The Lord's Prayer might be said devoutly three times together, in thought of the Holy Trinity; or seven times, in thought of the reconciliation of God to the world in Christ Jesus our Lord, and of our eternal rest in Him; or ten times, in thought of the consummation of all things, when all things now scattered shall be gathered into one in Him. And who can venture to say, that if any one were devoutly to say the Lord's Prayer five times, in thought of the Five Wounds which our Dear Lord received for us, that he might not cherish His Passion more fervently? Some who have done so have found it.

Such were the uses of the Rosary formerly. It was nothing more mechanical to say the Lord's Prayer thirty times, than to pray for thirty minutes. Practices which might seem distracting to those unacquainted with them, are natural with use. The saying of the Lord's Prayer has, before now, become to the poor man rather a measure of time, than is measured by time. In France and Spain, the peasant was wont, of old, to describe the length of an action by the number of "Our Fathers" which would ordinarily be said in it. And this very fact is a witness that it was said with uniformity and without distractions; since with distractions it would occupy unequal spaces of time.

It was on this same principle, of frequent devout repetition, that the devotions in "the Paradise for the Christian Soul," alluded to by Mr. Dodsworth, were

formed. They are nothing more than devotions to the Holy Trinity, or hymns to our Lord Jesus Christ, or thanksgivings to Him for the Precious sheddings of His Blood.

In the first of these, the words repeated are, the verses, Rev. vii. 12; Isa. vi. 3; and the Gloria Patri. I will set down the words, my Lord. They are,— 1. "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever." 2. "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of Sabaoth; the whole earth is full of His glory;" and 3. "Glory be to the Father," &c.

Again, in the second, the devotions with which the stanzas are interspersed are the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the prayer from the Visitation of the Sick, "O Saviour of the world, Who by Thy Cross and Precious Blood hast redeemed us, save us and help us, we humbly beseech Thee, O Lord."

Yet each stanza is a prayer to our Lord, recalling to our mind and pleading to Him some separate act of His Redeeming Love. Why should not, amid these, our Lord's Prayer, or that earnest devotion of our own Prayer Book, "O Saviour of the World," &c. be said alternately? If any like not this or any other form of devotion, I have recommended them, not to force themselves', and not to use it.

Let me set down three stanzas in explanation.

"JESU 2, from Thy grave upraised,
Gladdening sight to hearts amazèd,
Bidding fear and sorrow flee:

Grant, from sin's black sleep awaking,
From my soul earth's grave clothes shaking,

I may Thee in beauty see.

O Saviour of the world (as above).

"JESU, Who Thy servants' talk
Joinest in their mournful walk,

Knowing all, Thyself unknown:
Be Thou ever, Lord, beside me,
With Thine eye and counsel guide me
In the heart's deep converse shown.

O Saviour of the world.

To myself, this interchange of the hymns, and the earnest prayer in prose, would make the whole more devotional, than the uninterrupted, rapid transition from the subject of one stanza to that of another; in which way each succeeding thought often effaces that which preceded it.

I may insert here what I said on this in my Pre

face to that Part:

"Almost the only alteration in this Part is the substitution either of the Gloria Patri or of the solemn Invocation in the Service for the Visitation

2 Paradise, § vi. p. 58.

of the Sick; the former as a Thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity for the mystery of man's redemption ; the latter a deep cry for mercy, especially at that last hour, to Himself our Redeemer, by that love whereby He redeemed us. The object of these pauses in the different devotions in which they occur, is to concentrate the soul upon the previous mystery or act of our Blessed Lord's Life or Passion, in order that the meditation suggested may take deeper hold of the mind, and the heart, gathering itself up, pour itself out in more fervent love. For the rapid transition from one mystery to another, without any pause, would probably, for the most part, rather confuse the mind than penetrate deeply into it. It might even simply accustom it to the thoughts, and diminish the hope of awakening that deep yet tender reverence with which these mysteries should be dwelt upon. These sacred forms, then, whether prayer or praise, are no mere repetition, except so far as the object of the prayer is the same Saviour, the thanksgiving is the foretaste of the endless Alleluia to the Infinite Object of all love and adoration, and praise, the Holy Trinity. The subject of prayer or praise is mentally varied by each stanza or collect; and the soul in each (as in our Litany) pleads to its Redeemer some fresh act of His own mercy; or (although in the same words) renders thanksgivings ever new as His mercies."

For these devotions I retained the title "rosary," because I found it. I hesitated about it, because it

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is so often connected with the use of the Ave-Maria. I finally kept it, because it was not necessarily connected with those devotions: those devotions were altogether excluded from my edition, and others substituted for them. In the book itself, it was plain what was meant by a Rosary; and until this unexplained allusion to it, in Mr. Dodsworth's letter, no one misunderstood it. As for the use of the string of beads, called a Rosary, these devotions could not be used with them. They need no such external help, and do not even admit it.

Another form of these devotions does allow of it, in that the same words are repeated ten times successively, "Hail most sweet Lord, Jesus Christ, full of grace, with Thee is mercy! Blessed is Thy most holy Life, Thy Passion and Thy Blood which for us Thou sheddest-in Thy Circumcision; in Thine Agony," &c.

I might venture to say that none can tell whether such repetitions would or would not increase his devotion, without using them; nor does it follow, that, because they would not aid him, they would not be helpful to others.

But as to the actual "rosary," I may have been asked by some five or six persons, who had them, whether there was any harm in using them? ascertained from these, what devotions they used with

I

3 I did not say for what these were substitutions, lest I should suggest its use. It was chiefly the Ave Maria, but also another Invocation of the Blessed Virgin.