography of Father Miles Pinkney will be found at p. 313 of vol. v of Gillow's "Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics" (London, Burns and Oates).
19. The reason why two editions of this book were published in 1892 was that shortly after its publication Dr. Kettlewell saw fit to cancel some ten pages of his Preface. The edition of 1894 is identical with the former edition of 1892 — the cancelled pages of the Preface being replaced, and only one verbal correction made (at p. 339).
20. For a translation of the Latin words see p. 207, lines 28 to 33.
21. A translation of the passage will be found at page 323, lines 3 to 6.
22. In Dr. Kettlewell's book, by the omission of Chapter VI, Chapter X has become Chapter IX.
TREATISE I
PART I DEVOUT MEDITATIONS ON THE LIFE OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, AND UPON THE BENEFITS WROUGHT BY HIM FOR US, WITH THANKSGIVING THEREFOR
PREFACE
Wouldst thou be perfectly cleansed from thy faults;
Wouldst thou be richly endowed with virtues;
Wouldst thou have deep insight into Holy Writ; Wouldst thou triumph gloriously over thy enemies;
Wouldst thou have abundant consolation when things go wrong with thee;
Wouldst thou upon earth walk humbly with thy God;
Wouldst thou sorrow often upon thy bed;
Wouldst thou shed sweet tears in prayer;
Wouldst thou be on fire in thy meditations;
Wouldst thou persevere in good works;
Wouldst thou be filled with spiritual joy;
Wouldst thou be rapt in ecstasy;
Wouldst thou enter into the deep things of God;
Wouldst thou die happily at the last;
Wouldst thou reign for ever in Heaven — exercise thyself in the Life and in the Passion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Whom the Father sent into the world, that He might give to all men the example of a perfect life, and might bring to an everlasting Kingdom those who follow Him.
Love Christ therefore: follow Jesus: hold fast to the Crucified.
CHAPTER I Devout thanksgivings for the whole Life of Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and man: and firstly a prayer arousing the soul to the praise of God
O Lord my God, I wish to praise Thee; for I know that to praise Thee was the end for which I was created.
Open Thou my lips to praise Thee, that I may worthily magnify Thy name.
Lift up my heart to Thee; keep me from being weary; shed forth upon me Thy grace; kindle in my heart the fire of Thy love; that so I may be able to render to Thee the thanks that are Thy due. Take Thou away the iniquity of Thy servant; wash me from all uncleanness, whether of the flesh or of the spirit; that so I may be made worthy to open my lips to glorify Thy Name.
But who can worthily extol the depth of Thy infinite Majesty? All the powers of Heaven, all the Angelic hosts, can never praise Thee worthily: how then can frail man attain thereto, who is a thing of corruption, and a worm?
No creature, no thought, no tongue, no language, can ever duly praise Thee. — What then? Shall I cease from praising Thee, because I cannot praise Thee worthily? Shall I be silent, and close my lips, because I know them to be unclean, and myself to be a thing of nought?
Far from me be such ingratitude, as that I should cease to praise Thee, Whom every creature is bound to praise: and above them all man, whom Thou hast endowed with reason; on whom, beyond all others, Thou hast bestowed so many gifts,
O Father of mercies, and God of infinite goodness, I know in truth, I confess from the bottom of my heart, that in Thy sight I am a sinner of utter vileness, one who with downcast eyes, with groans and tears, should rather plead for mercy, than think of taking upon his polluted lips Thy most sweet name, and dare to praise it.
And yet, trusting in Thy lovingkindness and in Thy unfathomable goodness, I long to praise Thee, beseeching from the depth of my heart the bowels of Thy mercies, that Thou wouldst not despise me, nor hold me back from praising Thy glorious name, impure worm and foul carcase though I be: but wouldst kindle and inflame my inmost soul to praise Thee with devout and joyful lips.
Thine own praise, O my God, Thou Thyself art; nor canst Thou be worthily praised by any other than Thyself; for of all things Thou art the Maker and the Ruler; and from Thee do all things come, whose excellence and whose work declare the Glory of Thy name.
Ever therefore shouldst Thou be praised, shouldst Thou be blessed, by every creature. But when the mind contemplates Thy majesty, and longs to join Thee in praising Thee in Thyself for Thy supreme goodness, words come not.
May then, O my God, Thy own incomprehensible Essence, Thy own unspeakable Almightiness, Thy own unsearchable Wisdom, Thy own unutterable Sweetness, Thy own boundless Tenderness, praise Thee!
Praise Thee Thy supreme Goodness; Thy surpassing Mercy; Thy eternal Power also, and Thy transcendent Majesty!
Praise Thee Thy infallible Truth, Thy unchangeable Equity, Thy inextinguishable Light, Thy Knowledge from which no secrets are hid, Thy Own unapproachable Substance!
Praise Thee Thy unerring Justice, Thy all-wise Providence, Thy most calm Governance, and Thy unconquerable Power!
Praise Thee Thy infinite Dignity, Thy supreme Lovingkindness, Thy all-surpassing Sweetness, Thy peerless Beauty, and Thy all-excelling Charity!
May every name that can be used of Thee, and every word that can be spoken of Thee, praise Thee and magnify Thee for ever!
May the most noble Queen of Heaven, the glorious Virgin Mary, praise Thee; and may she, and the whole Court of Heaven, magnify for ever Thy infinite Majesty!
May the thousand thousands of Thy ministering Angels extol Thee with the worship which is Thy due, and sing praises of endless gratitude to the honour of Thy Name!
May the ten thousand times ten thousand citizens of Heaven, who ever stand before Thee, praise Thee with boundless rejoicing, and adore Thee with the deepest reverence!
May all this most joyous Company of the household of Heaven pay to Thee, on my behalf, devout and acceptable homage; may they praise Thee and magnify Thee for ever!
May all the fervent desires of the Saints, all the sweet utterances of the Doctors of the Church, all the several virtues put forth, and all the most perfect actions wrought, in honour of Thy name, join the universal melody of all created things, in praising and in magnifying Thee to the utmost of their power, blessing the most Holy Name of the Lord their God for ever and ever!
And may all Thy Saints, and all Thy Elect, whose names are written in the Book of Life, laud and magnify Thee with never-ending praise; and may their prayers obtain for me the full remission of my sins, a good death, a happy end, deliverance from the pains of Hell, and an entry into Heavenly glory, there to have the bliss of dwelling with Thee for ever!
CHAPTER II A Prayer concerning the creation of the first man, and his unhappy fall
I Bless Thee, and give thanks to Thee, O Holy Trinity, and undivided Unity — Father, Son and Holy Ghost — one true and Almighty God, Who, that Thou mightest proclaim the unspeakable abundance of Thy Goodness, didst in the beginning create the heaven and the earth, and the sea and all the things that are therein; and didst exalt man above Thy other creatures, to Thine own image and likeness, by making him powerful in dominion, wise in understanding, and innocent in life.
I praise and glorify Thee for Thy surpassing munificence in endowing man in paradise with delights of every kind, giving him the things above him to enjoy, and the things beneath him to rule — all to be held upon condition of ever praising Thee.
I praise and magnify Thee, most gracious God, for Thy infinite compassion, and Thy unspeakable mercy, in sparing man, who had gone astray, and been ungrateful for all Thy benefits, from a fall beyond recovery, when depriving him for his sins of the joys of paradise, that so he might be brought to repent of them. He had indeed, by his transgression, deserved to be condemned for ever, without hope of pardon; but Thou, by allowing Thy unspeakable mercy to take the place of the severity of Thy Justice, didst lay upon him the burden of a fitting penance, the smart of which was to be healed after many days by the balm of a longwished-for pardon. And this was done that the creature, whom Thou hadst endowed with reason, and who had fallen into sin by his own fault, might be saved by Thy grace.
Every faithful soul therefore is bound to render thanks to Thee, and never to trust in its own strength, or boast of its own merits or righteousness. Thy creatures, O my God, are we all: by Thy Goodness we exist: of Thy Bounty have we received all that we have: of our own perversity it is that we fall, and are found wanting in Thy sight; and were it not that by Thy merciful aid we are again raised up and strengthened, we should sink lower and lower, and end by being consumed in our iniquities.
Thy compassion, then, most gracious God, we entreat; the abundance of Thy tender lovingkindness we remember, we joyfully extol, we proclaim as best we may; and for the multitude of Thy compassions, poured forth without stint upon us, Thy polluted children, sold under sin, we offer to Thee, with thanksgiving, our Sacrifice of love and praise.
CHAPTER III Of the reinstatement of man, and the promise of Christ's coming
O Almighty and most gracious God, Whose nature is goodness, Whose Will is power, Whose property it is to have mercy, I bless Thee, and render thanks to Thee for Thy infinite love, and for Thy free and undeserved goodness, in that Thou didst lose no time in calling back man, who had been taken captive in the snare of the devil, and brought low by the poison of a mortal disease, from his manifold wanderings from the right way, and from the defilement of his sins, into the way of repentance, and a state of righteousness; by giving to him, through the saving promise of Thy coming, the hope of pardon, and the prospect of a remedy to be brought within his reach.
And lest man should at any time seek to plead ignorance as an excuse for the malice of his sin, Thou didst give him frequent warning of the error of his ways, by revealing to him Thy law, by smiting him with Thy heavy hand, by exercising open judgements upon sinners, by working frequent miracles, and by promising good things to come; that so they might be without excuse who should not turn to Thee as their God, and to a knowledge of the truth. For all through the five ages of the world,1 by means of Patriarchs, of Judges, of Priests, of Kings, and of Prophets, from righteous Abel even unto John the Baptist, Thy forerunner, Thou didst never cease, by wonderful miracles and manifold prophecies, to foretell, to promise, and to prefigure Thy coming, without which we are undone: that so, by means of so many witnesses going before Thee, and proclaiming Thy mysteries, Thou mightest implant in our minds the grace of faith, and by the lively examples of so many ancient Fathers, mightest kindle in our dull cold hearts the fire of Thy love.
CHAPTER IV Of the redemption of the human race by the mystery of the Incarnate Word
I Bless Thee, and give thanks to Thee, my Lord and my God, Creator and Redeemer of the human race, for Thy exceeding great love in willing that man,whom thou hadst wonderfully created, should be still more wonderfully redeemed. For it was when we were yet thine enemies, and death had long tyrannized over all the human race, that Thou didst call to mind Thy rich mercies, and from the place of Thy habitation in glory, didst look down upon this vale of tears and wretched It was when Thou hadst seen that the affliction of Thy people was great upon the earth, and that the burden of the sons of Adam was grievous to be borne, that, inwardly moved by the tenderness of Thy charity, Thou didst set Thyself to think in our behalf thoughts of Redemption and of peace.
For, when the fullness of time was come, Thou Thyself, the Dayspring from on high, didst come to visit us, and didst fulfil the desires of the prophets by taking upon Thyself our Flesh, and appearing among men true God and true man.
I bless and praise Thee, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, for Thy exceeding great humility in deigning to choose for Thy Mother a poor young maiden, and for causing her to be espoused to the poor carpenter Joseph, a just and holy man.
I bless Thee for making known Thy most illustrious Incarnation, and for the reverent angelic greeting, with which the Angel Gabriel most devoutly saluted the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, making known to her the Divine Mystery that she should be the Mother of the Son of God.
I praise and magnify Thee for the grandeur of the faith of Mary the Virgin, for the courage of her assent, for the lowliness of her reply, and for all the other virtues which she so conspicuously displayed, when she made her obedient answer to the angel's message in the words: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy word."
I praise and glorify Thee, O Eternal Wisdom of the Father, for the marvellous condescension of Thy unapproachable Majesty in entering the vile prison of our mortal frame, and for Thy most pure Conception, by the operation of the Holy Ghost upon Mary; in whose virgin womb the Power of the most Highest, overshadowing her, formed Thy most sacred Body from the undefiled flesh of a pure virgin. For Thou, being at the same time true God, consubstantial with the Eternal Father, wast made one flesh with us, without spot of sin, to make us one spirit with Thee, through the adoption of the sons of God.
I praise and magnify Thee for voluntarily emptying Thyself of Thy fullness, and for graciously taking upon Thyself our weak and degraded nature, capable of suffering and of death; that so Thou mightest fill us by emptying Thyself, mightest save us by Thy sufferings, mightest raise us by Thy lowliness, mightest strengthen us by Thy weakness, and by Thy death mightest bring us to a glorious immortality.
I praise and magnify Thee, for that Thou, Whose Divine nature knows neither times nor seasons, but Who hast ordered all things here below in their season and time, didst Vouchsafe to dwell for nine long months within the narrow limits of a virgin's womb, and to lie hid there as a babe waiting for the due time of his birth.
O the gracious and most wondrous condescension of Him, Who, though God of boundless glory, did not think scorn of becoming a contemptible worm; and Who, though He had created all things by His own mere Will, yet, to free us from them, was ready to take upon Himself our sorrows!
O most sweet Jesus, Thou Brightness of the Eternal Glory, the lower Thou hast made Thyself, by taking upon Thee our nature, the more exalted dost Thou appear to me in Thy Goodness; the viler Thou hast made Thyself for me, the dearer hast Thou become to me.
