Nostras deprecationes ne despicias       Ne despexeris deprecationem
in necessitatibus.                       meam.—­Ps. liv. 1.

    Sed a periculis cunctis libera nos.  Libera, Domine, animam servi
                                             tui ab omnibus periculis
                                             inferni.  Hiem. ccvi.

Libera nos a malo.  Orat.  Dom.

                                             A periculo mortis libera nos,
                                             Domine.—­Hiem. cciv.

    Tu nos ab hoste protege.  Eripe me de inimicis meis,
                                             Domine.—­Ps. cxlii. 11.

    Et hora mortis SUSPICE. Suscipe, Domine, servum
                                             tuum.—­Hiem. ccvi. {342}
    ]

But another hymn in the office of the Virgin, addressed in part to the blessed Saviour himself, and partly to the Virgin Mary, is still more revolting to all my feelings with regard to religious worship.  The Redeemer is only asked to remember his mortal birth; no blessing is here supplicated for at his hands; his protection is not sought; no deliverance of our souls at the hour of death is implored from Him; these blessings, and these heavenly benefits, and these divine mercies, are sought for exclusively at the hands of the Virgin alone.  Can such a mingled prayer, can such a contrast in prayer, be the genuine fruit of that Gospel which bids us ask for all we need in prayer to God in the name and for the sake of his blessed Son?

“Author of our salvation, remember that once, by {343} being born of a spotless virgin, thou didst take the form of our body!  Mary, mother of grace, mother of mercy, do thou protect us from the enemy, and receive us at the hour of death.  Glory to thee, O Lord, who wast born of a Virgin, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, through eternal ages.  Amen[129].”

    [Footnote 129: 

Memento, Salutis Auctor,         Tu nos ab hoste protege,
Quod nostri quondam corporis,    Et hora mortis suscipe. 
Ex illibata Virgine,             Gloria tibi, Domine,
Nascendo formam sumpseris.        Qui natus es de Virgine,
Maria mater gratiae,             Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu,
Mater misericordiae,             In sempiterna saecula.  Amen.

    In the new version, (referred to in page 260 of the present
    work,) this hymn stands thus:—­

Memento, rerum Conctitor,        Maria mater gratiae,
Nostri quod olim corporis,       Dulcis parens clementiae,
Sacrata ab alvo Virginis,        Tu nos ab hoste protege,
Nascendo forrnam sumpseris.       In mortis hora suscipe, &c.

    AEst. clv.]

Could the beloved John, to whose kind and tender care our blessed Lord gave his mother of especial trust, have offered to her such a prayer as this?  To God alone surely would he have prayed for deliverance from all evil and mischief.  To God alone would he have prayed:—­“In the hour of death, good Lord, deliver us, and all for Jesus Christ’s sake, our only Saviour and Mediator.”