salem and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known: By the Hunger and Thirst of his Righteousness, saying, My Meat is to do the Will of my Father which is in Heaven; By his Mercy which excited him to say, I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice; By his Purity of Heart, of which he could say, Be ye holy, for I am holy: By the Peace which he always loved, as at the last he shewed, when he said, Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give unto you and by that Persecution which he suffer'd for Righteousness Sake, which he himself attests, saying, If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: And by the Holy Apostles, and by the Effusion of their Blood, and by all holy Men and holy Women; that thou mayest be blessed, and obtain from GOD above, such Virtue by our Ministry, that thou mayst become to the evil Spirits a new Hell, and a burning Furnace of eternal Horror, so that they may flee from every Corner, and leave thee entirely free, that thou mayst become a comfortable Habitation for Men, and that GOD may ever be glorified. After After that, let him bless the House in the following Manner. V. O LORD hear my Prayer. R. And let my Cry come unto thee. * THOU, O LORD, of all Things, who hast Need of nothing, wast pleased that the Temple of thine Habitation should be among us; and therefore now, O Holy LORD of all Holiness, keep this House ever undefiled, which lately was cleansed. And grant unto us the Abundance of thy Goodness, that this House may be blessed + and sanctified of thee + by our Ministry, that the evil Angels may abdicate it, and it may be a Protection for the Faithful, a pure Habitation for the Holy Angels, and a Possession always worthy of thy Care, through our LORD JESUS CHRIST thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, GOD, who shall come to judge the Quick and Dead, and the World by Fire. Amen. * Mac. B. 2. C. 14. Then Then let the Image of our SAVIOUR upon the Cross, be erected in an open Part of the principal Room in the House; and let the Priest sprinkle the whole House with Holy Water, from Top even to the Bottom, saying, 19.7 The LESSON. St. Luke, Chap. 19. AND JESUS entred and passed through Jericho. And behold there was a Man named Zaccheus, which was the Chief among the Publicanes, and he was rich, and he sought to see JESUS who he was, and he could not for the Press, because he was little of Stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a Sycamore Tree to see him, for he was to pass that Way. And when JESUS came to the Place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus make haste and come down, for to Dạy I must abide at thy House. And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be a Guest with a Man that is a Sinner. And Zaccheus stood and said unto the LORD, Behold LORD, the Half of my Goods I give to the Poor: And if I have taken any Thing of any Man, by false Accusation, I restore him fourfold. fourfold. And JESUS said unto him, This Day is Salvation come to this House, forasmuch as he also is the Son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. When all these Things are done, let Abyssum, which is a Kind of an Herb, be procur'd, and after it is sign'd with the Sign of the Cross, let it be hung up at the four Corners of the House. I suppose the Reason of proceeding after this Manner Day by Day, is that the Devil may be gradually banished: And to be sure, what is observed on the last of the Days, viz. The ordering of the Crucifix, the holy Water, the Abyssum tyed to the four Corners of the House, is to keep the Devil out when he is out. St. Austin tells us a Story of one * Hesperitius, whose House was troubled with evil Spi Hesperitius Ubi * Vir Domum suam spirituum malignorum vim noxiam perpeti comperisset, rogavit nostros, me absente, Presbyteros, ut aliquis eorum illo pergeret, cujus orationibus cederent: perrexit unus, obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi, orans quantum potuit, ut cessaret illa vexatio. Deo protinus miserante cessarit, Aug. de Civit. Dei, Lib. 22. Cap. 8. rits, who came once, in his Absence, to his Presbyters, and begg'd their Assistance. Upon which one of them went along with him; and when he had offer'd the Sacrifice of the Body of CHRIST, and prayed in a most fervent Manner, the House, by the Mercy of GOD, was no longer troubled. Here is indeed an Account of a House being haunted, but not a Word of any such Order in the dispossessing it. The Priest gões immediately over the Threshold into the troubled Apartment, and expells the Spirits by his Prayers. Had such Forms been customary in the Days of St. Austin, had the Crucifix, holy Water and Abyssum, been used, no Question but here, or somewhere else, we should have had some Account of it: But these Ages were unacquainted with such whimsical Forms of exorcising; and if the Story be true, it was nothing but Prayer that quieted the House. "Tis ridiculous to suppose that the Prince of Darkness will yield to such feeble Instruments as Water and Herbs and Crucifixes. These Weapons are not spiritual but carnal: Whereas, in resisting this potent Enemy, we must put on the whole Armour of GOD, that we may be able to resist him: Which is such a Composition, as is in |