IMPRIMATUR Ex Edib Lambeth 14 Sept. 24. 1685. Jo. Battely R. Rmo. P. Dno Willielmo Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domesticis THE Devout Communicant Assisted with RULES FOR The Worthy Receiving OF THE BLESSED EUCHARIST TOGETHER With Meditations Prayers and Anthems for every day of the Holy Week In Two Parts By AB SELLER Rector of Combentynhead Devon LONDON Printed for R. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Churchyard MDCLXXXVI THE PREFACE HAVING sadly observed how much Injury the Doctrines of Faith have received by multiplied Disputes and that the best Methods which the wisest men have used to stifle such unmanly Controversies have unexpectedly begot more of the kind I resolved to try whether diverting the humor might not tend to the cure of the Malady and the imploying of our time in Devotional Offices might not dull the Edg of a quarrelsome Inclination the Peace of Jerusalem being never promoted so readily as by constant Prayers frequent Communion and a holy Life This consideration gave being to these Papers which for the most part were penned when I was at a great distance from Books but happy in leasure which gave me many opportunities of Meditating on my Duty and of endeavouring to fit my own Soul and others for the worthy receiving of the Holy Eucharist And tho it may seem a bold attempt to presume to write a Treatise on this Subject after so many excellent Discourses publisht by others to this purpose yet if the Book answer the design of the Author and become useful to inflame the desires of Men and make them in Love with the Blessed Sacrament and the other Offices of Holy Religion that Objection will vanish of course for the Author hath attained his end if the Name of God be glorified the Laws of Christianity obeyed and the Mysteries of Christianity reverenc'd And perhaps Books of Devotion should be multiplied that every Person of whatever Temper Genius or Disposition he may be may if it be possible be invited to the Love and Practice of our blessed Saviours Precepts that if one Book do not please another may and that Treatise is happily penn'd that Rescues tho but one Soul from the Dominion of Satan and the Snares of Vice I am conscious to my self that I have prescribed such Rules which God knows I have not so carefully observ'd as I ought and have exprest my self in Language to which my Performances bear no Proportion but withal I am assured that both my self and every one of Gods Priests and in truth every Christian ought to live according to these Injuctions and ought to mourn over our imperfect Obedience and our neglect of our Duties nor is a good Book the less useful because its Author is not an Illustrious Example of every Virtue recommended in it It hath been anciently and is to this day a just complaint That we are all so eager after the Tree of Knowledg that we lose the Tree of Life that by pursuing the aims of an unbecoming Ambition like Adam we first forfeit the true Image of God and then expose our own Nakedness being rob'd of the Ornaments of Truth and Virtue while we are in Love with the imaginary Embellishments of Fantastick Learning upon which account it too often happens that few men have less Sense of and regard for Piety than many who have spent their days in Books and Studies but this is so far from being a just discouragement to the well-inclined Proselites of Holiness that it should rather incite their Affection toward Heaven since our blessed Master hath assured us that Immortality and Eternal Glory are not gotten by the understanding of Mysteries but by an humble conformity to his Laws and Example and that the illiterate but pious part of Adam's Sons shall take Heaven by a holy Violence when the notions of the unconverted Scholar shall but increase his Damnation It is said That Greece was never more debaucht than when the Seven wise Men lived in it and perhaps never was any Age of the World more Learned nor ever more Wicked than this a great part of which Lewdness is owing to the neglect of the Blessed Sacrament For did men but seriously consider that our Holy Redeemer hath enjoyned the frequent use of this Mystery they durst not be so bold as to trample on the Injunction did they remember that the Apostles pray'd Audaciam existimo de bono divini praecepti disputare quid revolvis Deus praecepit Tertul. de poenit c. 4. and broke this Sacramental Bread every day that the custom continued in most Churches for Four hundred years after their time that the disuse of this daily Sacrifice brought in private Masses into the Church with many other Inconveniences Did they but solemnly reflect on the great and wonderful Blessings that are conveyed in this Sacrament it would be impossible that the House and Table of God could be so slighted as we see they are and there would be no need of Canons and secular Laws to injoin us to make our selves happy but men will not be perswaded that the Severities of Christianity are Necessary to make their Lives comfortable and their Deaths safe they indulge to present Enjoyments and forget the Impartial Account of the last Day when if the Righteous shall hardly be saved where shall the Sinners and the Ungodly appear If the Holy To. 2. p. 353. Chrysostome was so affected with the account which the Holy Writ gives of that Judgment that he tells the World he trembled as often as he heard those Words God shall render to every man according to his Works affirming that every other wise man shares in the same Fear and is under the same Agonies if so few shall be saved as the same Father passionately goes on that not a hundred of so many Myriads as live at Constantinople where that Eloquent Prelate Preach'd should escape the dreadful Sentence of Eternal Condemnation what will become of us and with what confidence can we go on without thinking in those Paths that lead to the Chambers of Death and Destruction I have pitcht upon the Holy Week as the season of Devotion not that the Offices will not serve for any other time of the year but because Easter was the time when all men even the most indevout and ungovernable Persons thought themselves bound to receive the Eucharist as also because it is one of the times when our Church enjoins all her Children upon the peril of her Censures to come to the Table of God for which end it prescribes Fasting and requires their Attendance at the Church every day of this Week to prepare themselves for the receipt of the Solemn Blessings which that Festival brings And in truth the whole Lent is but as it were an Eve to Easter but more especially the last Week of Lent which Represents in their proper Seasons The Triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem The Conspiracy of Judas and the Jews to betray him The
depriving my self of the means to make me a true and perfect Christian For it is an excellent Maxim in Religion He who is not fit to receive to day will be less fit to morrow and he who is not fit to communicate every day will be fit to communicate no day and in a small time will throw off all fear of God For if the end of the institution be to renew our Covenant made with our Saviour of taking him for our Master which is the true Notion of Religion then the withdrawing our selves from this Sacrament can be accounted nothing else but a Virtual slighting of Christianity and renouncing our Obedience to our Saviour For do I not put an Affront upon God when I say the Table of the Lord is contemptible For not communicating says a devout person is the next sin to apostatizing for it is an actual disowning our communion with our Head and his Members and a cutting off of our selves from the body of Christ And if unworthiness may hinder me from receiving the Eucharist am I not as unworthy to pray or to hear as to communicate And does not this plea tend to supercede all duty May I not hear to my prejudice and pray to my ruin May not the word that I have heard rise in Judgment against me and my prayer be turned into sin And is it not as expresly required of me to do as my * Luke 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 Redeemer did in remembrance of his Passion as it is to frequent any other of his Ordinances But what if God should make that my fate which is now my choice and deprive me by his Judgments of the liberty of enjoying those Ordinances which I now contemn Wouldst not thou O my soul look on it as an astonishing Judgment and such a Decree as thou wouldest give part of thy blood to reverse And must I be my own Executioner And have I not enemies enough in the World and Hell that I must be my own most imbitter'd Adversary 3. Another hinderance is that the preparation required is very difficult and that it is no easie thing to be a Christian But this also is an unreasonable suggestion For tho the severities of Mortification and Self-denial appear in a formidable dress yet in themselves they are true satisfactions For nothing can equal the Joy of that soul that is rescued from eternal horrors And I should rejoice to be pull'd out of a Dungeon where else I must inevitably perish tho it were by the hair and to be saved tho so as by fire Men are possest before-hand with needless fears and take characters of the ways of godliness from the sensual and debauch'd as if we should put a deaf man to give an account of harmony But to those who have enter'd seriously upon the profession of holiness and made themselves proselites to Wisdom her ways appear to be ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Besides the sinner draws himself a Scheme of Vertue that is not correspondent to the dictates of Reason or Holy Scriptures For Vertue is a Borderer upon our Natural Habits and our evil inclinations may be made subservient to piety either 1. by correcting the Excesses of Nature and altering the degree of our Passions So Grace turns Choler into a well-regulated Zeal Melancholly into inclinations to Devotion Abstinence and Mortification it makes the Flegmatick cautious and fearful to offend his God and ready to be a penitent whenever he hath offended and it makes the Sanguine apt to rejoice in God and in the light of his countenance to be easie to forgive and willing to be reconciled it warms the cold and careless into a religious and devout temper it abates the eagerness of Covetousness till it become frugality and easily changes the prodigal into a man of a liberal and generous mind 2. Our evil Passions are without difficulty devoted to God by altering the Object of our pursuits For would the Voluptuous person pursue after Eternity as he hath done after the gratifications of his sensual Appetites would the Miser transfer his love from his unrighteous Mammon to the living and true God and were the revengeful thoughts of the angry man no longer fixt upon his offending brother but employed against his own Vices how smooth would the path of Vertue appear and how free from Thorns and Incumbrances 4. Another Excuse is I am deterr'd from approaching to this Feast of fat things because I am not in Charity But what should hinder why I should not love all Mankind Did not my blessed Saviour pray for his enemies at his Death And is not the Sacrament a commemoration of that his Death Now as I cannot call that man a Mariner that never learnt his Compass nor that man a Souldier that never fought how much less can I call my self a Christian who never conform to my Master's pattern What man but one of an impudent forehead and most obdurate heart can dare to pray his heavenly Lord to forgive him ten thousand Talents who will not forgive his fellow-servant an hundred pence And perhaps at last I think many actions uncharitable which are not so * Vid. Injunct 21. of Qu. Eliz. For I do not believe that if my Neighbour causelesly quarrels with me the day before I am to communicate or I am without design engaged in the heat of talk which is not sinful or a man forces me to go to Law with him to recover my just right that these things shall deprive me of the benefits of the Sacrament For these things are my Afflictions and I suffer them patiently and still am in Charity As I do not think that if I am bidden to a Feast sometime before or have allowed my self any innocent Recreation that this shall unfit me for the Christian Passeover But withal I must say that were it put to my choice I would rather omit those Civilities and deny my self those Pleasures at that time than lose my spiritual Advantages And I would avoid all occasions of being angry or doing any thing that might but give suspicion that I were not thorowly reconciled to all the world rather than at such a critical time to make my self an Offender For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God And when I pray as I always do when I communicate I am enjoin'd to lift up pure hands without wrath or doubting No worldly care therefore nor the entertainment of friends nor a small fit of sickness that does not confine me to my bed or chamber shall ever hinder my approaches to God's Altar nor every little quarrel which against my will I am engaged in when I am ready to make satisfaction if I have given Offence and to forgive if I have taken any For shall I rob my self of Gods be ssing because another man is froward stubborn and untractable The case therefore of * Pallad vit Chrysost p. 126 127 128. St. Chrysostome did deserve
World indulg'd to the gratifying their extravagant Appetites then their destruction was at the door they were drown'd first in their full Bowls and then in the Deluge And that Job's children while they were in the height of their mirth and feasting were upon the brink of their graves with many other such Instances And therefore the Christian Church in imitation of the Jews who fasted twice in the week kept also their solemn Meetings on every Wednesday and Friday on which they pray'd heartily and heard the Word of God gladly and at Three in the Afternoon first received the holy Sacrament and then went to their ordinary meals On these days they humbled their souls and sent up strong cries to God for the pardon of their sins and the diverting of the divine Judgments from themselves and all the world But as if those days of Mortification would not be sufficient they appointed the Lent-Fast to be in an especial manner a time of preparation to the blessed Eucharist At that time they inured themselves to all sorts of hardship they abstained * Constit Apost l. 5. c 17 Chrys To. 5 p. 581 c. from their Baths they drunk nothing but water and did eat no thing but Bread and Herbs not changing dull and heavy Flesh for Fish and Wine the Dainties of the Old Epicures as the Romanists do * Nay the present Greeks during Lent will not so much as mention the word Butter Cheese Flesh Fish withour the following Parenthesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is with reverence to the holy Lent be it spoken Grelot 's Voyage p. 143. they frequently watcht all night and when they slept lay on the bare ground And lest people thorow the weakness that cannot but succeed such severities might fall asleep in the Church they had among the Eastern Christians * Typic Sabae cap. 5. p. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Officer to awaken all drowsie persons and to bid them be intent on the duties of the season Then also they made their frequent Confessions heard Sermons every day and practis'd all the Rules of Self-denial and took care not only that their Diet should be mean but their * Tertul. de Penit. c. 9. de Jejun Habit coarse Their Penitents were covered with rough sackcloath and sprinkled with ashes till their faces were lean and dis-figured with their abstinences For he who pamper'd himself while the Church fasted was look'd on as an Atheist or an Epicure says Tertullian ' That his Belly was his God his Lungs his Church his Paunch his Altar and the Cook his Priest That the steams of his cramm'd Dishes past with him for the blessed Spirit and his poynant Sauces were look'd on by him as the influences of the Holy Ghost and his Belchings as Prophecy that all his Charity was warm'd in the pot wherein his Dinner was boyled his Faith kept alive in the Kitchen and his Hope preserv'd from starving by his divers Dishes They were not to be perswaded that a small degree of penitence would attone for a great Crime and take off the Ecclesiastical Censures Those who were reconciled were not admitted to the Holy Communion till they had addrest to the i◠spiritual Guide and had his benediction and the Prayers of the Church But many Criminals were never admitted to the priviledges of the Altar till the day of their death and some were left wholly to the mercy of God especially if the man had relaps'd * Ambrose de Paenit l. 2. c. 10. For as they never baptiz'd any man twice so they never admitted any man twice to publick Penance For should they have done so the Compassion of the Church would have brought her Laws into contempt And tho the Church hath since thought fit to give Transgressors better hopes by an easier Remission of her Censures to let the Novatians know who thought the ancient Discipline indispensible and for that Reason denied the first Paragraph of the Eighth Chapter of St. John's Gospel to be Canonical because it afforded an Example of such Lenity in the Remission of gross sins that she had such a power yet it were to be wish'd that the ancient Discipline could be retrieved to curb the Extravagancies of a loose sensual and Atheistical Age whereby notorious vile and profligate sinners were bound to Ten Twenty or Thirty years Penance and sometimes longer proportionate to their Crimes and the heinous Circumstances that attended them This would repair the Ruins of Religion and restore the lost Reputation of despised Christianity In those best days their holiest men inured themselves to the greatest strictnesses And what extraordinary performances must we think were then required to fit a gross Offender for the Holy Communion For they had learnt that such severities are the proper method to subdue the body and deliver the soul from the drudgeries and impositions of its sensual Appetites That to fatten the body is but to make the Prison of the soul the stronger that the mind is then best enlightned when it is free from the burthen of meat and the cares of the world and that the longer a man fasts while he prays the fatter and more acceptable will be the sacrifice of his Devotion and that when * Acts 10. Cornelius did so then came the Vision that brought salvation to his house But above all they remembred our Holy Redeemer's * Mark 2.19 20. Injunction and that this was the time in which the Bridegroom was taken away from the earth and that therefore the children of the bride-chamber ought to fast Nor will every slight degree of sorrow serve to express the Resentments of such a loss and the sins that caused it For when I look on him whom my Transgressions have pierc'd I ought to mourn as one mourns for his only son and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born And is it not a shame to the Christians of this Age not to follow such an excellent pattern But why do I call my self and others to the imitation of the Vertues of the Disciples of Christ * Simon Coriar Ep. 12. inter Epist Socrat Socratic p. 28. The very Heathens will make us blush at the Day of Judgment who advise their Friends to inure themselves to Hunger and Thirst because those things do wonderfully advance a man in the study and practice of the Laws of Wisdom But here I must observe That every Abstinence is not a Fast For I may be kept from meat either by poverty or business by the Rigor of my Enemies by the Violence of a Disease or the injunction of my Physician But that which makes a Fast in the Ecclesiastical sense of the word is when it answers the ends of Religion and the performance is directed to the good of my soul Nor does every Fast which is voluntarily undertook for the ends aforesaid presently commence an acceptable Sacrifice to God unless it be
agreed to abolish that Custom To conclude the famous Huniades is as great in Story for his Humility as for his Victories and as much celebrated that he would not tho on his Death-bed receive the blessed Sacrament but on his knees as for the many Overthrows that he gave the Mahometans Since therefore these and the like Excuses are but Engines to entrap and betray me And since the same Authority that forbids me to kill or to steal bids me do this in remembrance of my Saviour I do from henceforth resolve to communicate upon every Occasion as I love my life and my salvation The Collect. GRacious God the instructor of the ignorant and the guide of them who are out of the way convince me of my folly remove my prejudices and arm me with thy Grace against the assaults of Satan that I may not consult with Flesh and Blood but with thy lively Oracles that I may long for all occasions to communicate with thee and may stifle all Excuses that would hinder that holy Converse that above all things I may love thee here and live with thee for ever hereafter through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. III. Of the danger of unworthy Receiving BUT do not thou imagine O my deceitful heart that there is nothing required of thee but only to approach this holy place and taste of the Dainties it affords They never relish well but to the Palat that is seasoned This Bread turns to a Stone and the Wine into Gall and Wormwood to the sinner whose soul is vitiated Our Saviour does not vouchsafe to eat this Christian Passeover but with his Disciples with the penitent and the devout He is the Carkass and here the Eagles are expected but Dogs are prohibited * Revel 22.15 without are dogs and all that work iniquity And whatever wretch should dare break through these Fences and commit a Rape on this blessed Sacrament he will be deceived of the benefit expected for this spiritual food to him hath no extraordinary relish nor does it differ from that which ministers to his Lust and his Wantonness and he runs the greatest hazard of eternal damnation He had better have swallowed the deadliest Poison I dare not therefore magnifie constant Communion so as to depretiate the Vertues that must qualifie the Communicant and make him worthy It is an insufferable affront to Religion and an intrusion not to be pardoned when the crafty Usurer shall come from his yesterdays grinding the face of the poor to eat to day the Body of his Saviour the Shop-keeper from his little arts and methods of fraud the Glutton from his cramm'd dishes the Intemperate from his last nights debauch and the lustful from the arms and embraces of his Mistrisses to force themselves a way to Gods House and Table that man unavoidably * 1 Cor. 11.27 29. eats and drinks damnation to himself and is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And tho perhaps the word in the Original which our Translators render Damnation be sometimes taken in a softer sense and only signifies Temporal Judgments And it be a Quaere whether he who thinks himself unworthy be for that Reason unfit because the most humble is the best prepared or whether every actual unworthiness makes a man liable to so severe a sentence Yet doubtless every prophane and impenitent Wretch is in the high-road to Ruin And hardly can salvation it self save such a man * Heb. 6.6 c. who after he hath been inlightned from above and tasted of the good gift of God falls away For he hath anew crucified to himself the Lord of life I therefore as a private person charge thee O my soul look to thy self and examine severely thy state Thy happiness and eternal welfare depend on thy due preparation And as God's servant in the Function of the Priesthood I charge the Drunkard and Adulterer and I do it in the Name of our adorable Saviour I charge the Covetous and the Extortioner the Proud and the Revengeful the Prophane Man and the Hypâ—crite the practical Infidel and Debauchee not to presume to tread this holy ground Fire will break from this Altar and consume them Here is an angry Cherub with his Flaming Sword turning every way to secure the Tree of Life that it may not be tasted of by the wicked and profligate but I also charge the same Atheistical and vicious liver to alter his evil habits to wash his soul clean in the waters of true penitence and then let him visit the Temple It is equally damnable not to come at all and to come unprepared The Collect. In imitation of St. Chrysostome HOly Saviour who hast been in all places who didst not disdain to visit the Grave with thy Body and Hell with thy Soul while thy Divinity was with the penitent Thief in Paradise and with thy Father on his Throne Thou Spirit of Truth thou Heavenly King and Comforter who art present every where and fillest all things Thou Treasure of Goodness and Guide unto Eternal Life where wilt thou that I shall provide the Passeover O! come and pitch thy Tents in my Soul and purge me from all pollution cleath me with thy Righteousness give me Faith and Knowledg Love and Obedience that I may always be fit to enjoy thy company and to share in thy Merits Pardon my sins and save my soul O thou Author of all Goodness Amen CHAP. IV. Of Examination in general THere is an indispensible necessity of Examination preparative to worthy receiving For tho Charity inclines me to judg Favourably of others yet I dare not flatter my self And if severity be at any time lawful it is in the Offices of Repentance I ought to suspect my best actions and censure my very devotions I ought to fly the very appearances of evil as I dread the shadows of the Grave and to tremble at a temptation when first in View For nothing can be so terrible as the state of a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reprobate For if the Sacrifice must be without blemish if it must not only not want any Essential or Integral part not an Ear or an Eye but also must not so much as have a Scab or an Ulcer the blood must not be tainted nor the Lungs scirrous how much more ought the Priest to be perfect throughly furnisht unto every good work It is the Apostle's advice 1 Cor. 11.28 Let every man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a word of a very large and comprehensive signification I ought to examine my self as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. S. Chrysost Hom. 20. in Ep. ad Rom. to 3. p. 174. the Ancient Priests did their Sacrifices For both the Jews and Gentiles when an Oblation was brought to the Temple did not only inspect its Out-side but cut it down by the back
made in despight of all the Opposition of the Scribes and Pharisees his implacable Enemies And where O my Soul shouldst thou wish thy self a place but among the Train of this Omnipotent Victor Thou hast been by him raised from a sad estate from being dead in sins and trespasses and whom shouldst thou Love and accompany but thy best Friend I will follow him therefore into the High-priest's Palace and to the Judgment-seat of Pilate I will go with him to Mount Calvary and there I will dye with him but first I will view his Triumphs and admire his Grandeur I will first accompany him to the Jewish Temple and then to the Christian Altar that is to the Cross on which he was Offered as a Lamb without spot and blemish From the East came the Sun of Righteousness to Jerusalem for on that side of the City lay Bethany and rejoyced like a Giant to run his course tho he foresaw he should suffer a dismal Eclipse and in this also he might be likened to the Sun that he appeared greater and shone brighter than ordinary just before his setting 'T was required by the Mosaical Law that every Male should appear at Jerusalem three times a Year nor would Jesus be tho he was exempted from those attendances for thus it behoved him to fulfil all righteousness and in this he was so punctual that the best account which the Christian World hath how long our Savior lived appears from the Evangelists recording how many Passovers he kept The past years of his Life he went up to the House of God in a State of Privacy but now he resolves to approach the City like a Prince that is like himself But where is the Ceremony of this Royal Parade Where is the Gilt Chariot Where the Purple Robes Where are the Armed Lifeguards and where the Retinue of Nobles Is the King of Israel no better equip't than with an Ass and that Ass borrowed Are his most Eminent Courtiers but Twelve poor Galileans most of which were Fishermen and one a Publican And hath he no other Followers but the Multitude the Dregs of the People 'T is no Wonder that at this sight all the People were moved Never was Prince in Exile worse attended And can this be the King of the Jews Is this the Messiah But remember O my soul that all this was Prophecy and no word of God is ever unfulfilled his Poverty was a sign to the Shepherds to know him by at his Birth and the same sign is given to the Holy City at his Death Zech. 9.9 and she is called upon to rejoice and to shout for joy because her King comes to her a just Prince and one that brings Salvation but he comes in a state of Humility riding upon an Ass and a Colt the Fole of an Ass and must God falsifie his Word to comply with our impertinent notions of Greatness And is not the Condescention an Emblem of his Meekness He came into the world to conquer not by the Sword but by the Cross not by fighting but by dying and does not this Ass denote his Contempt of the World and the lowliness of his Mind How mild and good and how benign he should be even to his worst Adversaries Besides it was necessary his first coming into the World should be distinguish't from his second coming to Judgment Nor was this but an addition to his Honour that the first Confessors of the Christian Religion were not many mighty not many wise not the Kings or the Generals or the Philosophers of the World but a few abject and contemptible men rude and unassisted ill-clad and unlearned and yet they converted the World But this is not all see something that compleats the Wonder for could there be a greater instance of my Blessed Saviours Divinity than this That notwithstanding the wariness of the Roman Garison who to secure the Imperial Title to Judea were ready to take Fire upon the notice of a new Kings Arrival as a Competitor of the Government notwithstanding all the Spite Malice and Cunning of the Pharisees Jesus makes this Triumphant Entry preaches in the Temple casts out the Buyers and Sellers and works many Miracles without any disturbance this was certainly the Finger of God and a Specimen of the Divine Power Be not therefore scandalized O my soul this poor Saviour is the Son of God and the Redeemer of the World and his Poverty is his Churches Patrimony and this is the Day which many Kings and Prophets have long'd for but never could see joyn thy self therefore to the Company and sing thy Hosannahs also to the Lord of Life and Glory 'T is shameful to slight thy Saviour when the Multitude admires him Of the People some followed Jesus from Bethany while others met him from Jerusalem both joining together in one Company of which some went before him others followod the Messiah who rode in the midst of them under whom they spread their Garments in they way as was the Custom of many Nations when they entertained their Princes and strowed Flowers and Leaves for so were Monarchs also treated at their Entrance into any City the People meeting them and carrying Lawrel and Roses in their Hands and covering the streets with them by which they testified their acknowledgment and submission to their Sovereigns Authority and probably the Jews coming immediately from Mount Olivet carryed Olive-Branches in their hands as other Nations used to do on such solemnities Emblems of Peace and Union between a Prince and his Subjects and signs how ready great Persons should be to forgive Injuries after which manner they also carried Palms as a good Omen of Victory And all this was done at this time to denote that the true Messiah the King of the Jews was now come to his own City of Jerusalem a Meek and a Compassionate Saviour and ready to triumph over the powers of darkness and all the other Enemies of Mankind To him therefore the people sung their Hosannahs wishing him all happiness and themselves all happy in him Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ' Most acceptable is his Person most welcome is his Reign and Kingdom Hosannah in the highest Let our Shouts reach Heaven 'T is the God who dwells there whom we praise and may that God whose Throne is there make us eternally happy in this Son of his Love Peace in Heaven Glory in the highest the Messiah is come and our Fears are at an end And who would not joyn in Consort to this Heavenly Song 'T is one of the Anthems of the Angels and some of the Entertainment which God's Palace will afford us The joy ought to dilate my soul tho it did not swell my Saviour and this also was another argument that he was the Son of God and the Lord of Glory that this extraordinary reception did not transport him but with the same evenness of temper he enjoys all the various dispensations of
Ground without Accomplishment Did the Truth ever entertain the world with a Lye 'T was a denunciation of the greatest Veracity as well as of the deepest Horror That the present Generation should not pass away till all should be fulfilled and that even in similar circumstances At the Passover they murdered the Messiah and at the same time of the Year when all the people of Judea were come up to Jerusalem to worship did the Roman Armies beleaguer the City From the Mount of Olives did the compassionate Jesus exhort them to know and consider in the day of their visitation the things belonging to their peace And on the same Mountain the first Tents of the Roman Army were pitcht the miseries of the siege when Famine and the Sword raged in every street were very terrible the Sack of the Town more affrighting when the Flames spread themselves over all the beautiful Palaces the publick Buildings and the Glorious Temple of God and blended their ruins with the common rubbish but the most astonishing Judgment is That to this day that infatuated people have lost the priviledges of going up to the House of God have never since had the face or show of a Kingdom among them and are scattered over all the world and this probably was a wise Providence that the Gentiles might dread the like Ingratitude towards God which hath made the Jews a visible spectacle of the Divine Vengeance to all Nations and to all ages Israel of old was Gods First-born and his Darling they were a Holy Nation a Kingdom of Priests separated from the rest of the world the seed of Abraham the Children of the Promise and by natural Birth the kindred of the Messiah but now they are the off-scowring of the Earth and a proverb and by-word to all Nations For who can contemn the Son of God and be innocent VVho can disobey his word neglect to be better'd by his Sacraments grieve his Spirit and refuse to be convinc'd by his Miracles and hope to escape the Anger of God With what greater reason then shouldst thou tremble O my soul and be in a great Agony when my conscience is examined My fears are not of the loss of temporal priviledges of being disfranchis'd of losing my Liberty my Estate or my Life but of being cast into Hell and ruin'd for ever The loss of a worldly Kingdom is no way comparable to the loss of the Kingdom of God Crowns and Scepters are but Trifles when put into the Ballance with the Favour of the Almighty and how much more dreadful are the inflictions reserved for those who have been blest with greater priviledges and yet have requited their Saviour with more gross Offences and more notorious Ingratitude How shall they escape who have neglected so great Salvation And is it not a greater Crime to affront despise and reject a Saviour now he is glorified than it was when he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with Grief And is it not an addition to the offence to continue in the ways of disobedience when so many examples of God's indignation are visible to the world how sharply he resents the contempt of his long suffering And am I not convinc'd that the same Anger hath already seized many Churches of the Gentiles that fell so heavy upon Jerusalem In what a sad and deplorable condition are the once famous Churches of Carthage and the rest of Africa How is the once religious Aegypt overrun with Mahometanism And where are the anciently venerable Seven Churches of Asia If Antichrist hath fixt his Seat in the Temple of God who can hear and does not tremble And what should hinder O my stubborn heart but that thou shouldst at last relent Do not these Examples unriddle thy Doom and can there be more mercy reserv'd in store for thee than hath been shown to those others who were as much in Covenant with their Maker and more justly intituled to his Tuition If no Church dare presume on its priviledges no single person ought to think himself secure of thy Favour O my God any longer than he obeys thy Commandments Teach me therefore O my Saviour not to be high minded but to fear lest if God spared not the natural Branches he may be much less inclined to spare me whose Title is worse and whose Enormities have been more notorious The Collect. O Most Gracious Lord God who hast caused all the Divine Oracles to be written for thy Churches Learning and hast recorded thy former punishments to affright the sinners of the present Age from committing the like Offences bring to my remembrance all the sins of my Youth and enable me to mourn over them with a sorrow never to be repented of let thy Mercies and long-suffering lead me to amendment of Life and thy denunciations and judgments affright me from continuing a proselyte to vice and folly that I may live in awe of thy Power and Justice and secure my spiritual Interests with fear and trembling that nothing may separate me from the Love and Compassion of my God through Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen Another ALmighty and incomprehensible Being who tho the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain the Glory of thy Majesty art pleased to stoop thy self to the meanest of condescentions to bespeak the contrite and humble Spirit for thy Habitation soften my obdurate heart and give me that broken and penitent frame of mind which thou wilt not despise Nothing is impossible to my Almighty Saviour for he can raise up children to Abraham of the stones give me therefore a thorough sight of my sins a true fear of thy Judgments and a repentance unto life Teach me to comply with the great exemplar for if he who knew no sin was yet a man of Sorrows how much more should such a wretch as I who am nothing but Pollution refuse to be comforted till I have sorrowed to repentance and then let me partake of the merits of his Tears and Agonies of his Shame and Sufferings Let thy Love and Condescentions prevail upon me to make me penitent but if they prevail not awaken me by thy Thunders wound and affright me rather than let me continue in this spiritual Lethargy that tho my present state be afflicted my soul may be saved in the day of the Lord that I may serve thee with Humility and a true Grief and offer up my supplications with strong Crys and wash thy Altar with my Tears Every where do I meet with Encouragements to this Compunction within me a deplorable Frame of mind cover'd with shame and the Fears of thy Judgments without me a giddy world making haste to Hell before me an angry Judg and behind me a dismal Prison Sanctifie these Considerations unto me that they may deter me from being vicious that I may no longer dare to continue in my Rebellions against my Maker that my present confusions may end in eternal Confidence and I may see that day with comfort when
which our Redeemer once offered to cleanse the world from their sins and we offer as often as we communicate setting that Immaculate Lamb before the Eyes of God and by that intreating him to have Mercy upon us For our Saviour commanded us to do as he did at the Institution in remembrance of him not only to our selves and our Neighbours but to God also as the Ancients and the most judicious of the Modern Writers affirm For tho my Saviour was many Hundred Years since Crucified yet he is the Sacrament represented as if his Passion commenc'd at the same time in which the Holy Office is performed and what should hinder my receiving the benefits of his sufferings tho so long since undergone For if by reason of my share in the first Adam's Transgression notwithstanding the vast distance of Time and Place I and every one that is born is infected with Original Sin what should hinder but that the Crucifixion of my Saviour tho transacted so many Ages past and in a Countrey so remote as Judea should be available to my Salvation For as by one mans sin many were made Offenders so by the Obedience of one many are made Righteous The Priest therefore offers a Sacrifice at Gods Altar a commemoration of that one full perfect and intire Sacrifice which was once offered on the Cross And at the same time Jesus our High Priest offers in Heaven pleads his VVounds and the merits of his Death and implores the Divine Pardon and the assistances of Grace for all his Servants And this is as much as the Church can pretend to while it is Militant so under the Old Law the Priests who had admittance into the Temple were denied entrance into the Holy of Holies thither only the High Priest went once a Year but they were not denied the Liberty to direct the smoak of their incense toward that sacred Place and their Prayers and their Incense had access where themselves could not come And so is it in the Christian Congregration for when the Oblation is made we that are concern'd in the Offertory cannot reach Heaven while we are in this state of Imperfection but our High Priest is there already and gives his People liberty thither to address their supplications and the sweet Odours of their Devotion this is the Honour and these the Priviledges that are purchased for the Church by that Sacrifice and secured to it in this Sacrament Blessed Eucharist Glorious things are spoken of it in the Writings of the good men of old It is called the Supernatural Bread the Divine Mysteries the Sacrifice of Sacrifices the Honourable the Holy the Heavenly the unspeakable Gifts the Sacrament of Sacraments the Holy of Holies the food which gives Life and Salvation the nourishment which endears a man to his God which recovers those that languish which recals those who are in error which raises them that are fallen and secures to the dying penitent the rights of Immortality and by way of eminency it is called the Sacrament the blessed and holy Sacrament when we eat of it we feed on the fatness of the Lord's Body and when we drink of it we taste the immortal Blood of our dying Saviour If Manna were Angels food this is the Bread of God and what an honour is it to receive my Saviour If Joseph's Tomb tho but a little and narrow place when it entertain'd the Body of our crucified Lord was by that means made more venerable and august than the Palace of Kings and became more glorious by containing the Son of God than by being the residence of the Angels who there took up their station how much more excellent is my injoyment when I give my dear Saviour a lodging in my heart and my bosom becomes an habitation for the Lord of Life With trembling therefore will I approach the Altar of God I will admire the Mystery and contemplate the circumstances of his Passion in which every word that he spoke was a Sermon for his Cross was his Pulpit and Mount Calvary the House of Prayer for there he prayed for his enemies and from thence he preached patience and submission to his Friends and I will remember his last actions for tho in all his discourses he spake so as never Man spake like him yet he never entertain'd the world with so eloquent and convincing a Sermon as when he went dumb before his persecutors and opened not his mouth when he carried his Cross silently and bore the marks of his adversaries cruelty without murmuring I will remember this my greatest and best Friend I will remember his last words and dying injunctions and I will communicate with him in the benefits of his Passion till his second appearance to judgment when the just shall eat of the Tree of Life in a better Paradise at that time all Signs shall cease all distant methods of conversation shall expire for in Heaven there are no Sacraments so that at the dawning of the day which the Lord himself shall enlighten when no other beams shall be needful but those of the Sun of Righteousness to make it glorious for ever then all Types and symbolical emblems shall be accomplisht then I shall be united to my Jesus and personally enjoy that immediate communion of which these Mysteries are but shadows and remote representations The Collect. BLessed Lord who bast so graciously invited me to partake of the merits of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ conveyed to me in the blessed Sacrament grant that I may receive it to the remission of my past sins and to the preservation of my Soul against future temptations to the correcting of the deformities of my mind and the rooting out all evil customs out of my heart to the inlightening of my understanding to the strengthening of my faith and that I may be able to give a good account at the dreadful seat of thy judicature help me to spend this day and every day in thy fear and in the offices of holy Religion let thy Mercy pardon me thy Angels guard me and thy Goodness lead me to repentance that I may live and dye thine for Jesus Christ's sake our only Mediator and Advocate Amen The Anthem PETER Mourning IN a cold dark and melancholly night To gloomy shades which did augment the sright Where dismal horrors and confusion dwell And ghastly sights that made the place like Hell The trembling Peter tends and with swoln eyes Deeply laments his fear and cowardise Wretch that I am thus to deny my Lord Fit to be scorn'd by men by God abhorr'd Disconsolate and sad where shall I fly T'escapte the lightnings of my Master's eye That glance that passionate and killing look When Jesus turn'd his head me thunder strook Sufficient was the warning which was given By the infallible Oracle of Heaven Peter said my wise Master boast no more The rich in brags are in performance poor In vain thou promisest with me to dye Thou e're
my advice or allurements or by neglect of reproof and correction 5. Com. Have I not broken the fifth Commandment in thought word or deed by refusing to give due honour maintenance and other rights to my superiours in Church or State have I murmured against their authority scrupled their just commands or exposed their jurisdiction Have I contemn'd the person age or injunctions of my natural Parents not praying for them not relieving their wants not valuing their blessing not hearkening to their counsels Have I embrac'd any Heresy or Schism in the Church or been of any party or faction in the State Have I been unthankful to my Benefactors or of a morose and rugged demeanor towards those amongst whom I converse 6. Com. Have I not broken the sixth Commandment in thought word or deed by not loving my enemies by not living peaceably by harbouring malice and anger in my heart by using my tongue to speak evil or by hurting the body of my neighbour either openly or secretly either by my own hand or anothers by quarrelling my self or inciting others to do so 7. Com. Have I not broken the seventh Commandment in Thought Word or Deed by unclean desires obscene discourses or filthy Songs by lascivious glances or impure Dreams the result of my waking Thoughts or by any act of corporal uncleanness Have I indulged to Luxury or Excess that I might pamper my body or provoke my Lusts Have I been fond of a loose and immodest Garb or wanton Company 8. Com. Have I not broken the Eighth Commandment in thought word or deed by violence or fraud by covetousness or extortion by not paying my debts or spoiling the goods of my neighbour by not being just in my dealings faithful to my trust or Charitable to the poor and indigent 9. Com. Have I not been guilty of the breach of the Ninth Commandment in thought word and deed by lessening or blasting any Man's reputation either by my self or my encouraging others to slander him by harbouring and countenancing tale-bearers or spreading false news Have I not past rash judgement and contemn'd the weak and ignorant and rejoyc'd at my Neighbours hurt Have I ever refused to testifie the truth or ever given false witness have I neglected my own and busied my self in other mens affairs 10. Com. Have I not broken the Tenth Commandment in thought word or deed by being discontent with the station in which God hath placed me by envying the prosperity of others by entertaining ambitious thoughts and being greedy of honour and preferment Have I sought to be great by unlawful means to the prejudice of my Neighbour pursuing either my profit or my pleasure And have I not been guilty of sinning against my own Soul have I not been possest with pride and vain-glory and a high conceit of my self of the gifts of nature or the acquisitions of study or industry Have I not sought my self and the praise of men more than the praise of God Have I not been rash and inconsiderate or negligent of my best interests have I not resisted the holy Spirit and defiled the Temple of God and spent my time ill Have I not indulged to too much sleep or been irregular in my dyet apparel or recreations or averse to peace and reconciliation To which may be subjoyn'd if the Examinant be in such a state Have I ever broken the bonds of Matrimony in point of honour love maintenance and advice Have I neglected my Children in their Education or making provisions for them have I ever given them a bad example or other encouragement to be vicious or not reproved and punish'd their faults Have I been harsh cruel or unjust to my Servants not instructing them not reclaiming them when irregular Have I been unjust or false to my Friendship Have I omitted my duty in any thing to my superiors equals and inferiors If I find my self guilty after every general head I subjoyn Lord have mercy upon me pardon my violation of these Laws for the time past and for the future incline my heart to keep them to the end An Examination according to the Lord's Prayer HAve I not either wholly omitted my Prayers or not been so often at Prayers as I should have I not performed them coldly being often on my knees but seldom at my devotion have I not perform'd them irreverently without bodily humility or the compunction of my Soul without Faith and without Purity Have I not defiled my Mind which was design'd a Temple for the Spirit and a house of Prayer by making it a den of Thieves and the residence of unclean thoughts and wicked resolutions Have I been thankful for the liberal provisions of my most Merciful Father Have I fixt my affections on Heaven where my Father dwells Have I glorified the Divine Majesty as I ought or have I hindred others from so doing Have I not broken the most holy Laws by which his Kingdom is govern'd Have I with the meekness sincerity chearfulness and constancy of Angels done his will Have I not preferr'd my dayly Bread to the food of my Soul and been more concerned for the things of this life than for the honour of approaching to God's Table and have not the necessities and often my wanton appetites taken up that time which should have been bestow'd on Eternity Have I not begg'd God to forgive me those Sins which I have resolv'd to continue in and have I been so merciful to others as I have desired God to be to me When I have begg'd God either to preserve me from or to deliver me out of temptations have I not been either a tempter to my self seeking occasions of sinning or else have entertain'd the injections of my ghostly adversaries with delight and complacency Have I diligently used the grace which hath been given me to the mortifying of my Lusts and rescuing my Soul from the Divine anger Have I not made a League with Satan faln in love with Death and hasten'd towards destruction Have I not been a rebel in God's Kingdom an opposer of his Power a dishonourer of his Name and Glory and when my lips have said Amen hath not my heart contradicted my supplications And have I said this Prayer as heartily for others as I do for my own Soul To which I subjoyn Lord have mercy upon me Teach me to pray and teach me to practice that my prayers may ever be acceptable in thy sight here and my person for ever hereafter An Examination according to the Sacraments Baptism HAve I been truly thankful to God for my being called to a state of Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord Have I duly considered what an honour 't is to be a Christian How often have I broken my baptismal Vow and defeated and made void the endeavours of my Godfathers and Godmothers and other my instructors in the Faith of Christ Have I not neglected to acquaint my self with the Principles of Christian Religion or the due preparations