only with the Priest but with Angels and with Archangels and all the Company of Heaven c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys hom 18. in 2. ad Cor. for Jesus by his Death hath united Heaven and Earth and designed all his redeemed ones to sing Hallelujahs with the blessed spirits above for ever Wherefore it is fit that in this Commemoration of his Passion we should begin to unite our Voices to them with whom we hope to praise God to all Eternity Only as we sing with them let us sing like them and not spoil their blessed harmony by mingling flat and discordant notes O with what delight and pleasure sincerity and joy do they sing this Hymn while they are ravished with the prospect of the divine perfections Could we but see their felicity and hear their Musick it would transport us above our selves and make us forget and despise all other pleasures to join with them It may be we fear that we cannot sing in so high a note yet if we do it with like sincerity our lower key may grace the harmony and compleat the Concord Behold those blessed Spirits who had no need of any Saviour and who never did offend do praise God with incessant Voices for his mercy and love to us and seem to invite us saying O ye Sons of men praise the Lord with us and let us magnifie his name together How then can we be silent especially when our glorified Brethren Prophets and Apostles Saints and Martyrs do also bear a part in this admirable Hymn How justly do we stile the object of these praises a glorious Name since all the World resounds its praise To it Cherubin and Seraphin Angels and Archangels continually do cry Holy Holy Holy and all the Saints in Heaven and Earth do join to set forth the glory thereof § 7. Evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high This primitive and triumphant Hymn was first taught unto the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 6.3 when he was admitted to hear it sung in the Quire of Heaven But as Procopias well observes the Triple Holy could not fit the Jewish Synagogue and so was designed at first for the Christian Church who confess the Holy Trinity wherefore it was again revealed to St. John Revel 4.8 and afterwards constantly used by all Churches in the Celebration of these Mysteries for it is found in all the Liturgies of St. James St. Mark St. Basil and fully in St. Chrysostoms thus Before thee stand thousands of Archangels and many thousands of Angels Cherubins and Seraphins singing the triumphant Hymn chanting forth crying and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God c. and the like appears in the Apostolick Constitutions lib. 8. cap. 16. so that though some affirm that Sixtus the eight Bishop of Rome brought it first in use with the Latine Church about 130. years after Christ yet Nicephorus doubts not to say it was derived from an Apostolical Tradition hist lib. 18. c. 51. The Grecians call it the Trisagium because the word Holy is thrice repeated and of latter times do express it thus Holy God Holy Strong Holy Immortal d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sixt. Sene◠Bib. Sanct. l. 5. annot 58. Have mercy on us And they have a Tradition that they were commanded thus to repeat it by a Child which for some time was rapt up into Heaven in the time of a great Earthquake in the days of Theodosius junior and Proclus the Patriarch and by so repeating it the City was delivered However it is certainly an Act of Praise wherein we worship and adore the whole Trinity and Galatinus d Pet. Galatinus lib. 2. c. 1. de Jesai 6.3 saith it was antiently read in Jonathans Chaldee Paraphrase Holy Father Holy Son Holy Spirit but as it is nothing is more plain e Non semel dicunt ne singularitatem credas non bis dicunt ne spiritum excludas non sanctos ne pluralitatem aestimes sed ter repentant idem dicunt ut etiam in hymno distinctionem Trinitatis divinitatis intelligas unitatem Ambr. de sp sanc l 3. c. 18. ita Epiphan in Ancorat Procop. Gazaeus in Jesaiam than that every Person is acknowledged to be Holy and all to be one Lord God of Hosts who commands the Armies of Heaven and all the Creatures of the World whose Glory fills both Heaven and Earth Which way can we look or what can we think upon that doth not declare how great and gracious their Creator and Preserver is and how can we then refrain from giving glory also unto the Lord most High In his nature he is holy in all his works glorious let us praise him therefore with pure hearts for he is thrice Holy let us bless him with a mighty vigour that as the Angels make the Upper so we may make the lower Region Eccho with his praise It was long since ordained that this Hymn should be used every day supposing the faithful would never be weary of so sweet and desirable an imployment f Quia tam dulcis desiderabilis vox etiam si die noctuque possit dici fastidium generare non possit Concil Vasens can 6. An. 450. But surely it is most proper for this blessed Sacrament that as every person in the Trinity concurred to our Redemption so every one may be adored in the memorial thereof The Father is Holy who gave us such a Saviour the Son is Holy who effected this Salvation and the Spirit is Holy who sanctifies us by the vertue thereof and yet these three are one Lord to whom we must now with most fervent gratitude offer up the Sacrifice of Eucharist and Thanksgiving O ye Heavenly powers that rejoice for the sake of us poor Sinners we join with you and with joyful hearts over our Propitiation do sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God c. Glory be to thee O Lord most high Amen An Appendix of the particular Prefaces § 8. It is long since the daily and weekly Communions have been generally laid aside by the people for St. Chrysostome himself takes notice that ordinary Christians in his time had appropriated their communicating to the greater Festivals of the Church g Chrys orat de B. Philogono and some affirm that Fabian the Martyr did order those seasons especially for all the faithful to receive h Sabellicus Volatteranus ad An. Christi 236. And truly a solemn time of joy seems the most proper for the Celebration of this Heavenly Feast Now hereupon it came to pass that as the Church was wont at this Holy Table to give thanks for all mercies so they did peculiarly praise God for the mercy commemorated on that Festival upon which they did Communicate which doubtless was the Original of these particular Prefaces In the Roman Church there were formerly nine of them to which Vrban added
IMPRIMATUR Jan. 21. 1673 4 C. Smith R. P. D. Episc Lond. à sacris domesticis A COMPANION TO THE ALTAR Or an HELP To the worthy receiving of the LORDS SVPPER By Discourses and Meditations upon the whole COMMUNION OFFICE To which is added An ESSAY upon the OFFICES OF Baptism and Confirmation By THO. COMBER M. A. LONDON Printed by J. Macock for John Martyn at the Bell in St Pauls Church-Yard and Richard Lambert at York MDCLXXV TO THE MOST REVEREND Father in GOD RICHARD By the Divine Providence Lord ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Primate of ENGLAND and METROPOLITAN May it please your Grace I Have often with much pleasure and admiration observed how rarely every part of Divine Service is suited to its proper Subject whereof there needs no better instance than that which is under our present Consideration The Communion is the most sublime Duty of Christianity the Compendium of Religion the best opportunity for Repentance the highest exercise of Faith and the strongest engagement to our Charity and accordingly it is fitted with an Office agreeable to its usefulness and grandeur wherein the Directions are full and perspicuous the Exhortations vigorous and importunate the Devotions fervent and expressive of more than ordinary affections an Office wherein equal regard is had to the Majesty of the Ordinance and the advantage of the Receivers to the Custom of the Antient and the benefit of the present times So that the illustration of this one Part of Liturgy will contain Arguments to convince the Negligent Instructions to teach the Ignorant and be the properest method to prepare us for this Sacrament to assist us in Receiving and to confirm us in all Holiness and Vertue afterwards yea I dare affirm that he who will conscientiously practise by these measures can neither be an Ill Man an Vnworthy Receiver or an Enemy to that Church which affords him such excellent means of Salvation Wherefore that these endeavours may be made publick with more Advantage I have been bold to recommend them to your Graces Patronage and that with great reason For their subject being of the highest Mystery and their design to adorn the most eminent Office of the Church could no where be more justly presented than to your Grace who beside the Dignity of your Primacy and the honour of so High a Station in this Church are so known a Lover and Patron of all its Primitive Administrations Besides your Grace hath a peculiar title to the Author as well as a Right in the subject of this Discourse for he first received the Holy Order of Priesthood and the Power of Dispensing this Sacrament a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ep ad Smyr Apost Can. 39. Concil Laodic Can. 57. from your Graces Hands to whom therefore he will ever pay the Reverence and Observance due to a Spiritual Father b Esto subjectus Pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suscipe Hieron ad Nepot Ep. 2. In fine I am obliged to make this Tender by my Condition and my Duty by Gratitude and Affection And your Graces fair Approbation of my first Essay encourageth this to hope for a Candid acceptance both as it is a Testimony of my Respect and as it may minister to the Devotion of those who approach to Gods Altar My Lord There is nothing more useful to the friends of this Church nor more convincing to the dissenters from it than to present her pure and Primitive Order of Worship in its natural and lovely splendor whereof by the Divine mercy I have seen some Experiments from my former attempt and if this may prevail also to undeceive the seduced to amend the prophane and to elevate the devotion of Pious Men I shall have all I aimed at in this Work only I most gladly comply with this Opportunity to testifie my self Your Graces Most dutiful Son and most humble Servant Tho. Comber THE INTRODVCTION Of the Communion Service in general with the reason and use of this Vndertaking § 1. WHatsoever benefits we now enjoy or hope hereafter to receive from Almighty God are all purchased by the Death and must be obtained through the Intercession of the Holy Jesus And for a perpetual memorial hereof we are not only taught to mention his name in our daily Prayers John 14.13 15.16 but are also commanded by visible signs to Commemorate and set forth his Passion in the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.26 wherein by a more forcible rite of Intercession a Fideles etiam inter orandum Christum afferunt Deo Patri victimam dum scilicet mente affectuque ad sacrificium ejus unicum feruntur ut Deum sibi habeant faciantque propitium Anon. apud Med. Chris Sacrif Sect. 3. we beg the Divine Acceptance That which is more compendiously expressed in the Conclusion of our Prayers through Iesus Christ our Lord is more fully and more vigorously set out in this most holy Sacrament Wherein we Interceed on Earth in Imitation of and Conjunction with the great Intercession of our High Priest in Heaven Pleading here in the Vertue and Merits of the same Sacrifice which he doth urge there for us And because of this Sympathy and near Alliance between these two Offices of Praying and Communicating we find the Eucharist in the purest Ages of the Church was a daily b Act. 2.42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Companion of their Common-Prayer So that there is no Ancient Liturgy but doth suppose and direct the Celebration of this Sacrament as constantly as the use of Publick Prayers they being never separated but in the Case of Novices or offending secluded Christians who only had the benefit of the Petitions but were shut out before the Mysteries were begun And though the iniquity of our Age hath made the Imitation of this sublime Example rather to be wished for than expected Yet the Consideration thereof may both humble us for the sad decay of Christian Devotion and also shew us what Excellent reason our Church had to annex so much of this Communion Office to the usual Prayers of all our more solemn Assemblies § 2. As to the particular Form of this part of the Divine Service Our Church hath taken the same liberty therein which others had done before them For since our great Master who did Institute this Sacrament haâ—h not prescribed any particular Form for the Administration thereof in holy Writ there have been in all the first Ages many Liturgies composed suitable to the places and times for which they were designed Such are those which now bear the names of St. Peter and St. Barnabas but especially the Liturgy of Hierusalem called from St. James and that of Alexandria named St. Marks and that of the famous Clemens Most of which though with some Corruptions are still extant And yet notwithstanding St. Basil St. Chrysostom and St. Ambrose did every one of them compile a several Liturgy for their several Churches and yet all different from the Roman Missal
Christ for its Author than that Divine Prayer which ows its Original to the same person The Lords Prayer must be the most proper Introduction to the Lords Supper It seems our Saviour intended it should be joined to all our Offices of Devotion because he ushers it in with this Injunction Luke 11.2 When ye pray Say Our Father c. In Compliance wherewith as the Church hath again placed it at the entrance into this Service so let us repeat with a fresh Devotion Considering that these being the Words of the Son of a Agnoscat Pater filii verba Cypr. God will if duly repeated make way for the Acceptance of all the rest of our Petitions and Services And as there is nothing can be more agreeably united to the Intercession of Jâ—sus in Heaven in this our great rite of Supplication than that Prayer which himself hath indited So the form it self as the Ancients did explain it doth excellently agree b Oratio illa nihil terrenum habet sed omnia coelestia ad animum tendentia S. Germ. Theor. to this Mystery Wherefore passing by its Analysis and Discourse upon its several parts which we have done before Compan to the Temple We shall now as more pertinent to this Occasion by a brief Paraphrase direct the pious Soul how to apply it to the present duty The Paraphrase of the Lords Prayer § 2. We confess O Lord we are not worthy to be called thy Servants and yet desire so to be united to thy Son by Faith and to one another by Love that thou maist be Our Father in Jesus Christ by the visible remembrances of whose Death on Earth we set forth thy goodness which art in Heaven and not to be seen with mortal Eyes O let us so reverently celebrate this Mystery that Hallowed and adored by us and all the World may â—e thy Name for the Mercies of our Redemption And let us by this Manifestation of our Saviours love be won so fully to thy Obedience that thy Kingdom of Grace being set up in all our hearts we may be ready against thy Kingdom of Glory come where these outward signs shall cease and we shall see thee face to face In the mean time let this and every part of Thy will be done with the like sincerity and Devotion by us thy Servants in Earth as it is by thy holy Angels in Heaven who are now attending upon and desirous to look into these Mysteries But since we want that immediate fruition of thy glorious presence which those blessed Spirits do enjoy Give us at thy Holy Table which thou hast prepared for us â—his day that Bread of Life the Body of Christ c Et corpus ejus in pane censetur panem enim peti mandat quod solùm fidelibus est necessarium Tertul. de Orat. Ita Cypr. Hieron in Math. 6. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophil in Math. 6. which is as necessary for our Souls as our daily Bread is for our bodily sustenance And since thou hast admitted us to Feast upon the remainders of the great Sin-offering Be pleased by virtue of that expiation to pardon And forgive us fully and freely all our trespasses against thy divine Majesty as we moved by the experience of a greater mercy in this holy Sacrament do heartily forgive those that now or at any time in word or deed trespass against us Finally when with the expence of thy Sons blood thou hast reconciled us to thy self and to one another Let not the Enemy renew the breach And lead us not into evil circumstances lest we forgetting our vows should comply and fall into temptation again and so provoke thy Spirit to forsake us We are thine O Lord leave us not but deliver us as Members of thy dear Son from all the snares of the wicked one that we may be preserved from evil spiritual temporal and eternal And as a pledg thereof do thou in this Sacrament to these Petitions set thy Amen SECT II. Of the Collect for Purity § 1. THis Ancient and Devout Collect was retained not without great Prudence as being a most exact and compendious expression of our desires of Purity Nor could it be more conveniently placed since it is not only an excellent entrance for the Communion Office as the Discourse will manifest But a very proper Preface even when there is no Sacrament to the rehearsing of and examining our lives by the Ten Commandments to which it is immediately prefixed For if we hear the Law with an impure heart Sin will take occasion by a Rom. 7.8 Admonent enim saepe dum interdicuntur Cypr. de Spect. the Commandment to cause thoughts of desire after or delight in the very iniquity which is forbidden And then how is it possible we should heartily say Lord have mercy c. Or Incline our hearts c. So that we are obliged upon both accounts earnestly to beg a pure heart And that we may do it with a more knowing Devotion We shall open the particular Form by the following plain Division Discourse and Paraphrase The Analysis of the Collect for Purity Sect. 2. This Collect hath 3. Parts 1. The Reason of the Request Gods Omniscience which is expressed 1 Affirmatively Almighty God unto whom all hearts be open all desires known 2. Negatively From whom no secrets are hid 2. The Request it self viz. 1. The Matter of it Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts 2. The Means By the inspiration of thy holy Spirit 3. The end 1. Internal That we may perfectly love thee 2. External and worthily magnify thy holy name 3. The Argument used to obtain it through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen A Practical Discourse upon the Collect for Purity § 3. Almighty God unto whom all hearts be open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid Of all the Divine Attributes there are none so likely to make us afraid in this our nearest approach to God of coming with an unclean heart as his Omnipotence and Omniscience And these therefore are in Scripture phrase here set before us to mind us that we b Jerem. 17.9 Psal 38 9. Cui omnis voluntas loquitur Missal Rom. Psal 44.21 Job 42.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Petlaei versio Lit. ex Heb. 4.13 Allusio ad victimas excoriatas suspensas dum sacerdos exta scrutatur come before an Almighty and All-seeing Majesty So that if any wickedness be but imagined in the heart desired by the will or acted by the hand in the darkest night or most secret corner it is apparent to him and he will condemn us for it unless we first condemn our own selves Which Consideration we may improve two ways First To shew how necessary it is for us to labour for pure hearts since we are about to draw near to him who is so able to punish and so sure to discover the most secret sins To whose power all things are subject and to whose
need be and never desert his interest either for cost or peril which Prayer we must not only make with respect to our temporal felicity but as duly considering that the Almighty and invisible Governour of the World doth not Rule us immediately by himself but by Kings to whom he hath delegated his Authority So that they bear his Name and act by his Power g Exod. 22.28 Psal 82.1.6 Dii i. e. Judices qui potestatem Dei exercent Ab. Ez. And such as Rebell h Quicunque obfirmat faciem suaem contra Regem perinde est ac si obfirmaret faciem contra Divinam Majestatem Midr. Cohel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Const do fight against God Act. 5.39 oppose his word and resist his Ordinance Rom. 13.2 Wherefore we desire grace to obey not only for fear of wrath but for the Lords sake 1 Pet. 11.13 that is for Conscience sake Rom. 13.5 And this will produce the firmest and readiest obedience to all the Commands of our Governours when we observe them as subordinate to the Laws of God Eph. 6.1 in the Lord i Sed intra limites Disciplinae Tertul. Quia poterant aliquid imperare perversum ideo adjunxit in Domino Hieron in Eph. 6. Superiorum imperia Dura Declinanda sensim relinquenda magis sunt quam Respuenda Aul. Gell. Noct. At. l. 2. c. 7. as far as they do not contradict the plain will of the Almighty and for the Lord Rom. 13.1 that is because of his Authority vested in them And thus the best Christian will be the best Subject Let us therefore most fervently beg that we may all be conscientiously obedient and if we desire that heartily we shall not only obtain grace from God to be so but this Petition is an evidence we are already loyal And were it sincerely put up by all there could be no Treason nor Rebellion harboured in our Breasts but we should live in peace and please God adorn the Gospel Tit. 11.10 oblige the King and declare to all the World that it is not only the Duty but the Interest of Princes to defend the Religion of this Church which makes the best men and loyallest Subjects in the World § 6. Through Iesus Christ our Lord who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever one God World without end Amen It was a false and malicious calumny of the Jews that the Kingdom of Iesus was inconsistent with the Empire of Caesar for Obedience to Kings was never so enjoined and asserted before as it was by Christ and his Apostles And he himself hath told us that he is a King but no Rival to the Monarchs of this Earth For his Throne is in Heaven And his proper Subjects Saints and Angels k John 18.36 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb He reigns but it is with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever For his sake therefore we may pray for the welfare of Temporal Kingdoms who hath power both to dispense them on Earth Math. 28.18 and to command blessings from Heaven on them especially on such Princes who are the Guardians of his beloved Church who own his Supremacy and daily confess and praise Him that liveth and Reigneth for ever The Paraphrase of the first Collect. § 7. Almighty God who art always ready to help us since thou art that King whose Kingdom is Everlasting and All sufficient to relieve us since thou art in Power infinite We beg not single or small Mercies of so great a Majesty but beseech thee to Have mercy upon all the Members of thy whole Church And especially that part thereof planted in these Nations which will be truly happy if it may please thee so graciously to direct the Counsels and so constantly to rule the heart of thy chosen and anointed Servant CHARLES by thy Providence and his undoubted right our King and Governour That He always remembring his Authority to flow from thee and knowing whose Minister and Vicegerent he is even the Deputy of thy Heavenly Majesty may above and before all things seek by defending Religion executing Justice and shewing mercy to advance thy honour and glory for he in so doing will ingage us all to praise thee for setting so wise and gracious a Prince over us And to compleat his and our happiness Grant that we and all others whom thou hast placed in the condition of his Subjects seriously and duly considering that for thy sake whose Authority he hath we owe him all duty and Allegiance may faithfully serve him with our Prayers Lives and Fortunes and also honour him in his person with our hearts and humbly obey him in his Laws by our whole Conversation so far as is possible in thee by the help of thy grace and for thee and for thy sake by a conscientious and exact Obedience according to the Commands of thy blessed word the appointment and Ordinance of thy Supream Providence O Lord let us be so happy to obtain this through the Merits of our great High Priest Iesus Christ who hath enjoined this Obedience and is our Lord who sets up Christian Princes on Earth to rule under him who with thee the Father and the Holy Ghost most gloriously liveth and reigneth in Heaven ever one God in that World which is without end and yet not forgetting us that are his Members in this changeable and uncertain World for his sake be it so Amen Of the second Collect for the King § 8. This Prayer is only added to help our Devotion with a greater variety but being as to the main so little different from the former it shall suffice to remark that the Petitions are here grounded on a never failing l Matth. 24.35 Foundation the word of God viz. Prov. 21.1 The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Waters he turneth it whithersoever he will Although the Kings heart be unsearchable to men Prov. 25.3 and his purposes seldom to be alter'd by any of his Inferiors Yet Almighty God hath shewed many instances m Ezra 1.1 7.28 9.9 Neh. 1.11 Dan. 3.28 Rev. 17.17 that he can change the Decrees of the greatest Monarchs and as the Gardener n See Hammond on Psal 1.3 by opening certain Sluces can direct the streams of his Water-courses to which part of his Plantation he pleaseth So can the King of Kings direct the Counsels and turn the designs of all mortal Princes to his own glory and the prosperity of his Church To increase our wealth at home to secure us against foreign Enemies and defend us in the Exercise of the true Religion is the care of our gracious King the Prayer of all good Subjects and the end of government it self o See 1 Tim. 2.2 Vt placidam quietam vitam degamus cum omni pietate honestate Quid enim aliud est imperium nisi cura salutis alienae Ammian Mercellin and therefore let us rejoice that we have
1. ALthough it be a great satisfaction to him that Ministers to see Gods Table well furnished yet because he seeks the profit of the Communicants as well as his own pleasure he not only endeavours by the former Exhortation to encrease their numbers but by this to rectifie their dispositions that they may be not only many but good And howsoever this hath been done before they came to the Feast it will seem necessary to do it again now they are come if we consider either the danger of unworthy receiving or the dignity of this Ordinance which is made more reverend by being veiled with many Coverings The Aegyptians admitted none to converse with their Priests and to know the secrets of their mysteries till they had been initiated by abstinence patience and many labours a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr de abst l. 4. supposing they would learn to value them by the difficulty of access And so those who entred into the Persian Rites of Mithra b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. Orat. 1. in Jul. were to be first approved by 80. degrees of Tryal to be unpassionate and holy Persons c Nonnus Synag hist c. 5. The like difficulty of acceptance was practised in the entertainment of Scholars into Pythagoras his School d Jamblic l. 1. c. 17. and in the admission of Novices into the Monastical Societies of old e Cassian instit l. 4. c. 3. And can we then think it too much to pass one Exhortation more before we eat of this Celestial Banquet We derive this necessary part of the Office from the Greek Church where the Guests being placed the Priest standing on the steps to be seen of all stretched out his hand and lifted up his voice in the midst of that profound silence inviting the worthy and warning the unworthy to forbear f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost hom in 9. ad Heb. Ethic. Which if it were necessary in those blessed days how much more requisite is it in our looser Age wherein men have learnt to trample upon Church Discipline and to come out of Custom at set times whether they be prepared or no Every one hopes to pass in the Croud but knowing the terror of the Lord we do again and again beseech our people diligently to prepare themselves before he come to try them And that this Exhortation may be effectual to this purpose this following Account may assist our devout improvement thereof The Analysis of the Exhortation at the Communion § 2. In this Exhortation we are incited to Two general Duties 1. Self-examination by 1. Propounding it more largely and shewing 1. The Persons enjoyned Dearly beloved in the Lord ye that mind to come c. 2. The Authority enjoyning it must consider how S. Paul c. 3. The Duty to be done diligently to try and examine themselves 4. The Time of doing it before they presume to eat c. 2. Pressing it with reasons taken from 1. The Benefits â—f worthy Receiving viz. 1. Participation of Christ For as the benefit is great if- c for then we spiritually eat the flâ—sh of Christ c. 2. Union with him then we dwell in Christ we are one with Christ and c. 2. The danger of unworthy Receiving as to 1. The Sin of it so is the danger great if we for then we are guilty of the body and c. 2. The Punishment following upon it we eat and drink our own damnation we kindle Gods wrath against us c. 3. Parting it by an Exhortation unto the special Duties of 1. Repentance Iudge therefore your selves Brethren Repent you truly for your sins c. 2. Faith Have a lively and stedfast faith c. 3. Reformation Amend your lives 4. Charity and be in perfect charity with all men So shall ye be meet c. 2. Giving of Thanks assisting us 1. By way of Consideration declaring 1. The Necessity of it And above all things ye must give most humble and hearty thanks 2. The Object of it to God the Father the Son c. 3. The Subject of it for the Redemption of the world by c. 4. The Particular Reasons as well 1. Why for this Redemption because of 1. The difficulty of the Work who did humble himself even unto the death c. 2. The Persons for whom for us miserable sinners who lay in darkness c. 3. The Ends for which it was wrought that he might make us the children of God and exalt us c. 2. Why in this Sacrament because of 1. The Reasons of its Institution And to the end that we should always remember 1. the exceeding great Love c. 2. and the innumerable Benefits which c. 2. The Author He hath instituted c. 3. His Design therein as pledges of his Love and for to our great and endless comfort 2. By way of Practice in a Form shewing 1. The Object of our Praise To him therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost 2. The Manner how to offer it both 1. In Word let us give as we are most bounden continual thanks 2. In Deed by 1. Resignation submitting our selves wholly to his holy Will c. 2. Obedience and studying to serve him in true holiness all the days of our life Amen A Practical Discourse upon this Exhortation § 3. Dearly beloved in the Lord ye that mind to come to the holy Communion of the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Christ must consider how St. Paul exhorteth all persons diligently to try and examine themselves before they presume to eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. When the Guests of this blessed Feast are now drawing near and the King of Heaven is approaching to survey them The Minister out of a peculiar affection to those who have obeyed his Masters invitation salutes them in St. Pauls phrase Rom. 16.8 with Dearly beloved in the Lord and in the stile of the same Apostle minds them of the greatness of that work which they go about even to share in the Communion of Christs body and blood 1 Cor. 10.16 Their intentions are commendable and it is pitty but such pious purposes should have their desired success Wherefore he doth once more warn them to examine themselves before they eat a duty enjoined not by humane Authority nor prescribed meerly as the advice of a Friend but bound upon all by St. Paul himself and by the Spirit of God in him 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man c. saith he that is every man examine himself and so let him eat c. intimating that none might eat without this renewed Examination and because the Discipline of the Corinthian Church was much impaired by the Schisms then within it the Apostle obligeth every man to do it to himself and that not with a slight inquiry but so throughly to search his own heart that he might be able to judge g Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
impudence fall to them till we have first worshipped and praised him that did invite us d Non debet quis quasi famelicus à cibo incipere sed antè à laudibus Dei Ambros de Sacram. l. 6. c. 5. for Christ himself blessed God before he eat Now if this hath perswaded us that it is our duty to praise the Lord just now this incomparable form will contribute very much to the elevating of our Devotion for it is a pure and genuine piece of Primitive Piety so antiently and so universally received in both the Eastern and Western Church differing in other things that we may justly deem it to have been of Apostolical Institution There is no antient Liturgy which hath not almost the very same words Let us lift up our minds and hearts c. say the Liturgies ascribed to St. James St. Basil and St. Chrysostom Lift up your hearts c. verbatim in the Apostolical Constitutions lib. 8. which are ascribed to St. Clement St. Cyprian also particularly expounds this Preface An. Christi 250. as will appear presently St. Chrysos divides the publick offices into three parts Prayers Supplications and Prefaces e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 3. in 3. ad Colos and when private Spirits attempted to make new Prefaces of their own these were forbidden to be altered and the innovators censured by a Council f Concil Milevitan Canon 12. Not to mention how St. Ambrose proves the Divinity of the Holy Ghost from the following Hymn g Ambros de Spir. Sanc. l. 3. c. 18. But to shew that they deserve admiration as well for their intrinsick Excellencies as their antiquity we proceed to unfold the particulars The Analysis of the Prefaces and Trisagium Sect. 2. This Act of Praise hath four distinct Parts 1. The Resp nses in which a general Act of 1. Preparation is Propounded Lift up your hearts and Accepted We lift them up unto the Lord 2. Thaâ—kâ—giving is Offered Let us give thanks unto â—ur Lord God Embraced It s meet and right so to do 2. The geneâ—al Preface and Reason of this Duty shewing 1. Why we do it It is very meet right and our bounden duty 2. When. that we should at all times 3. Where and in all places 4. To whom give thanks unto thee O Lord holy Father Almighty Everlasting God 3. The Exercise of this duty containing 1. The Company with whom we join Therefoâ—e with Angels and Archangels a d wâ—th a l the Company of Heaven 2. The Act which we perform Wâ—â—â—nd and magnifiâ— thâ— glorious name eveâ—m re praising thee 3. The manner of performing it by 1. Confessing God in his Holiness and saying Holy Holy Holy Power Lord God of Hosts Glory Heaven â—â—d Earth art full of thy glory 2. Giving praise unto him Glory be to thee O Lord most High Amen 4. Particular Prefaces and Reasons why we must praise God especially on 1. The Feast of the Nativity 2. The Feast of Easter 3. Holy-Thu sday 4. The Feâ—â— of Whit-Sunday 5. Trinity-Sunday for 1. Christ Incarnation 2. His Resurreâ—tion 3. His Ascension 4. The gifâ— of he Holy Ghost 5. Revelation of the mystery of the Trinity A Practical Discourse on the Prefaces c. § 3. Priest Lift up your hearts Answ We lift them up unto the Lord. Having searched and tryed our ways by Repentance and by Faith turned again to the Lord we are next by the method of the Holy Ghost advised to Lift up our hearts Lament 3.40 41. They were oppressed with a load of guilt and fear before but as soon as that burden is removed there is all possible reason to lift them to praise our most gracious deliverer such was Davids practice Psal 25.1 such the Precept of the great Apostle Colos 3.1 and from these Divine Fountains this Pious form of Exhortation was derived into all the antient Liturgies It is capable of a twofold sence yet both do rarely agree to this place and to this Ordinance First As it requires a strict and intire attendance upon the duty in hand thus St. Cyprian expounds this Preface h Ideo sacerdos ante orationem praefatione praemissâ parat fratrum mentes dicendo Sursum corda ut dum Resp plebs Habemus ad Dominum admoneatur nihil aliud se quà m Dominum debere cogitare Cypr. de Orat. Dom. and St. Chrysostom i Hom. de encoeniis and St. Augustine k Aug. de vera rel c. 3 in like manner viz. That dismissing all Worldly thoughts we should wholly fix our minds upon the Mysteries and by Faith and Contemplation look into the Abyss of the Divine Mercy till we be even ravished and swallowed up with wonder and have forgotten all other things The very Heathens in all their Holy Rites saith Plutarch l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutar. Coriolan Ea v x hortabatur ut qui sacra adirent reverenter attentè id facerent Lil. Girald had a Cryer who with a loud voice Proclaimed these words Hoc Age. By which they were warned to mind nothing but the Mystery and that neither idleness nor business might interrupt them And is not this much more necessary in this Coelestial Feast where there are so many of the best objects in the World as will take up our whole man and imploy all our power if we do attend them Secondly As it more directly respects the duty of praise which immediately follows after and thus it admonisheth us to lift up our hearts to contemplate the infinite Majesty and greatness the admirable mercy and goodness of him whom we are to praise that when our Souls are transported with the divine glories no baser or mean thoughts may dare to approach or disturb the holy pleasure we are to praise God in the highest Laudate eum in Excelsis sed cum cogitamus quomodo illic laudetur cor ibi habeamus non sine causâ audimus Sursum corda Aug. in Psal 148. to sing the song of Angels Let us therefore elevate our thoughts to consider how that glorious Choir doth sing this Hymn that we may do it with a fervency and pleasure almost unison to them and rejoice as if we were among them we are now going to do the work of Angels and so must be above the World Answ Now the Church hath taught all her Children readily to obey this pious Exhortation and to answer We lift c. as Psal 27.9 For the people being now purifyed by Faith are admitted also to bear their part which they must do not by a bare repeating of the words but an actual performing of the duty for it is not only a Promise We will c. but a Declaration of what we are now doing Take heed saith St. Chrys ye that in the time of the dreadful mysteries are thinking or talking of Vanity O Man what dost thou hast thou not promised the Priest who said Lift up your mind and heart and thou didst
Blessed Sacrament on purpose to purifie us and unite us unto our dear Redeemer Why then do we stand looking one upon another Gen. 42.1 and not rather look up to him that only can help us all will not our own necessities open our mouths nor his tender mercies incourage us to call upon him to give us grace that we may eat and live We do intend to eat but we had better not eat at all than not eat So k 1 Cor. 11.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So let him eat Psal 26.6 So will I compass c. as God requires and So as to be bettered thereby Now to the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure Titus 1.15 In vain therefore should we desire in the following Prayer of Consecration that these Elements should become the body and blood of Christ if we did not first pray that we might worthily receive them There must be a change in us or else though Christs natural flesh and blood were here and we should eat and drink thereof every day we could not partake of Christ l Qui discordat à Christo nec carnem ejus manducat nec sanguinem bibit etiamsi tantae rei sacramentum quotidiè indifferentèr accipiat Prosp sent 341. It is our eating with Faith and penitence love and holy purposes that makes it to be Christs body and blood to us most wisely therefore hath the Church ordered that before we pray for the Consecration of the Symbols we should desire to be Consecrated our selves Thus St. Ambrose in that Prayer said to be used by him before he Communicated saith O holy Bread which camest down from Heaven and givest life to the World come into my heart and cleanse me from all defilements of flesh and spirit enter into my Soul heal and sanctifie me within and without Let us consider the spots and stains the foulness and diseases with which our bodies and Souls are overspread and then behold this salutary and living Manna which hath power to restore us to an excellent purity and to make us amiable in the Eyes of God and then we shall heartily put up this Petition we shall hunger and thirst after it groan and long for it m Famelicus accedo ne recedam impastus si antequam comedam suspiro da vel post suspiria ut comedam August Med. c. 39. as it is reported St. Catherine was wont to do with the same passion that the Child doth for the Breast of its Mother Let us come then with most ardent desires and summon up all our Powers now the Angel is so near who makes our Bethesda Medicinal let us passionately cry out and say Lord hast thou set open this Fountain and wilt thou let a wretched Creature die for thirst in thy presence hast thou prepared such balm to heal me and shall I languish here before thee I know if thou wilt thou canst make me clean here is the very instrument in thy hand Grant therefore holy Jesus that I may duly apply it and rightly use it and then it shall prepare me for thee and unite me to thee by such inseparable Bonds as shall never break unless Eternity can have an end Blessed are they that So eat thy flesh and So drink thy blood So as thou requirest and So as thy Saints of old have done for they have been cleansed at this Fountain and here their Vnion with thee first began Oh happy season Excellent opportunity Lord let me do it well this once and I am thine for ever Amen The Paraphrase of the Address § 6. Holy God! thou mightest justly wonder to see so many grievous Sinners daring to come so near but We do not impudently rush upon these dreadful mysteries nor do we presume to come to this thy Table where Angels do attend as if we deserved this Honour O merciful Lord We do not approach trusting in our own Righteousness for alas we have done nothing which can bear that name but that which drew us hither was our confidence in thy manifold and great mercies which exceed our manifold and great offences And now that we are before thee we must still confess whatever favours thy goodness heaps upon us that we are not worthy by reason of our sinfulness and backslidings so much as with the Dogs to gather up the Crumbs which fall under thy Table not fit to receive the least mercies or measures of grace from thee much less to sit as guests before thy Majesty at this Heavenly Feast But yet we make bold to do this because thou art not to be changed by our sins being ever the same Lord whose property is to be unwearied with well-doing and never wanting in pity and thou art wont always to have mercy on those who confess their offences as we have done Grant unto us therefore gracious Lord by the present assistance of thy holy Spirit so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Iesus Christ spiritually in this Sacrament and so to drink his blood as that we may receive all the benefits of his Cross and Passion even that our sinful and defiled bodies may be made clean by his holy and immaculate body and our Souls which are polluted in every faculty washed through his most precious blood which taketh away the sins of the World Let us be so wholly purifyed that we may now begin to be inseparably united to Jesus and that we by Faith may evermore dwell in him abiding in his love and that by his spirit he may dwell in us always Amen SECT II. Of the Prayer of Consecration § 1. AFter all this Preparation we need not ask with Isaac Gen. 22.7 where is the Lamb for the Burnt-Offering for God hath provided his own dear Son whose blood being already spilt is so efficacious and all-sufficient that there is now no need of any other but this unbloody Sacrifice a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril cat Myst 5. incruentam oblationem Liturg. 5. Marci sacrificium absque sanguine Liturg. S. Basil to be offered and that in memorial of that great Sin-offering which taketh away the sins of the World 1 Pet. 2.5 And for this purpose Christ himself hath b Ille mirabilem quandam victimam pro nostra omnium salute obtulit memoriam nobis tradens loco sacrificii continuo offerendam Euseb praep Evang. l. 1. c. 10. appointed these Creatures of Bread and Wine ordaining that because they are designed to express so great a Mystery they shall have a peculiar Consecration The antient Greeks and Romans would not taste of their ordinary Meat and Drink till they had hallowed it by giving the first parts thereof to their Gods c Romani Graeci in convictu familiari ciborum particulis vino in ignem conjectis libamina Diis dabant Alex. ab Alex. gen dier l. 5. c. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porph. de abst l 2. c. 20. The
sins of the World receive our Prayer Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father have mercy upon us As the Father is the Object so the Son is the Subject of the Angelick Praises wherefore in the next place we are to glorifie him who is remembred and represented given by God and received by us in this Mystery It is usual at the Entertainment of great Princes by a Herauld to proclaim their Names Stile and Titles with great solemnity Even so the pious Soul which hath now received her dearest Lord doth with a mighty pleasure repeat all the names belonging to his Person to his Nature and his Offices and thereby declare the Majesty and Glory the Mercy and Goodness of him whom she hath now accepted for her Lord and King And whilst we are setting out his glories we do also invocate him by all these honourable and endearing Names that he will imploy his Power his Interest and Merits to make our Persons and our Prayers acceptable We behold him dying for the sins of all the World and we cannot but beseech him to grant our Pardon We discern him sitting at the right hand of the Father interceeding for us and thereby we are encouraged to beseech him to pitty our miseries and accomplish our desires His glory and our necessity makes us beg this with ingeminated cries and a redoubled importunity saying as he once in his Agony did the very same words And thus we do at once provide for our own relief and do honour to the Blessed Jesus for this part is so contrived that it is a Confession of our Faith an acknowledgment of his Glory a Prayer and a Tanksgiving all in one and thus we may reduce it to a practical Meditation How shall we express thy welcom into our Souls Blessed Jesus or how shall we celebrate thy praise We will remember what thou art in thy self and what thou hast done for us for thou art glorious enough in thy own perfections O thou Eternal and only begotten Son of God equal to the Father who art thy self both Lord and God How lovely art thou O thou innocent Lamb of God encircled with millions of redeemed Souls whom thou hast washed in thy blood O how illustrious a brightness shines round about thee whilst thou art in the midst of all thy happiness interceding for poor Sinners I adore thee and long to do thee honour and I delight to see all the Angels of Heaven worshipping thee my Lord and my God Hast thou merited so much on Earth and hast thou so much glory in Heaven sweetest Saviour then sure I cannot perish Behold how many poor Souls are prostrate before thee admiring and publishing the merits of thy Death and the power of thy intercession hear our importunate Supplications and help us all therefore O Lord that we may be able by experience to proclaim thy goodness Amen § 6. For thou only art holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the glory of God the Father Amen This Phrase thou only art holy with some others in this Hymn are taken out of the Song of Moses and of the Lamb Revel 15.4 as that thou only art the Lord is from the first Ep. Tim. 6.15 g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apoc. 15.4 Vulg. Solus Pius es 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Timoth. 6.15 Non quod non aliis is titulus aliquo sensu tribuatur sed quia hoc quicquid est à Deo venit Grot. in 1 Tim. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Responsor ad Quaest Graec. There are indeed holy Angels and Saints and there are Lords many 1 Cor. 8.5 Yet none of these have a propriety in this Title because their holiness is imperfect and derived Only Jesus is Holy in and of himself and of his holiness all others do receive He is Holy and Hallowed because he halloweth and sanctifieth us as the Liturgy of St. James paraphraseth it h Solus tu sanctus es qui sanctificas sanctificaris Liturg. S. Jacob. He only is that Lord saith St. Augustine i Solus verus Dominus es qui Dominum non habes Aug. Confes l. 10. c. 36. who hath no other Lord above him For he only with the Holy Ghost is equal to the Father God blessed for ever And this is the reason why we exalt him so highly and pass by the Mediation of Saints and Angels because none is so holy none so mighty none so high in the favour of God nor none so gracious and loving to us as Jesus is This we do acknowledge therefore with all possible joy and triumph and it is a mighty rejoicing to our Spirits that he who hath given himself for us and is come to dwell with us is so High and so Magnificent And while it doth chear our hearts to set forth his glory our Enemies are confounded For while the Church triumphs the powers of darkness tremble at the mention of his perfections Let us then refresh our selves with some such Meditation We have exalted thee O Lord as high as we can and yet scarcely so high as really thou art We will apply our selves to thee only for Holiness for thou only art most Holy we will seek for succour and protection from thee for thou art the supream Lord of Lords and we will not doubt of acceptance with our Heavenly Father because thou art a Partner in his Divinity the highest Favourite of the Coelestial Court Thou art the greatest and the best in Heaven and Earth and to my endless comfort whatsoever thou art thou hast made thy self mine so that the greater thy glory is the greater is my happiness now by Faith hereafter by enjoyment 'T is true I cannot see thee with my bodily Eyes but I admire and bless thee I love thee with ecstasies of affection for thou art my Lord and I am thy servant I feel thy influence and I believe thy excellencies so that I can rejoice in thee with joy unspeakable and full of glory Thou art the highest in thy Fathers favour and in my esteem also to thee therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen The Paraphrase of the Angelick Hymn § 7. O come let us join with the Heavenly Host and sing Praises for the Redemption wrought by Jesus which bringeth so much Glory to God who dwells on high from all the Saints and Angels and which makes on Earth such a blessed Peace by reconciling us all to God and to one another and which also declares so great good will in the Almighty towards Men who had perished eternally without his Mercy Holy Father it is we that receive the benefit of this thy goodness wherefore We praise thee for the Power and we bless thee for the mercy of this great Salvation We worship thee with our Bodies and we glorifie thee with our Souls for thou hast redeemed them both We give
reports of my Neighbour § Have I not incouraged such ill-reports nor published the faults of another to his disgrace § Have I not undervalued good or flattered bad men and given a false Character to please a friend § Have I not suffered an innocent persons good name to be traduced when I had opportunity or power to clear it § Have I not by pride conceived or by boasting uttered false things concerning my self § Have I neither sought unjustly to uphold or wilfully to blast my own Credit Lord have mercy c. And encline c. X. Commandment § Have I not secretly murmured at the Providence of God as if others had too much and my self too little § Have I not greedily coveted the Estate honours o◠comforts of my neighbours nor sought by evil means to procure them to my self § Have I not envyed any so as to be grieved at their prosperity or to wish or rejoice in their losses and calamities § Have I not been apt to undervalue all my own things and neglected to give God thanks for them § Have I not too passionately pursued riches and honours so as to neglect my Soul and Religion upon these accounts § 7. Whosoever hath particularly and seriously asked his own Soul the foregoing Questions will be far from the vanity of the young Man in the Gospel nor is it likely that he will now have the confidence to say as he Matth. 19.20 All these have I kept from my youth For his own Conscience will tell him in most inquiries that He is the Man And accordingly the Church hath provided the Publican Confession Luke 18.12 Lord have mercy upon us Which now may be fitly used First As an humble and dolorous Confession that we are Guilty very Guilty For when the Prisoner falls down and craves Mercy It shews he is convinced of his fault and in that phrase is supposed to acknowledge it Secondly As a passionate and earnest Exclamation for Pardon which now appears infinitely needful when this black and dreadful Bill is set before us Yet lest all this should not be sufficient to produce that sorrow and shame which is necessary for this solemn Confession but our hearts remain still obdurate and unrelenting Let every one lay before himself these Considerations First Meditate of the nature of all these Sins of which thou art guilty They are the Actions of a poor helpless depending Creature done against the holy Will and most gentle and reasonable Commands of that Majesty who could destroy thee in a Moment and whom Angels and all the World besides exactly do obey And besides thou maist upbraid thy self with the folly of Anger the fury of Revenge the filthiness of Lust and the shame of Lying the beastliness of Drunkenness and the misery of Covetousness the unreasonableness of Pride and the vanity of seeking humane Praise the restlesness of Ambition and the vexation of a discontented mind Consider the malignity of all Sin and the baseness of every particular and surely it will appear it was impudence and ingratitude simplicity and madness in thee ever to commit them Secondly Meditate of the number of them And think that if there be so much evil in one Sin How deplorable is thy Case who hast offended in so many kinds Oh how often hast thou acted or designed the greater and more notorious wickednesses And for those which we account the lesser What is wanting in the odiousness of the single Acts thou hast supplyed by frequent repetitions Few days nay minutes passing in thy whole life in which thou dost not sin in these instances I doubt not but thy memory now presents a vast number to thee but alas those that were never observed are far more and those that are forgotten are much more numerous than both Yet these are all noted in the Records of Heaven So that if thou couldest apprehend this formidable Army it would lay thy confidence in the dust and strike thee with amazement to consider how many times thou hast deserved Condemnation Thirdly Meditate of the Desert of these Sins viz. that the wages of any the least unobserved or forgotten sin is death Rom. 6.23 And then how many times hast thou deserved to be cut off Consider how thou art by these transgressions exposed to the wrath of God and to suffer all those Temporal Spiritual and Eternal miseries which the Righteous Judge of all the World hath threatned in his holy word And if thy heart be apt to excuse its faults on pretence of a corrupt Nature a violent Temptation or a sudden surprize and will not believe or fear that God is so highly displeased then tell thy own Soul that for one offence the Angels were cast out of Heaven and Adam out of Paradise and He that is the lover of Men for lighter or fewer Crimes doth lay dreadful Plagues and Miseries upon thy Brethren And God is no respecter of Persons He spared not his own Son when he stood in the place of Sinners and shall He spare thee Oh look up to the Cross of Jesus and behold his Agonies and his Sorrow hear his groans and cryes observe his anguish and his pains Is not God highly displeased with Sin when he makes his own Son the Example of his wrath to his offending Servants In short know that if Repentance do not now procure thy Pardon thou shalt have God and all Creatures thy Enemies and maist justly expect Losses and Crosses Poverty and Reproach Diseases and an evil Death and which is more horrid to be deprived of the aids of Gods Spirit and the offers of Grace and to be left in thy own hardness and impenitency as one that refuseth to be reclaimed And if any or all these have not yet faln upon thee it is only because the Lord will try whether at this time thou wilt seriously Repent but thou art not acquitted though he do awhile forbear Fourthly Meditate of those Aggravations which make thy Sins worse than those of other Men and that will convince thee that thou deservest no less For First Have not many of them been committed against thy knowledge and reason and in despite of all the checks and reluctancies of thy Conscience Secondly And although thou hast made so many vows and taken so many resolutions never to act them more yea and engaged this upon the holy Sacrament of Christs body and blood Yet hast thou not entertained them again Thirdly Have not all those mercies and favours spiritual and temporal wherewith thy Heavenly Father hath courted thy Love been abused by thee and cast away upon thee when all this could not prevail to make thee leave one lust or perswade thee to give over piercing him that hath died for thee Fourthly Hast thou not proceeded in thy evil Courses after all those Examples of divine vengeance on others and all those Calamities which Sin hath brought upon thy own self Hast thou feared any longer than the smart remained Hast thou not made the
For is it not as sure as God is true that if I persist in them I shall lose all my interest in my only Saviour forfeit all my hopes of Heaven and sell my title to the glorious Kingdom which is full of ravishing and endless pleasures and all abundance of whatsoever heart can wish And besides this insupportable loss shall not my Soul be condemned in the last dreadful judgment and cast into the Region of horror and darkness anguish and torments that have no abatement nor no end Why then Oh my Soul wilt thou buy these vanities so dear and be so abused by thy Enemies so ungrateful to thy dying Redeemer and so mischievous and cruel to thy self Wilt thou ever be so foolish and so desperate to commit the like again Say then O my Soul I abhor and renounce these accursed delusions being almost enraged at my self that I have been cheated with them so long My reason is convinced and my will perswaded that thy ways are the Right Therefore O Lord encline c. § 10. Secondly To engage our minds to all the Duties of Religion and Piety Justice and Charity that we may unalterably chuse them Let every one of us meditate First Why should I be backward to vow my obedience to the Laws of God Are they any thing else but a method of living well and wisely free from fears and injury Do they not teach me to bear my self so that I may win the favour of God and good men and be safe in the best and happy in the worst condition Can I wish my dearest Friend or my own Soul a greater felicity than to be meek and patient grateful and contented temperate and industrious just and bountiful to converse with God rejoice with Angels to imitate the Saints follow the blessed Jesus and to seek Everlasting Joy Secondly Doth God require any thing impossible unjust or unreasonable Am I to bind my self to any more than that which my Judgment and my Conscience when I am serious tell me it is fit and expedient for me to do although it had never been commanded Is it any more than that which all the wisest and best men the friends of God and the Darlings of Heaven have done with the greatest delight and pleasure and therefore it is the only proof of a generous and noble Spirit Thirdly Is not my God the best of all Masters who covers the infirmities and strengthens the weaknesses of his Servants Can I fail to please him who begets the desire and enables for the performance and makes the way familiar and easie pleasant and inviting and yet where there is a hearty endeavour doth make many abatements and accept the will for the deed d Quia voluit etiamsi non valuit adimplere 2 Cor. 8.12 and who begins his assistances early and continues them till he hath perfected this excellent work Fourthly Finally shall I not be rewarded with a glorious Crown in Heaven for being so wise as to chuse to be happy on Earth Is not this the sure way to the enjoyment of God the Society of Jesus and the Fellowship of glorified Saints and blessed Souls to Eternal Peace never-ceasing Joy to the most perfect and compleat felicity which shall last for ever though the trouble of gaining it be but short and transitory Be wise therefore Oh my Soul and easily perswaded to chuse thine own happiness And say I desire and long to be acquainted with these paths of pleasantness I chuse and love them all O Lord encline our hearts to keep these Laws And now I hope it may be time to bend your knees again and with a fresh bewailing of your transgressions and many acknowledgments of your Conviction to renounce and protest against all iniquity especially that by which you have been most apt to fall and also to vow and engage that you will lead a holy life which you must do most seriously as in the presence of God And finally looking unto Jesus the purchaser of Pardon and the giver of all Grace most humbly beg the holy Spirit that you may be enabled to keep this pious resolution since it is your wisdom and happiness never to break it more to which purpose say Lord write all these thy Laws in our hearts we beseech thee That is in our memories and on our affections that we might not offend against them Psal 119.11 For if his Spirit ingrave them on our Souls we shall with ease and pleasure keep and do them Ezek. 36.26 Wherefore let us beg this favour most earnestly and let us not doubt of being heard For this is the first and greatest part of the new Covenant God hath ingaged He will put his laws in our minds and on our hearts will he write them Jerem. 31.33 Heb. 8.10 And further if we so sincerely pray for this grace of Obedience it will ingage our Heavenly Father still more effectually to grant the last clause viz. that our Sins and iniquities he will remember no more SECT IV. Of the two Collects for the King § 1. THE Kings Majesty is fitly prayed for after the Commandments because he is Custos utriusque Tabulae and his Example is a great encouragement to the good and his Power a terror to the evil and so may be a great furtherance to the Observation of the Laws of God And it doth as conveniently precede the daily Collect for therein we beg all inward grace and herein all outward prosperity for the Church which is always prosperous under good and happy Princes And although we had prayed for the King before a Comp. to the Temple yet we are enjoined to do it here again for these Reasons First Because the welfare of the Kings Majesty is of so great and universal concernment to Religion and the Laws to Ministers and People that no one Earthly blessing is so necessary to be asked or so advantageous when obtained Secondly Because this is a distinct Office anciently used some hours after Morning Prayer b Vid. Spar. Rational p. 239. and S. Paul seems to Command that we should pray for Kings in all our Prayers and that first of all 1 Tim. 11.1 2. as we in this Service do Thirdly Because it was ever the Custom not only of the Jews c Ezra 6.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph lib. 12. cap 17. in the time of the Oblation but also of the Christians d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. in 1 Tim. 2. Oratio pramittitur pro populo pro Regibus pro caeteris Ambr. de Sacr. l. 4. c. 4. Vid. Aug. Epist 59. ad Paulin. Chrys in 1 Tim. 2. in the time of the Celebration of these Mysteries to supplicate for their Princes as all Ancient Liturgies do attest With unbloody Sacrifices and Mystical Rites saith Eusebius we endeavour to obtain the Divine mercy in order to the common peace offering up then to God supplications for the Church of God and his Vicegerent the King for
and the compliance of our affections being not only confident of their truth because God hath revealed them but delighted with their excellency because they tend to make us holy and happy and then we shall believe them with a perswasion stronger than can be built upon the Scholastical Demonstration we shall adhere to them closely and for ever because they are amiable and lead us to God and immortality Let us not think our Faith sufficient till we so believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour that we are moved thereby to repent of our sins and cast our Souls on him for Pardon and then we have spiritually communicated already we have obtained the benefits and perfected the designs of this Sacrament and done that internally and nakedly by Faith which is more solemnly effected in the Mysteries themselves To which there is no better preparation than such a repetition of our Holy Faith The Paraphrase of this Creed Sect. 4. I confess with my mouth and believe with my heart in one God a pure and infinite Spirit distinguished into three Persons the first of which is God the Father declared to be Almighty as he is the Maker of Heaven and Earth Creator of the whole World and all things contained in any part thereof both visible as all bodily substances on Earth and invisible as spiritual beings and Angels in Heaven And I also believe firmly in one Lord Iesus Christ the second Person of the glorious Trinity who is not as Angels or Men the adopted but the only begotten Son of God not created in time but begotten of his Father from all Eternity before all Ages of the Coelestial or Terrestrial Worlds Of the same nature with his Father God begotten of God after a mysterious and spiritual manner as Light is kindled of Light not diminishing his Fathers substance and yet being very God of very God derived not as the Creatures for he was begotten and not made and is equal to God being of one nature and substance with the Father and of the same dignity and power for he is that Eternal Word by whom all things were made out of nothing I believe also it was this very Son of God who passing by the fallen Angels for us Men and for the effecting of our Salvation and deliverance out of the state of sin and death in which we miserably lay came down unto this Earth from Heaven and left his glory for he took our nature and was incarnate by assuming a body of flesh like ours only without sin because it was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary so though he was still very God yet he took the form of a servant And was made Man living holily and working Miracles till at last he was unjustly condemned and was crucified also with intolerable torments to satisfie Gods justice for us and all Mankind who were become liable to Damnation which cruel Death he endured under Pontius Pilate the Roman President by whose unjust sentence he suffered till he was really dead and was buried and yet when he had paid the full price of our Redemption The third day after his Crucifixion by his divine power he rose again to life according to all those Prophecies and Types of him before recorded in the Scriptures After which he conversed with his Disciples fourty days and ascended in their sight into Heaven where he is restored to all his glory and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father interceeding for us And he shall come again at the end of the World with glory and Millions of Saints and Angels to judge all men according to their works both the quick then living and the dead who departed never so long since whereupon the wicked shall be condemned to endless Torments and the righteous received to immortal joy by the same Jesus whose Kingdom shall then fully begin but shall have no end but remain for ever and ever And I believe most firmly in the Holy Ghost the third person of the glorious Trinity who is also very God the Lord and giver of grace and all spiritual Life who is not made nor begotten but proceedeth from the Father and the Son yet is not less in dignity as who with the Father and the Son in all Offices of the Church together and in the same manner is worshipped and glorified being the inditer of holy Scriptures and he who spake by the Prophets in the Old Testament and by the Apostles in the New And finally I believe that the whole body of Christian people holding the right Faith do make one Catholick and Universal True and Apostolick Church in which Society I acknowledge there are great priviledges viz. One Baptis◠instituted by Christ not only as a sign of but a means for the remission of all those sins which we are guilty of when we enter into this Covenant Wherefore being my self baptized I hope for pardon and grace in this life And I look for and expect that my body though after Death corrupted and turned to dust shall be restored to life in the Resurrection of the Dead at the last day and I hope then for a Portion in glory and the life Everlasting and that I shall Reign in the blissful Kingdom of the World which is to come after this is utterly dissolved Amen Lord be it unto me according to my Faith Amen § 4. The Sermon which is here to follow comes not within the Method we have proposed so that we shall only note that it was appointed by Antiquity there should be Sermons i Concil 6. Constant can 19. Concil Mogunt can 25. or Homilies k Concil Vasense can 4. an Christi 460. every Lords Day especially when the Lords Supper was Administred l Acts 20.7 Post lectionem legis prophetarum Epistolarum c. Ordinatus-alloquatur populum verbis Exhortatoriis Const Apost c. 4. Leo. 1. Serm. 2. de Pasch Aug. confes l. 3. cap. 3. and surely this is the fittest place since the Sermon is either an explication of some Article of the Creed preceeding or an exhortation to the following duty of Charity But I do earnestly wish that when there is a Communion the Minister would sute his Discourse to that occasion for to treat of another subject then although otherwise never so good will too much divert the minds of those whose careful preparation hath composed their thoughts for this Ordinance whereas if the Sermon be chiefly tending to raise them still into a higher strain of Devotion for their communicating it will be a word spoken in due season Prov. 15.23 and rarely improve their Souls then made tender by Repentance and much more apt to receive impressions from all representations of the love of Christ and the means of our Union with him Yet withal the people must now hear with extraordinary attention and receive with great affection these holy Instructions and Exhortations drawn from the Word of
would have men do by us if we were so served we should think we had good cause to be moved and do we well to be angry let us observe whether the Almighty have not higher provocations by our denying to come to this mysterious Solemnity For first Let us consider who it is that invites not our equal nor our superiour in a few degrees but the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who shews admirable condescension in that he will admit us and doth grace us by this invitation with the greatest honour of which we are capable Ahasuerus might have taken it ill if his Princes Esther 1.3 and Herod if his Captains Mark 6.21 had not attended their Royal Festivals But for us to reject the Feast with God is more impudent than for a Beggar to slight the relief of an Emperour more base than for a Malefactor to refuse to eat at the Table of that King who had lately sealed his Pardon and were desirous to shew him some more peculiaâ— token of his love Secondly Consider we whaâ— it is which is provided for us in this Feast it is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World And oh how much it cost to furnish the Holy Table thus Hâ—aven was ransackt and the Son of God taken fâ—om the embraces of his Bosom and cloathed with râ—gs of humanity instead of Robes of Glory but this is not all this Jesus must be slain with most exquisite torments he must smart and bleed and die his body must be all broken and his vital blood poured forth beâ—ore he could become our Sacramental food God could more easily and with less expence have slain all Creatures in the World to treat us but Heaven and Earth with all their store could afford no other food but this at which an offended God and his sinful Creatures could Feast together nothing could make such a Sacrament but the remainders of that Sacrifice which expiated the sins of the whole World And can we dare we refuse to tast of that which was so dearly bought for us Perhaps we think it is but one dish 'T is true but in this one it is verified what the Jews boasted of their Manna Wisdom 16.20 viz. that it contains all kinds of tasts and sutes it self to every Appetite Christ alone is all in all Meat and Medicine Pardon to the Penitent light to the ignorant strength to the weak and comfort to the troubled Spirit he is all that we need or can desire And do we slightly pass it by Thirdly Add to this that we who are the Persons invited do own God for our God and call Jesus our Lord nay we have in our Baptism vowed to be his Servants and Souldiers so that to go back when he calls is treacherously to withdraw t In versione Graecâ Liturg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Hebr. 10.38 39. h. e. signis relictis è bello aufugere from our Allegiance and to break our Baptismal Vow And besides we do starve our Souls by depriving them of this Heavenly food u Vt perdunt propriam mortalia corporia vitam Si nequeunt escas sumere corporeas Sic animae nisi deliciis rationis alantur Dum verbi aeterni pane carent pereunt Nam quid erit quod dira procul fastidia pellat Cum se ipso refugit Mens saturare Deo Prosp so that we are false to God and injurious to our selves if we come not to this Feast Fourthly Let us weigh the Reason why our Heavenly Father hath invited us hither it is no ordinary Festival but a most mysterious Rite wherein because we are so unapt to be wrought upon unless it be by sensible x In ratione sacrorum par est animae corporis causa nam plerumque quae non possunt per animam fieri fiunt per Corpus Servius ad Aen. things the Symbols which may be seen and tasted are contrived to remember us of our great expiation to encourage us to rely upon it to express the willingness of Jesus to pardon and receive us We come hither to behold the price of our Redemption to embrace Christ with all his graces and that we may with all possible joy and gratitude surrender up our Souls and all our powers to his service for ever We come to praise God to pray for all the World to exercise the graces which we have and to procure those which we want Wherefore let us take good heed lest by abstaining and refusing this Divine Ordinance we be found rejecters of Christ and despisers of the offers of his grace He that neglecteth that Ordinance wherein the whole design of the Gospel is Acted by the prepared Communicant wherein our Saâ—â—our is held out and remembred given and received will scarce acquit himself by pretending that he doth all this by Faith at home for if so why do not we act our Faith in Gods way or why do we omit the solemnity unless we would not be so publickly obliged We pretend we fear we shall offend God if we come But do we not anger him more by staying away without any endeavours to be fitted Is not God tender of having his love abused and his Son despised Can we think he will not be displeased at us whenas in this one act we affront his goodness and slight our own Salvation § 6. It is an easie matter for a man to say I will not Communicate because I am otherwise hindred with Worldly business But such excuses are not so easily accepted and allowed before God If the Lord would dispense with our Obedience as often and as easily as we can find out an Apology for our neglect we should never do any duty at all for he that is unwilling to obey and desirous to be deceived shall never want excuses so long as Satan can suggest them and though they be slight and trifling and such as we would not accept from our Neighbour yet we are so favourable in our own cause that we fancy they are sufficient to clear us before God but alas such excuses do never make the sin less and yet they make the Sinner more apt to do evil and more confident when he hath committed it Wherefore the Church doth prudently vouchsafe to examine the most principal of those poor pretences by which men are wont to put off their Communicating and to give them a particular answer First Our Worldly business and appointments our Company and concerns are such we say as cannot at this time be dispensed with And it is though rarely yet sometimâ—s possible some occasion may fall out which can not be put off nor could not be foreseen and yet must not be neglected and then it may for once excuse us but the Church minds us that this is not so easily accepted by God who knows the true state of our affairs as it is alledged by men to palliate their own unwillingness For First The Almighty
peccatum manifestâ plecteretur poenâ nihil ultimo judicio reservari putaretur si nullum puniret nec providentiam esse crederetur August de Civ Dei lib. 1. cap. 8. from temporal miseries he hath more secret and more sad means of punishing us by spiritual evils viz. by withdrawing his Spirit from us and letting loose Satan on us by giving us up to a hard heart and a reprobate mind and finally he can send us into those Regions of sorrow where the extremity of the torments will sufficiently make amends for the deferring of the Execution Oh consider this ye that forget God and do not by doing this injury to him bring the greatest misery upon your selves for all this vengeance is due to you while you live in wilful neglect of this blessed Sacrament § 13. When ye wilfully abstain from the Lords Table and separate your selves from your Brethren who come to feed on the Banquet of that most Heavenly food We must carefully distinguish those who absent themselves from the Lords Supper or else we shall condemn the righteous with the wicked for this great sin and heavy judgment belongs only to those who wilfully m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est quod nec provideri potuit nec improbo sit animo à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod provideri potuit non tamen fit improbo animo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod destinatò impâ—obo sit animo Arist de art Orator do abstain There are some who forbear once or twice and are not guilty viz. if they be under the Censures of the Church or of their own Conscience and cannot yet make their peace if they are labouring for the pardon of some lately committed sin if they be prevented by sickness or surprized by indispensable business but such must with the pious Emperour Theodosius look toward the Church with sad hearts wishing they might receive and accounting the poorest Creatures there happier than themselves lamenting the occasion of their present exclusion and being never satisfied until they can prepare and have another opportunity and such will come with the greater appetite to the next Communion But those who wilfully abstain are such as stay away from time to time and are glad of any excuse for it who secretly wish they were never obliged to come at all and contrive to miss the opportunity and will not be perswaded nor convinced it is these wretches who do first so grievously offend God as was shewed before and of whom it is said now Secondly they sin against their Brethren by a wicked separation for this Ordinance is the badge of a Christian and designed to make us all one body and bind us together in the Bonds of Charity They therefore that will not receive it do cast away Christs badge and cut themselves off from the body of the Church and refuse to be bound in the Bonds of Love indeed they declare themselves no Members of this blessed Society who may say to such absenters as St. Peter to Simon Magus Acts 8.21 Ye have neither part nor lot with us in this matter Now how evil a thing this is may appear in that they do what they can to discourage men from receiving and to breed scruples in the minds of those who do Communicate yea to cast a disgrace upon the Ordinance it self But let them beware of cutting themselves off from those who are the Members of Christ and so from their part of eternal life since it is just to shut them out from the Communion of Saints in Heaven who never would Communicate with them on Earth There are many holy Persons who do participate but these do not and so are in a contrary way if good men do well to come why do they not follow them if they be in the way to Heaven the absenters are going I fear to a worse place It may be there are some wicked persons who are crowded into these mysteries and some pretend they stay away because of them But let us beware of the Pharisees Pride Isai 65.5 in bidding men stand off for we are holier than they the best men despise none and usually think themselves the worst of all and how do we know but they may be begun to be changed by Gods grace however we are not judges but the Church our duty is to fit our selves not to make all others so We are to wish that all the Congregation were holy but if all be not we must not lose our part in Gods Ordinances because an Esau or Judas may be there if we be not like these persons in their Sin we shall not fare the worse for them God can distinguish though we sit never so near in place if we be distant in our qualities he will accordingly dispense his favours We must converse with such sometimes in the World where there is more danger they should infect us but here perhaps our devotion may do them good but their guilt can do us no harm § 14. These things if ye earnestly consider ye will by Gods grace return to a better mind for the obtaining whereof we will not cease to make our humble Petitions unto Almighty God our Heavenly Father Were the sin and danger of neglecting this Holy Sacrament duly considered there would be fewer offenders in this kind and if we have been guilty therein whatsoever we have deserved for former omissions it appears our estate is not yet desperate because God hath spared us and given us this one invitation more it is likely we heard this Exhortation but slightly before and resolved not to come however but if we will weigh it seriously now and beg the help of Gods grace there is no doubt but we may repent and amend For we are herein courteously invited and earnestly pressed to come our scruples are satisfied our excuses shewed to be vain our duty is made evident and our peril of neglecting it fully expressed so that nothing but obstinate purposes to despise Reason and Example the Injunctions of God and the request of our well-wishers can after this keep us back It had been just in God to have cut you off before but since he still calls God forbid that we Ministers should sin in ceasing to pray for you 1 Sam. 12.23 notwithstanding all the denials you have given us since our Master forbears we will exhort you earnestly and pray heartily for you still to him who is Almighty to subdue your obstinacy and our Heavenly Father who is apt to pitty poor Sinners and if you join your Prayers to ours and consider as well as pray we are confident the success will be that you shall lay aside your idle excuses and both resolve to come to the Sacrament and be careful to prepare for it so shall all your former contempt be forgiven and your present addresses be accepted to your endless comfort Amen PARTITION II. Of the more immediate Preparation SECT I. Of the Exhortation at the Communion §
reply We lift them up n Chrysos homil de encoeniis c. The heart of holy men is daily directed to Heaven and therefore when the Priest admonisheth them to lift it up thither they may safely answer We lift c. p Corda fidelium coelum sunt quia in coelum quotidiè diriguntur dicente sacerdote Sursum corda securè Respondent Habemus ad Dominum Aug. de tempor ser 44. for where our Treasure is there will our heart be also And he that requires q Id. de ver Relig. c. 16. this duty of us will enable us to perform it O happy agreement when Priest and people are raised up above this sublunary World and ascended into the Holy Mount to converse with Jesus with whom it is good to dwell for ever § 4. Priest Let us give thanks unto our Lord God Answ It is meet and right so to do When the Soul is thus lifted up and enlarged by contemplating the glories of God it is then in right frame to celebrate his Praise wherefore the Priest improves the opportunity and invites us while we are thus disposed to give thanks c. Thus the Praecentor of the Jewish Choir was wont to call upon the rest to join with him in the divine Praises as appears by several of the Psalms Psal 34.3 81.1 95.1 96.1 And it may be from thence this excellent Exhortation was taken at first which hath been retained ever since Verbatim both in the Churches of the East and West as appears both from the Liturgies r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liturg. Basilii ap Cyril Hieros Ad haec inter sacra mysteria ad gratiarum actiones convertitur Cypr. de coen In ipso verissimo singulari sacrificio gratias agere admonemur Aug. de spir lit 11. and the observations of the ancients upon these words The Priest saith Let us give thanks unto the Lord And surely saith St. Cyril Å¿ Cyril Hierosol catech mystag 5. We ought to give thanks unto him who hath admitted us that are so unworthy unto such mighty favours that being Enemies he hath reconciled us and honoured us with the Spirit of Adoption And then you answer It is meet and right for when we give thanks to God we verily do a work that is just and due But when he granted so great a benefit and gave us such good things it was not an Act of his Justice but infinitely more than of right belonged to us thus he St. Augustine applies it somewhat otherwise but very well in this manner In the Sacrament of the faithful it is said that we should Lift up our hearts which is done by the gift of God for which gift we are admonished by the Priest to give thanks to the Lord our God and the people answer It is just and right so to do Å¿ Aug. de bon perseverant l. 2. And elsewhere t Idem de bon Viduit cap. 16. We do not attribute unto our selves the glory of this great good viz. the lifting up of our hearts But we give thanks unto the Lord God as we are presently warned because it is just and right so to do Let us then give thanks now for that which is past the gracious promise of Absolution Let us praise him for that which is present the Grace that elevates our hearts And bless him for that which is at hand the Banquet of his Sons most precious Body and Blood for nothing is more agreeable to this Office more fit for us to give nor more due for him to receive And if you do from your heart confess that the Lord deserves all honour and glory the Priest may rejoice in the success of his Exhortation for that very acknowledgment is it self an Act of Praise in which both Priest and People are now agreed to join with all possible Devotion § 5. It is very meet right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy Father Almighty and Everlasting God These are still the words of Pious Antiquity the dependence whereof we learn from St. Chrysostom for the Priest saith he u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 18. in 2. ad Cor. having received their suffrage doth gather their Confessions together and then begin the Sacrifice of praise Most joyful it is to the Holy Man to hear such an acknowledgment from the Congregation and that he may promote it as much as possible he doth confirm the truth of so pious an Assertion with many words much of the same signification saith Florus x Repetitio sermonis est confirmatio veritatis Flor. Magister Or as others y Dignum est quantum ad Dominum quia ipse Dominus Deus noster Justum est quantum ad nos quia nos sumus populus ejus Innocent Mist miss l. 2. in general it is very meet that is most fit and reasonable to praise God And as to him who is the object of it it is Just and Right because he deserves it as to our selves who are the offerers thereof it is our bounden duty because we are so infinitely indebted to him If it were possible we should rejoice in him evermore 1 Thess 5.16 and bless him in all places in private as well as publick for he bestows mercy on us at all times and in all places night and day at home and abroad in retirement and Company in sickness and health we are indebted to him for our Creation and preservation for our Bodies and our Souls for our Redemption for the means of Grace and the hopes of Glory so that we ought to give him thanks every moment But at this great Solemnity we must unite all our Powers and as the Christians were wont of old Bless him here for all together If the most ordinary single mercy challenges â—n Act of praise how should we raise our gratitude to the highest pitch now when we survey them all at once § 6. Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious Name That the Angels were present at the performance of divine mysteries hath been the opinion of both Heathens and of Christians z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse dicit Plutar. lib. de Orac. Angelo orationis adhuc adstante Tertul de orat but that they are especially present at the Lords Supper is generally received Flesh and blood saith St. Chrysost a Chrys in Math. hom 10. is here made a part of the Angelick Choir And again b Idem Homil. de non contem Eccles Consider O man near whom thou standest in these terrible mysteries with whom thou art about to worship God with Cherubins and Seraphins and all the Heavenly Powers And surely it will mightily exalt our affections and stir us up to the most vigorous devotion to consider with whom we are to bear a part not
the Tenth concerning the Virgin Mary not till the year 1095. But our prudent Reformers have retained only five of the most ancient which are concerning the principal Acts of Christ His Incarnation Resurrection Ascension and sending of the Holy Ghost all which we may very properly bless God for over this Commemoration of his Passion because they are either the Precedents to his Death or the consequents thereof only that of the Holy Trinity is added both as it is a fundamental Article of our Faith and a great mystery and because many Sundays are reckoned by it Now for the use of these we must note that as the greater Feasts of the Jews continued seven or eight days so these Prefaces are to be repeated some days after the great day to which they principally belong both that the mercy may be better remembred by often repetition and also that all the people who in many places cannot Communicate in one day may join in praising God for it Which being the great end of them the best method to promote that and fit the receivers with peculiar praises for these solemnities will be to ground a devout Meditation upon every one of these Prefaces proper for those who do partake of the mysteries at any of these Times A Meditation for the Communion at Christmas § 9. Welcome thrice blessed Day the desire of all Nations whose distant glories made the Father of the faithful to rejoice and whose approaches fill'd the World with wonder and expectation thou wert ushered in with Angelick Hymns and celebrated ever since with Anthems of praise because thou didst bring forth joy and a Redeemer to Mankind Happy am I that I have a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving in my hand to express the delight which my heart doth feel This holy Table is the Altar upon which I offer my acknowledgments for all mercies and oh how many how great are those which this day brings to my remembrance so infinite they cannot be expressed and yet so excellent they must not be forgotten This day hath reconciled Heaven and Earth and made contradictions friends to find a way to help us as if nothing might disagree when man was at peace with God O my Soul summon all thy powers to admire and worship for all is Miracle and the height of Wonder Eternity begins to be the Maker of all is made himself an infinite Majesty is shrunk into the dimensions of a span The word is made flesh and God becomes Man yet remains God still Here is a Mother who knew no man a Son that had no Father on Earth a Child of Adam untainted with the Cantagion that infects all his Posterity an Infant honoured with a new and glorious Star adored by Kings worshipped by Angels yet born in the condition of the meanest fortune All hail sweetest Saviour how lovely is thy condescension how honourable thy abasement thou hast more splendor in the Rags of thy Humility than all the Grandeurs of this World could give thee thou art more a King because thou wouldst be like a slave for our sakes and conquerest more hearts by thy stupendious love and unparallel'd self-denyal O how shall I celebrate this great Solemnity wherewithal shall I set forth my gratitude for this most auspicious Day I will receive the Cup of Salvation and with ravishments of delight feast upon that precious Body and Blood which Jesus did this day assume for me It is not enough dearest Lord that thou wast born for me unless thou art also born again in me and as it were become incarnate in my heart In thy Birth thou wast made one with us thou didst put on flesh and wert a partaker of our humanity And thou hast appointed this holy Sacrament that I might be one with thee be replenished with thy Spirit and a partaker of thy divine nature Nor is it any incongruity if I remember thy Passion and praise thee for thy Incarnation at once for as soon as thou wast born thou didst begin to die and the life which was here begun compared to that glorious life which thou didst leave was it self a very Death but therefore thou wast born that thou mightest be capable to suffer that death for us which thy Divinity could not feel and thus thy Nativity was the first Scene of thy Passion for it introduced thy Death and that effected our Salvation so that I will remember both together For in both thou hast most admirably humbled thy self to the depth of misery and yet I doubt not but thou wouldst have stooped lower if it had been either necessary or possible But there needs no more testimonies of thy love Blessed Jesus I am already overwhelmed with these which are so strange and undeserved so sweet and ravishing that my Soul could not contain if it did not vent it self in thy Praises Therefore with Angels c. A Meditation for the Communion at Easter § 10. O my soul adorn thy self with the garments of gladness prepare thy most triumphant Hymns to go forth and meet this great returning Conqueror Thou didst rejoice when he was pleased to undertake the Combate and didst celebrate his entrance into the lists with Praises how then will it ravish thee to behold him come off with such success and honour His warfare is now accomplished and he hath passed through the scorn and cruelty of Men the malice and rage of Devils the just but severe anger of God yea the shaddow of Death and the Regions of Eternal horror and after all this thy Surety is set at liberty for he hath paid all thy Debts and cancelled all those dismal Bonds by which thou wert forfeited to eternal Ruine Thy Champion is Victorious and as the Trophees of his Conquest he hath the Keys of Death and Hell and leads them both in triumph vanquished and disarmed Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord We receive thee dearest Saviour as born to us a second time and this shall be thy Birth-day also the Nativity though not of our Emperor yet of thy Empire thy Restauration to a state of immortality Thy former Birth did shew thee to be the Son of Man but this declares thee to be the Son of God and now we know that our Redeemer liveth he that loved us so infinitely as to dye for us doth now ever live to interceed on our behalf he that expressed such kindness to us in his Passion hath so fully demonstrated his own Power in his Resurrection that we are sure he is as able as willing to deliver us Let the Heavens rejoice and the Earth be glad for this is the Day that the Lord hath made a day to be had in everlasting remembrance a Time destined to jubilee and rejoicing Behold how nature is raising it self from the grave of Winter and seems annually to celebrate the memory of her Lords Resurrection in her green and fresh attire A season chosen by God for Festival 3000. years ago and observed
ever since by Jews or Christians or both with the greatest solemnity See how those blinded Jews rejoice over their Paschal Lamb in the midst of all their Calamities for the deliverance of their Fathers But we have a nobler Passover for a greater deliverance Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast and that upon the precious Body and Blood of the Lamb of God who was slain but is alive again and behold he lives for evermore Wherefore I will go to thy Altar with joy and tell out thy works with gladness O most mighty Saviour who hast not only died for my sins but risen again for my Justification and indeed what comfort could I have found in this memorial of thy Death if it had not been for thy Resurrection this Sacrament would have only remembred thy sufferings and renewed my sorrow to think that so excellent a Person had perished in the attempt of my deliverance but now it is become a Feast of joy because it is an assurance of thy Resurrection as well as a Commemoration of thy Passion And since thou livest sweetest Jesus we live also thy Resurrection raiseth our hearts from sad despair it gives a new life to our hopes it makes our sorrows light our labours easie our lives chearful and our death advantage because it hath lost its sting and is become the gate into immortality We can charm all our fears and troubles with this one word The Lord is risen yea the Lord is risen indeed For thou hast washed us in thy own blood and made us Kings and Priests to God to offer up at this thy Altar never-ceasing Praises Therefore with Angels c. A Meditation for the Communion on Ascension-Day § 11. I see O merciful Jesus thou art content for our sakes to stay here upon Earth when Heaven longs for thy return thou hast these fourty days denied thy self the full fruition of thy glories to dispel the sorrow and confirm the Faith of thy Disciples and yet at last their tears and embraces shew how loth they are to depart from thee But behold the day of thy Triumph is come and the holy Myriads are sent to wait upon thee the Heavenly Singers that go before cry Open your selves ye everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in to whom the Angels which come out to meet him answer in extasies of amazement Who is the King of Glory and all the Chorus that follow after reply Even the Lord of Hosts he is the King of Glory and thus with hymns and joyful acclamations is Jesus welcomed to his antient and most glorious Throne And now O my soul why standest thou gazing into Heaven he is too high to be discerned too bright to be seen with mortal Eyes since Cherubins are dazled at his splendor He is gone to his proper place and ascended thither whither thy desires carry thee and where ere long thou shalt see him face to face Thou standest like Elisha looking after him and lamenting thy Masters departure but he hath left his Mantle behind him even the mysteries of this holy Sacrament which to thy Faith is the flesh which he was cloathed with all and is designed to convey a double portion of his spirit unto thee so that it appears he hath left his Love with us when his Person was taken from us Away then with these sighs and tears lament no longer the absence of thy Lord for he is in this Blessed Feast he is here in his comforts and graces here in his merits and his love and his spirit can Minister the same benefits hereby which his personal presence would have given thee Go then with all possible speed and taste of this Heavenly Provision delight in it above all the sweetnesses in the World because it contains so many pledges and emblems of thy glorious Redeemers love when thou beholdest him that is thy head so advanced make haste to unite thy self nearer to him by partaking of his Body and Blood that thou maist finally reign with him in the mean time raise up thy thoughts above this lower World declare thy desire to be with Jesus send thy heart before and protest if he had not left thee some little tastes of his sweetness in the repast of this holy Table by the way thou couldst not have endured so long without him There is nothing which he loves comparable with his Throne in Heaven unless it be an humble and thankful heart into which I am about to receive him and as the Coelestial Quire welcomed him thither so will I receive him with joy into my poor Soul Therefore with Angels c. A Meditation for the Communion on Whit-Sunday § 12. I will go to thy Altar O Lord with a New-Sacrifice of Praise because thou hast given me a fresh instance of thy Love this day thou art slow to punish thy Enemies but speedy to comfort thy servants for no sooner was thy misery changed into glory but we received the greatest demonstration of thy affections no sooner didst thou put on thy Crown in Heaven but the Earth felt the bounty of thy Dispensations for it was not possible for thee sweetest Jesus to let thy promise remain long unperformed or the sad expectations of thy Disciples unsatisfied Being assembled therefore this Day with one heart in one place they are suddenly surprized with wonder and inspired with a Heavenly Power such as they had never felt before vigorous as a mighty wind chearing as the morning light inflaming their hearts with zeal and filling their mouths with Anthems indited in the languages of all the World Oh wonderful change their ignorance is turned into learning their mistakes into infallibility their fear into courage their weakness into strength their sorrow into joy and they in a moment made able to confound the Arts and conquer the oppositions of the Heathen World and maugre all the devices of Satan to set up the Kingdom of the Lord Christ And shall not we praise thee for these miraculous dispensations by which the Gospel was made known even to us in these utmost corners and last of times Yes holy Jesus we will also meet with one accord at thy Table not doubting but thou wouldst give us the same measures of thy spirit there if our duty or our necessity did require it it is enough to us that thou knowest our needs more than will supply them we dare not ask less thou wilt not give Thou hast given us thy self wherefore we believe thou wilt not deny us thy spirit without which we can have no interest in thee nor benefit from thee We come not gracious Lord with the carnal Jews to devour thy flesh but to partake of thy spirit which only giveth life the flesh profiteth nothing Behold thy Spirit hath converted Millions let me therefore together with thy precious Body receive here such proportions of thy holy spirit as may suppress my evil affections revive my dead heart comfort
not sustained your fury ye had delivered me over to Everlasting Burnings I do abhor and detest ye all how dear soever you have been to me the sight of my bleeding Saviour hath stirred up my indignation against you and I will revenge his blood upon you by sacrificing you all at this Altar How can my Eyes but drop down tears of Contrition when they behold thee pouring forth Rivers of thy Blood but while I grieve to see thy bleeding wounds I must not forget for whom thou didst sustain them thy Blood was shed for me because my life was forfeited why art thou then so cast down O my Soul wilt thou dishonour that price by thy doubts and fears which God hath accepted for all the World cannot that Sacrifice which appeaseth the divine wrath satisfie thy Faith Be not afraid only believe and be assured he will not cast away those whom he hath bought at so dear a rate for thee it was shed for thee it is prepared open thy mouth wide and he will fill it §. 12. Preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life An Act of Supplication O Lord I tremble at the apprehension of all those Evils that stand between me and thy glory behold the Grave gapeth for my Body the Infernal Pit threatens to swallow my Soul and Satan is ready were he permitted every moment to devour me wherefore I beseech thee sprinkle me with thy all-saving blood that the destroying Angel may pass over me let me drink of this Cup of Life and so shall my Body be free from Corruption and my Soul from Condemnation Death shall be defeated the Grave dismantled and Satan disappointed Let me drink of thy precious Blood that I may receive thereby abundance of thy Spirit so shall my Body be hallowed into a sacred Temple and my Soul shall be replenished with such Graces that I can never perish Sweetest Jesus how desireable are thy Provisions oh let us not always languish without them but pitty our dry and parched Souls and water them we intreat thee with these living streams for behold we thirst and long with a mighty Passion to drink of this Fountain of Life that we may not faint in our journey to those Rivers of pleasures which are at thy right hand Oh give us this divine Cordial at present and make it to us a Preservative for Body and Soul to everlasting life Amen A Meditation in the receiving of the Cup. §. 13. Drink this in remembrance that Christs blood was shed for thee An Act of Commemoration How chearing is this Cup to me Blessed Jesus which was so dreadful unto thee it was thy Agonies and thy Wounds which afforded me this Wine of Joy Thou didst find how bitter it was when thou wert appeasing an offended God but I tast how sweet it is now that thou hast made him a tender and reconciled Father I receive this Cup O my Saviour as a new plâ—dge of thy dearest love for from those pits whence these Rivulets did flow I can discern thy heart bleeding in pity to my misery and sick of Love And since thou dost here give me a right to that great expiation which thou hast made I do most humbly commemorate the same before the Father of Heaven as the full satisfaction for my innumerable debts and I will remember the dolours of thy Cross with a brisker sense than ever because thou hast made me drink of thy blood and given me thy Soul thy Life and thy Spirit so that now I will live no more but thou shalt live in me because we have mingled Souls and thou hast joined me to thy self by the Communications of thy Spirit O let nothing separate that which thou hast so graciously joined together A Meditation after the receiving of the Cup. §. 14. And be thankful An Act of Thankfulness and Resolution Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy name for now I find the Mercy and the Peace the Comfort and the Grace which flows from the Death of Christ let all the World know what he hath done for my Soul he hath rescued me and many of my poor Brethren round about me from the nethermost Hell wherefore I will love thee holy Jesus more than I can express and I will love them for thy sake And since thou hast given thy self thy merits and graces to me and sealed a New Covenant with me in thy own blood I do here bind my self by this sacred Cup to be sincerely thine m Mos est regibus quoties in societatem coeant implicare dextras pollicesque inter se vincire Mâ—x levi ictu cruorem eliciunt atque invicem lambunt id foedus arcanum habetur quasi mutuo cruore sancitum Tacit. Annal. lib. 12. I will spend my time and strength in thy service yea and Sacrifice my blood to bear witness to thy truth if ever thou callest me thereunto I will never betray nor forsake thee but live and die with thee for I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous judgments Oh let me never unhallow that body nor defile that Soul in which the Lord Jesus delights to dwell let no Oaths or lying prophane those lips no Obscenity or Intemperance pollute that mouth by which those holy Symbols have passed And methinks I feel new desires and new hopes my nature seems râ—newed my blood refined my Soul full of holy vigour blessed be thy name for it let thy mercy keep me in this happy temper till I have accomplished all my resolutions Amen § 15. By these and such like contemplations you must keep your minds imployed all the time that the Heavenly Banquet doth continue and if the Congregation be numerous and there be further opportunity the devout Soul will easily find more fuel to nourish these flames viz. by considering the necessities of all Mankind the Calamities of the Church the Miseries of the Sick the wants of the Poor the condition of our Relations Friends and Acquaintance and recommending them all with an effectual Charity to Almighty God through Christ Jesus As also by lamenting its own unworthiness and indispositions by recollecting all its present wants both spiritual and temporal by surveying the difficulties and dangers of that pious course now undertaken and by calling upon the Father of Mercies for grace and relief for courage and strength for support and protection in order to each of these So likewise by doing Acts of mental Charity to be put in Execution afterwards viz. Resolving for the sake of Jesus to forgive and do good to our Enemies to reprove Sinners instruct the ignorant help those that are in need And finally by contemplating of the wisdom and advantage of a holy Life the comfort and peace of a happy Death the joys and felicities of the life of Glory with the pleasures of those Souls that behold Jesus face to face these and many more which the good Spirit will offer we must improve
thou dost deserve it all I am sorry I am no better yet such as I am I do most freely surrender my self unto thee both Soul and Body avowing that I will be no more my own but thy servant in all things My understanding shall enquire after thee my will shall chuse thee my affections embrace thee my senses shall obey thee my passions shall be at thy command and my thoughts shall be always of thee O be thou pleased to come and reign over me take possession of me for thou hast won my heart I shall never be my own till thou hast made me thine but if now at last I may be accepted I hope I shall never be so unjust and ungrateful so foolish and absurd so perjured and sacrilegious as to rob thee of my self hereafter or wilfully to prophane my Body or Soul any more It is indeed a miserable gift that I offer a defiled Body a stained Soul and corrupt affections But it is all I have to give and all that thou requirest and it will be freer and better by being thine Let me never have other Master let me never sully that which the blood of Christ hath washed nor sell that to Satan which Jesus hath bought for God Grant me therefore gracious Lord that I may find by the workings of thy spirit within me that thou hast accepted me give me such help from thee to confirm my hope that I may always perform my Vows and never rob thee of that which I have dedicated to thee in the sincerity of my Soul I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous judgments I am thine O save me for thy mercies sake Amen Amen § 6. Humbly beseeching thee that all we who are Partakers of this holy Communion may be full-filled with thy grace and Heavenly Benediction There are too many who are forward enough to promise great things w 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylac in Math. 20. while their zeal is warm which they either do not intend or do not take care to perform x Quid enim est turpin◠quam promittere quae praestare aut nolis per ignaviam aut non possis per imbecilitatem Drus But the sincere Christian is not more ready to make his Vow than diligent to keep it wherefore he considers that this will prove but a vain oblation unless he can obtain the divine grace and Benediction to enable him to perform it and accordingly his next care is to pray most earnestly for the aid of Heaven both for himself and his Brethren We may perhaps be too confident and secure imagining the evil spirit to be cast out and both Soul and Body consecrated unto God but alas how easily may the Enemy return and recover his hold if the grace of God do not preserve us Let us therefore now consider how prudently we have made this vow and how blessed we may be in keeping it let us remember how often we have formerly been surprized and what danger there is of future failings and finally let us think how impossible it is to stand without the assistance of the holy Spirit and then doubtless we shall hunger and thirst after Righteousness and accordingly as he hath promised we shall be filled Math. 5.6 We shall not ask riches honours or pleasures for we have renounced them all but above all things we shall desire the grace of God and his blessing whereby we may have power to keep our Covenant with him made upon the blood of Jesus and this is that request which the Lord delights to hear and which now we have most need to make and doubtless if we be sincere it shall be granted to which purpose we may add this supplication as the enlargement of the preceeding Petition Behold O blessed Jesus how many of thy redeemed ones are here returned to their duty and allegiance we have all vowed our selves thy servants but we do yet tremble in expectation of those most furious assaults which will be made upon us by the Enemy from whom we have withdrawn and Alas we have too often returned again to folly But if thou pleasest to plant thy grace within us and send thy blessing upon us we fear not his policy nor his power We have received that heavenly food which is the means to convey this grace and we know that by this Coelestial Remedy many of thy servants have been dreadful to the powers of darkness and thou didst never cast off any humble Soul O bless then this life-giving mystery unto us that we may find such power and strength such courage and resolution flowing from thence that we may all stand firm to the purposes which we have made Sweetest Saviour we are now thy servants and O what quiet and comfort what safety and joy what honour and pleasure have we under so gracious a Lord how happy shall we be in enjoying a freedom from Anger and Intemperance Malice and Revenge Pride and Covetousness and all the furies which use to torture us O mark us for thine own therefore and deny us not that grace which is necessary to make thee ours and us to be thine if we feel not some effects thereof we shall sink and die for fear lest thou hast rejected us and our Oblation But who did ever seek thee and did not find who ever trusted in thee and was forsaken or why should we suspect thou shouldst make us the first instances of such a severity We are sure in thee all fulness of grace doth dwell O let it now overflow that of thy fulness we may all receive so shall we daily and always perform our Vows Amen § 7. And although we be unworthy through our manifold sins to offer unto thee any Sacrifice yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service not weighing our merits but pardoning our offences To offer up the Sacrifice of Praise is properly the imployment of an Angel and to make whole Burnt-Offerings was the Office of the sacred Order alone But we Christians are every one so far become Priests as to be allowed to come near to Gods Altar and there we are admitted to offer the incense of our Praises and to make our selves a living Sacrifice Yet the more favour we have the more humility we should express because we are unworthy of it and we must not let our presumption grow upon the stock of the divine condescension Let us remember therefore that Aarons Motto was Holiness to the Lord Exod. 39.30 and that God destroyed his two Sons for making bold to offer unworthily declaring thereby that he would be sanctified in those that came near to him Levit. 10.3 so that we had need be exceeding humble and with all possible lowliness confess our unworthiness for alas we have been Enemies and Rebels treacherous and unfaithful full of vain thoughts and vile affections all which is most apparent to him before whom we stand so that we may justly
all gifts of understanding and it hath a sweetness and pleasure in it that passeth all Carnal knowledge and none can tell the delights of this Peace but they that feel it Wherefore when the Minister sees you all united in this divine Peace he prays that you may find such comfort in this Amity and Concord as to keep your hearts and minds firm in loving that God who hath made you all friends That you may be so taken with these paths of Peace that you may desire to know more fully and to love more fervently the God of Peace and the Prince of Peace who first directed you into those blâ—ssâ—d ways In both Senses it is an apt and pious wish that we may not Apostatize nor fall of and therefore we ought to join our own Petitions to this Blessing that so we may be constant to the end § 4 And the Blesâ—ing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be amongst you aâ—d remain with you always Amen It is a principal part of the Priests Office to bless the People in Gods name Deut. 10.8 and he hath promised to bless those whom thâ—y bless Num. 6. ver 27. hereupon the Antient Christians departed not till the Priest had given them the Blessing h Domine benedic Benedictio Domini super nos semper nunc in secula seculorum Amen in fine Liturg. S. Chrys And the Congregation ought to receive it upon their knees as the Blessing of their spiritual Father And we are to believe it to be more than a bare Prayer because it not only begs but imparts a Blessing to those who are duly qualified We believe that God heard his Prayer in order to the Consecration of the Elements and why should we doubt of the efficacy of â—his Blessing i Benedicere populo non debet qui Christum meruit consecrare Hieron ep ad Ruffin We ought to believe that those whom Gods Minister blesseth shall be Blessed and accordingly let us most fervently desire of God to ratifie and confirm it For I assure you it is a most desireable thing It is the blessing of God Almighty which makes every thing to prosper and particularly it is the Blessing of the Father as to our Preservation the Blessing of the Son as to our Pardon the Blessing of the Holy Ghost as to our Sanctification and all this desired to be with us all at present and to remain upon us for ever O happy Soul that receives this Benediction what can such an one need or desire more than the Blessing of God and the favour of every Person in the Holy Trinity both now and for ever and yet wheresoever the Peace of God hath gone before this Blessing shall follow after Receive it then with Faith and thankfulness and when you have done worship and return home with joy since the Blessing of Heaven goeth with you and will never leave you so long as the Peace of God doth rule in your hearts and may that be for ever Amen The Paraphrase of the final Blessing § 5. Let the comfort which you find in The Peace and favour of God and the sweetness of that amity made one with another which passeth and excelleth all the gifts of knowledge yea and surpasseth all understanding to comprehend it Let this divine peace I say keep the affections of your heart and the powers of your mind firm and constant in the knowledge and sincere in the love of God our Father and of his Son Iesus Christ whom we have taken to be our Lord and only Saviour And let the blessing and favour of God Almighty which you all so much need and desire Even the Blessing of God the Father for your Preservation of God the Son for your Redemption and of God the Holy Ghost for your Sanctification Let each of these at present be amongst you and let them remain with you always to your lives end And may the Almighty say hereto Amen and then it shall be so An Appendix of the Additional Prayers § 1. Lest there should be any thing left unasked in this excellent Office the Church hath added six Collects more to be used at the Ministers discretion Concerning which there is little to be said in the general but that they are plain and pious and almost every sentence in them taken out of holy Scripture wherefore it will be sufficient to give them their proper Titlâ—s to manifest on what occasion they may most fitly â—e usâ—d as also to remark in the Margin the places of Scripture whereof they are composed and finally by a brief Paraphrase to illustrate every particular I. A Prayer for Safety in all Worldly Changes § 2. When we apprehend any danger by reason of the sudden Changes and sad Accidents to which we and all the World are liable there are two main particulars which we are to beg of God for our security 1. That he will always assist our Prayers 2. That he will direct us toward the right end For so long as we can pray fervently and are going on in the right course to Heaven we are in no danger whatsoever may happen The Paraphrase of the first Prayer Be pleased to Assist us according to thy promise a Rom. 8.26 and and help us Mercifully O Lord that we may be sincere and devout in these and all our Supplications and Prayers For we cannot be miserable so long as we can fervently call upon thee And thou that orderest every good Mans going b Psal 37 23 order the Conversation c Psal 50. ult and Dispose the way d Prov. 4. ult ubi Vulg. 70. addunt of us who are thy Servants That we may e Ipse autem rectos faciet cursus tuos itinera autem tua in pace producet still tend toward the attainment of our great end even Everlasting Salvation for so long as we remain in the paths that lead thither we are safe Wherefore do thou so direct us that among all the Changes of this uncertain World and all the sad accidents and Chances f Eccles 9.11 Fortuna est accidentium rerum subitus inopinatus eventus Lact Inst l. 3. Sect. 29 which may happen to us or any of thine g Cuivis potest accidere quod cuiquam potest Pub. Syr. in the course of this mortal life We and they may never presume or despair but ever be defended from all the mischiefs of those alterations â—y thy most gracious Providence watching over us and thy ready help afforded to us whensoever we are in danger All which we beg through the prevailing Mediation of Iesus Christ our Lord who always interceeds for our relief Amen II. A Prayer for the Preservation of Body and Soul § 3. The former Prayer mentions the Evils from which we would be defended this declares what it is which we desire should be preserved it is grounded upon St. Pauls Prayer 1 Thessal 5.23 and
believing Persons thereby 3. And it is the more probable that we shall prevail when we ask this mercy because that Our Lord himself was pleased to honour this Ordinance by causing it to be Administred to himself by St. John in the River Jordan Math. 3.17 And He was Baptized saith St. Ambrose not that he might be cleansed but that he might cleanse the Waters that they themselves being washed by the flesh of Christ which knew no sin might have a right to be used in Baptism ever after Ambr. in Luc. 3. and the grace which it received from him it pours upon us Christians idem Serm. Domin 6. post Pentec Yet we must not fancy as Tertullian and St. Ambrose note that this Sanctification was derived only to that one River whereupon some of old would be baptized no where but in Jordan For the Blessing was communicated say they to all Water that should ever be used to this purpose Now if the great end why Jesus was baptized were to Hallow the Water to this use we may the more chearfully present our Petition that the Party to be baptized may find supernatural effects from this holy Laver. 2. The Petition therefore advanced upon these Premises is First For Gods general Pitty to be expressed towards this infant because it is miserable by nature and liable to his wrath 2. Particularly that he will please to wash and purifie it from all its Natural Pollutions by the living Water John 7.38 even his holy Spirit o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl in Johan 3. which alone can cleanse the Soul and which gives the power of cleansing to this Water We pray that he who gave so many illustrious Types of Baptism before its Institution and at its first Original dignified it with the presence of his own Son that he will now look with Compassion on the original misery of this Child and wash it wholly away by his Spirit 3. And we ask this the more fervently because there will follow so blessed an effect upon our being heard viz. 1. Privative if it please him so to wash away the Sin of this Child it shall be delivered from Gods wrath Math. 3.7 since his wrath doth not remain on those whose Sins are pardoned but when the iniquity the cause is gone the wrath is removed also 2. There will follow also positive effects even the Seeds of Sanctifying Graces which will manifest themselves in due time The sum is that if it be washed with the Spirit it shall not be left to perish in the general deluge but be taken into the Church as Noah into the Ark p Ecclesia est arca figurata Tertul. de bap In illa mirandae capacitatis arca Ecclesia figuratur Ambros de voc gen l. 2. c. 4. and so be saved from the common destruction and although this Child as the Ark q Navicula illa figuram Ecclesiae praeferebat quod in mari id est seculo fluctibus id est persecutionibus tentationibus inquietatur Tert. of old be tossed a while upon the troublesome Waves of this World yet if Faith be the Pilot Hope the Sails and Charity the Lading no boisterous Billows shall be able to overwhelm it but it shall triumphantly and joyfully ride over these Surges until they have conveyed it safe to the Port of Immortality All these Graces are the fruits of that One Spirit so that if here it be received all these happy effects will be the consequents thereof §. 4. The second Collect for the Child Almighty and immortal God the aid of all that need c. To express our earnestness and importunity we do again renew our Address and in this second Prayer we request First That this Child may be pardoned and regenerated Secondly That it may be adopted and accepted by Almighty God both which are enforced with their proper motives 1. The first Petition is ushered in by a solemn Invocation wherein we call upon God by all those Attributes which do express his Power and Mercy we confess him to be Omnipotent and immortal 1 Tim. 6.16 the reliever of the needy Psal 10.16 69.33 the helper of those that fly to his Protection John 6.37 He giveth Eternal Life to Believers and raiseth those that are Dead John 11.25 and therefore he is the fittest to be sollicited in behalf of a weak and helpless infant dead in trespasses and sins Yea we esteem our selves happy that we have so great and so good a God to come unto in its behalf for here we do present him with an object suitable to his Might and his Mercy and since this poor Creature is so miserable but yet can neither apprehend its own misery nor speak in its own behalf we our selves become its spokesmen that it may be born again in this Laver of Regeneration and have all its Sins both pardoned and removed and doubtless so Charitable a Prayer from so many Hands presented to such a God for so deplorable an object cannot return empty 2. The next Petition proceeds further and craves that when the sin is removed and the nature renewed it may be most favourably received by God and adopted for his own Child And herein we seem to imitate that antient custom prescribed by the Roman Law in that kind of Adoption which was called Adrogation r Arrogatio autem dicta quia genus hoc in alienam familiam transitûs per Populi rogationem fit Au◠Gellius noc Att. 5. 19. Et Justinian instit l. 1. titul 11. de Adop Sect. 1. whereby a Child being to be adopted into a better Family was admitted by the approbation of the High Priest and at the Intercession of all the people in a publick Assembly Thus we who are already Citizens of Heaven do all join in requesting there may be one more added to our number and received into the Houshold of God And the motive to this Petition is no less than Gods gracious Promise by Jesus Christ Math. 7.7 that if we ask we shall have which St. Luke applies to the giving of the Holy Spirit Chap. 11.13 and some of the Antients refer this promise to this very mystery Nor can this promise be urged more properly For we have brought this infant to Heaven Gate but we cannot make it the Child of God nor let it in so that all we can do is to ask and seek to him to open the Gate and to receive it who hath promised to hear the Prayers of his Church The External washing is but a temporal priviledge and only makes this Child one of the number of the visible Church But the Heavenly washing of the Soul ſ Aquâ enim corpus abluitur Spiritu animae delicta mundantur Ambros in Luc. 3. Quod incorporale est invisibilitèr abluatur idem is an Everlasting Blessing and doth purifie the Soul and fit it for Eternal Life t Foelix Sacramentum aquae nostrae quâ abluti delictis pristinae caecitatis
of the Fathers who disallow that practice and certainly it is a great presumption for an ordinary Person to invade the Ministerial Office without any Warrant and as to the pretence that a Child may be in danger I suppose the Salvation of the Child may be as safe upon the stock of Gods mercy without any Baptism as with a Baptism that is not commanded by God nor hath he made any promises unto it So that where God gives not opportunity of a Person who may do it aright it seems better to leave it undone 2. The Words I Baptize thee c. were always the form of the Western Church and cannot be pronounced Emphatically by Midwives or such as the Romanists sometimes permit to baptize but do suppose a lawful Priest one to whom Christ hath given Power to do this The Eastern Church use a little variation Let N. be Baptized c. but the sense is much the same howsoever in the next words In the Name of the Father c. all Orthodox Christians ever did agree because it is of Christs own appointment and unalterable wherefore when the Hereticks presumed to vary from this form they were censured by the Church and those Baptisms declared null which were not ministred in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I confess there were words put in to explain not to vary the sense x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Constit l. 7. c. 23. fusiùs ap Justin Martyr Apol. 2. And the Orthodox took liberty to mingle a Paraphrase with them yet surely it is more prudently done of our Church to preserve the Words of our Lord intire without any Addition or Diminution Now by Baptizing in the Name of the Three Persons is not only meant we do it by the Commission and Authority of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost But that we do baptize them into the Faith of the Holy Trinity and do receive them into that Society of Men who are distinguished from Jews and Turks Heathens and all false Professions in the World by believing Three Persons and one God This is the great fundamental Article on which all the rest depend and to which they may be referred so that our very being Baptized into the Trinity is an Argument we are Christians and a Profession of the Religion which Jesus taught And the more to illustrate this St. Ambrose tells us that when Men come to full Age were Baptized they asked them three several times if they did believe in each of the three Persons and put them into the Water first when they professed their belief in the Father and again when they declared their Faith in the Son and a third time when they said they believed in the Holy Ghost Ambros de sacram l. 2. cap. 7. We may add that this solemn naming of the three Persons is a kind of calling them to Witness from Heaven that we may as it were profess before these three Witnesses our unfeigned Faith 1 John 5.7 And so we have the same for Witnesses of our Faith y obsignata in Patre Filio Spiritu Sancto nam si in tribus testibus stabit omne verbum quanto magis dum habemus per benedictionem eosdem arbitros Fidei quos sponsores salutis Tertul. de bapt c. 6. who make us the promises of Salvation and sure we shall never dare fall off who have sealed our Profession in the Presence of the Father Son and Holy Ghost wherefore let our words be established for ever 3. We are to consider the Sacred Actions in Baptism which are the Dipping or Sprinkling of the Party with Water It is indeed very probable that at the first Institution of Baptism in those hotter Regions where it was ordinary to bath daily the Rite might be performed commonly by Immersion but the Prudence and Charity of the Church knowing this not to be Essential to the Sacrament did even there appoint that Clinick Christians that is such who by weakness kept their Beds should only be sprinkled with Water which St. Cyprian determines to be a lawful Baptism z In sacramentis salutaribus necessitate cogente Deo largiente indulgentiam suam totum conferunt Divina◠Compendia Cypr. ad Magn. ep 76. And therefore for the same reason it may very well be indulged to tender-infants in these Northern Countries For God will have mercy and not Sacrifice and the divine grace is not measured by the quantity of Water used in the Administration And yet because the way of immersion was the most antient our Church doth first prescribe that and only permits the other where it is certified the Child is weak although Custom have now prevailed to the laying the first wholly aside but it is not a matter worth contending for since sprinkling is sufficient As for the Custom of Dipping or sprinkling three times Once at the naming of the Father again at the naming of the Son and a third time at the naming of the Holy Ghost it is very likely a Non semel sed ter ad singula nomina in personas singulas tinguimur Tertul. advers Prax. cap. 26. Cyril catech 2. it was the general use of the Church of old and they supposed it did very well express the Mystery of the Trinity But our Church hath not enjoined it wherefore if it be used by any it must not be urged as necessary for when some in Spain began to press and strain this Trine Immersion too far it was Decreed in a Council b Caeutum est ne in Hispania fiat baptismus nisi una mersione Concil Tolet. 4. Can 5. That it was sufficient to do it once because this did as well set out the one God as the other did the Three Persons To conclude we ought not to be so much concerned for these outward and ritual parts as for the Devotion of our Hearts Wherefore let the Priest minister herein with all possible Humility Reverence and Sincerity remembring that God is doing his work within while he is exercised without and let the People behold the mystery with gravity and wonder thankfully remembring the like mercy once shewed to them And finally let the Priest and all the People heartily say Amen when the mystery is ended both to shew they believe the Child to be rightly baptized and to desire God may ratifie that in Heaven which we have done upon the Earth Amen so be it §. 5. The Reception of the Child into the Church We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christs flock and do sign him with the Sign of the Cross c. Baptism is by the appointment of Christ himself the Sacrament of our initiation and admission into his Church wherefore when any one is Baptized it is requisite they should be solemnly declared members of the visible Church and when God hath received them into his favour and sealed them with his Spirit as he ever doth in this mystery where
the Phrase is frequently used by the Fathers in this Case The sum of them is to desire that whatsoever is shadowed in the Outward part and signified in Rite may in Substance and reality be fulfilled o Baptismus salutaris est si perfectum est in corde quod factum est in Corpore Augustin and that whatsoever the Scripture affirms to be the duty of all baptized Persons may be particularly performed by this Child That as this Child hath in figure imitated Christs Death and Resurrection so it may hereafter live as one dead unto sin and all the desires of it but alive unto righteousness and ready to execute all the commands thereof That as it is baptized into the Faith of Christ Crucified for Sin so it may mortifie and kill all its corrupt affections until it have utterly abolished all the powers of Lust and Concupiscence and brought the flesh in subjection to the Spirit We pray that it may not renew the guilt that is remitted nor fall back into the bondage from which it is delivered that it may not defile what God hath cleansed nor expel what he hath given but when it comes to understanding that it may make use of the Grace that is offered unto it and improve the beginings planted in it and live like one of Gods Children and one of the Society of Saints and then we are assured that it shall not only have an Interest in the merits of Christs Death but feel the power of his Resurrection and finally it self also shall rise again in the Resurrection of the Just of which this Mystery is a pledge p Baptismus itaque resurrectionis pignus est imago Ambros in Rom. 6. We do most ardently therefore desire this Infant may lead a holy life for if it live like Jesus on Earth it shall live with him in Heaven if it be an obedient Son it shall not fail of the Inheritance if it follow the steps of holy Saints it shall go whither they are gone and with them at last sing Hallelujahs in Everlasting Glory And oh what pity is it that when this Child is set in the right way thither when it is put into such a state that neither former Guilt nor future power of Sin can stop its passage if it hold fast the Grace received what pity is it I say that it should fall off and lose all again And yet too many do thus Apostatize and exchange Life for Death Liberty for Bondage and Heaven for Hell whose sad Catastrophe doth stir us up most heartily to pray that this poor Infant may never do the like but through the Continuance of the grace of God may lead the rest of its life according to this blessed beginning for Jesus sake and let all the People say Amen §. 4. The concluding Exhortation to the Sureties Forasmuch as this Child hath promised by you that are his Sureties to renounce c. The Church hath always had an especial care that this Vow of Baptism may be conscientiously performed And in regard that nothing tends more directly to the securing of Holiness and Religion here is added endeavours to our Prayers for the fulfilling thereof In the first Ages when those of riper years were Baptized the Exhortation q Alloquimur recentèr baptizatos ut animos accendamus sive ad virginalem integritatem sive ad continentiam vidualem sive ad ipsius thori conjugalis fidem Aug. de Civ dei l. 1. cap. 27. was directed to the Persons themselves and there are many excellent Tracts of the Fathers made upon that occasion But now that Children are most commonly the Subjects of Baptism who are not yet capable of Admonition here is a serious and earnest Exhortation made unto the Sureties Which if it be well considered will shew how base it is for any to undertake this Trust meerly in Complement how absurd to put little Children whose Bond is not good in humane Courts upon this weighty Office and also how ridiculous for those who have taken this duty upon them to think they can shake off this Charge again and assign it over to the Parents which are the evil Customs of this Licentious Age It is sure that if this Institution of Godfathers and Godmothers were prudently undertaken and well performed there could not be a more effectual means to repair the decay of Christian Piety and therefore it is very lamentable to behold how slightly men enter upon it and how little they do regard it afterwards For remedy whereof I wish that all Sureties would well weigh this Excellent Exhortation which contains First A review of what they have done Secondly A direction concerning what they are to do Thirdly A reason why it is so necessary that these things should be done by them 1. They have engaged for a Minor unto Almighty God the God of truth and the Judge of all Men they are become Sureties and Bondsmen r Quicunque viri quaecunque mulieres de sacro fonte filios spiritualiter exceperunt cognoscant se pro ipsis fide-jussores extitisse August de Temp. Serm. 136. for this Child unto the Majesty of Heaven and it is a hainous Crime to deal falsly with him ſ Eccles V. 2.4 Quam gravia vincula promittere Deo non solvere Ambros in Luc. 20. and he will in no wise be mocked You have undertaken that this Infant shall renounce the Devil believe in God and serve him and though the Childs wilful Apostasie doth not forfeit your Bond yet your own negligence may if you do not endeavour to instruct and amend him God knows it is not in your power to give the Childs Grace but it is in your power to teach and to admonish and if you will not do so small a matter the Child is lost through your default and it is apparent you care not what you promise to Almighty God for the least that a Bondsman can do is to call upon the Debtor to discharge what is owing nor can there be a more easie condition than that the Surety shall be free if he do but often admonish him that he is bound with to pay the Debt Consider therefore all you that are concerned what you have done and then it is easie to gather from thence what you are obliged unto 1. To teach these Children the nature of their Baptismal Vow and this was of old appointed even as to grown Persons when they had been baptized in haste in Cases of imminent danger they were to be taught afterwards what favour God had done them and what duty they owed for the same t Qui in aegritudine constituti baptismum perceperunt facti sani fidei symbolum doceantur ut noverint quâ donatione digni sunt habiti Concil Laodicen Can. 59. Much more is it necessary in the Case of Infants wherefore The Godfather or Godmother saith an antient Author ought to signifie to those whom they have received from the
strength a Sed ne putes te viribus tuis hoc posse attende cujus est opis August in loc but we may have Help from him who made Heaven and Earth and therefore ought not to despair II. Psalm Cxiii 2. Blessed be the Name of the Lord Answ Henceforth World without end And since the Name of this glorious Lord God hath been our only help and shall be so for ever Have we not all possible reason to magnifie and praise his Name now our selves yea and to desire that it may be Blessed and glorified to all Eternity for he pitied and visited us he redeemed and washed us from our Sins in the Laver of Regeneration and in the fountain of his Sons Blood and he hath now encreased the number of his professed Servants Oh that his Mercy may be remembred for ever and ever III. Psalm Cii 1. Lord hear our Prayers Answ And let our Cry come unto thee From the Remembrance of his former favours we are encouraged to ask for more and in this Humble manner we crave Audience of the King of Heaven before our Supplication begin The Bishop is going to pray and cry to God on our behalf and we and all the Congregation are about to join with him in Prayers for the good Spirit which we need and in earnest Cries to be delivered from the Evil Spirit to which we were in Bondage first therefore we crave acceptance and desire that by his Answering our Requests we may perceive our Cry hath come unto him or as St. Augustine observes the Phrase is doubled to shew the vehement desire and fervent affections of the Petitioners b In geminatione affectus petentis est Aug. in locum Wherefore we must speak this with an earnest Devotion so shall we no doubt make way for the following Prayer to pierce the Clouds §. 4. The first Prayer Almighty and Everliving God who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these tâ—y Servants c. Before the Imposition of hands there was a Prayer made for the gifts of the Spirit to be poured forth upon the party to be Confirmed as appears by the Testimonies of S. Cyprian Tertullian Ambrose c. before cited For although the Spirit do go along with the Water in Christian Baptism yet the Apostles thought it necessary to lay their c Spiritus autem Sanctus in solâ Catholicâ per manus impositionem dari dicitur Aug. in Donat. de Bap. l. 3. c. 15. hands on the Baptized that they might receive the Spirit in greater measures and the Fathers thought it was particularly given by this Rite Nor is it any wonder saith one d Raban Maurus de institut Cleric lib. 1. cap. 30. if a man have a double Vnction in order to receiving the Holy Ghost since the Spirit was twice given to the Apostles themselves John 20.22 Acts 2.4 especially since the Spirit is given to several purposes as the former Author notes viz. In Baptism to consecrate an habitation to God In Confirmation to declare that the seven-fold grace of the Holy Ghost is come into us with a fulness of Sanctity Wisdom and Virtue Or as Eusebius Emissenus serm de Pentec In Baptism the Holy Spirit gives what is sufficient to make us innocent but in Confirmation it gives increase and makes us gracious In short there the Spirit was bestowed to cleanse us from sin here to adorn us with all its Graces e Albaspin observat lib. 1. 25. According to which Antient Doctrine this Prayer is Composed First to acknowledge the former gift and then to Petition for the second in the very words almost of that Antient Prayer which came between Baptism and Confirmation in the Greek f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euchologion Graecor pag. 355. offic S. Baptism Liturgy Blessed art thou O Lord God Almighty Who now hast pleased to regenerate this thy new inlightened Servant by Water and the Holy Ghost granting him a pardon of all his voluntary and involuntary Sins Do thou O Lord and merciful Governour of all bestow upon him also the seal of the gift of thy Holy Omnipotent and ever to be adored Spirit c. And it is very fit we should praise God for the Grace of Baptism before we beg that of Confirmation especially because the washing of us from Original Sin in the holy Laver did cleanse and prepare us that we might be pure Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in the greater measures of the Spirit now begged are but in pursuance of the former mercy The Lord did then consign us to the Spirit and now we pray it may visibly exert it self He then lifted us as his Souldiers and we have been ever since by Catechising trained Gen. 14.14 and now are going into the Field against our spiritual Enemies so that we shall need more visible and more efficacious assistances wherefore we pray for all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which in the Old Greek and Latine Translations are reckoned up to be seven Isai 11.2 and from thence are transcribed into this Prayer and these seven are put for all because the Scriptures describe the gifts of the Holy Ghost by seven Spirits Revel 1.4 Chap. 4.5 5.6 whence also we often read in the Antients of the sevenfold Grace of the Spirit g Ambros in Luc. 9. item Raban Maurus lib. 1. c. 30. and the number Seven is put for the Holy Spirit it self h Septenario numero significatur Spiritus sanctus August de Civ dei l. 11. c. 31. But for these seven here reckoned up it is certain they were in the same Words repeated in the Office of Confirmation as long ago as St. Ambrose his time who saith Remember that thou hast received the Spiritual seal the Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding the Spirit of Counsel and strength the Spirit of Knowledge and Godliness and the spirit of holy fear i Ambros lib. de initiand c. 7. And in another place k Idem de Sacram. lib. 3. cap. 2. It remaineth after Baptism saith he that we be made compleat when upon the Prayer of the Priest the Holy Spirit is poured into us the Spirit of Wisdom c. as before Where he further instructs us that all gifts and graces belong to the Spirit but these are the most Eminent and Principal so that they are put for all the rest We must not be too curious in the particulars since many of the Words seem to be synonymous yet we may thus distinguish these seven gifts 1. The Spirit of being wise in Spiritual things 2. The Spirit of apprehending what we are Taught 3. The Spirit of prudent managing all our Actions 4. The Spirit of power to execute all our religious purposes 5. The Spirit of discerning between good and evil 6. The Spirit of Devotion in Gods service 7. The Spirit of Reverence to be expressed towards God in our whole Conversation These are the blessed gifts for which the Bishop prays
super hominem August in Donat. de bap l. 3. c. 17. and St. Ambrose notes that even St. Paul himself was not so bold as to communicate the Spirit autoritatively to his new Converts but he begs it of God for them Coloss 1.9 t Impetrare optavit non imperare praesumpsit Ambros de Spir. Sanc. l. 1. c. 7. Now the party confirmed ought chearfully to hope this Prayer shall be accepted and while the Bishops hand is over our head we ought to meditate that God himself will keep us in the shadow of his hand Isai 49.2 and that by this Rite is signified that the Lord will stretch out his Hand to Defend us against all our Spiritual Enemies We have given up our selves to be his Servants and the Hand of the Lord is with us Luke 1.66 that is his Spirit is upon us and if we keep close to him none can pluck us out of his hand John 10.28 29. but we may continue his for ever Satan will assault us the World will allure us and the Flesh will entice us to break this Vow but the Holy man prays we may be defended by the Spirit of grace so that we may never fall off as too many have done It is a comfort to see so many Dedicating themselves to God but it is also a sad consideration that scarce one of twenty remember this engagement but they first forsake God and then he forsakes them for ever 1 Chron. 28.9 Oh then let us pray that neither we nor any of our Relations may prove Apostates or Backsliders but that we may remain under the divine protection and continue his to our lives end For if we keep united to this Living Root we shall not only live but flourish grow and bring forth more and more fruit John 15.2 The Grace now imparted is of that nature that if we cherish it we shall encrease daily therein and therefore the Bishop prays we may not only have the Spirit at present but that we may grow in Grace every Day even until we be fitted for glory and be partakers of Gods Heavenly Kingdom as the Council of Laodicea speaks And since so excellent a Prayer is made by so eminent a Person with so antient a Rite let every one for himself and every one for his Children Servants or Friends add thereto a most affectionate Amen §. 7. The Versicle Response and Lords Prayer The Lord be with you Answ And with thy Spirit Our Father c. We have fully discoursed of these Devotions Comp. to the Temple Part. I. and shall only note here That the Parties Confirmed having professed their Faith and vowed Obedience ought now to be saluted as Brethren and are to be reckoned among the Faithful as being sealed with the Seal of God and now belonging unto his Family u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gregor Nazianz. The Spirit hath been given to them we pray therefore it may remain with them The Bishop desires the Lord may assist them in blessing his Name for these Mercies and they mutually pray the Lord may assist the spirit of the holy Man who is praying for them And then all most fitly join in saying the Lords Prayer Which the whole Church sayeth and shall say unto the end of the World August retract lib. 1. cap. 19. §. 8. The Proper Collect. Almighty and Everlasting God who makest us both to will and to do those things that be good c. Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing John 15.2 and the better sort of Heathens confessed that the power to do good as well as the will to chuse it was from Heaven x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · Pindar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · Hierocles which Truth as it is expressed in St. Pauls words Philip. 2.13 is made the foundation of this address We have heard these Persons willing to chuse and ready to promise that which is good wherefore we confess God gave them the will and he can only give them Power to perform that which they have promised and since he hath made them willing already we hope he will make them able also for though the will be good yet if it produce no suitable actions it will but aggravate their Condemnation and that is the reason why we pray so oft and so earnestly for them The Bishop hath now in imitation of the Apostles as all Parties confess y Hic unus locus abundè testatur hujus ceremoniae originem fluxisse ab Apostolis Calvin in Heb 6. Exempla Apostolorum veteris Ecclesiae vellem pluris aestimari Zanchius Vide Chemnit Examen Concilii Trident. part 2. de confirm laid his hands upon these Persons and as Christ shewed his favour to little Children Math. 19.15 by laying his hands on them and expressed his love to St. John by the same sign Revel 1.17 So the Holy Man hath laid his hands on these as a token of Gods favour and therefore he is concerned to pray that it may not be an empty and insignificant sign but that the Hand of God may be over them for ever even when his hand is removed and that Gods Spirit may be always with them which Petitions are well Paraphrased by that Prayer of the Greek Church Lay thy mighty hand upon him and protect him by the power of thy goodness keep this holy Seal inviolable and vouchsafe to bring him to Eternal Life and to fulfill all thy good pleasure z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · Eucholog in offic ablut post S. Baptism For thus it is desired here that the Hand and Spirit of God may continue with us the one to assist us in the understanding the other to help us in the performance of the Divine Word till we come to everlasting happiness The Word of God shews us the way to Heaven The Spirit makes us to understand and obey the Directions thereof so that if God hear this Prayer we cannot miss of that blessed end And here we must observe to what end the Holy Ghost is given us in this Ordinance not to make us able to speak with Tongues but to know the Word and do the Will of God It is the saying of the famous St. Augustine The Spirit which is now given by imposition of hands is not attested by temporal and sensible miracles as it was at first for the commendation of our Faith while it was young and to enlarge the beginnings of the Church For who doth now expect that those on whom hands are laid for receiving the Holy Ghost should presently begin to speak with tongues but yet the divine Love is understood to be secretly and invisibly inspired into their hearts by the Bond of Peace which enables them to say The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which he hath given us August de Bapt. in Donat. lib. 3. cap. 16. So that we must not despise Confirmation in our Church though it be not