creature when they shall have it and puts a price upon the same when it is in their hand It is rare amongst those that are grown up to finde a stomack full of meat and an heart as full of praise The emptie stomack feeles the comfort and is in likelihood more enlarged Let the childe abstain from all sometimes but not often it is their growing time yet sometime altogether from all at all times from part They must not taste of every dish nor look so to do it is not good for the Å¿ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cl. Al. Paed. 2. 1. pag. 103. parent lesse wholsome for the childe there is a drunkennesse t Plures cum sint vino sobriae ciborum largitate sunt ebriae Hier. lib. 2. ep 17. in eating as in drinking Accustome children to waite now they will waite with more patience hereafter But more specially teach them a fit and reverent behaviour both before and at the table Though they sit at a common table yet it is Gods table He spread it for the parent and the childe Though there we receive common blessings yet we must not put upon them common esteeme nor return for them common thanks children must not by their rude and uncivill deportment before and at the table make it a stable or an hogs-stye nor must they drown themselves there in an eager fulfilling their appetite like beasts u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cl. Mex Pop. 2. 7. pag. 127. at their manger or swine in their trough like beasts I say that have their manger before x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loco laud. pag. 128. them and their dung-hill behind them hereof Clem. of Alex. makes very good use and that is all I tend to here 6. And now that we have eaten we must remember to return praise Our great Master is our great example Before He gave common bread He gave thanks and when He administred the Sacrament of His blessed body and bloud He concluded with an Hymn * Matt. 26. 30. Hearken to this saith Chrysostome y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. upon those words all ye that goe from your common table like swine whereas ye should give thanks and conclude with a Psalme And hearken ye also who will not sit out till the blessing be given Christ gave thanks before He gave to His disciples that we might begin with thanks-giving And He gave thanks after He had distributed and sung a Psalme that we might do so likewise so Chrysostome Now then that we are filled it is the very season of thanksgiving saith the y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys de Laz. Ser. 1. Tom. 5. Father And he that is now to addresse himselfe to return thanks is supposed to have fed temperately and to be sober They that have fed without feare and are filled with their pasture are more like to kick with the heele then to return praise and in so doing are worse then the most savadge creatures who to shew their thankfulnesse will be at the beck of those that feed them We must remember that with us men every favour requires a z Omne beneficium exigit officium Lege Chrysost in Gen. cap. 12. Hom. 32. Man must not be like his belly what it receives to day it forgets to morrow and when it is full it thinks of temperance Translated out of Basil de jejunio p. 281. Psal 154 10. returne much more when we receive these comforts of meat and drink from Gods hand we must return in way of homage our thankfulnesse If it should be thrice asked as one in another case what is the speciall dutie or grace required in a Christian I should answer thrice also supposing the season Thankefulnesse Thankfulnesse at our sitting down Thankfulnesse at our receiving the blessing Thankfulnesse when we are refreshed Thankfulnesse is as good pleading in the Common Law the heart string a Lord Cooke Pref. Littlet thereof so of Religion It is the very All of a Christian if it be with all the heart And heartie it should be for as it is for beasts to eate till they be filled so is it beast-like to look downward when they are filled If God had made me a Nightingale I would saith on have sung as a Nightingale doth but now God hath made me a man I must as a man sing forth His praise All Thy works blesse Thee and Thy Saints praise Thee Now that we have received mercies we must think to make return else every bit we have eaten will be an inditement against us There is a vanitie in our natures for sometimes we stand upon exactnesse of justice as one saith in answering petty D. 5. 563. courtesies of men and in shewing our selves thankfull for favours received there when yet we passe by substantiall favours from God without taking notice of them But we can easily consider that if it be a sinne in civilitie carelesly to passe by the favours from men much more in Religion to receive from Gods hand and not to returne our thanks b Iâ—a semper â—omedendum est ut cibum oratio sequatur Lectio Hier. epist lib. 1. ep 35. pag. 47. And if it be a rude and uncivill fashion to rise from our common tables where we receive common bread to play much more then so to rise from our seat at Church where the bread we are fed withall is so much more precious as the soule is above the body We suppose then we are now rising from our common table where every man hath put in his thanks as into a common stock and so joyntly offered unto God Cyprians words are seasonable here I finde them in Vrsinus touching the order and connexion of the fourth with the fift petition After our supplication to God for supply of food and sustenance Give us we say forgive us that is we pray for pardon of sinnes and offences That He who is fed by God may live to God c Vt à Deo pasti in Deum vâ—vant Thankfulnesse and that is the spring of a kinde obedience must presently follow the receipt of mercies It is good to take the advantage of the freshnesse of a blessing He will not be thankfull anon who is not thankfull now he hath newly felt and found the sweetnesse of a mercy what we adde to delay we take from thankfulnesse If the heart be closed now that the Lord hath so newly opened His hand toward it it is like it will be as hard and dry as a flint afterwards And what an unkinde requitall is it when in stead of being Temples of His praise we become graves of His benefits They lye buryed in us It is an old tradition but instructs very much which is That every creature hath a three-fold voice to man take returne beware In more words the meaning is this when we take the creature into our hands be it bread or be it water
securitie of the dead mark it I can but point to it g Job 3. from 13 to the 20 verse And learn we may something from the devil when he feigned himself Samuel That it is no point of Civilitie to disquiet the dead h 1. Sam. 28. 15. 4. No nor to disquiet those that are absent in conjuring up their names for they are dead to us and cannot speak for themselves Stay a little till Mephibosheth i 2. Sam. 16. 2. Chap. 19. 27. He hath slandered thy servant verse 27. Not slanderers 1. Tim. 3. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can be heard to tell his own tale he will prove himself as sound at the heart as he is lame in his feet and Ziba shall be counted as he is a Devil 5 If the name of thy neighbour be in question and thou canst relieve it by a word and that word but the very truth Take heed now Let not that pretious name of thy neighbour faint and die under thy hearing for want of a word thy speaking what thou knowest and standest bound to speak by the bond of charitie If thou shalt be faulty in this point of charitie it is a privative censure I keep the chief lesson last I take it from a rule in Herauldry this it is 6. All k Joh. Guil. display of Herauldry pag. 163. Animalls born in Armes or Ensignes must in blazoning be interpreted in the best sense according to their generous and noble qualities if a fox be the charge of an Escutchen we must conceive his qualitie represented to be wit and cunning not pilfering and stealing c. I may finde bad qualities in the King of beasts I must in blazoning take the most noble Then much more in blazoning my brothers Name I must finde-out his good qualities So the Apostle with Iob l James 5. 11. we have heard of the patience of Iob not a word of his impatience And observeable it is how David fills his mouth with Sauls m 2. Sam. 1. vertues But how if my brother have not one good qualitie I must not think so not that any one is so buried under the rubbish of his own and Adams ruines but some good may be found in him if with the Chymist we would set the fire of our charitie on work some good might be extracted for as there is some rubbish in the best of men so there is some ore too something of God some good in the very worst doubt it not while thou canst see a poore woman puddering in the dust-heap and finding some good there And let this teach us how we deale with our brother not worse then with a dust-heap I hope pick-out his good and let go the bad But if thou must fix upon the bad as so the case may require Chap. 4 § 6 do it tenderly like a brother as one knowing thy self and thy common nature in love in meeknesse in the spirit of meeknesse so shalt thou honour thy brother but thy self more Chrysostome n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In Gen. 13. Hom. 34. â— gives us a good note The truest signe of a man honoured with reason is to be gentle meek courteous mercifull as one that would obtain mercie for consider we our selves or others we are vessells of earth all which could not be cleansed with water they must be broken o Levit. 11. 33. â—eade Mr Answ or like bell-mettle once broken never sound again till new-cast and that will not be till the morning of our resurrection There be faults in all make the best of all It is good for a man nay it is his wisdome to pudder much in his own dung as a devout Spaniard p Avila's spirit Epist 24. p. 200. phraseth it To pry well into his faults and frailties and with great diligence there for from thence that bitter-root springeth that excellent and sweet grace humilitie but to pudder in another mans dung is Beetle-like q Scarabaeum aiunt simo sepultum vivere apobalsomo immersum emori a creature we know which lies covered in dung and findes sweetnesse there but put it amongst sweets and there it dies I will shut up this in the words of the Learned Knight changing but a word They who have sold the bloud of others good name of others at a low rate have but made the Hist of the World preface markets for their neighbours to buy of theirs at the same rate and price But Chrysostomes words upon those of our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In 8. Gen. Hom. 40 Iudge not that ye be not judged will serve better to stitch upon our lips How darest thou set thy self in Gods Throne by judging thy brother If thou wilt be a judge judge thy self and thy own wayes so mayest thou mendon But if thou sittest and judgest thy brother thou shalt but make thy own judgement the heavier § 6. Affections So much to the master passion and the subduing thereof and to order the tongue too that disordered member Affections are the next which may be called passions also when they come like sudden gusts for then they are the stormes of the soul and will overturn all if they be not suppressed and the heart steer'd aright by the interposing of judgement and right reason Our Affections set at libertie are like a Multos dominos habet qui unum non babet childe set loose and left to himself which will cause our shame and our sorrow both To instance our affection of feare not ordered and pointed right will make us like a Roe before the hunter or like a leafe shaken with the winde The Apostle speaks much in one word where feare is there is torment c. It slayeth without a sword Thy b Esay 22. 2. reade Edmunds upon Cesars Comment p. 17. p. 38. 39. slain men are not slain with the sword nor dead in battell How then a 1 John 4. 18. were they slain for it is not proper to say slain with famine with c Exanimantur metu Trem. A man that had his eyes covered to receive his death and uncovered again that he might reade his pardon was found stark dead upon the seaffold Char. chap 16. p. 69. feare that surprised them before the battell and did the part of an executioner before the sword came Such an astonishing affection feare is if not fixt upon Him whom onely we should feare The like we may say of Love d Furori proximus amor Tacit. Aâ—nnal lib. 11. Ioy e Joy and sorrow have a contrary working but being immoderate they drink and quaffe up the spirits quickly and sometimes suddenly Sorrow if not plac'd aright but immoderately set upon the Creature they will swallow us up as a ship in the quicksands In a word The excesse of our affections do cause the greatnesse of our afflictions But contrary when our affections are well ordered they are
communicated unto us These holy mysteries received in due manner do instrumentally both make us partakers of the grace of that body and bloud which was given for the life of the world and imparts unto us even in true and reall though in mysticall manner the very person of our Lord Himself whole perfect and intire together with the communication of His holy Spirit to sanctifie us as it sanctified Him that what merit force or vertue there is in His sanctified Body and Bloud we freely fully and wholly have by this Sacrament And all this for the Sacrament in it self is but a corruptible and earthly creature and an unlikely instrument to work such admirable effects in man all this resteth upon the strength of His glorious power who bringeth to passe that the bread and cup which He giveth though true Bread and Wine for our senses tell us so and in such cases they cannot be deceived shall be truly the thing promised the flesh of Christ which is meat indeed and the bloud of Christ which is drink indeed If we understand not this but will ask How can these things be n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysâ—n â— Ad Tim. c. 1. Hom. 1. we must remember that nothing is hard to the Lord therefore to Him we must pray that we may be taught of Him and that His Spirit may reveale it unto us That is all we are to do for further question is needlesse and fruitlesse Very observable it is that in the sixth of Iohn o Verse 26. The people finding Christ at a place whereto by an ordinary way and means they knew He could not come fall to wondering and then to questioning Rabbi when camest thou hither The disciples in the 20. of Iohn when Christ appeared to them in farre more strange and miraculous manner moved no question but rejoyced greatly in that they saw For why The one sort beheld only that in Christ which they knew was more then naturall but yet their affection was not rapt there-with through any great extraordinary gladnesse the other when they looked on Christ were not ignorant that they saw the well-spring of their own everlasting felicitie The one because they enjoyed not disputed the other disputed not because they injoyed If then the presence of Christ with them did so much move judge what their thoughts and affections were at the time of this new presentation of Christ p Hooker câ—â— Pol. 5. 67. pag. 358. not before their eyes but within their souls And so much for the opening and unfolding of the mysteries which we are to receive The further manifestation we leave to Him who worketh All in All according to the pleasure of His good will It follows now That we consider how we must come addressed to this great feast of the soule wherein our approach to an earthly banquet gives us good instruction though the persons inviting and the cheere to which we are invited are of a very different nature and yet somewhat such a feast instructs We come to a common table specially if invited thereto by no common person well fitted and prepared decently and in order And in case we finde our stomacks clogged with bad humours or feaverishly disposed we come not at all or we forbeare to eate This allusion Chrysostome follows and makes very usefull in his 27. Hom upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 11. toward the end but more fully in the following Hom. neere the beginning of the same very full of instruction all I shall follow our plain Catechisme and therefrom set down these requisites which must be in every worthy Communicant and they are three strongly enforced and imployed in the signes before our eyes 1. Repentance from dead works which God gives and it answers The eating of the Lambe with sowre hearbes There I see in the Bread first thrashed then put into the mill after in the oven All this the True Bread went through before He was made the Shew-Bread to God the Bread of Life to us as much as the Church of old did in the q Exod. 12. 9. Lambe which was to be rosted with fire or in the Manna which was ground in the mills r Numb 11. 8. I see in the wine powred forth That Christ powred forth His soul unto death and by Himself purged our sins Å¿ Heb. 1. 3. See Mr. Dearing on that text Hence we learn to hate sin and to hate it with a perfect hatred as the only ground of our misery the creatures vanitie and of Gods dishonour t Mr. Raynold on the 110. Psalme pag. 411 412. We see it is so hatefull unto God that He will most certainly be avenged of it If he spare me yet He will not spare my sinne though His own beloved Sonne must be punished for it O then how should that be light to me which was as heavy as a mill stone to the soul of Christ How should that be in a throne with me which was upon the Crosse with Him How should I allow that to be really in me which the Lord so severely punished when the guilt thereof was but imputed to His Son so our second Raynolds Therefore we should learn with David to hate every evill way because God hates it and suffers it not to passe unpunished To revenge the quarrell of Christ against those lusts of ours which nailed Him and to crucifie them for Him again for for that end was Christ crucified that our old man might be crucified with Him that the Body of sin may be destroyed that hence-forth we should not serve sinne u Rom. 6. 6. What measure of sorrow is required in every Receiver for it is said The Land shall mourn x Zach. 12. 10. 12. the Prophet doth fully declare where he saith And they shall looke on Him c. The sorrow for sinne is set forth by our sorrow for such things whereof we have the quickest sense And such a sorrow it is past all question which is lasting which makes us mourn as David for his sonne every day * 2 Sam. 13. 37. It is a bitter sorrow and it is accompanied with loathing y Ezech. 6. 9. 43. 20. 43. How these will stand together Godly sorrow I mean and spirituall joy is not to our purpose now But the greater our sorrow if it be godly the greater our joy The more sowre our sinnes the more sweet is Christ The more loathing of them as the alone and greatest evill the more prizing of Christ as the only and greatest good the choisest of ten thousands Whether we have this grace of repentance the tryall is easie for if we sorrow after a godly sort behold what carefulnesse it works what clearing of our selves what indignation 2 Cor. 7. 11. what feare what vehement desire what zeale what revenge Infallible marks these of repentance unto life It is now with the penitent as once it was and as ever it will be