my death Good Lord deliver me From sins of Ignorance and sins of Malice from impatience under reproof and the eagerness of an angry Mind from sensual and polluted Fancies from the Spectres of the Night and unbecoming Dreams Good Lord deliver me From being ingaged in the pursuits of a proud and perverse Generation and from the World that lies in wickedness Good Lord deliver me From disbelief of the Mysteries of Religion and walking contrary to my Profession from calling God Father and yet cbeying the Devil and from praying to him with my Lips when my Heart is far from him Good Lord deliver me From a fondness for secular Wisdom and Learning and the neglect of the Word from hearkening to the Suggestions of Satan and slighting the Counsels of the blessed Spirit from vain and inconsiderate Talk and rash Resolutions Good Lord deliver me From Atheism and Impiety from worshipping any thing in my mind or practices in Opposition to my Maker and from all Hypocrisie and Superstition Good Lord deliver me From taking thy Name in Vain by Oaths or Blasphemy by idle and rash Talk and Curses and from slighting thy Temple and Service thy Day and Ordinances Good Lord deliver me From disobedience to my Superiors and neglect of my Parents from Envy Hatred and Malice from evil Speaking and Slandering Clamor and Reviling and from Blood and Murther and all Revenge Good Lord deliver me From unchast and wanton Thoughts from leud and intemperate Discourses from a lustful Eye and all sort of carnal Pollutions Good Lord deliver me From pride and vain Glory from lying and false Witness from Slandering and Perjury from Covetousness and Ambition and from being discontented at my present Condition from all evil Thoughts and a vain Conversation Good Lord deliver me From having my Portion in this Life and an uninterrupted Felicity from Anger and Provocations to Uncharitableness from nauseating the means of Salvation and from a hardned Heart Good Lord deliver me From a polluted mind and a love of Dissention from forsaking thy Interest to maintain my own and from following a multitude to do evil Good Lord deliver me From neglecting thy Holy Table and slighting the invitation of my Saviour from a want of due preparation and from eating and drinking damnation to my self Good Lord deliver me From the snare of a slanderous tongue and the lips that speak lies from the malice of hypocrites from the rage and fury of Zealots and from the cunning and power of Satan Good Lord deliver me From the follies of my youth and the sins of my riper years from the sins which I have committed my self and those which I have encouraged others to commit from the defilements of my Body and the pollutions of my Soul Good Lord deliver me From my secret and open sins from what I have done to please my self and what I have done to please others from the sins which I remember and those which I have forgotten Good Lord deliver me From those sins * Here the penitent may reckon the particular sins he hath committed to which temper and inclination use and custome and evil company have addicted me Good Lord deliver me From the evil both of vice and punishment from the lashes of Conscience and a distracted mind and from a sudden painful and unexpected death from a place on the left hand and a portion among the Goats from the chains of darkness and the bottomless pit Good Lord deliver me By thy unspeakable generation as God and thy wonderful birth as Man by thy circumcision and acceptance of the adorations of the wise men the first fruits of the Gentiles Good Lord deliver me By thy wisdom in baffling the Scribes and Pharisees by thy humility in stooping to a mean condition and by thy obedience to thy Parents Good Lord deliver me By thy Baptisme forty days Fast and victory over the Devil in the Wilderness by thy surprizing but useful Miracles by thy plain but convincing Discourses and by thy winning and exemplary Conversation Good Lord deliver me By the wonderful and mysterious representation of thy bloody passion in the blessed Eucharist and by thy unexpressible love to thy Church by thy bitter Agony thy wondrous Sweat and fervent Prayers in the Garden Good Lord deliver me By the variety of thy sufferings which are recorded and by thy unknown pangs and tortures which we cannot describe and by thy strong crying and tears when thou prayedst for thine enemies Good Lord deliver me By thy mercy to dye for us thy power to rise again and thy compassion to intercede for us and to be our Advocate and by whatever else is dear to thee and of use to the world Good Lord deliver me In the days of my prosperity and in the times of suffering in the troubles of my mind and the weakness of my body in the hour of my death and in the terrible day of thy coming to judgement Good Lord deliver me Jesu Master thou Son of David have mercy on me That it may please thee to illuminate thy Holy Church with the spirit of truth amity and concord that all that are called Christians may be united in one holy Faith and may retain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and defend our gracious Soveraign from all his enemies separately and conjunctly that his days may be many his Reign prosperous and his end everlasting Life I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That the Royal Family may be happy in thy service the Clergy honoured with thy protection the Nobility guided by thy Holy Spirit the Gentry Firm and Loyal and the Commons of the Realm humble and obedient I beseech thee c. That all men may be saved Hereticks made Converts to Truth Schismaticks to Peace Rebels to Loyalty and Jews Mahometans and Infidels become Disciples to the Son of God I beseech thee c. That Widows may be protected and Orphans provided for the sick healed the opprest defended the naked cloathed the hungry fed the ignorant instructed the refractory reclaimed and that all Prisoners and whoever is appointed to dye may taste of thy Fatherly pity I beseech thee c. That it may please thee to succour and ease all that labour under the weight of an evil and disturbed Conscience and to give the rewards of Martyrdome to those who suffer for a good one I beseech thee c. That it may please thee to pardon and amend all mine enemies and teach me not only to forgive but to forget injuries I beseech thee c. That it may please thee to give me and all thy Servants true quiet and liberty and protection from sin and wickedness all the days of our lives I beseech thee c. That an Angel of Peace a faithful guide may be the Guardian both of my Soul and Body I beseech thee c.
crackling of Thorns and will not Thunder scare me Do I run away from an ignis fatuus and wilfully throw my self into insufferable flames In the Name of God therefore I do now resolve to fit my self for the approaching Festival of Easter and whatever I have heretofore done I will no longer put off my dear Saviour but will from this instant give my self intirely to his service The Collect. GRant Lord That all the words of my mouth the meditations of my heart and the actions of my whole life may be now and ever acceptable in thy sight O God my Saviour and my Redeemer Amen CHAP. II. Of the common Excuses for not communicating BEcause through our natural aversness to all that is good my own evil heart is inclinable to supersede this so beneficial a commerce with my God I will first show how vain my pretences are for absenting and then how dangerous it is to come unprepared And first the common Excuses are very vain and unbecoming For the command to receive this Sacrament is so plain and obligatory that I am convinc'd nothing should excuse me from frequent communicating And yet so perverse is my will so ungovernable are my passions that the good which I would do Heave undone and the evil which I should not do that I do so that sometimes when I have a desire to communicate I presently find that Ardor easily cool and end in an unbecoming lukewarmness and unconcernedness for the Offices of Religion Thus I grow old before I am good And to learn an act of Vertue is a business of time while on the contrary my sins grow to maturity in their Cradle and are like a spot of Oyl which being at first hardly perceivable suddenly spreads its self till it fully the whole Garment Satan the Adversary of Mankind musters many little Arguments to affright me and my own heart is strongly inclinable to comply with him as if when God had made so noble a provision and sent out his servants his Ministers to call them who are bidden to the Wedding he would contentedly be put off with slight answers and poor excuses Oh how apt is my Vicious Nature either wholly to neglect the Offices of Religion or to look on them as burthensome and tedious that the Prayers are too long and the Reproofs of the Sermon too sharp But if to the Prayers and Sermon the Eucharist be added I am too prone not only to be weary but angry with God and think it is well done to be so not considering what an happiness it is to have Communion with my Saviour and how much more uneasie my state would be should my God require from me as he did from the Jews such expensive sacrifices and personal attendances on the solemn Feasts at his Temple as also how unreasonable it is to imagine that God hath adorn'd this inferior world with such Variety of good things only to swell my Pride and pamper my Lusts and in the mean time hath reserved nothing for himself but what is cheap contemptible and of no value One solemn excuse is I have no leisure and 't is the plea of the men in the * Luke 14.18 c. Parable This says a good man sounds like confession and humility but is in truth denial and defiance it is called want of leisure but is in reality sloth idleness and irreligion Can I judg it equitable to give all my time to my secular Business and Recreation and none to my God to whom I owe a liberal portion of my enjoyments nay all my enjoyments and my self too Have I so many days to trifle away and none for the concerns of Eternity My whole life should be one continued Sabbath and every act of my Calling either as a Man or a Christian a preparative to the Communion and to my Death And would a man spend his hours so vainly that when he hath most need of comfort he should most want it and when he comes to die be bereaved of all consolation And is not the same care to be taken to fit my self for the Sacrament as for my last Account What God now invites me to is a matter of great weight the business is whether I intend to be saved or not If I think Heaven not worth the looking after it is no wonder if I am to every good work a Reprobate and insensible of my need of the means of Grace But if I resolve to be a Candidate for Glory as it were better for me that I had never been born than to live voluptuously here a while and be damned for ever I must apply my self to that method that will give me a title to it and the only method is an holy life and that state is not attainable without means among which frequent communicating is an excellent instrument of conveying Grace into the mind of renewing my Resolutions and applying to my soul the Merits of my Saviour So that if I put any estimate on my salvation there is a necessity of my coming often to God's Table and when I say I want time to prepare my self I mean I want leisure to be a Christian and I am not willing to take pains to be saved 2. Another plausible pretence for absenting my self is I am unworthy and he who eats and drinks * 1 Cor. 11.29 unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself And whose fault is it that I have not made my self worthy God hath been wanting in nothing that is required on his part my unworthiness therefore is both my sin and also my punishment Besides humility is a necessary preparation to this Sacrament and an absolute Renunciation of our selves and our own Righteousness that we may depend solely on Christ is one of the indispensible qualifications requisite to fit us for the Paschal Feast For the Centurion who said Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof did notwithstanding accept of our Saviour's Offer and reapt the benefit of his miraculous Assistances and was honour'd with his Testimony that in all Israel the Son of God found not so great faith as his And St. * Epist 118. Austin tells me That if my sins be such as do not deserve Excommunication from the Church i. e. if they be only sins of ignorance and infirmity I ought not to excommunicate my self but I ought to receive if I may every day Nor is it inconsiderable that tho my Graces be weak when I approach this Altar there God gives me his holy Spirit if my sins hinder it not to enable me with greater power and vigor to do his will And as it is very dangerous to communicate unworthily so to refuse to come is equally dangerous For not * Hom. 24. in 1 Cor. 10. to communicate in this holy Supper is as dangerous as the Pestilence or death it self says St. Chrysostome to despise it is Sacriledg and a scorn of the Bread and Waters of Life and a
house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools for as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fool The Gospel Mat. 9.14 THen came to him the Disciples of John saying why do we and the Pharisees fast often but thy Disciples fast not And Jesus said unto them can the children of the Bride-chamber mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them but the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast No man puts a piece of new cloath into an old garment for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment and the rent is made worse Neither do men put new wine into old bottles else the bottles break and the wine runs out and the bottles perish but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved The MEDITATION SAD and disconsolate must needs have been the state of the Infant Church when its Tutor and Guardian was taken from it nor could the Disciples but sit in darkness and in the shadow of death who were deprived of the light and warmth of the Sun of Righteousness they had lost one Comforter and had only the remote expectations of another their Master had establish'd a Kingdom which they knew not what to make of they could not apprehend how a Prince could make himself Glorious and yet trample upon the Pomps and Vanities the Crowns and Purple which this world adorns its Monarchs with nor how he who had not so much as a House which he could call his own could be Lord of the whole Earth nor did they understand how this could be the Messiah who should redeem all Israel who could not rescue himself from the Torture and Ignominy of the Cross these were amazing Considerations and such as filled their hearts full of sorrow these thoughts confin'd the Apostles during the time that their Master lay in the Grave to retirement and privacy they sighed and bewailed the loss of their hopes which they imagined were buried in the same Sepulcher with their Lord past any possibility of a Resurrection As long as they expected to share in the Grandeur of the Messiah and under him to govern Principalities how willingly did they follow him but when they saw all those satisfactions which they promis'd themselves vanish like the Idea's of a dream sorrow could not but fill their hearts And is not this O my soul the general practise of Mankind how fond are we of the Glories of Christ's Kingdom but how weary of his Cross how ready to follow him to Mount Tabor but how unwilling to accompany him to Mount Calvary We run eagerly to the Plain to eat Bread multiplied by Miracle but we dread the way that leads to the Mountain where by day he preach'd his Excellent Sermons and spent the whole Night in Prayers But is there not also O my Soul much to be said in the behalf of these Apostles which we can never plead to excuse our own negligence Their Master was now in the Grave the work of their Redemption not yet perfected and the Holy Spirit was not yet given which alone could fill them with Knowledg and Fortitude in such a distrest condition who can blame their fears and their cowardise but as soon as ever they had seen the Lord return from the dead and the Blessed Spirit had descended on them at Pentecost their hearts were filled with joy and resolution they then courted the dangers which before they studiously shun'd and with assurance accosted the Sanhedrim from whom before they hid themselves then they lookt upon the Chains which they wore for the sake of the Blessed Jesus as Ornaments of their Hands and Legs a Prison was a Palace to them the Blood that followed their scourgings the Purple which they wore and the place of Execution a Room of State the Cross was a Throne and the Flames a Royal Chariot to convey them to Heaven Arm'd with those assistances not only Peter and Paul smiled on Martyrdom and were in love with dying but even Women and Children Persons of strong sears and weak powers of violent Passions and shallow Reasons went in such multitudes to the Tribunals to acknowledg themselves Christians that they tired their Judges with pronouncing Sentences of Death and their Executioners with inflicting them and what is it O my Soul that hinders thee from exerting the same Gallantry and Resolution who besides all the assistances which they enjoyed hast also the advantage of their Examples Often have I wondred how those Excellent Persons became such admirable Proficients in the school of the Son of God How their Piety their Charity their Justice and Sobriety their Love of God and love to Mankind could be so conspicuous in the eyes of their Heathen Adversaries while they contended earnestly for the Faith when nothing but Bonds Imprisonment and Death nothing but Shame and Sufferings were their Portion Whereas now when the Christian Religion is countenanc'd and cherish'd by Authority and the good things of this life are its reward as well as the joys of a better we are more profane and irreligious more unjust and uncharitable more lustful and intemperate than the vilest Heathens And perhaps this is not the worst reason that can be given of it that in those days the greater part of Christians were converted after they came to years of discretion when the Church required from them all sorts of testimonies of their vertue and their constancy before they were admitted into it bringing them up when Catechumens under a severe Discipline acquainting them with the strictness of the Laws of Religion inuring them to Fastings and Abstinencies to frequent Prayers and frequent Watchings and other such hardships to a publick and solemn renouncing of their own lusts and a generous contempt of the world for by this means Religion was indeared to them who before their admission to the priviledges of it had conquer'd all their Passions and were crucified to the World and had upon the maturest deliberation chosen Jesus and the Cross before the Honours Wealth and Voluptuousness of this life Whereas now our admission is in our Infancy when our sponsors promise of course for us what we never care to make good and we are admitted to the priviledges before we understand the duties of Christianity so that we take up our Religion as we do our Cloaths or our Customs because they were the practices of our Fore-fathers and are the garb of the present time And perhaps it is also considerable that prosperity often cheats us when we are proof against all the temptations of adversity worldly ease softens us while a state of affliction and trouble becomes a great benefit And so in truth is it a Christian not deserving his name till he be a Convert from sensuality to a crucified
Sinner gives the Angels joy how much more eminent must the exultations needs be when the whole World is rescued from the tyranny of the Devil At this news doubtless the Angels and the Arch-angels leapt for joy the Cherubim and Seraphim kept a Festival and the Son of God himself was infinitely pleased that our Redemption was compleated Nay the dull Earth it self rejoices for the ‖ Ambr. de myst Pasch c. 2. Chrys to 5. p. 585. Christian Passover is the beginning of the year to us vvhen Flovvers and Fruits do bud and blossom vvhen the Clouds and cold of Winter are driven avvay and the Spring introduces the vvarm Sun to emblem to us that vve also should be merry and joyful that vve should be no longer barren but bring forth fruits vvorthy of our Saviour's Resurrection that only the beams of the Sun of Righteousness gives true life and heat and that vve must not date our happiness from the day of our natural birth but of our Regeneration This * Chrys to 5. p. 587. is the beloved and saving Festival the foundation of our Peace the end of our Differences the destruction of Death the ruine of the Devil this day men were admitted to the Society and Anthems of Angels for this day was a period put to the tyranny of Satan the bonds of Death were loosed and the powers of Hell routed and now the Church was able to say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Now that this day might be duly observed the o Leo M. Ep. 64. ad Martian Aug. Holy Fathers of the venerable Nicene Council in pursuance of an ancient custom took care that the Patriarch of Alexandria which City was famous for its University especially the Study of Astronomy the Sky being perpetually clear and the Country fit for such observations should in his Circular Letters commonly called Paschal Epistles which ‡ Cassian 10.2 were at first sent about Christmas afterwards sooner ‖ Conc. Carthag 4.7 by the one and twentieth of August every year give an account to all other Christian Churches on what day Easter fell upon the receipt of which Letters * Conc. Aurel. 4. 1. Braccar 2. 9. the Bishop of every Church was obliged to give notice of the Festival to his Clergy and every Priest in his Parish Church as the Bishops and Metropolitans were bound to do in their Cathedrals on Christmas-day after the reading of the Gospel was to inform the people that no one might plead ignorance of the holy time and when the day came the persons who had been baptized the night before were cloathed in white garments which for eight days after they were obliged to wear and with many Torches brought into the Church to take their place among the Fideles or compleat Christians and hence perhaps Baptisme was called Illumination and hence doubtless the Festival was called ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 939. Theophan orat 26. p. 187. the Splendor of the Virgin Torch-light and the day of White Garments the newly baptized being obliged to be at Church every day of the Paschal Week to learn their duties for which end through the Octaves of Easter were read ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 586. every day and every day there was a Sermon and a Sacrament For in truth every day was as it were a Sunday but of most especial observance were the Munday and Tuesday of the Week as they are in our Church from whence the Feast is sometimes called * Nyss 〈…〉 de Pasc◠〈◊〉 del D. 22 〈◊〉 the Three days Solemnity and at this time at Christmas the Epiphany and other greater Festivals the Clergy on pain of Excommunication were bound to be present on their Cures The new-made Christians ‡ Microlog c. 56. Honor. 3. 137. alii were also particularly bound to come that day Twelvemonth on which they had been baptized to the Church and to bring with them their Sponsors and to celebrate the day of their Regeneration their spiritual birth-day and to offer to God their oblations for that great favour and blessing And by a ‖ Synod Exon. an 1287. Canon of one of our old Synods every person was obliged to make an oblation to his Church four times a year whereof Easter was one and to this day it is not only a Collar-day at Court but an Offeringday and a Houshold-day too when the Bezant is given by the Lord Steward or some other White-staff Officer and this is done in imitation of an ancient Custome for the great Constantine on Easter-day studying to imitate the Charity and Compassion of our Holy Saviour distributed many large alms and gave rich gifts to all the people and to all the Provinces of the Empire And as our Princes imitate the ancient Christian Emperors in their Charity so they imitated them in their Pity Anciently at this time Malefactors were pardoned and by the Laws of the Confessor Easter and eight days after were exempted from Executions In * Smyth ub sup p. 44. the Greek Church at three afternoon of the Saturday devout people go to Church most of whom continue there all night Toward break of day they sing the Hymn Glory in the highest after which the Patriarch begins and is followed by the Quire singing this excellent Hymn Christ is risen from the dead having by his death trampled on death and given life to them that were in their graves which they repeat Twelve times together And if on Easter morning or within three days after a ‡ Ryc Present State of the Gr. Ch. p. 140. Greek meets any of his acquaintance he salutes him with these comfortable words Christ is risen to which the other answers He is risen indeed and then they kiss three times once on the Mouth and once on each Cheek and so depart which custom is also observed among * Olear l. 2. p. 53. the Muscovites and no person of whatever sex condition or quality soever he be dares refuse this Ceremony At ‖ Sozom. li. 7. c. 19. p. 734. Rome the Hallelujah was anciently never sung but on Easter-day it being a usual Asseveration among the Romans So may I live to hear and sing the Hallelujah at Easter and on this day at * Id. p. 735. Constantinople the Patriarchs read the Gospel in which Church probably ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 587. the Hundred and sixth Psalm as we reckon it was a part of the Service as in our own Church the Paschal Homily of Abbot Aelfrick was by a Synod commanded to be read to the people before the celebration of the Holy Communion To all which Observations we may subjoin St. Austin's Mystical Remark That the Fathers ordain'd that Easter should not be kept till the Lord's day after the Full-moon because the Moon is then return'd to her conjunction with the Sun to intimate to us that Man who was in a state of opposition and enmity to God
dastardly and low-spirited were even the very Apostles tho they lived and dayly conversed with him their courages were impaired by their sears they betrayed deserted and denied him but his Resurrection did beget in the mind of the Christian World a true generosity and fortitude able to subdue and trample on all dangers in as much as men of no breeding no natural valour of no interests or friends durst prefer the confession of their Saviour and his Gospel to their Countrey and Relations to their quiet and security and to life it self and passionately to chuse scourges and prisons and the various methods of death before all sorts of voluptuous enjoyments But what is more and more acceptable than all knowledg and all power the Resurrection of Christ gave the Holy-Ghost to the World for the blessed Spirit could not be given till Christ was risen Thus this one act of the Almighty Redeemer of mankind baffled all the fears of his servants compleated the satisfaction for their sins secured unto them the company of the Spirit of Truth Peace here till they should be carried into his Kingdom on the wings of Angels And what greater blessings canst thou wish than these O my soul Give the riches and the honours of this life O my dearest Saviour to others I will never envy their fruitions so thou give me thy Self let me partake of the benefits of thy Resurrection in the pardon of my sins in the indwelling of the Comforter in my mind and in the first fruits of obedience in frequent approaches to thy Table and other acts of devout converse with thee and leaving the manner of my death to thy disposal for on these terms in what sort or at what time soever it shall be I shall not be disturbed I shall be happy in the remembrance that when my Master comes and finds me so doing he will give me a share in his joys The Collect. ALmighty God who through thine only begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome Death and apened unto us the gate of everlasting Life we humbly beseech thee that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect through Jesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy-Ghost ever one God world without end Amen The Anthem The Resurrection and Aseension I. COme holy Spirit from above Come warm me with Seraphick love That I may the triumphant Jesus sing Whose resurrection heaven to earth did bring And put thee long'd-for peaceful Dove upon the wing II. Jesus is risen mount my mind And leave this sordid earth behind God made thy body dust but Sin a grave Let thy Soul too its Resurrection have No longer be thy Lusts the Worlds or Satan's slave III. Attend the Conqueror to his Throne Who from the lower world is flown Make tho the meanest one in that parade The bleeding Jesus did my heart in vade And none can heal the wound but he whose hand it made IV. View yonder Arch inscrib'd above Sacred to Coelestial Love There the incomparable Jesus dwells Iesus who charms thee by the strengest spells Love him with transports O my passions and none else V. See the bright Angels how they glide Up and down by 's Chariot's side See where ten thousand hover and attend To guard the Conqueror to his journies end Whose Chariot does directly to God's right hand bend VI. There Jesus fixes and from thence Sheds his benignest influence And like triumphant Victors does bestow His donatives on us who dwell below That we in time our Triumphs may accomplish too VII You Angels you who dwell above Spend all your time in songs and love While I who sadly want your light and fire Detain'd in sensual fetters would mount higher And wish to do what I can only now admire VIII You Guardians are by Heaven design'd To awe and to protect Mankind When Jesus rose you did the news relate When he ascended you did on him wait That I might triumph so give me my Saviours Fate Rules of Conduct for Easter-Day and the Sacrament § 1. It is taken for granted that the devout Person hath humbled himself in the sight of God for his sins the Week aforegoing more particularly on Good-Friday and the Holy Saturday and it is requisite he should watch a great part of if not all the Saturday night which time should be spent in more intense Supplications and more ardent Meditations the Vigils of the Ancient Church were an excellent Institution and Watching and Prayer are joined by our Saviour and we are bid to be sober and to watch unto Prayer by the Apostles that is to fast to watch and to pray it is true the Vigils at last gave offence and were for that reason almost all prohibited because such promiscuous meetings of men and women under the covert of the night did administer to many Exorbitances But the Vigils of Easter and the greater Festivals were always kept up and are so still in the Churches of the East and tho our Church doth not expresly injoin the observation yet it mentions them in her Rubricks and leaves every man to his own liberty to watch in his Closet where there can be no such temptation as gave occasion to the disuse of that practice And whenever the Christian Penitent goes to bed it is requisite to rise very early on Easter day because our Blessed Master rose ‖ Joh. 20.1 while it was yet dark § 2. After the private devotions are performed and the necessary duties of the Family if any considered and attended the good man goes to Church nor will he choose to receive any other where but at his own Parish Church if there be a Sacrament there which on this Festival is expresly enjoined to be celebrated over all Christendom * Can. 6. The Council of Gangra denounc'd a solemn Anathema against the Erecters of private Conventicles that those who dislik'd the publick Assemblies might communicate at home in private And by the old †Ludov. 1. tit 101. Lothar l. 1. tit 357 c. Capitulars every Priest was ordered to be degraded every Layman to be excommunicate who lest his own Parish to receive the Blessed Eucharist in another unless extraordinary business or a Journey called them that way or they had a dispensation so to do from their Superiours § 3. But if the devout Person be hindred by sickness or some other inevitable obstruction he bears the loss with Patience but looks on it as a great affliction and longs to go up to the House of the Lord and to communicate with his Saints and that he may not lose all the benefit of the solemnity his thoughts are present and go along with the Service and he begs God earnestly to accept of his willing mind and to send him his Blessing and his Holy Spirit as much as if he actually communicated Thus the
Institution of the Blessed Sacrament The Crucifixion And the Descent into Hell On this Week the Church abstain'd from all Sensualities and Worldly Pleasures lived upon a dry Diet their Sorrow was deep their Prayers intense their Fastings strict and their Watchings frequent and for this Reason I have after the pattern of V. To. 5. p. 524. c. St. Chrysostome in his Homilies prefac'd every days Devotion with an account of the time and the Primitive practices on that day that the Ignorant and Unlearned might know the reason why such days are set apart by the Church of God as being well assured that the Lents and Festivals of the Greek Church are one of the most succesful means next the Blessing of God of maintaining the Christian Religion among them in despite of all the Mahometan Artifices and cruelty to ruin it I have also besides an account of the Ancient Usages relating to the Holy Sacrament subjoyned an Epistle and Gospel Meditation Prayer and Anthem suited to the time tho not so fitted to every particular day of the Great Week but that they may be more or less made use of according to the Capacities and Discretion of the Devout Christian on any day of that Week or on any other Week of the Year and for Friday I have annex'd a method of Self-Examination together with a Litany and other Collects which also may be used on Wednesday or on any other or every day of the Week because that day is a fasting-fasting-day through the whole Church of God and the time when our Holy Redeemer was Crucified upon whose Death depends all the Honour and Happiness of the Christian World Nor have I inserted a Litany of my own as if I were so vain to prefer it to that incomparable Litany which our Church enjoyns but because there seems to be a need of a more particular Deprecation of Sins in the Closet than in the publick Congregation And here I solemnly protest That none of these private Offices can attone for the neglect of the Publick Service which the Church enjoyns every day of this Week but that every good man ought to frequent the House of God and to be present at all the Hours of Prayer which if he neglects I cannot see how he can expect the Divine Blessing on his private Devotion In the Circumstantials of which private Worship I have instanc'd in those particulars which many good Christians to whom this Book may be serviceable cannot enjoy but every mans prudence must be his guide in such Cases and he who hath not a Closet so furnish'd as is advised ought to take care that he do not altogether want a place to pray in and God will accept of him not according to what he hath not but according to what he hath Here also I cannot but remark and censure a most unbecoming practise of our Dissenting Brethren who in despite of our Saviour's command that we should pray in secret chuse their Closets commonly next the Street and when they are in it Pray aloud tho alone that all who pass by at least that are in the house may hear them which what it can mean but a design to be heard of men I cannot understand for if they heartily confess their sins and as I think it ought to be in private Prayers by name and with all the Aggravating Circumstances that have attended their Transgressions What Temptations are such People under either to hide their sins from God that the World may not know them or else so to acknowledg them as not to be ashamed to continue in them because those whose Vices are notoriously known generally take shelter in impudence But how unhappily such men do disserve the interests of Religion is not the Subject of this Preface only I cannot forbear remembring some few things that relate to this Sacrament such as their total neglect of the Eucharist in so palpable a manner that one of their most Eminent Preachers confesses that he never gave it in 18 Years their admitting none to the Participation of the Mysteries but those who were in Church-covenant with themselves as if there were any other Church-covenant besides that of Baptism or any other Church-membership but that of the Holy Catholick Church which is the Communion of Saints their undecent and rude distribution of it not by the hands of the Priest but from one to another as if they were at a merry meeting rather than at Gods Table their slovenly Receiving of it sitting to the scandal of their Brethren and to the Encouragement of the Socinian and other Hereticks with many other such Usages which I shall not mention I have nothing more to account for in this Preface but that I have freely made use of several passages Prayers especially of the Ancients and of some few Modern Writers without any scruple and I here profess so much by way of acknowledgment to all those good men by whom I have profited for if God have the Glory and the World the Benefit it matters not who is the Instrument And now may the God of Peace and Truth enlighten the Vnderstandings of all Mankind that they may know and love and practice their Duty that every one that is called by the Name of Christ may depart from Iniquity and may delight to Communicate with his Saviour that we all in Gods time may pass from the Festivals of the Church on Earth to the Everlasting Feast that is held in Heaven Amen The CONTENTS PART I. THE Introduction Of the Circumstances of Religious Worship in private Chap. 1. Of the Obligations of the Sacraments to Holiness Chap. 2. Of the common excuses for not coming to the Blessed Sacrament Chap. 3. Of the danger of unworthy Receiving Chap. 4. Of Examination in General Chap. 5. Examination of past sins Chap. 6. Examination of present Virtues Chap. 7. Examination of the Communicants Knowledg Chap. 8. Of the Study of the Holy Scriptures Chap. 9. Of Christian Love Chap. 10. Of the Love of God Chap. 11. Of the Remembrance of our Blessed Saviour Chap. 12. Of the Love of our Neighbour Chap. 13. Of the Duties of Unity Chap. 14. Of the Duties of Charity Chap. 15. Of the Love of Enemies Chap. 16. Of Love to the Holy Sacrament Chap. 17. Of Resignation and Self-denial Chap. 18. Of Humiliation before the Reception Chap. 19. Of joy and resolution after the Reception Chap. 20. Of the Qualities of the Priest who Consecrates Chap. 21. The Methods of the Ancients at the Reception Chap. 22. The Honour done to the Sacrament by the Ancients Chap. 23. The abuse of the Sacrament to evil ends PART II. The Introduction The Office for Palmsunday For Monday before Easter For Tuesday before Easter For Wednesday before Easter For Maundy Thursday For Good-Friday The Examen The Litany For Easter-Eve For Easter-day Rules of Conduct for Easter-day and the Sacrament THe Reader is desired to pardon the Faults of the Press in Mispointing the English and
Reward from my Father that seeth in secret And tho on every day I give my God my earliest attendance yet on the days of my solemn Vows I bind my self to prevent the morning that in the beginning of the watches I may pour out my heart like water before the Lord. Thus every day will be a day of business and traffick and every night I shall be some steps nearer to my Fathers Palace The Collect. GRant Lord that when I serve thee in secret I may do it with a true and upright heart and that all my publick performances may be encouragements to others to love and praise and adore thee that I may pray fervently and thank thee heartily and read carefully and meditate seriously and fast humbly and live conscientiously all the days of my life in hopes at my death to be admitted into thy presence through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. I. Of the Obligations of Religion especially the Sacraments to Holiness WEre the Christian Religion to be judg'd of by the excellency of its Author and the purity of its Precepts by the wisdom of its contrivance and the usefulness of its designs it would need no other Credentials that it came down from Heaven and that its Original was from God But if we judg of it by the practices of its professors who under the mask of Piety allow themselves in all sorts of sensuality who scruple not to break all their Vows made to their Maker tho confirm'd and renew'd in the presence of Men and Angels and sealed by the most precious Body and Blood of the Son of God who call themselves Saints and yet live more irregularly than Brutes This very consideration is enough to encline a man to applaud the Morals of the Heathen World and to believe that either that body of holy Precepts is not the Gospel of the blessed Jesus or such men are not professors of it so strongly are the generality of Mankind in a loose and ungovernable Age bent towards Vice and Ruin Nor can it otherwise be expected when men put on the form of godliness in defiance to the power of it and think that the Redemption wrought out for them by Christ is only a deliverance to do all sort of abominations Nor can I give a better Reason why the Christian World are so degenerate from truth and holiness than that so few of us reflect on the Obligations of the Covenant that we have enter'd into with God tho so often and so solemnly acknowledged by us that we confidently lay claim to the Priviledges but never mind the Duties of Religion May our gracious God so mercifully forgive me and the rest of sinners our former neglect as we may resolve for the time to come to alter our course and put on more becoming Resolutions and faithfully make good what we have so solemnly promis'd our Redeemer For when I seriously and as becomes a Christian consider with my self the Relation which every baptized person hath to the Son of God and that that initiatory Sacrament was design'd as to free him from his share in Adam's sin so to engage to a life of Obedience to the Laws of our blessed Saviour and that therefore we are buried with him in baptism that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life reckoning our selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord I cannot but remember that among all those holy and beneficial Precepts which he hath blest the World with that is none of the least in advantage and usefulness that injoins me to do as he did in remembrance of his Passion the great cause of our redemption and happiness and encourages me to frequent communicating because as often as I do eat that bread and drink that cup so often do I show forth the Lords death till he come so often do I call to mind my old promises of obedience and conformity to the divine prescription and enter into new engagements to love and adore my Saviour How eagerly therefore ought my soul to pursue after and to embrace all Opportunities of coming to that holy Table where God exhibits himself Happy are those Servants of his who stand continually before him and keep themselves always in that frame of mind that fits and encourages them to communicate every day Happy are those men who only want Occasions but are never defective in intention or preparation who are never without the Wedding Garment nor without Oyl in their Lamps How did our dear Saviour long to institute the Sacrament * Luke 22.15 with desire did he desire to eat the passeover at the close of which the Eucharist was celebrated before he suffered And shouldst not thou my soul as earnestly long to receive it Were this Sacrament like that of Baptism not to be re-iterated or but once only in my life to be received and that just before my death with what ardors of mind should I wish to be dissolv'd that I might thus also be with my Saviour And must the Blessing because it is common be for that Reason cheap Is the bread of Heaven become contemptible because it may be my daily food But remember O my soul it is not enough to approach this Venerable Altar unless thy Repentance be sincere thy Sorrow hearty thy Resolutions unalterable thy Piety flaming and thine Alms generous My preparations should be the same with those of dying persons not of those who have lived loosly all their days in hopes to make their faint desires of Heaven when the pleasures of the Earth have deserted them to pass for true love to those joys but of those who all their lives long have been crucified to the world My care ought to be so to approach Gods Table on Earth as if I were the next moment to be carried by Angels to eat bread with him in his Kingdom It is true I am too sensible that this is more easily talkt of than done that when the good Man is acting the Priest and sacrificing himself to God then Satan is at his right hand perplexing him And I have sadly experimented how difficult it is to deny my self to put off the Old Man and to crucifie my transgressions But is it not O my soul much more sad and difficult more uneasie and distracting to be confin'd to utter darkness and to endure the tortures of Hell in a remediless Eternity To argue from a present state of ease is a shortness of discourse that is not to be allowed Were I never so passionately bent to gratifie an unreasonable Lust I doubt not but I should be afraid to proceed did any man but threaten me with immediate death if I should pursue my unlawful design And ought I not with greater Reason to forbear when that God who can neither lie nor deceive threatens me with everlasting damnation Am I afraid of the
pity who being just ready to celebrate these Venerable Mysteries was so unnessarily and unseasonably and uncharitably angred by Eusebius Bishop of Valentinople that he was forc'd to desist from the Office and to desire Pansophius Bishop of Pisida to consecrate for him being perswaded that that occasional anger was an invalidating of his preparation And in truth the * Conc. Carth. 4. Can. 93. Church was so much an enemy to all quarrels that it forbad the admittance of the Oblations of those who were not in perfect Charity either at the Altar or into the Church-Treasury 5. But if I sin after so solemn a Renewal of my Vows in this Sacrament will it not increase my guilt So among the Ancients some deferr'd their Baptism till the time of their death that they might not be impeacht of defiling the White Robes which they then put on And does not this Argument equally hinder the performance of all other Offices of Christianity May I not as well defer to repent since a relapse into evil habits after such an ab-renunciation of them is an heavy aggravation of my Crime And is not this to do as it is reported of the Circassians who follow their Thievery till they are Sixty and then spend the remainder of their days in Prayers devoting their Youth and Strength to the Devil and their Vices their Old Age Impotence and Diseases to God and Repentance But what if death should seize me while I thus defer making up my accounts with my Master What if a dull Lethargy which perhaps is but the effect and punishment of my irregularities should seize my brain and stifle the spirits and disable me from thinking So that by reason thereof I am dead while I live What if a Fever should captivate my Reason and put me into a Frenzy so as I can only name God in my Oaths and Curses will not this hinder all commerce with God or my own Soul And how deplorable must my estate then be For Heaven was never design'd a Bedlam a Receptacle for the Distracted and Vicious How can I promise my self to repent or communicate to morrow who put off hearkening to my Saviour to day since all his injunctions relate to the present time And if that that must save me be a work of Grace of time and perseverance what folly is it to neglect it And will not the slighting these passionate and earnest invitations of my God be a great increase of my guilt 6. But does not Satan sometimes tempt me to think it unlawful to communicate with sinners or as it is worded with a mixt company And am not I my self the greatest sinner And who can come there who is not so And does not our Church as well as all other the Reformed debar all gross and notorious transgressors from the Sacrament Can I call this any thing but Cunning in my ghostly Enemy who first tempts me to mean thoughts of my self and would keep me from God's Table because my self am unworthy and now tempts me to pride and contempt of my Christian brother I am sure Charity thinks no evil and obliges us in honour to prefer others to our selves Besides why do I pray or hear with sinners if I must not communicate with them And how do I know but he who offended deeply yesterday is as deep a penitent to day And how dare I to judg anothers servant It is not in the diseases of the soul as of those of the body Nothing makes the spiritual Plague infectious but my consent A man may if he will live chast in a school of debauchery and keep himself temperate in the house of an Epicure If my brother comes unworthily he eats and drinks damnation to himself and not to me And I am sure I have employment enough to examine my self to keep me from being busied about other mens matters Lastly But is not the posture of receiving apt to give scandal and to be mistaken for an act of worship perform'd not to God but to the Elements I am sure Humility is a necessary Attendant on the worthy Communicant a Vertue which is peculiarly Christian which the Philosophers do not so much as name in their Catalogues I know also that when I communicate the Priest prays that the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ may preserve my body and soul unto eternal life and with him I pray when I say Amen and the posture of prayer is kneeling and therefore I fall down and worship before the Lord our Maker Perhaps our Saviour gave the blessed Eucharist to his Apostles in another posture for we are not sure because the Scripture is silent and so also did he give it only to men when there were many Female Disciples and in an upper room and after a Feast as it was also in St. Paul's time celebrated after the Love-Feast or Agape But hath not the Church as much power as the Synagogue And did not the Jewish Church alter the posture of the Passeover which was at first to be eaten standing with the shoes on to a Table posture which also our Saviour seems to have observed For can we think that our Saviour's practice binds more than God's express command Or does it bind more in one circumstance than in others Besides I am convinc'd that the practice of the Ancients and the commands of my superiors should much sway me in doubtful cases But they tell me * Aug. in Ps 98. Chrys To. 3. p. 778. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. to 5. p. 518. c. That it is a sin not to adore when I receive And when I so adore I no more worship the Altar or the Elements that I bow before than when I kneel in the Pew I worship the Desk or the Book that lies on it Nor hath the one been more abused to Idolatry than the other For the Heathen do worship Wood and stone as much as the Papists the Host And is not this adoration a part of that honour which is fixt on Christ the Institutor of this Sacrament who also is the thing signified under those Visible Figures for he hath sworn by himself that every knee shall bow to him which honour he purchas'd by his blood For because he humbled himself to the death of the Cross therefore God hath given him a Name above all Names that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow And is not this Sacrament a Representation of that Passion Nor was it ever heard that Superstition could abolish the duty of a Text. And if when I kneel I give countenance to the Papists who in this case err by attributing such honour to the Son of God which he allows not of I am sure in sitting at this Table I countenance the Socinians and other Anti-Trinitarians who debase our Saviour and degrade him from his Godhead for which Reason * Altare Damascen p. 752. in Four several Synods in Poland the Protestants both Lutherans and Calvinists
if he happen to enjoy it he may afterward lose it or the very fruition may cloy and nauseate which was expected to please and satisfie But no man ever yet fell in love with Jesus and lost his aim no man ever yet converst with him but he experimented the pleasure of such amiable society and could be content to dwell with him for ever And so shall the good man For what shall separate him from the love of Christ Tribulations Afflictions and Death it self cannot and what then can When therefore I say I love God I vow and endeavour to keep his Commandments Dare I call my self the Disciple of an humble Jesus and be a slave to my Pride the servant of a chast and temperate Saviour and wallow in the puddles of Lust and Luxury Dare I give the Reins to my Anger and profess my self a follower of the pattern of Meekness How can I call my self a Christian who deserve not the title of a Man that am as gluttonous as a Wolf as intemperate as a Swine and as lustful as a Goat The death of my Saviour was design'd to redeem me from the power and practice as well as from the punishments of Vice For the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil And how can I say I love him if my heart be not with him The Collect. For the 6th Sund after Trin. O God who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man's understanding pour into my heart such love towards thee that I loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises which exceed all that I can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. XI Of the Remembrance of my Blessed Saviour NOW one solemn act of my love to God and one great duty of the Gospel is to remember my best friend my Saviour And it is a particular advantage of the Christian Religion that as all holy signs in general are given for the confirmation of the divine promises so the most sacred Offices of the Gospel are proper and genuine Representations of the Death and Resurrection of that Saviour who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith and Institutor of our Religion Thus in the Sacrament of Baptism the Ancients in those warm Countries dipt all who came to that Ordinance except those who were baptized on their death-beds * Rom. 6.4 burying the Proselyte with his Saviour in Baptism They used also to dip them three several times under water to exhibit a Memorial of our Saviour's being three days buried and the Mystery unless in case of Necessity was at first celebrated but once in the year the Catechumens being baptized * Tertul. de Bapt. cap. 19. at Easter only which was the day of our Saviour's Resurrection But more especially was the Eucharist designed evidently to set before our eyes Jesus Christ crucified among us by bringing to our remembrance the shame and sufferings of a dying Saviour our merciful God applying himself to the most ductile and easie of all our Faculties For our Understandings require much teaching and we must proceed from lower methods till we come to be capable of demonstration And what man is there among the wisest of Adam's sons that can expound the Riddles of Providence or the Mysteries of the written Law of God The Will follows the guidance of the Understanding and yet when it is so directed it is a blind bold and daring faculty and for the most part stubbornly neglects to do its duty But the Memory needs nothing but sensible Objects to inform it and is the strongest and most retentive of all our Faculties and such as few men want And in truth every act of Obedience is but a remembrance of my duty and every Transgression an act of forgetfulness For as often as I sin I cease to mind a dying Saviour * Psal 9.17 and the wicked who shall be turn'd into Hell are the same with the people that forget God The Sacrament therefore of the Eucharist is a Commemoration of Jesus and his Passion without which all his other performances could not save us For all the Rhetorick Eloquence and demonstration of his Sermons all his divine and beneficial Miracles together with the unblamable and unspotted Holiness of his Life and Conversation could never have been sufficient to have redeem'd us without his Crucifixion 'T was his death only that was the Original of our life and salvation What need then hath my dull and unaffected soul of such encouragements to give my Saviour a place in my thoughts The very performance of the duty is its own Recompence and properly agrees to those Notions of Vertue that all Mankind bring with them into the world it being natural to every one to be thankful and to remember his Benefactors * Athen. Deipnos l. 5. c. 1. The Heathens had their Annual Festivals to commemorate their wise men and Philosophers to call to mind their wise sayings and their prudent just and vertuous carriage The Jews also had their set-times wherein they honoured the Memories of their Prophets and good men as the Christian Church appointed Anniversaries which they called the Birth-days of their Martyrs it being a solemn act of Justice to have the Righteous in everlasting Remembrance And if the Church were so careful to commemorate the Atchievements of her Members is it credible that she should forget the miraculous performances of her Head In nothing was her care so conspicuous as in constituting a Memorial of the Prince of the Martyrs and giving the day of our Saviour's Passion a place in the Church-Kalendar in the times of the Apostles if we may believe Antiquity For the Remembrance of Jesus ought at all times to be sweet as honey in all mouths and as musick at a banquet of wine For what can be so rude and disingenuous as to slight so obliging a friend so great and so good a person especially when he hath left me such illustrious testimonies of his love which put me in mind of his humiliation for my sins For if the Picture or the Garment of an absent Friend puts me in mind of the person whose they were and inclines me to grateful Reflections on my Benefactor how much more should I be obliged when such lively Representations of a Saviour executed bleeding and dying for me are exhibited to me as the Sacrament affords me A Sermon may give me a passionate character of my crucified Redeemer but nothing can represent his Passion so to the life as the Holy Eucharist that is the most affecting preaching For in that ministration his sufferings are acted over again in the View of his Disciples Hence the Primitive Christians celebrated the Holy Communion at first every day and afterwards every Sunday and Holy day throughout the year adapting all their additional Circumstances and Ceremonies to this end and purpose that they might represent the Passion Hence was it that they built their
in constant peace and godliness that all thy faithful people may do unto thee true and laudable service and through thy protection may be free from all adversities and devoutly given to serve thee in all good works that all who are baptized into the Death of thee O Holy Jesus may die unto sin and rise again unto newness of life Peace and Love hast thou made the sum of the Old Law and injoyned as a new Commandment in the Gospel Thy first Message to the World was peace on Earth and thy last Legacy was peace to thy Disciples Be thou pleas'd therefore to convince all Hereticks to reclaim all Schismaticks and to correct the prophane and irreligious cement our breaches allay our passions pacifie our minds grant that we may all speak the same things and that there be no Divisions among us convince us that tho different Modes of Worship shall not disinherit a man of thy favour yet disobedience to Government is a great sin Let the Holy Dove hover over those waters and allay the tempest and let it teach the world to follow after the things that make for peace that Jerusalem may be as a City at unity with her self and all her children may love and praise thee who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen CHAP. XIV Of Alms. IT is also another end of this Sacrament to engage all who receive it to pity the poor the Alms of the Communicants being usually called * Vid. Hebr. 13.15 the Sacrifice because rendred by way of Oblation to God and given to the poor as his Bedesmen And canst thou O my soul imagine that thou dost duly observe the Lord's day and reverence his Sacrament when thou comest to Church without thy Oblation Nay such an honour was it in the Primitive Church to give Alms that all men were not thought worthy the honour of being admitted to the Offertory tho permitted to enjoy the other priviledges of Religion * Constit Apost l. 4. c. 5 c. For neither the unjust Publican nor the Usurer nor the Executioner nor any promoter of debauchery and looseness were allowed this liberty For they seriously discountenanced all Fraud and Vice and accounted that man a Reprobate who endowed a Church with the spoils of the poor They would not admit of that Shop-keeper to the Communion who put upon the ignorance of a Customer and made him pay more for what he bought than the thing was really worth nor would they allow that man to give his Estate to pious uses who had gotten it by Extortion and robbing the Fatherless And how should this present Age blush when we consider this especially when we remember that where no Law bound but that of Natural Conscience some Heathens were ashamed to commit such Iniquity Thus * Vit. Isidor apud Phot. cod 242. p. 555. Hermeas of Alexandria when an ignorant person offer'd to sell him a book for less than the value corrected the illiterate man's mistake told him the book was more worth and gave him the full price for it And thus * Knolles Turk Hist S. Selim. p. 561. the great Selim the first of that Name when in the Agonies of death his beloved Bassa Pyrrhus advised him to erect an Hospital with the money which had by his Order been unjustly taken from the Persian Merchants smartly replied ' Wouldest thou O my Pyrrhus that I should bestow the Goods of other men wrongfully taken from them upon works of Charity and Devotion for my own Praise and Vain-glory No see they be again restored to the right Owners and then I may die in peace Where are the Christians who think themselves thus obliged And how few are there of us who do not fall short of these Examples of Heathens and Mahometans And in truth Justice is a duty so sacred that my Alms are Robbery without it the best actions which are founded in injuries being such sacrifices as were offered in Tophet where Murther was the Oblation And to this day it is a * Bava Metz. 59.1 Maxim among the Jews tho the greatest Usurers in the world that when the Sanctuary was destroyed all the gates of prayer were shut up except the gate of fraudulent usages that is that tho God may be deaf to all other prayers yet his ears are always open to the cry of those who have been injured defrauded and rob'd My Alms therefore ought to be of Goods justly gotten and of them must I make my distribution with all chearfulness and as often as God gives me any opportunity Nay it is my duty to seek for occasions of beneficence and to * Rom. 12.13 be given to Hospitality that is to be earnest and unwearied in the pursuit of all opportunities of being charitable Which command was so intirely complied with in the Apostles time that * Acts 4.34 every believer sold his Estate and made one common stock for themselves and their poorer brethren the Apostles being the distributers of that stock to every man as he had need And tho some men affirm that this custom lasted but a little while because in St. Paul's time * 1 Cor. 16.2 the men of Corinth were obliged to lay aside every Lord's-day what they devoted to charitable uses yet this Argument does not prove what it is intended to demonstrate For probably they gave their praedial visible Estate to the Church and yet might reserve something out of what they got by their Trades their Profession or Labour to be given weekly to the indigent And when at last that method was antiquated * Tert. Apol. cap. 39. every Christian was obliged once a month or oftner as he was willing to give somewhat to the Church-Treasury And this money was imployed to feed the poor to bury the dead to maintain Orphans and to put them into a capacity to get their own living to make provision for the decrepit by Age or Sickness to cherish the Shipwrack'd and to relieve those who were condemn'd to the Mines or banish'd or cast into prison for the sake of God and Religion So universal was their Charity and so liberal their Inclinations in those good days How then can any man satisfie himself that he is prepared to come to this Sacrament who is negligent of this duty Do not the Mysteries exhibit to me the greatest Instances of my Saviour's Charity and Compassion And can I be his Disciple unless I imitate his Vertues St. Gregory the Great was so scrupulous that when News was brought him that a man was found dead within his Territory he suspecting that he died of want and that the not timely relieving every indigent person did cast an Aspersion on his Government he for that Reason abstained for some time from the Holy Communion And tho I am not willing to cherish such unnecessary scruples yet that man does very rashly thrust himself upon God who neglects
World indulg'd to the gratifying their extravagant Appetites then their destruction was at the door they were drown'd first in their full Bowls and then in the Deluge And that Job's children while they were in the height of their mirth and feasting were upon the brink of their graves with many other such Instances And therefore the Christian Church in imitation of the Jews who fasted twice in the week kept also their solemn Meetings on every Wednesday and Friday on which they pray'd heartily and heard the Word of God gladly and at Three in the Afternoon first received the holy Sacrament and then went to their ordinary meals On these days they humbled their souls and sent up strong cries to God for the pardon of their sins and the diverting of the divine Judgments from themselves and all the world But as if those days of Mortification would not be sufficient they appointed the Lent-Fast to be in an especial manner a time of preparation to the blessed Eucharist At that time they inured themselves to all sorts of hardship they abstained * Constit Apost l. 5. c 17 Chrys To. 5 p. 581 c. from their Baths they drunk nothing but water and did eat no thing but Bread and Herbs not changing dull and heavy Flesh for Fish and Wine the Dainties of the Old Epicures as the Romanists do * Nay the present Greeks during Lent will not so much as mention the word Butter Cheese Flesh Fish withour the following Parenthesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is with reverence to the holy Lent be it spoken Grelot 's Voyage p. 143. they frequently watcht all night and when they slept lay on the bare ground And lest people thorow the weakness that cannot but succeed such severities might fall asleep in the Church they had among the Eastern Christians * Typic Sabae cap. 5. p. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Officer to awaken all drowsie persons and to bid them be intent on the duties of the season Then also they made their frequent Confessions heard Sermons every day and practis'd all the Rules of Self-denial and took care not only that their Diet should be mean but their * Tertul. de Penit. c. 9. de Jejun Habit coarse Their Penitents were covered with rough sackcloath and sprinkled with ashes till their faces were lean and dis-figured with their abstinences For he who pamper'd himself while the Church fasted was look'd on as an Atheist or an Epicure says Tertullian ' That his Belly was his God his Lungs his Church his Paunch his Altar and the Cook his Priest That the steams of his cramm'd Dishes past with him for the blessed Spirit and his poynant Sauces were look'd on by him as the influences of the Holy Ghost and his Belchings as Prophecy that all his Charity was warm'd in the pot wherein his Dinner was boyled his Faith kept alive in the Kitchen and his Hope preserv'd from starving by his divers Dishes They were not to be perswaded that a small degree of penitence would attone for a great Crime and take off the Ecclesiastical Censures Those who were reconciled were not admitted to the Holy Communion till they had addrest to the i◠spiritual Guide and had his benediction and the Prayers of the Church But many Criminals were never admitted to the priviledges of the Altar till the day of their death and some were left wholly to the mercy of God especially if the man had relaps'd * Ambrose de Paenit l. 2. c. 10. For as they never baptiz'd any man twice so they never admitted any man twice to publick Penance For should they have done so the Compassion of the Church would have brought her Laws into contempt And tho the Church hath since thought fit to give Transgressors better hopes by an easier Remission of her Censures to let the Novatians know who thought the ancient Discipline indispensible and for that Reason denied the first Paragraph of the Eighth Chapter of St. John's Gospel to be Canonical because it afforded an Example of such Lenity in the Remission of gross sins that she had such a power yet it were to be wish'd that the ancient Discipline could be retrieved to curb the Extravagancies of a loose sensual and Atheistical Age whereby notorious vile and profligate sinners were bound to Ten Twenty or Thirty years Penance and sometimes longer proportionate to their Crimes and the heinous Circumstances that attended them This would repair the Ruins of Religion and restore the lost Reputation of despised Christianity In those best days their holiest men inured themselves to the greatest strictnesses And what extraordinary performances must we think were then required to fit a gross Offender for the Holy Communion For they had learnt that such severities are the proper method to subdue the body and deliver the soul from the drudgeries and impositions of its sensual Appetites That to fatten the body is but to make the Prison of the soul the stronger that the mind is then best enlightned when it is free from the burthen of meat and the cares of the world and that the longer a man fasts while he prays the fatter and more acceptable will be the sacrifice of his Devotion and that when * Acts 10. Cornelius did so then came the Vision that brought salvation to his house But above all they remembred our Holy Redeemer's * Mark 2.19 20. Injunction and that this was the time in which the Bridegroom was taken away from the earth and that therefore the children of the bride-chamber ought to fast Nor will every slight degree of sorrow serve to express the Resentments of such a loss and the sins that caused it For when I look on him whom my Transgressions have pierc'd I ought to mourn as one mourns for his only son and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born And is it not a shame to the Christians of this Age not to follow such an excellent pattern But why do I call my self and others to the imitation of the Vertues of the Disciples of Christ * Simon Coriar Ep. 12. inter Epist Socrat Socratic p. 28. The very Heathens will make us blush at the Day of Judgment who advise their Friends to inure themselves to Hunger and Thirst because those things do wonderfully advance a man in the study and practice of the Laws of Wisdom But here I must observe That every Abstinence is not a Fast For I may be kept from meat either by poverty or business by the Rigor of my Enemies by the Violence of a Disease or the injunction of my Physician But that which makes a Fast in the Ecclesiastical sense of the word is when it answers the ends of Religion and the performance is directed to the good of my soul Nor does every Fast which is voluntarily undertook for the ends aforesaid presently commence an acceptable Sacrifice to God unless it be
attended with all other virtuous performances The Patriarch of Constantinople called John the Faster lost the Reward of his abstaining from all sorts of Delicacies while he could not abstain from Pride and Vain-glory but disturb'd the world with his pretences to the Title of Universal Bishop Nor did the men * Socrat. Eccle. Hist l. 7 c. 15. of Alexanandria fast to any purpose but to smite with the fist of wickedness when during this solemnity they murder'd the most excellent Philosopher Hypatia This is truly Superstition to seek to bribe God with little Observances and to trample on his more obliging Precepts So the Pharisees dreaded being defiled should they but enter into a Court of Judicature during the Paschal Solemnity but were nothing affrighted at the contriving and compassing the Death of the Innocent Jesus When therefore I oblige my self to fast I propose to my self the pattern of one of those venerable Sages who had gotten an absolute conquest over their Lusts and had so kept under their bodies and brought them into subjection that they were no longer apt to rebel against the Precepts of Reason and Religion And to my Abstinences I joyn my Tears remembring that excellent advice of * Apud Leon. Allat de Symeon p. 23. Symeon Stylita Never to communicate but with the deepest compunction and heartiest sorrow for my sins till I have moistened the holy bread with my tears And when I weep I will pray with the greatest ardors of love and the strongest bent of my mind but with the least outward motion imaginable lest that should seem to savour of the Theatre and not of the House of God It was the mistake of the Old * Philostrat vit Apollonii Tyan Gymnosophists That the higher they leapt in their sacred dances wherein they praised their Deities they came so much the nearer to Heaven and rendred themselves and their actions thereby the more acceptable to their Gods Nor do I think that Ignatius Loyola and other of the Romish Saints were ever the more in God's favour because they are said to be lifted up above the ground in their prayers as if Angels carried them so much the nearer to the Throne of Grace This also is a priviledg the Heathens have pretended to and perhaps with as much Right as our Modern Votaries For * Eunap vit Jamblich Init. Jamblichus is reported when he pray'd to have been raised up Ten Cubits above the ground and his Face and Garments to have been chang'd into a bright Gold-colour but when the Devotions were done he return'd to his former colour and station Nay greater things than these may be done and yet a man be no Favourite to the Almighty But if I pray fervently and devoutly if my heart breathe out its complaints and longs to be delivered from the burthen of its sins if my soul hunger after Righteousness and be athirst for the living God longing to come into his presence and to partake of his gracious dispensations then tho my tongue be silent and my lips stand still I may safely presume that I shall have profit when I pray unto him And by this means shall my soul mount upward when to my fasting and tears I joyn my supplications and my alms For they are the wings of the mind Nor will I doubt when I am so prepared but my God will hear me and accept of me and send me away with a blessing The Collect. O Lord Jesu Christ who in the days of thy Humiliation didst offer up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save thee from death and wert heard for that thy Piety melt I beseech thee my obdurate heart till it become soft and fit to receive thy impressions Represent to me my sins and thy sufferings to make me sorrowful and set before my eyes the vanity of the world to wean me from depending on it Enable me to beg earnestly and never to desist till I receive thy benediction that I may trample upon all the pomps and pleasures of this life and settle my Affections upon that which is to come that I may love and desire all opportunities of Communion with thee on Earth till thy Merits procure for me a place at thy Table in Heaven Amen CHAP. XIX Of Joy and Resolution after the Reception IF it be just and reasonable that our Thanksgivings should be proportion'd to the Excellency of our Enjoyments and our gratitude be adequate to the beneficence of our Patron how eminent and exceeding should my joy be when I have been honoured with the society of my God endowed with the purchase of my Saviour's Blood and admitted to the Communion of Angels and the Priviledges of the Saints If * Luke 1.41 the Baptist when the unborn Infant Jesus came to his Father's House leapt in his Mothers womb and gave such early Testimonies of his Veneration to the Messiah as the Legend tells us That * Vid. Card. Bona de Divin Psalmod cap. 18. Sect. 3. p. 893. St. Benedict before he was born sung distinctly with his Sister Scholastica to the praise and glory of God how much more solemn should my Exultations be who have been admitted to entertain an adult Saviour and to be a sharer in his Triumphs So true and so hearty should my joy be as that which a new Convert experiments who hath been lately rescued from a state of folly and fear and admitted into the number of the Sons of God Or rather it should match the mirth of Nuptials For in this Sacrament is my Soul married to my Holy Redeemer Nay my inward satisfactions should express themselves as a victorious Army glories in its Conquests every noise should be a shout and every sentence a part of a triumphant song For my dearest Saviour by his Death conquer'd his Enemies and by the Symbols of that Death enables me his meanest and weakest Servant to rout the scattered Forces of the Kingdom of Darkness Such a demeanor agrees to the practise of the Jews who injoyed but a shadow of this blessed Sacrament It agrees to our blessed Master's actions at the Celebration to the Nature of the Ordinance and to the Customs of the Primitive Christians The Jews whose Passeover was only a commemoration of their deliverance out of Aegypt while our Paschal Lamb hath set us free from spiritual and eternal Thraldom never did eat the Lamb but they sung the great Hallel which begun with the 113th and ended with the 118th Psalm And because to have but such ablessing in view is an happiness they begun and ended the Ceremony with the expressions of their thankfulness * Buxtorf Hist Sacr. Caenae for they sung the 113th and 114th Psalms before they did eat the Passeover and the other four Psalms after they had fed upon that Sacrifice And accordingly did our Saviour For we have the strongest probability that he who did in other Ceremonies comply with the injunctions
in my mouth but in St. Austins time at * August Retractat lib 2. cap. 11. Carthage they used to sing the Psalms of David not only during the distribution of the Sacrament but also before the Oblation I suppose he means only those which were suitable to the occasion and mystery In †Just M. Apo. log 2. Palestine and in many other places the Bishop or Priest brake the bread and gave it into the hands of the Deacons and they gave it to the People as they also distributed the Cup. At ‡ Tertul. de Coron cap. 3. Carthage and else where especially in Africa the people received both the Elements from the hands of the Bishop while at ‡ Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. Alexandria the people were allowed themselves to take the consecrated Bread from the Patin tho I think this was a peculiar custom of that Church and lasted but a little while but generally he who consecrated gave the Bread and the Deacon the Cup. ' In the ‖ Cyril Cat. myst 5. Church of Jerusalem when the Communicants received the bread they took care not to spread their hands abroad or to widen their fingers but placing their hands in the form of a Cross they supported the Right Hand with the Left and in the hollow of the Hand received the Body of Christ This o Vid. Chrys to 5. p. 519. holy bread they first put to their Eyes and then did eat it being extreamly careful that no part of it should fall to the ground thus they received the bread and when the cup was to be received the * Cyr. ubi supr Const Ap. li. 8. c. 3. Prosper in Sentent Communicant was forbid to stretch out his Hand and only advised to bow himself and being in the posture of Worship and Adoration the Wine was poured into his Mouth and before he swallowed it he was obliged to moisten his Fingers in it and then to touch his Eyes his forehead and the rest of the Organs of his senses thereby sanctifying them and securing them from the assaults of Satan He who Ministred the blessed Sacrament ‖ Chrys l. 3 de Sacerd. Aug. Ep. 259. carried it in his right hand and when he gave the Bread he said * Ap. Const l. 8. c. 13. The Body of Christ or ⸫ Liturg. S. Marc. the Holy Body and the Communicant said Amen And when he gave the Cup he said The Blood of Christ the Cup of Life or the precious Blood of our Lord God and Saviour and then also the Communicant answered o Vid. Aug. contr Faust Manich lib. 12. cap 10. Amen But afterward the form ‖ Liturg. Greg. Dialog was enlarged as I conjecture by Gregory the Great The Priest saying The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thee unto Eeernal Life Amen To which the Communicant replyed I will receive the heavenly Bread and will call upon the Name of the Lord and when the Priest delivered the Cup he used this Form The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thee unto Eternal Life Amen and the Communicant rejoin'd I will receive the Cup of Salvation After the Distribution was ended * Const Ap. ub Supr the Deacon spoke to the Congregation in these words Let us who have received the precious Body and Blood of Christ give him our Thanks and Praises to which end he did bid them put themselves into an erect posture and to stand upright that both Soul and Body might be intent on the Office that in the Prayer which compleated the Sacrifice they might praise God heartily and with a good courage for the Honour and Priviledg of partaking of those Mysteries and then they were dismist The remainder of the Consecrated Elements was ⸫ Just M. Apolog 2. some of it sent to those who were absent especially to the Confessors in Prison who were every day in expectation of Death the rest the faithful who had communicated carried home with them and o Naz. Or. 11. Or. 19. that in both kinds and ‖ Tert. ad Vxor l. 2. they commonly did eat of this Bread before their ordinary meals especially at their entertainments of Friends and Bishops usually sent pieces of it one to another as a token of mutual Communion In after times in some Churches the Communicants did eat what was left in some they buried in others they burnt the remainders and in other places they gave them to the School-boys and other Children who had not communicated What was left of the Oblations unconsecrated found the Ancients the materials of their Love-seasts tho the Apostolical * L. 8. c. 31. Constitutions give it to the Clergy afterward the Bread was given to the Catechumens or Penitents who were speedily to be reconciled or it was sent instead of the Sacramental Present abovementioned by one Bishop to another These were the Ancient Methods and may our good God give this present Age his Grace and fill our Hearts with a holy Fear of his Majesty and a due Reverence and respect to all his Ordinances that the Examples of the devout Christians of the Primitive Ages may incline us to an Imitation of their Piety Humility and other Virtues till we come to the general Assembly of the first-born in Heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. XXII Of the honour done to the Sacrament by the Ancients THE Holy Eucharist being the highest Office of Religion and the greatest Priviledg of Christians on Earth the Church hath thought fit on all occasions to testifie what a Reverence ought to be paid it and what honour is justly due to it And therefore took all care to sence and secure it from any attempts that might lessen its esteem or profane its usages of which I shall mention the most materal For 1. None was permitted to be present at the Celebration but those who had right to receive the Mysteries for tho the Governours of the Church prohibited no Persons to be present at the Sermon ‖ Conc. Carth. 4. c. 84. were they Infidels Jews or Hereticks yet as soon as the Sermon was done * Const Ap. lib. 1. cap. 5 6. the Deacon made a Proclamation Let no Infidel tarry here and lest that warning should not secure the Mysteries from being prostituted the faithful People were bid to ⸫ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys adv Jud. examine and take Cognisance one of another and to look distinctly that there were no Stranger among them the Church having pray'd for them already That God would convert them to the Truth When they were dismist and Silence made o Id. hom 2. in 2 Ep. ad Corinth the People were bid to stand decently and to pray for the Catechumens who were all the while Kneeling or Prostrate that God would bring them to Baptism ‖ Const App. ub Sup. the People in the mean while praying silently to themselves and saying Lord have mercy after
flames begun to rage in the Recollects Convent And yet many of the practises of some men of that Communion are no way reconcilable to the notion of the Divinity of the Eucharist for not to mention ‡ Alan de Sacrific c. 32. that if but a Hen be sick in the Neighborhoud you may have a Mass said for its recovery it was usually buried with the Corpses of Bishops whom they Inter'd in their Episcopal Robes with a Patin and Chalice by them and the Consecrated Bread on their breast and this says the old ‡ Bals in Can. 83. Trullan Canonist was done to affright the Devil from Hannting their Tombs and it was also given as an ‡ Bals in Can. 61. Trull Conc. Wormat. c. 10. c. Ordeal to discern whether a person were guilty of a crime that could not be proved especially to Clergy-men to purge themselves from notorious crimes It was also sometimes left as a pawn or pledg and so St. Lewis of France pawn'd an Host for the pledg of his Ransome to the Sultan of Aegypt as did also Uladislaus King of Hungary to the Turkish Emperor Amurath when they made an Agreement But beyond all this men were not only contented to receive this Sacrament as an Oath of secrecy to conceal Treason Parricide Murther and such like crimes but some were so hardy as to attempt the damnable villany of poysoning their God to murther the Lords Anointed so the * Naucler Gener 42. p. 991. Emperor Henry the 7th was dispatcht and so also Pope ‖ Malmesb. l. 3. c. 39. Victor 3d was sent to his Grave and we are told * Lambard's Peramb of Kent p. 66. that William Arch-Bishop of York being discontent that he could not get the Preeminence of the See of Canterbury mingled Poyson with the Wine of the Chalice and so murther'd himself But I should tire my self and others should I multiply quotations for either these are proofs enough or a greater number of witnesses will not serve turn And May the Blessed Jesus the Governor of his Church purge it from all dross from all unwarrantable opinions and superstitious practises that all his Family may Worship Serve Honour and Humbly Obey him as we ought to do till the number of the Elect be Consummated when the Sons of God shall be admitted to sing Eternal Praises to his Majesty in Heaven Amen Amen The End of the First Part. PART II. Containing an Account of the Festivals of the Holy Week Lessons Meditations Prayers and Anthems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenag legat pro Christ p. 5. No Christian can be wicked unless he be-ly his profession PART II. The INTRODVCTION THE devout Christian being thus fitted to commucate with his Saviour being instructed how to discern the Lord's Body and being acquainted with the advantages which the worthy receiving of it does bring with it and with the Duties preparative to such a receiving what remains but that every occasion of coming before God and partaking of the Dainties of his Table be with all eagerness pursued after and embrac'd Consider therefore O my Soul how shouldest thou long to dwell in the Courts of God and to serve him in the Beauties of Holiness His Name is wonderful and he is fairer than the Children of Men full of Grace are his Lips for God hath blessed him for ever and in him also hath God blessed the rest of the Sons of Men him hath God anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows consecrating him to be our high Priest to make Attonement for the Sins of the World All his Garments smell of Myrrh Aloes and Cassia of bitter Scents that embalm his Crucifixion for when he was nailed to the accursed Tree then was the Wine mingled with Myrrh given him and when he was to be buried he was laid in a mixture of Myrrh and Aloes to fit his Body for its Sepulcher And what wilt thou do O my Soul to express thy gratitude to this thy Redeemer who is become thy Lord and thy God But worship him and Adore him and give Thanks unto him World without end Every day of his Life was to him a day of Affliction and Suffering from his first appearance at Bethlehem to his being Crucified on Mount Calvary his whole Age was one continued Good-Friday and should not every day of my Life be an Easterday He dyed daily and should I not daily remember that Passion and celebrate the Praises of that Condescenton and live to the Glory of that Mercy Should I not every day if I may be actually concern'd in the showing forth the Lord's Death till he come or at least intentionally and in Preparations Representing to my mind my bleeding Saviour and mourning over those Sins of mine which brought him to so much shame and so much torture and rejoycing in the Salvation which he hath wrought out for me By this means the subsequent Directions will serve as well for any other Week as for the Holy Week and I shall always be in a readiness to communicate with my Master Jesus and blessed are those Servants whom our Lord when he comes shall find so doing The Collect. HOly and immortal Saviour who didst both Dye and Rise again that thou mightest be Lord both of the Quick and Dead and didst Institute and in thy Holy Gospel command thy Church to continue a perpetual memory of that thy precions Death and glorious Resurrection until thy coming again Send thy Grace unto me and to all People that we may Worship thee Serve thee and Obey thee as we ought to do and be thou pleased to give us all things that be needful both for our Souls and Bodies give us this day and every day that heavenly Bread the Spiritual Manna that comes down from above and send thy Holy Spirit into our Hearts that we may be always in a fit Posture to receive it forgive us all our Sins and preserve us from all Temptations that we may live for ever to ascribe unto thee with the Father and the Holy Ghost the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and for ever Amen PALM-SVNDAY PAlm-Sunday is the day on which our blessed Saviour being determined to fulfil all that was spoken of him in the Law and the Prophets took his last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem to compleat our Redemption by his Sufferings and his Resurrection the People meeting him at Mount Olivet with Branches of Palms Olives and other Trees in their Hands Emblems of his Meekness and his Triumphs crying Hosannah to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosannah in the highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks Dominica Palmarum Florum atque ramorum among the Latins and from this Original the day hath its Name in all Churches and the Transactions of this day were so observable that the Latin Church of the later Ages turn'd this as well as the other Festivals into
to the Honour of God also inviting all occasional Comers to buy and offer liberal Sacrifices as an Exchange tempts Customers it also making provision for Proselites and strangers of such Money as was current at Jerusalem which only was to be offered to the Lord and for the poor that they might borrow tho not on Usury yet on Pawn so as they might not comeempty handed before the Lord the place of this Traffick being only the outer Court of the Temple into which were admitted even the Gentiles and Uncircumcised why was our Masters Zeal so Fervent With great Reason doubtless was this done for all that Jesus did was by the guidance of the Infallible Spirit nor was it without reason that this Action was called the greatest of our Saviour's Miracles and one of the most solemn Declarations that he was the Son of God VVas it not a great Affront to the Divine Majesty to make a Butchers stall or a Bankers shop of his House To alienate it from its right use and instead of a house of Prayer to make it a den of Thieves of Publicans and Extortioners and of the Practicers of the Arts of Fraud and the Methods of Cheating VVas it not Irreligious to serve the Ends of Covetousness more than the designs of Piety For these Markets were at first held only near the Temple but at last through the greediness of the Priests were brought into the first Court of it to their no little gain while they managed the Markets either by their own servants or by exacting a Tribute of all those who there erected stalls and perhaps selling one and the same sacrifice over and again to several Persons Now what could create in mens minds mean thoughts of Religion and depreciate the service of the Almighty if such Actions did not And how could men chuse but abhor the Offerings of the Lord This therefore incited the Zeal of our dearest Lord and it was a sad Omen that the Priests themselves should in a little time be banisht from the House of God and turn'd out of his service because they had corrupted and huxter'd the VVord of God and handled it deceitfully And now O my soul and my body are not you the Temple of God And ought not the same measure of Zeal to be in me that was in my Redeemer Ought I not to cleanse this Temple and to expel thence all brutish Affections all covetous thoughts all self love and love of the VVorld all pride and vain glory and to keep my self undefiled in the VVorld fit for the residence of God and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit for if a man defile the Temple of God shall not God destroy that sinner I will therefore devote my self intirely to my Maker what he loves shall be my delight and I will honour him here in his Person in his Will in his Ordinances in his Habitation in his Revenue and in every thing else that appertains to him that I may hereafter enjoy him and live with him for ever Amen The Collect. ALmighty and most Merciful Saviour who in the heighth of thy Glories wast mindful of thy Humiliation and thy sufferings as thou wert contented to be made the Son of man tho by an ineffable generation thou wert the Son of God so new make me thy most unworthy because thy most disobedient Servant create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me that my soul whom thou hast redeemed may always sing thy Praises and celebrate thy bounty that all my faculties and all my members being consecrated to thee and thy service my Zeal may be flaming and unquenchable my love to thee victorious over all self love or love of the world my love to my neighbours generous and disinterested and my constancy and resolutions to be thine unalterable that I may preserve thy living Temple free from all Pollation till I come to the New Jerusalem where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it through the Merits und Mediation of thee my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen The Anthem for Palm-Sunday ETERNITY I. MY Eager Soul 's upon the wing To view th' Court of th' Heavenly King So passionate 't is those Joys to taste and know That it disdains all pleasures here below For what can this sad world impart To ease the longings of my Heart Which Heavenly Love hath wounded with its Dart II. The Palace Glorious was where God Made his perpetual abode E're his Omnipotent Word bad all Things be The Mighty Undivided Trinity Resided in Eternal Light Before the Sun appear'd in sight Or Time was impt to make his earliest flight III. With Joy the Father then look't on The Beauties of his only Son Miraculous Child whose great Sire cannot be Above his Son in Age or Dignity From both these did proceed the Dove Which gently up and down did move And fill'd the place with Harmony and Love IV. In this vast space the Equal THREE With mutual Sentiments did agree That God the Father should the World create The Son redeem the Spirit regenerate Transcendent Fountain whence did flow What infinite Pity could bestow To make men Gods and bring down Heav'n below V. No longer can my Soul forbear It Sighs and Wishes to be there That it may celebrate the Father's power Love Jesus and the Holy Spirit adore For tho my Saviour's Presence here My Soul to Scepters does prefer On Earth she dreads to lose him there 's no fear Monday before EASTER THE Monday before Easter was called the Holy and Great Monday or the second day of the Paschal-week and the whole week was called the Great week ‖ Chrys To. 5. p 541 c. not because the days were longer than ordinary but the blessings were greater because of the great and stupendious Blessings not to be comprehended or utter'd which God this Week conferred upon the World in the Death and Resurrection of our blessed Saviour and because it immediately preceded the great Festival as Easter is called Joh. 19.31 or * Bern. Ser. 3. in domin Palmar because of the four great Days in it viz. The Procession of Talm-Sunday the Institution of the blessed Sacrament on Maundy-Thursday the Passion on Good-Friday and the continuance in the Grave on Saturday which was the Eve to our blessed Masters Resurrection The Week also was stiled the Passion-week the Week of Fastings dry Diet and Penances in which the Devouter sort did eat nothing but Bread and Salt and drank nothing but Water from which strictness no day was exempt except the Lords Day on which it was a great Crime to Fast ‡ Constit App. l. 5. c. 17. alii Every day of this Week was a day of business the whole time from the days of the Apostles being spent in Prayers Watchings and Mortifications ⸫ Chrys ub Sup. p. 586. Tribunals and Courts of Justice were now shut up no Pleadings no Suits of Law no publick Business no
destroy themselves first with their Fears before they actually fall into a Mischief that cannot be avoided and what man can pretend to such a state of ease and indolency When therefore the Son of God makes a Disciple he calls him to the practice of self-denyal to the contempt of the World and all its vanities to the mortifying of his Passions and the abjuration of Pleasures that is he bids him live no longer like a Beast but like a man and a Christian and in lieu of these impertinencies he promises him all that is great and good in a better life and this was the method he made use of when he comforted the first-born of his Family his Apostles upon his departure And what could be more eloquent rational or pâ—rswasive than such a discourse about patience from him who had his sufferings in inmediate prospect For the thoughts of such persons being fixt on Heaven they talk of the place as if they were there already their stile is more brisk and vigorous than ordinary and their words make a deeper impression such was our Saviours last Sermon and such the Epistles of the Apostles which they wrote in their bonds Jesus having discovered Judas forewarned Peter and bound the rest of his Disciples to mutual Love and Charity at length tells them that it was the greatest Argument of the heighth of passion and shortness of reasoning to be troubled at the adversities of this present life that he who is strong in Faith is above the assault of secular dangers and whoever is called to embrace the Gospel is out of the reach and beyond the Fears of temporal afflictions that when you imprison him you do not rob him of his Liberty and when you kill him you cannot hurt him for he that depends on the Crucified Jesus for Salvation is secure that if he suffer with his Master he shall reign with him Such a man is assured that there is so large a provision made for him in Heaven that it baffles all carnal objections and stifles the very sense or remembrance of pain for his Master is ascended to his Father's Right Hand not so much to glorifie his own Body as to intercede for us that we may be glorified there he is now our Advocate and from thence he shall come again at the last day to be our guide that where he is we may be forever with him nor can any thing hinder our Union with him to Eternity who have been united to him here in the Offices of Piety our natural corruptions cannot obstruct the Union our Saviour is the way nor can our ignorance do us injuries he is the Truth and the Attempts of death it self are vain and of no force he is the Life For as long as the Father and he are one and so they shall be to Eternity all the Power and Wisdom of the Godhead must dwell in him bodily and who can resist Omnipotence or outwit the only Wise God Especially when it is considered that his Goodness is commensurate to his Power and his Wisdom so that the meanest of his Servants when he strengthens them shall be able to do all things and the greatest of the Miracles that Christ himself did shall be less than what his Followers shall be able to do nor is it to be doubted how this can be Since the Prayers of a good man recommended in the Name and upon the account of the Merits of his Saviour answer all devout ends and purposes and for this end probably the afflictions of this life were made the Portion of Christianity that if our Duty did not our needs might bring us often on our Knees for God denies nothing where the love of the Supplicant is bright and ardent and makes it self illustrious in a life of Obedience for upon such a man the Holy Dove descends and becomes his Comforter his Companion and his Friend it instructs him when ignorant it relieves him if opprest it encourages and defends him when timerous it bestows all that is good and protects from all that is evil this Spirit is the Vicar unto the Bishop of Souls it was primarily designed to lead the Church into all Truth and to secure it from perishing under the persecutions of its Enemies and to supply the want of the bodily Presence of the Redeemer of Mankind this Spirit was to unriddle all the Mysteries of Religion and to reveal what was hid from the cognizance of Ages to make those on whom it should descend the darlings of God and to give them Heaven upon Earth in the Enjoyment of Holy Thoughts and a quiet Mind which none of the disturbances of this Life shall be able to ruffle or discompose When the Soul is fixt on this Foundation being put out of the Synagogue signifies nothing nor can Death drest in its most formidable shape create any terrors for our Master hath told us that as in the deepest of his sufferings the blest Angels ministred unto him so they shall to his obedient followers and that their resurrection shall succeed his for the greatest instances of mutual love are beneath the indearments that are berween Jesus and a good man the Branches are not so firmly joyned to the Vine as the devout Soul is to its Saviour it is a Member of his Body and as dear to him as his own Honour This Union neither distance of Place nor alteration of Circumstances can dissolve 't is a Union cemented by the Blood of God and is built on a Foundation that stands most sure it is built upon God's Knowledg who are his and upon his Servants departing from all iniquity but it is a Union that is better felt than described and no one knows the happiness of it but he who hath experimented it As long as this Friendship lasts the Christian is impowered to do every thing that may glorifie his Master and benefit himself and what himself cannot do by his own Abilities shall be supplied by the Interests of his Saviour and procured by his own intense Supplications but if any man wilfully dissolve this Concord like a Branch cut off from the stock he withers and dies and becomes fit for nothing but to be cast into Eternal Flames Now nothing can break this Union but Vice and Iniquity for that which makes the Holy Jesus the only Beloved of his Father is his Obedience to the Divine Laws and his Passionate love to the world that engaged him to dye for it and whoever loves God and his Neighbour shall be made Partaker of all his Favour and his Heart shall be filled with Joy and can there be a more cogent Argument than this to endear Religion to a well inclined mind To be made the Friends of God the Elect and Beloved of the Saviour of the World the Pupils of the Spirit of Truth and Peace to have one Comforter to redeem them and another to sanctifie them and to have the Honour of being God's Ambassadors and the Witnesses
the morning break wilt me deny With execrations and with perjury Weak was th' attempt and impotent the hand That did my resolutions countermand While an impertinent Girl me kept in awe Who singly durst before the rabble draw How easily when the criminal does begin Does time engage him to grow bold in Sin Till what at first is but a single lye At the next act commences blasphemy Of all my Master's sufferings tho accurst Ill treated and contemn'd this was the worst Of only twelve Disciples one betray'd him Ten more deserted him and I deny'd him Leaving the Innocent to dye alone VVhile we deserv'd the crucifixion Thus down the stream I went and on had swom Forgetting Jesus and his Martyrdom Had not my dearest Saviour lookt about When the shrill voice advis'd me to go out The Cock that calls the early Lark to sing Mattens to th' praise of the eternal King All cheerfulness does from my Soul expel As if his voice had been my Passing-bell Had I a full swoln River in each eye I 'd mourn till I had wept the Fountains dry Can man be unconcern'd when God must dye Ingratitude is here a Prodigy But to assist thee were but to affront The Martyr Jesus does no seconds want Conquer by suffering and when thou art gone Carryed by brightest Angels to thy Throne Poor Peter arm'd with courage will defy The next temptation and thy Martyr dye Inverted on his Cross that there may be An humble difference betwixt him and thee GOOD-FRYDAY ON this day was the greatest act of Villany and injustice committed that ever the Sun beheld for on this day was the Son of God Crucified and therefore it is called the Paschal Solemnity of the Crucifixion the great and holy Preparation the day of the most holy Passion and the day on which our blessed Saviour suffered but this day also was the happiest time that ever mankind could enjoy or long for because our Redeemers sufferings were the cause of our freedom from Sin and Death and Hell and therefore we call it Good-Friday of old the Great Friday because it was the day on which the World received all that was good all that God could bestow or the World want in a dying Saviour who by his once offering of himself put an end to the numerous diverse and ineffectual Sacrifices required by the old Law On this day of the Week Adam was created cloathed with the Image of God and constituted the Lord of the World and on this day too sadly he fell and was driven out of Paradise but on this day also the same Adam and all his Children were redeemed and the sorrow for the Fall was out done by the joy of the Restoration and yet because the Sins of men were the only cause of our blessed Masters sufferings who knew no sin himself therefore ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 907. this day was indispensably made a day of Fasting through the whole Christian Church * Aug. cont Epist Fund c. 8. the Manichees being for this among many other their wicked practises condemn'd that they observed the day of the Martyrdom as they called it of their Master Manes but neglected the observation of Good-Friday and tho all the Lent was properly a Fast before Easter yet this day and the Saturday that followed it were called the ‖ Tert. â—d Vx l. 2. Cypr. Ep. 53. v. Chrys to 5. p. 940. solemn days before Easter i.e. the more eminent times of Fasting upon which days as our Saviour was Crucified and Buried so his Apostles who were then his Church were covered with sorrow and hid themselves for fear of Persecution and for this Reason it is called by the Germans Still-Friday and by the Saxons Long-Friday because the Fast was extended beyond the usual hour And as our Master lay three days in the Grave so did the Church think fit to Fast three days till the time of his Resurrection for if the Sun then lost its light and the Rocks were rent was there not greater reason that the Church of Christ his Spouse and his mystical Body should be concern'd at his Crucifixion And tho the blessed Eucharist were usually given on every day through the rest of the year yet on Good-Friday and the Great Saturday it was probably omitted From ⸫ De brat c. 14. Tertullian it is plain that they omitted the Kiss of Peace and Charity which was always given at the Sacrament and * Capit. Lothar l. 4. tit 46. l. 7. tit 371. in after Ages the celebration of the Eucharist was expresly forbidden And now in the Romish ‡ Durand Rat. l. 6. c. 72 77. Church they ring no Bells but knock with a Wooden Mallet on a Table-board to give notice of the hours of Prayer they omit several parts of the office particularly the Doxology and the Salutation The Lord be with you they read the Lesson of the New-Testament in a faint low voice and the Priest who reads the History of the Passion does it barefoot their Altars are hid for then there is no Sacrament celebrated and the Lights are put out to represent the obscurity of the night in which our blessed Saviour was apprehended and the wondrous darkness that attended his Crucifixion from whence the time is called Tenebrae or the days of darkness and in the Greek Church they by an Image represent our blessed Saviour's sufferings and his taking down from the Cross on this day also did the ‖ Constit Apost l. 5. c. 12 14. Primitive Church as does the Church of England pray for all Jews and Infidels c. in imitation of our dear Redeemer who wept over Jerusalem because they knew not the day of their Visitation and on the Cross prayed for his enemies The observation of the day was very * Orig. Cont. Cels l. 4. Ancient and I believe Apostolical By ‡ Eas Vit. Const l. 4. c. 18. p. 534. Constantine the Great it was commanded to be observed with as much respect as the Lord's-day The ⸫ Aug. Ep. 118. Fathers call this day the Saturday following and Easter day the Most holy three days of our Saviour's Crucifixion continuance in the Grave and Resurrection and sometimes the ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 940. Passover And in the †Conc. Tolet. 4. c. 6 7. Western Church on Good-Friday the Holy Priests were obliged to Preach to the people the Mysteries of Christ's sufferings all people except Children old and sick persons being bound under the penalty of being kept from the Lord's Table at Easter to tarry at Church and to Fast till the Priest toward evening with a loud voice did pronounce the publick Absolution that by such a testimony of their true repentance for their sins and by the assistance of the Priestly Absolution the people might be the better fitted to keep the Feast of Easter and to eat the Christian Passover * Theod. Lect. lib. 2. Collect. On this day
Examination according to the rule of Repentance HAve I embrac'd all the Opportunities of Repentance that God hath given me Have I fasted often and subdued my flesh by frequent acts of Mortification Have I repented sincerely and intirely and do I intend to continue in a state of unwearied obedience to Gods Laws Have I renounc'd the Devil the World and the Flesh so as never more to be reconciled to them Have I been troubled as heartily for my Transgressions as I have been for worldly Crosses Have I not oftner sorrowed for the Punishment of my sins than for my sins and have I not been more concern'd that God hath been just with me than that I have offended him How often have I broken my vows and relaps'd into my old sins Have I ever seriously considered the danger of such a return to my former vicious habits Do I not tremble when I reflect that perhaps this present moment may be the last which God will allow me either to live or to repent To every of which Enquiries if I find my self guily I subjoin Lord be merciful to me a sinner accept of my imperfect and weak repentance and enable me for the future to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. An Examination according to the Creed I Thank thee And here I mention not any acts of speculative infidelity because very few are guilty in that kind but those who are may without particular directions call themselves to account according to this method O my God for thy assistances that I can say with satisfaction that I have hitherto continued in the Profession of this most holy Faith in opposition to all Heresies Ancient and Modern I believe the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity that the Three Persons are Coessential Coequal and Coeternal that they made the World and are willing it should be saved that the Laws of Providence are just and that there is a state of futurity reserved for all mankind in this Faith I have hitherto lived and hope if there be need I shall have the Grace and the Will to be a Martyr for it But have I not the greatest reason to condemn my self and to be heartily troubled that I have not made this belief of mine subservient to practice that I have lived as if these Articles had never been written Have I adored that God as I ought whom I have profest to own Have I not neglected to reverence his Majesty and to dread his Power whom I have acknowledged to be Almighty Have I not called God Father when I have refused to obey him When I have profest that God made all things have I seriously reflected upon what I owe him for my own Being and well-being Have I not called Jesus Master while I have blasphemed his name and confest his Dominion while I have trampled on his Laws Have I not acknowledged his holy and immaculate Incarnation and Nativity while my Soul hath defiled her self with all sort of impurities When I have profest my belief of his Death Resurrection and Ascension have I dyed to my Sins and risen again to newness of Life and dwelt in Heaven in resolution and affection Have I lived as if I were perswaded that Jesus would come again to judge both the quick and dead Have I given up my self to the guidance of the Holy-Ghost in whom I believe Have I heartily joyn'd in the Services of the holy Catholiek Church which is the Communion of Saints and have I not neglected the opportunities of frequent Praying and frequent Communicating Have I not lived still and resolved to continue to live in those Sins of which I profess my hope of forgiveness And when with my lips I have said I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come have I not in my heart and actions put far from me the thoughts of that day and demean'd my self as if there were no account to be given of my Stewardship Have I not also been guilty of delighting too much in curious and unnecessary speculations of making inquiry into the consubstantiality of the Trinity the filiation of the Son and the procession of the holy Spirit and other such admirable but unintelligible Mysteries while I have slighted the methods of true Wisdom neglecting the study how to unite my self to the Trinity by Faith and a holy Conversation how to be conform'd to Jesus in newness of Life and how to walk according to the dictates of the Spirit of Peace and Truth that would lead me into the paths of obedience To each of these I subjoyn Wretched Sinner that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Lord have mercy upon me pardon all these enormities cure this vanity of mind and give me Grace for the future that with the heart I may believe unto Righteousness and with the mouth make confession unto Salvation An Examination according to the Commandments 1. Com. HAve I not broken the first Commandment in thought word or deed by neglecting to believe in God to fear him to love him and to trust in him as I ought Have I had that high esteem of the Deity which I am bound to have Have I given him the obedience of my Soul and the Reverence of my Body Have I patiently and thankfully submitted to all his inflictions Have I ever prefer'd any passion of my own or any other thing to my God and his Service 2. Com. Have I not broken the second Commandment in thought word or deed by not worshipping my Maker according to his own prescriptions Have I been guilty of Superstition or Idolatry Have I followed the imaginations of my own heart or Sacrilegiously rob'd God of any thing dedicated to his Honour 3. Com. Have I not broken the third Commandment in thought word or deed by not making the Divine Honour the end of all my actions or by not esteeming places things or persons dedicated to Religion Have I profan'd God's holy Name by Oaths Cursings Perjuries Blasphemies or any such crime Have I spoken slightly of God or scoffed at Religion or by loose and Atheistical talk prostituted the mysteries of Christianity or used the name of God vainly and to evil ends 4. Com. Have I not broken the fourth Commandment in thought word or deed by not abstaining every day from my sins and every seventh day from my labours Have I duly observ'd the Festivals and Fasts of the Church and have I set apart and strictly kept the solemn times of my private humiliation and mortifying my Lusts Have I behav'd my self reverently in God's House have I pray'd fervently and with humility and read the Scriptures awfully and heard the Word of God conscientiously and communicated devoutly Have I ever made Religion a pretence for Vice or neglected to know or do my duty Have I not offended my Neighbour whether stranger or relative by encouraging him to be vicious either by my example or authority by
for Confirmation or have I slighted the Prayers and Benediction of God's Priest Have I wholly forsaken Satan or rather am I not still under his power by being a slave to the habits of folly and disobedience Have I ever at any time used Charms or Amulets or consulted Witches or Conjurers Am I not yet in love with the pomps and vanities of the World a great frequenter of sports to the hindrance of Religious Duties and do I delight in profane and lascivious representations and are not my Lusts yet unmortified and have I not derogated from the honour of the Captain of our Salvation by cowardise and negligence Eucharist Have I not profan'd the holy Supper of the Lord by not acquainting my self with the nature of the Mystery and the necessity of preparation or by coming to it without Faith and Repentance without an universal charity and a thorow reconciliation to God and my enemies without examination without a due sorrow and amendment of Life Have I not often received that Sacrament without those ardors of devotion which I am obliged to or without that bodily reverence which the most Sacred and Heavenly Mysteries require Have I not made rash promises when I have received and never minded them afterwards Have I not suffered the House to lye idle when it hath been so swept and garnish'd to encourage Satan to take with him seven other Spirits worse than himself and to come and dwell in my Soul till its later estate be more deplorable than its first To which I subjoyn Lord be merciful to me a sinner and so strengthen me by thy Grace that I may perform my Vows and keep the robes of my Baptism unspotted and tho I have approach'd thy Table without the Wedding Garment yet cast me not into outer darkness whence there is no deliverance Now these and all other Transgressions are either heightned or lessened by their circumstances the Examinant therefore ought to consider 1. The Time when he offended Was it on the Lord's day Here additions and alterations may be made by the devout penitent according to his own state or any other publick Festival on a publick Fasting day or the days of my own private humiliation during the hours of Prayer either at the Temple or in my Closet either at or immediately before or after the receipt of the holy Sacrament and have I often committed one and the same sin for these circumstances argue a perverse frame of mind and that it is not infirmity but wilfulness that makes the offender 2. The place where the sin was committed Was it in the Church at the holy Table or in my Closet or in any publick place where the offence became scandalous incouraging the vicious and offending my weaker brethren 3. The state and condition of the Offender Am I not in Holy Orders one of God's Priests that Minister at his Altar have I not more knowledge and a better acquaintance with my duty hath not God afforded me more convictions greater light and frequenter opportunities of doing good was the sin committed when I was under some affliction of mind body or estate or after some sudden deliverance out of some severe judgement on me for my former failings hath not God by his holy Spirit laid many hinderances in my way to ruine and have I not overcome all difficulties and often been my own tempter have I not continued to be wicked after many checks of Conscience and many solemn Vows to the contrary after the experience of much mercy many deliverances and great tenderness compassion and long-suffering in my Saviour towards me 4. The persons injured Are not my sins committed against my God my Master my Saviour my best and only Friend have I rob'd the House of God of its ho nour or revenue have I ground the face of the Poor or rob'd the Fatherless and Widows have I given evil counsel to the ignorant or those that cannot discern the fallacy have I been unjust to my Children or Relatives who are nearest to me and as it were parts of my self Among all which sins I must particularly mourn over and detest those to which I have been most inclined by natural temper or custome and resolve to avoid all provocations and temptations and whatever hath or may promote such evil habits and to practice the contrary virtues To which I subjoyn Lord I have caused thy Name to be blasphemed among the enemies of Religion and Piety but be thou pleased to pity and pardon me the greatest of sinners and give me thy Grace that I may do so no more Besides all which I am bound to reflect on my many secret sins and forgotten offences and to subjoin Lord who can understand how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou me from my secret faults and keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sins lest they get the dominion over my Soul so shall I be innocent from the great offence The Collect. ALmighty Lord and everlasting God Grant I most humbly beseech thee to thy distressed Servant Pardon and Peace and vouchsafe to direct sanctify and govern both my heart and body in the ways of thy Laws and in the works of thy Commandments that through thy most mighty protection both here and ever I may be preserv'd in body and soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen To this I add the 38 Psalm or the 51. or some other penitential and after that the 22 Psalm Then follows the Litany much agreeable to the former method LORD let thy Ear be attentive to the Prayer of thy Servant who desires to fear thy name O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him the Father of Mercies have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O God the Son the Redeemer of the World and the lover of Souls have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O God the Holy Spirit of Peace and Love the giver of every Grace and every good Gift have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O Holy Powerful and Compassionate Trinity three persons and one God have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon me O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world grant me thy Peace Lord hear Lord forgive hearken O Lord and do and defer not for thine own sake O Lord our God From polluting the robes of my Baptisme and making new leagues with Satan from a feigned sorrow and an outside repentance Good Lord deliver me From sin and shame from the paths of folly and destruction from great boasting and little performance and from a vain and empty frame of mind from stoath and idleness and the neglect of my best concerns Good Lord deliver me From Self-Love and love of the World from being busy about nothing and slighting the thoughts of Eternity from deferring my repentance and putting off my accounts to the day of
dragg'd by the rude and incensed multitude into the City and there hurried up and down to all the Judicatories in it he was buffeted and scourg'd the Plowers plowed long furrows on his back he was Crown'd with Thorns and loaden with his Cross having been condemned by clamour and importunity by restless and unsatisfied malice when Pilate his proper Judge had confest him Innocent To his Cross both his hands and feet which by reason of their being full of Nerves are the most sensible parts of the Body were fastened being pierc'd through with sharp Nails the whole weight of his Body stretch'd out as on a Rack resting on his expanded Hands there he languished under an insufferable thirst occasioned by his being so violently transported from place to place by his cruel Agony in the Garden by his loss of so much Blood in that Sweat in his scourging in his being Crown'd with Thorns and nailed to his Cross to which both his hands and feet were fastened that he could no way relieve himself he was exposed to the Sun and the Wind which search'd his wounds and made his pains more grievous his Mother and his beloved Disciple were standing by his Cross in the posture of persons distracted by their sorrows and this increased his torment not only as they were his near Relations but as they represented his Widowed and disconsolate Church And when it might have been expected that his Soul should have received comfort while his body was on this rack this was so far from being the portion of Jesus that his Soul felt more fearful convulsions than his tortured Body when all his bones were out of joint all the anger of God was upon him at once now was the Curtain drawn between the rational faculties of his Soul and God whereas before there was only a skreen between his sensitive faculties and his Father now was the beatifical Union suspended and his God had forsaken him when he stood in most need and when he cryed aloud to his Father for help the rude Soldiers study to encrease his sorrows they give him Vinegar to drink which was proper to stop his bleeding and to lengthen his life and torments and that Vinegar mingled with the bitter juice of Hyssop to make the draught more irksome and unpalatable unless we may believe a modern ‖ Heins Arist in Jo. 19 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Critick That they gave him the Vinegar on a Spunge of the coarsest Wooll to do him the greater dishonour Almost a whole day and night was he under continued tortures from his entry into the Garden to his yielding up the ghost whereof six whole hours he was hanging on the Cross and then he died while his Spirit was whole within him and while being in the vigour of his youth his heart within him was like melting wax for in the heighth of all his acute pains he cried with a loud voice and yielded up the ghost his Body being more sensible of pain than usually malefactors are for he had a beautiful shape and was of a fine and pure make and of a delicate constitution born of a Virgin not subject to and so never harrast with diseases and the pains of his Soul bore proportion to his bodily sufferings for he well knew how grievous and insupportable the anger of God is which we are insensible of he dreaded the burthen of those sins which we delight in and the severity of those punishments which we deride his notions of things were clear his apprehension quick and the bent of his mind most strongly inclinable to pity and compassion Thus were his sorrows augmented and his sufferings made intollerable while the rigour of his enemies left no sound part in him for he suffered in his Soul in his bitter Agony in his whole Body in his Sweat his Head was crowned with Thorns his Eyes were a fountain of tears his Ears inured to mockings his Palate disgusted vvith the Vinegar and the Wine mixt vvith Myrrh his Face spit upon his Neck and Shoulders loaden vvith the burthen of a heavy Cross his Back and Sides scourged his Heart pierc'd vvith the Spear his Hands and Feet nailed to the accursed Tree his Flesh torn and his Blood spilt that he might most justly exclaim I am the man that hath seen affliction by the Rod of God's Wrath Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see was there ever sorrow like my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger Nor were these all his sufferings for the consideration and foresight that all these mercies should be bestowed on an ingrateful and rebellious World the greatest part of which would be hypocrites and unbelievers would trample on his Blood as an unholy and profane thing and would frustrate the end of his death and the designs of his mercy this doubtless made his sorrows exquisite and so transcendent as nothing could parallel but his Love and his Patience Here the devout Christian may put a stop to his Meditations for a while and subjoin this COLLECT O Lord who wert pleased in the fulness of time to send thine only begotten Son into the World made of a Woman made under the Law that he might become a curse for us and reconcile the World unto thee our Father by his bitter Agony and cruel Death and who hast assured us that thou scourgest every son whom thou receivest grant that I may be conformable to the image of thy beloved Son and our dearest Saviour that his sufferings may be the propitiation for my sins his Blood may cleanse my Soul and I may have life through him and grant that as Jesus offered up himself to thy justice so I may offer my self and all my enjoyments a Sacrifice of praise for the Mercies of God the Father Son and Holy-Ghost now and for evermore Amen After which the devout Christian at what time his strength and occasions will best permit may continue his Meditation Proportionate to the torments which Jesus endured was his shame and ignominy than which nothing is more insufferable to an ingenuous nature His birth was mean his Mother a poor Virgin he was born in a Stable and Cradled in a Manger he was brought up at the mean and laborious Trade of his reputed Father Joseph his many Journies were performed on foot he had no setled habitation and very few Friends and those poor ignorant and contemptible Galilean Fishermen whose very Country was ominous and at his last essay was he not apprehended as a vile malefactor and that not by a party of men of Honour not by the Guards of the Captain of the Temple or the Roman Governor but by the Rabble the meanest of the people tumultuously gathered together arm'd with Clubs and Swords the hasty weapons their fury could lay hold on He was treated as a publick Nusance tho as free from sin as truth and innocence could make
much devotion and an audible voice he heartily says Amen as a testimony of his strongest desires that it may be so and of his firm belief that God will make it so The Advice in these words Take and eat or drink this in remembrance c. And this puts him in mind 〈◊〉 duty what faith and thankfulness he ought to exercise at the reception of this blessed Sacrament And therefore he says Lord thou hast said it behold the Son of thine handmaid let it be unto me according to thy word I desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified and to learn nothing but a conformity to his death and resurrection The word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory the glory as of the only begotten Son of God full of Grace and Truth § 17. Tho the devout Communicant brings with him unsatisfied ardors yet he takes care to receive decently and reverently not to snatch at the Bread nor to drink greedily for it is a Feast of temperance and therefore the Bread is given in a little piece and the Wine was anciently mixed with Water as for other reasons so for this that it might not offend the Head He therefore eats not as one whose antecedent fastings have made him hungry but as one who is little concern'd how his Body be provided for so the longings of his Soul be satisfied with spiritual food and he drinks not with the men of Corinth to be drunk at this Feast of Charity nor so much to allay his natural thirst as to satisfie the intense desires of his mind inflamed with love to his Saviour and the Holy Sacrament For at God's Table we are to eat and drink not to the satisfaction of our sensual appetites but to the sanctification of our Souls § 18. While the mysteries are distributeing to those who receive after him the good man examines his obligations to God's bounty in giving him one opportunity more of serving him in the beauties of holiness He remembers that Jesus being made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honour and considers that now he is crucified with Christ that he might live to God and that the life that he now leads in the flesh he lives by the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him He offers himself a sacrifice to God and for the future looks on himself as something consecrated and that can no longer without most prodigious Sacriledg be put to any profane use For how shall he dare to defile that which God hath sanctified For if Belshazzar were punish'd for quaffing in the Vessels of the Temple how much more shall that man be plagued that pollutes the residence of the Son of God And how shall that man presume to appear again before God that sins against him after the receipt of such blessings § 19. After this considering that this Sacrament is called the Cup of blessing and a holy Eucharist he expresses his gratitude in solemn Thanksgivings saying either * Constit Ap. l. 8. c. 13. Psal 34. which the Ancient Church used at this solemnity or Psal 111. rendring verse 6. thus He hath showed his people the power of his works and given us the bread of Angels Or this that follows Give thanks O my Soul unto God the Lord in the Congregation from the ground of the heart Say unto God how wonderful art thou in thy works How glorious are the things which thou in thy goodness hast prepared for the poor Thou hast prepared a Table for me my Cup did overflow and I have tasted and seen how good the Lord is I have eaten the Bread of God with joy and drunk his Wine with a merry heart for God hath accepted me My Soul is filled as it were with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips Blessed is he whom thou chusest and receivest unto thy self he shall dwell in thy Courts and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thy House even of thy holy Temple As long as I live will I magnify thee in this manner and lift up my hands in thy name for thy loving kindness is better than life it self An offering of a free heart will I give thee and praise thy name because it is so comfortable I will love the Lord as do all his Saints I will bless him and magnify him for ever For this God is our God for ever and ever He shall be our guide unto death Glory be to the Father c. § 20. To this he subjoins an act of love and resignation I will love thee O Lord my God for the Lord is my defence and my refuge I will devote unto thee my body soul and spirit which are thine for thou hast redeemed them thou God of Truth Jesus hath loved me and laid down his life for me therefore will I adore him He is the Priest the Sacrifice and the Altar on him will I depend for salvation He hath given me the Sacrament as a confirmation of his former love and as a pledge of future favours therefore will I reverence and worship him world without end Lord I give my self to thee and I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him against that day Write in my heart the laws of love and thankfulness that I may no longer dare to sin against thee For how shall I now escape if I neglect so great salvation § 21. To which may be added this prayer out of the Liturgy of St. Clemens GRant Blessed God that we and all thy Servants who have been admitted to communicate with Jesus by Faith and the participation of the Sacramental mysteries may obtain remission of our sins and be so confirm'd in the ways of godliness and rescued from the dominion and impositions of Satan that being filled with thy Holy Spirit we may here be made worthy Members of Christ's Body and at last become heirs of everlasting life through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen § 22. Just before his leaving the Church the good man thus prays Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel After which he speaks courteously and friendly to all his fellow-communicants for they are his brethren and the Eucharist is the bond of that unity and this serves him instead of the Kiss of Charity which was anciently given at this Sacrament tho now the custom be antiquated And because the Love-feasts succeeded the Eucharist which are also now disused that he may do something that is equivalent thereunto he invites one or more of his poorer Neighbours for the rich are in no need
thy sight for all mankind especially for the houshold of faith through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen May the Blessing of God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost be with me and remain with me now and for evermore Amen § 28. And because the blessings of an Easter are very valuable and deserve extraordinary returns the good Christian thinks fit after the Evening Service at Church is over to return again to his Closet to converse with his holy Saviour and to exercise those acts of Love of Faith of Contrition and Hope and other Graces which for want of leisure or other conveniences could not so well be performed in the House of God to which he subjoins this or the like Meditation The MEDITATION § 30. I Am now return'd from that happy place that is preferable to Paradise where I have been treated with a Feast of fat Things and Wine well refined and what does my Lord require of me in point of Gratitude for these his inestimable benefits but to do Justice to love Mercy and to walk humbly with my God For every thing in this Sacrament obliges me to holiness of Life the Institutor of it was the undefiled High Priest of our Profession who did bear all sins but committed none the end of its Celebration is to show forth his Death which when we receive unworthily we act over again we new crucifie the Lord of Life who hath bought us and bring on our selves the most horrid and affrighting guilt that we can incur the preparation is nothing less than a strict examination of our Consciences than strong Prayers and Cries ardent resolutions of being better and a constant course of pious and charitable Actions This Sacrament actually enters us into Covenant with God and what agreement can there be between Light and Darkness It is an Emblem of our holy Profession which calls us to an exemplary Conversation it is a bond of Christian Communion and obliges to Charity 't is a representation of our Saviour's Crucifixion and so calls to the practice of Patience Forgiveness and Holy Resolution and it is a solemn Sacrifice of Praise and so obliges to practical Gratitude How wide are thy Wounds O my dying Saviour and how sorrowful thy Countenance Oh thy bitter Agony Oh thy shameful Cross And all occasioned by my sins and shall I continue in the same Transgressions out of despite to my Saviour Lord let me never be in any capacity to do so any more for how shall I dare to eat with thee and to lift up my heel against thee In this Sacrament I renew the Vow which I made in my Baptism and have so often shamefully broken and thereby forfeited the blessings which were promis'd me upon the performance of my duty Now this Covenant as on Gods part it entitles me to his Protection and his love to the Merits of his Son and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit so on my part it engages me to accept of that Son of his in all his Offices obliging me to receive him as my Sovereign and to obey his Commands and to depend upon him to receive him as my High Priest and to believe that his Sacrifice of himself if I repent and amend shall cleanse me from all sin but if I continue in my disobedience shall avail me nothing and to give my self up to his Instruction as a Prophet learning from him all the particulars of the Divine Will that are necessary to make me wise to Salvation and perfect unto every good Work But how often have I broken that Covenant rebell'd against this my Sovereign made my self unworthy of the blessing of this my High Priest and cast all his Laws behind my back Before my Repentance my bosom was a Den of Thieves and a Cage of unclean Birds but now it is cleansed and I am become a new Creature now know I that I am the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in me but if any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple I am There is a particular Veneration paid to the places where Princes usually entertain themselves and every House where any of the Blood-Royal of Persia is born is afterward converted to a Sanctuary and whereever any of their Princes lodges in a Journey the place is reputed for the future sacred and ought not the place where my God takes up his Habitation to be for the same reason separate from profane and common uses And if some of the School-Doctors who assert Transubstantiation tell us that as soon as the consecrated Host grows mouldy the Body of God retires from it and it is again changed into its old substance of bread can I think that God will pitch his Tents in a polluted Soul infected with the Leprosie of Vice I do therefore resolve and it shall from henceforward be the employment of my time and my strength so to live in thy fear and to thy service that I may dye in thy favour and rest in thy Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. § 31. At the end of this Meditation this Collect is fitly subjoined BLessed and most bountiful Saviour as thou hast honoured me and made me happy this day so vouchsafe me the same measures of Grace the same ardors of Mind and the same holy opportunities all the days of my Life fix my thoughts upon the things of Heaven strengthen and inflame my love to my dying Saviour increase and support my Faith confirm and secure my Hopes and give me frequent occasions to exercise all the other Virtues of my Christian Calling and as thou hast filled my soul with the most ravishing and transporting pleasures so make me for ever careful that I neither quench thy Blessed Spirit nor stifle its Motions but that I may improve all the seasons of Mercy and all the tendries of Grace to the best ends and purposes to the advancement of thy Glory and my own Salvation through thy Merits and Mediation who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen § 32. After this the devout man is all Rapture and all Joy and cannot forbear praising God afresh for all his spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places in this or the like Hymn O God my heart is ready my heart is ready I will sing and give praise with the best Member that I have I will give thanks unto thee O Lord among the people and I will sing praises unto thee among the Nations For thy mercy is greater than the Heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the Clouds Through God shall we do great acts and it is he that shall tread down our enemies Truly God is loving unto Israel even unto such as are of a clean heart Oh how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of Hosts my soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh rejoice in