Churches commonly in the form of a Cross and for this cause they cover'd the * Bed in 16. S. Matth. Damas P. Epist Altar with a white linnen cloath not so much to denote the purity of the Mysteries or the innocence of the Communicants as our Saviour's being wrap'd in fine linnen at his Funeral On the * Chrys To. 6. p. 360. Altar also they plac'd the Cross and that without superstition that they might direct their eyes and minds toward Heaven where the crucified Jesus sits on his Father's Right Hand They enjoined their Communicants when they pray'd * Tertul. de Orat cap. 11. to stretch out their hands in the form of a Cross and when they received the consecrated Elements * Concil Trull Can. 101. they put themselves into the same posture The elevation of the Elements when taken into the hands of the Priest emblems the lifting up of Christ upon his Cross the breaking of the Bread implies not only that he died but that he was slain that he died a violent death and when the Wine is poured out nothing can more pertinently and plainly represent the shedding of his sacred Blood In the Liturgy of * p. 984 985. Edit Savil. St. Chrysostome which is now used in the Greek Church the Priest is expresly injoin'd to make upon the Bread which is to be consecrated the sign of the Cross with the Holy Launce for so they call the Knife which is then used alluding to the weapon with which our Saviour's side was pierc'd and to say three times In remembrance of our Lord our God and Saviour Jesus Christ after which he is to strike the Launce four times into the extremities of the Cross and to say when he strikes it into the right side He was led as a sheep to the slaughter when into the left side As a lamb without blemish is dumb before the shearer so he opened not his mouth Then he is to strike it into the top of the Cross saying In his humiliation his judgment was taken from him then into the bottom saying And who shall declare his Generation After which the Priest elevates the Bread saying For his life was taken away from the Earth now and for evermore Amen And then lays it in the Patin saying The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is sacrificed for the sins and salvation of the world During every one of which several actions the Deacon says We beseech thee to hear us O Lord. And when the Wine and Water is poured into the Chalice the Deacon says And one of the soldiers pienc'd his side with a launce and there issued out water and blood which mixture they always make the better to represent that part of the Passion And the whole Church hath thought fit to consecrate Red Wine that the colour might mind us of our Saviour's Blood as the Jews in the Passeover used the same coloured Wine in remembrance of the Blood of their predecessors which was spilt in Aegypt The Greeks consecrate no Bread but what is mark'd as above-said and stampt with these Letters IC XC NK i. e. Jesus Christ overcomes which was the Motto of the Cross shown to Constantine the Great And in the Gethick Church in Spain as the Mosarabick Missal mentions they divided the Holy Bread into Nine parts to which they affixt the Names of Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Transfiguration Passion Death Resurrection Glory and Kingdom under which Names they comprehended our Saviour's whole History intimating unto all who were spectators of their proceedings that the design and intention of the Sacrament was only to imprint on their minds the Memorial of our Saviour and his performances for our salvation Thus the whole Church thought themselves obliged to do in remembrance of their dearest Master and Patron who had he been corporeally present under the Accidents had had no need to have bidden us to remember him for we only remember things and persons that are absent And is there any Reason that I should be so often put in mind of that which alone can make me happy Thou hast bid me O my God that as often as this Sacrament is celebrated and what a Reproof is this of my seldom coming to that Ordinance that I should call to mind thy Death Lord how can I forget thee I should sooner forget to eat or to sleep How violent and acute were thy pains and yet how couragiously endured Did not my iniquities cause thy sufferings and are not all the benefits purchas'd thereby transferr'd and made over to me And can I forget such a Friend What therefore shall I do to fit my self to receive the advantages of thy Passion sealed and conveyed to me in this Sacrament I will deface all the Records of Vanity and Folly of sin and iniquity that have found a place in my memory and there will I treasure up the History of my dearest Jesus his Undertakings of his Sufferings and his Victories and thence will I transcribe the Copies of Obedience into my life and conversation till I am perfectly conform'd to his Image The Collect. GRant I beseech thee O my crucified Saviour that I may this day and every day remember thy shame and thy sufferings that I may magnifie thy goodness and imitate thy patience and be conform'd to the pattern of thy Vertues that I may love thy Laws and depend upon thy Merits that after frequent acts of remembring thee and communicating with thee I may be remembred by thee in the Agonies of death and after my death may have a place in my Master's Kingdom Amen CHAP. XII Of Love to my Neighbour NExt to my love to my Maker ought my love to my Neighbur to take place whose welfare is to be as dear to me as my own and to whom I must do good as much as lies in me as I hope to see the Face of God for I must love my Neighbour as my self and every one is my Neighbour who wants my assistance This love therefore engages me to submit to my superiors to walk in peace to prefer others before my self to instruct the ignorant to soften the passionate to reprehend the vicious to reclaim the profligate to counsel the unadvised to speak peace to distrest Consciences to visit the Prisons and to administer to them who are appointed to die to relieve the opprest to clothe the naked and to feed the hungry For these were the employments of our charitable Master who was our great Almoner and who hath commanded us if need be * 1 John 3.16 that we also should lay down our lives for the brethren And this Doctrine was so well understood by Johannes Elecmosynarius that when he met with a modest necessitous person to whom he had been formerly charitable but at last found him inclinable to refuse his Alms he plainly told him That he had not yet arrived to that height of Christian Love to which he was obliged
them for whom thou wert pleased to shed thy Blood and we supplicate for those for whose welfare thou didst sacrifice thy Body They also believed that as long as they did Communicate they did enjoy the company of those blessed Spirits and that when they were kept from the Lord's Table they were under the power of Satan for Excommunication was a terrible sentence to them and the worst of punishments so great an affliction did they account that which is now our choice being fully perswaded that he who was shut out of the Church here without a deep Repentance and Absolution must necessarily be kept out of the Kingdom of Heaven And May God of his great Mercy and Goodness give his Holy Spirit to all that are called Christians that they may put a just value on the Priviledges of the Church of God that they may Honour Reverence and Frequent the Holy Sacrament which is the Communion of Saints and may dread the being justy deprived of those advantages that we may neither excommunicate our selves from thy Table nor deserve the censures of the Church to drive us from it but that thy fear may be upon us all the days of our Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen CHAP. XXIII Of the abuse of the Sacrament to evil ends IT is an Observation confirm'd by sad Experience That the best of things or persons when they degenerate prove the worst of their kind and it is also as sadly confirm'd That the best of enjoyments when employed to bad ends and purposes prove the causes of the greatest mischiefs and this is demonstrated as by many other instances so by the abuse of the Divine Institution of the Holy and most Advantageous Sacrament of the Eucharist to serve the designs of sensual ambitious and covetous men very great alterations having been made both in the Doctrine and Rites of that Sacrament from the Primitive Institution and Original Practise Of this Nature I must confess there are some things that seem to me not so fairly defensible in the Centuries that preceded the Establishment of Popery such as * Aug. op imperf adv Julian l. 3. c. 164. the making Plaisters of the Eucharist to Cure Blindness or other Diseases ‡ Id. de C. D. l. 22. c. 8. the Celebrating of this Sacrament in a private house to expel the Evil Spirits that haunted it * Nicet Paphl Vit. Ignat. Theop. an 20. Heracl the dipping Pens in the Consecrated Wine when they either Sealed Covenants or condemn'd a notorious Heretick †Ambr. in ob Satyr Fratr the tying it about the neck as an Amulet in the time of Imminent danger ‡ Hesyc in Levit. l. 2. c. 8. the burning or burying the remainders of the Consecrated Elements or ‡ Evagr. l. 4. c. 35. giving them to School-boys and such like persons who were not present at the Consecration with other such usages but I remember that those were the days of Miracles and Extraordinary men might make use of uncommon methods and that it becomes not me to uncover the Nakedness of the Fathers especially because at this distance of time few men are capable of understanding the reasons why they did many things at which we now wonder And it were to be wisht the same Apology were so made for the succeeding Ages wherein strange Opinions and as Novel Customs had their Original for then the reverence due to the mysteries degenerated into Superstition and Idolatry and the Mysteries themselves were many times applyed to unbecoming usages and on trifling occasions For men would not be content to believe that God was really present in the Sacrament but they were resolved to study a way how to make him so by a Method that baffles sense and contradicts reason and to this purpose men begun not to be satisfied with the common Bread in which the Eucharist was Anciently Celebrated the bread that was usually eaten at ordinary meals was thought unfit for this sacred use and therefore unleavened bread and wasers were introduc'd and this perhaps was the practise of the eighth Century and in two or three Hundered Years after the notion of Transubstantiation began to be owned but in such an Age which Baronius and other Historians say was the shame of the Papacy when there was neither Learning nor Vertue at Rome but the greatest ignorance and the greatest debauchery imaginable and with this Doctrine the half communion was introduc'd the people being Sacrilegiously rob'd of the Cup for sear they should in Receiving spill the Blood of Christ after which the Schoolmen first amus'd themselves and then their neighbors with impertinent inquiries relating to these Mysteries which made neither themselves nor others wiser or better and what number of Miracles were then coyned to uphold the new Doctrines that when reason would not perswade men to believe they might be convinc'd by wonder and extraordinary apparitions People being told that the Bread by the Prayers ‖ Jo. Diac. vit Greg. l. 2. c. 41. of St. Gregory the Great was turn'd into a piece of Flesh in view of all the people that our ‡ Paschas c. 14. de Corp. Dom. Saviour frequently appear'd on the Altar in the shape of a beautiful Boy ‡ Vid. Pinelli meditat 4. p. 126. ad p. 146. That St. Antony of Padua's Mule worshipt the Host and that Bees in their Hive built a Chappel to an Host which was by the owner put there to increase his stock And thus by degrees it grew to be a God till at last it had a Festival appointed called Corpus Christi day on which it is solemnly prayed to as at other times it is bow'd down to and Adored And as the Ark of the Govenant was carried before the Camp of the Israelites so the ‡ Hey l. Hist of Reform p. 70. Cornish Rebels in Edw. 6 time carried the Consecrated Host under a Canopy with Crosses Banners and other such solemn appendages before them in hopes thereby to get a certain Victory and as the Kings of Persia had their Immortal Fire carried before them to is this Sacrament carried before the Pope on solemn days and as Anciently men swore by the Name of God so they now swear by the Sacrament and did not Pope Hildebrand confult this Sacrament as as an Oracle to know what success he should have against the Emperor of Germany and when it did not answer expectation threw it into the Fire if we may believe Cardinal Benno and if he be doubted there are other ‡ Vid Orland in Hist Soc. Jes l 12. ss 48. p. 394. li. 16 ss 22. p 544. Instances out of more Authentiek and uncontroverted Authors to prove the usage and how often hath the Pix been brought out to quench Fires As was lately done at ‡ V. Daille de obj Cult Relig. li. 1. c 10 p. 138 Con Saligunst c 6. Avenion by the Popes own Legal Governor of that City when the
as fearful of offending and as tender of my duty as the first day that I vowed or as I was when I last communicated Do I remember how dear my former Offences cost me and how dâ—fficult my Repentance was How many sighs how many disturbances of a distracted Conscience it gave occasion to And have I courage enough to resist a temptation for the future to put a knife to my throat when I am at a Feast and to wear Sackcloath in the Palace of Princes Can I be grave in light company and reserv'd among the vain and virtuous in a debauch'd Society and chaste among the effeminate Are these my Resolutions constant do they dwell in my mind Or am I holy only by occasion and outward accidents and extraordinary events Am I as humble and devout in my prosperity as in the day of affliction Do I pray as often on the days of my pleasure as on a fasting-day And am I as just as charitable and temperate when I follow my worldly business as when I communicate Have I remembred * 2 Cor. 13.5 the Apostle of the Gentiles to examine my self whether I am in the Faith or else I am a Reprobate Is my Faith such as works by Love and publickly declares it self by an intire Obedience to the Laws of Christ and is fit to give me a right to communicate For the Catechumens who were not baptized had Faith and so had those who were in a state of Penance and yet their Faith was not thought sufficient to intitle them to the Priviledges of God's Table For Faith is not so much an affiance in God as a giving credit to his Revealed Will as it is a body of Laws adapted to the promoting of God's Honour and our Salvation Therefore when I say I believe I mean I resolve to live according to those injunctions that I take Jesus for my Saviour and expect to share in the benefits of his Death and Resurrection no further than I obey his will I must also further examine Am I in perfect Charity Is my hope firm and my love to Jesus unalterable Do I as earnestly long for this spiritual food as I do for my daily sustenance And could I be content rather to want the Necessaries of life than to be deprived of the Bread of God And do I bear in mind the doom of those who slighted the divine Invitations and would not come and of him who intruded not having the Wedding-garment These and many other such Questions are necessary to make this duty of Self-examination advantageous For nothing less than the strictest scrutiny can make a worthy Communicant It was therefore an excellent Observation of the Ancients That the preparation for the Holy Eucharist should be as strict and compleat as our preparation for our dissolution and that I should no more dare to appear before God's Table with any known sin unmortified than I should dare to appear before his Tribunal with it For when I approach this tremendous place I am not concern'd about matters of curiosity and of light value but about the most momentous affairs of Religion about my Souls health and eternity I do not therefore puzzle my self with little questions nor do I dispute what are the exact dimensions of the Kingdom of darkness where it is and what different Climates are in it but the question is whether Heaven and Hell be real or imaginary places Whether the Judicature of Conscience signifie any thing in this world or the Tribunal of Christ in that which is to come Can I dwell with everlasting burnings and a consuming fire where the torments are infinite in their height and infinite in their duration Is not depending on a death-bed-Repentance a deceiving of our selves And if so what shall I do now that when I go hence I may die in God's favour What shall I do to be saved This is a terrible Interrogatory a question of weight and moment For as no man is fit to die but he who loves God above all things and is in perfect charity with all Mankind who is unconcerned with the affairs of the world and hath learnt and practised an intire Resignation of himself into the hands of his Creator whose accounts are adjusted whose life hath been one act of intercourse with Heaven and whose interests in eternity are secured so neither is any man fit to approach the holy Table without the like preparation The Collect. LET thy holy Spirit so assist me O most gracious Father that my preparation for the Sacrament may be as exact as if I were to fit my self to stand before the Throne of my eternal Judg that nothing may a lienate my affections from thee nor alter my Resolutions Heavenward but that I may so worthily eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of man that when I go hence I may be admitted to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. VII Of the Examination of my Knowledg 'T IS not to be denied that some knowledg is requisite to fit me for this Heavenly Communion that I may be able * 1 Cor. 11.29 to discern the Lords Body But this knowledg rather consists in the understanding of the Offices of Holiness than in the comprehension of the depth of this and other sacred Mysteries I am very sure that at the first Institution the Apostles were very meanly furnisht with such Learning The very Foundation of the Sacrament the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour was a Riddle to them Nor did they then understand either the method of working out our Redemption or of the establishing of the Kingdom of the Messias in the world And yet because they were humble and devout sincere and obedient our great Master gave them admission to his Table And so was it also in the Primitive Church For the Bishops of old allowed every one as soon as he was baptized to come to the Holy Eucharist altho they carefully avoided any discourses about this Sacrament before those who had never been partakers of it And when their Subject led them that way they spoke in Figures and Metaphorical Expressions and appealed to the understanding of those who had communicated For they were well perswaded that it was a Mystery Now Mysteries are not to be pryed into but admired not to be commonly talkt of nor curiously disputed about but to be lookt on with Veneration and Respect to be studied and reverenc'd They knew it was no slight and perfunctory employment to communicate with the Holy Jesus but they withal knew that a little measure of Knowledg and a great degree of Humility Piety and Charity would intitle to the Priviledges of God's Altar Now all that they instructed the Candidates of these Mysteries in was only the duties of Morality Justice and Honesty Peaceableness and Compassion Chastity and Temperance together with an ardent love to God only now and then they could not forbear reprehending an Heretick
of the Synagogue would not in this particular be singular and therefore are apt to believe * Mat. 14 26. that the Hymn which he sung before he went out to the Mount of Olives was the great Hallel But if it were not the same it was doubtless some Laud to the Almighty as for all his Benefits so particularly for his Sacraments And this is highly worth consideration that when Jesus sung this Hymn it was the Eve to his cruel and unparallel'd Tragedy that the Man of Sorrows who all his life long did eat the bread of affliction and quench his thirst with his tears having the Cross in view sung an Hymn 'T was a dismal and affrighting Evening But God gives the good man songs in the night while the sinner is astonish'd with the Terrors of a disturb'd Conscience And as this Joy agrees to the Custom of the Synagogue and our Master's practice so it properly corresponds with the intention of the Institution For tho Thanksgiving be but a part of the Office yet because the denomination is given from that which is most eminent the whole Service is called the Eucharist by the ‡ 1 Cor. 10.16 Apostle because ‖ Cabasil Expos Liturg. cap. 52. when we communicate we have greater cause to rejoice than to supplicate For when we are made partakers of these Mysteries we have received many more favours than we want For of the things that we want some we cannot yet attain unto as the incorruptibility of our bodies and our translation to Heaven Some we have forfeited by our frequent Relapses as the Gifts of the Holy Ghost our Health and our Riches So that were we as pious as we ought there would be even in this world no need of supplications all our Offerings would be Eucharists and Praises But our sloth and our negligence are the causes of our needs Do we beg Remission of our sins Was not that given us in Baptism And how came we but by our own fault to need it again Do we want Heaven Does not the Scripture tell us the Kingdom of Heaven is within us And were we not made Sons of God in the Laver of Regeneration And if Sons then Heirs Why then do we so pray Because we have forfeited that Estate and deserve to be disinherited and to be made of Sons Servants And do we want Temporal Blessings We should first seek the Kingdom of God and all these Things would be added When we are fit to communicate with God our Wants are inconsiderable and our greatest Employment in the duties of Religion is to celebrate his Condescention to admire his Goodness and Patience and to adore his Majesty and therefore the Hymn which the Ancients sung at the Celebration of these Mysteries was by some called ‖ Dionys Ar. Eccl Hier. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Eucharist because it comprehended in it self the commemoration of those holy Gifts that descend from God and seemed to include all the particulars of that Office nor did the Primitive * Constit Ap. li. 5. c. 13. Just M. apol 2. c. Church ever receive this Blessed Sacrament but they had their Psalms and Forms of Thanksgiving for if every worldly Blessing deserved its Remembrance and an acknowledgment how much more were they bound to praise God for spiritual Blessings in heavenly places and to this day the ‡ Olear Itiner li. 5. p. 279. Armenian Church think they cannot communicate aright unless they have not only vocal but Instrumental Musick and they plead for the usage that while our Blessed Saviour prayed in the Mountain the Angels came down and entertain'd him with such sort of Musick and tho this be an ungrounded Tradition yet Antiquity was agreed that the Angels were present at the Celebration of this Sacrifice and that when the o Gr. Nyss To. 1. p. 957. Church sung Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth the Seraphim sung with them and that they attended on these Representations of our Saviour as they did upon his Person For it was also an ‖ Hippolyt in Ps 42. apud Theodorit dialog 2. Euseb Epist ad Constant Imp. in act Conc. Nic. 2. act 6. Col. 493. Jul. Firmic p. 48. Ambros de his qui initiant c. 7. c. undisputed tradition among them That when the great Conqueror of Death and Hell was ascending to His Father's Right Hand the Holy Angels which attended him on Earth followed him with Songs of Praise and Triumph and spake to their Brethren the Angels in Heaven in the Words of the inspired Psalmist Ps 24.7 c. according to the Translation of the Septuagint then in use Lift up your gates O ye Princes and be ye life up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in To which the Heavenly Angels sollicitous to enquire who it was that came with so much Authority to demand the opening of the Gates of that Palace because no man to that day had ever entered into the Holy of Holies answered Who is this King of Glory To whom the return was presently made It is the Lord strong and mighty even the Lord mighty in Battel and after that all the Heavenly Host joined Consort and did sing with one Voice Lift up your heads O ye Princes and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in And if those bright Spirits were so transported at the sight of the victorious Jesus should not my Soul be much more engaged to break out into Exclamations and Rejoicings and to imitate the Harmony of the admiring Angels And for this Reason when the Church at Easter had remembred the Resurrection of Christ and strengthned themselves with the Sacrament that they might be able to walk in his steps every day between that Festival and VVhitsuntide was a day of rejoicing every day of the fifty was a Sunday say ‖ Tert. de coron c. 3. Ambr. in Luc. li. 8. c. 17. Marx. Taurin Homil. 61. the Fathers nor did they on any of those days so much as stoop to kneel at their Prayers nor do we in our Church ever fast the Eves of the Feasts that then happen * Except before Ascention day only in this interval we humble our selves in the Rogation Week which was introduc't upon extraordinary occasion and necessity or rather as I think was transferred to this season from some other time of the Year And so sensible was the Church of the infinite Benificence of God that in the fourth and fifth Centuries several Monasteries were erected societies of devout Persons whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men who never slept because some or other of the Fraternity was always in the House of God singing his Praises and celebrating his Bounty But why should I want the Encouragements to adore my Redeemer which Angels and Saints afford me The Heathens guided only by the Dictates of Nature entertained every little secular
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
him drag'd from the Garden to the Palace of Amas thence to the House of Calaphas and thence to Pontius Pilate who sent him to Herod Herod used him with all sort of scorn clad him in Mock-purple and remanded him to the Roman Procurator where the Soldiers and common people spit on him blinded him smote him and ironically bid him prophecy who did it he was whipt like a slave while the multitude in their esteem prefer to him Barabbas a Traytor a Thief a Murtherer a Captain to those seditious persons with whom he made his insurrection one publickly and notoriously guilty of the crimes laid to his charge and look'd on as a pernicious wretch and one of the pests of the Kingdom And when he was thus cover'd with blood and sweat with stripes and the marks of cruelty with an uneasie Crown and ridiculous purple he was brought out and exposed to publick view he was crucified a death by which none but slaves and the vilest malefactors were punisht and that naked no regard being had to modesty or the rules of decency and in the midst of the Thieves as the worst of all the malefactors The High-priests mock'd him the common people shook their heads his fellow sufferers upbraided him and all that past by did shoot out their Arrows even bitter words which affronts were not the Ephemerous product of sudden fury but the continuation of former injuries for all his life long he was censured his poor parentage thrown in his Teeth is not this the Carpenter His Doctrine misrepresented as if he spoke against Moses and the Temple and introduc'd false Doctrine his Miracles belied as if he cast out Devils by compact with Satan his conversation mistook as if his innocent and necessary freedom were herding with the profligate and making friendship with publicans and sinners Nothing could be more temperate and yet he is impeached of being a Glutton and a Drunkard nothing more Chast and yet he is affronted with the title of a companion of Harlots no man more sedate and grave and yet his nearest Relations say he is besides himself nothing was more Loyal and yet he is accused as an enemy to Caesar nothing more Pious and yet he is condemn'd for Blasphemy If he be benign and free in his converse then he is popular and seditious if retired he hath a Devil and let him cry down hypocrisy never so zealously he is reputed an Impostor Thus they affronted him in all his capacities Was he designed our High-priest to redeem the world by the sacrifice of himself They mock him on the Cross with his Office If thou be the Son of God save thy self and us Was he sent to be the great Prophet to declare the Will of God to mankind They first blind then smite him and afterward bid him prophecy who struck him And had God design'd him to be a King They cloath him in Purple put on his Head a Crown of Thorns and a Reed in his right hand instead of a Scepter Such was the ill entertainment the holy Jesus found such the rudeness of men to their greatest benefactor that he that came into the World only to do good was above all others in it worst treated All which indignities could not but sit more uneasily upon an innocent person than they would have done on a hardy criminal who usually takes shelter in impudence And to make the shame exquisite remember O my Soul that this Son of Man was at the same time the Son of God When therefore I represent to my self my bleeding Saviour nailed to the accursed Tree and view the sadness of his countenance disfigured with his Sweat his Blood and his Tears when I look upon his wounded side his hands and feet pierc'd his head crown'd with Thorns Is not this sight enough to strike me dumb enough to strike me dead when I consider that my sins have wounded him and were more troublesom than his adversaries malice Shall the Jews be up at midnight to apprehend him and shall I not break my sleep to serve him shall the sinner take more pains to be damn'd than I to work out my salvation with fear and trembling What shall I first admire in thee O my dying Redeemer for thou art all wonderful I admire thy willingness to submit for no compulsion could force thee to bear the weight of thy Father's anger it is indisputably true that Jesus could fall by no hand but his own and that his Love had slain him before the Spear pierc'd his side and if we may believe the Vision in St. Dennis thou art ready yet to come down again and to dye anew were it any way conducive to the salvation of mankind I admire the miraculousness of the contrivance That he who grasps the World in his fist should be confined to a Cradle and he who sustains Angels should suck the Breasts of a Virgin that Vigour it self should languish Eternity become mortal that Life should give up the ghost and God be crucified and the same person at the same time in Hell and in Paradise I admire the intireness of his resignation who without any articles or capitulation gave himself up to the managery and conduct of his Father submitting the habit and the acts of his Will to God and resolving to obey in whatever manner he should require Nor can I forbear admiring and celebrating the earnestness of his Love who was in great distress till he had paid our ransom but I cannot avoid particular reflections on the advantages of his being crucified publickly that the matter of fact might be undeniable and that the Apostles might have no cause to be ashamed of their Doctrine or the World of their Faith nor both of their Saviour What a pattern of resignation and submission of meekness and patience of compassion and love to the worst of enemies had the Christian world been deprived of if our bessed Saviour had suffered in a Corner or been strangled in a Prison It was out of design to make his virtues as well as his sufferings illustrious that he chose to suffer at Jerusalem the Metropolis of the Country and at the Passover when all the Nation were come up to the holy City Let therefore the Cross of Christ be to the Jews an offence and scandal who expect to share with the Messia in the grandeur of a secular Kingdom and let it be to the Greeks foolishness who relish no notions but what comport with their ease and profit and think it madness to slight present miseries and stand in awe of future sufferings I will look upon it as the greatest instance of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that God was pleased to teach his Son Obedience and to make the world happy by the things which he suffered And am I not indispensibly obliged to follow this pattern and to imitate this my best Friend Can I be ashamed of a naked crucified Saviour who when he was stript of his Garments
Saviour So when the Sons of Zebedee coveted places of Trust and Honour in an imaginary Monarchy Mat. 20.21 our Blessed Redeemer told them that the preferments of his Court old not consist in fitting at his Right and left Hand but in drinking of his Cup and being baptized with his Baptism And when St. Paul was called to an Apostleship Acts 9.16 the Lord told Ananias in a Vision that his Mission was not design'd to Triumph over the Gentile World nor should his Revelations discover to him what Kingdoms he should convert tho that he did but I will show him says God what great things he must suffer for my Names sake And this that Apostle well understood 2 Cor. 12.12 for when he reckons up the signs of an Apostle he begins with his Patience under affliction as if that generosity of mind that slighted the Tribulations attendant on the Gospel was a more eminent and surer sign of his Apostleship than all his power of working Signs and Wonders and mighty deeds for to be afflicted was to be clad in the best Livery of the great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls I will therefore resolve to imitate those admirable guides of the Church in their sorrow I will lament the death of my Saviour and hate my sins that crucified him I will as they did retire from the World and love it no longer because it despised my dear Redeemer And I will also imitate them in their Patience and their Courage I will endure all things for the sake of my friend who died for me and nothing shall fright me from following the pattern and treading in the steps of his first and best servants The Collect. ALmighty and Immortal Saviour who wert victorious in thy sufferings and triumphant upon the Cross and wert always present with thy Church either in thy Person or by thy substitute the Holy Ghost keep and defend thy flock from all Heresie and Schism from mistakes in matters of Faith and all irregularities in practice from desponding under afflictions and from carelesness in prosperity Arm all thy servants with an invincible courage and resolution to live and dye thine let the consideration of thy Passion engage us to bewail our Transgressions but let the consideration of thy Resurrection defend us that we may not sorrow as men without hope but that we may pass the time of our sojourning here on Earth in fear and finish it with joy through thy Merits and Intercession O our only Mediator and Advocate Amen The Anthem The Descent into Hell A Dialogue between Mary Magdalen at the Sepulcher and an Angel I. Magd. APpear dear Jesus unto me I love I long for none but thee Whither is my Beloved gone And left me here sad and alone My soul breaths nothing else but sigh Since Jesus fell a Sacrifice Ang. Down to the Prison of the Fiends The dying Conqueror descends And o're those rebel spirits his Victories extends II. VVith courage and resistless might Alone he undertakes the fight Meets whole Legions and defies Hells Guards and her Auxiliaries Scales the VValls and storms the Gates Razes the Towers revers'th mens Fates And into the Dungeon Lucifer precipitates III. Magd. But tell me Angel cloath'd with light Did not my Jesus show his might VVhen upon the Cross he stood Like a Rock that brav'd a flood Did not his Patience and his Cries His VVounds his Thirst and Agonies Compleat his glorious Conquest and our Sacrifice IV. Ang. 'T was done when Jesus bow'd his head And told the world 't was finished Then Satan was discomfited And all his baffled forces fled But he lest men might doubt his love Or Victories did the scene remove Pull'd Satan from his Throne and from his Kingdom drove V. Magd. If so what keeps my Jesus there What stops th' Almighty Conqueror Thy Pupils do thy presence want T' instruct the blind and ignorant To charm the froward and defend The weak who on thy Strength depend And guide poor wandring me unto my journeys end Appear dear Jesu unto me I love I long for none but thee EASTER DAY THO the Christian Church had many Festivals yet some of them were days of greater Eminency than others Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide being frequently called in the Writings of the Fathers by way of excellency * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Christian Solemnities because as the Jews were obliged three times a year on their three great Festivals of the Passover Pentecost and of the Tabernacles to go up to Jerusalem to worship So anciently the body of the people of every Diocess met at those times at the Mother Church where the Bishop Preach'd to them in person and gave them the Holy Sacrament And on those days if the Church could not hold all the Communicants at once the Offices were repeated the Prayers renewed and the Eucharist ‡ Leo. M. Epist 71. p. 149. a second time consecrated and given Now among these great days Easter-day was the day on which the Son of God return'd from Hell rose from the Grave and being attended with his holy Angels and the bodies of many just persons who left their Tombs to accompany their Saviour brought Life and Immortality to light This was the day which the Lord made in which all wise and devout persons do rejoice and therefore without all doubt the Ancients after their long Fasting till near day-break * Const Ap. li. 5. c. 18. retired home laid aside their Sackcloth and Ashes and other habits of mortification and having washed and cloathed themselves in their best apparel came again early to Church and sang the praises of the Lord. And for this reason this Feast is called ‡ Cypr. Laetitia Paschalis The Paschal joy or the Paschal solemnity of the Resurrection ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 587. the bright and glorious day of Christ's rising from the dead the noblest of the Christian solemnities o Euseb vit Const l. 4. c. 22. p. 536 c. the holy and venerable day that brought Life into the World the holy Convention and Festival the Queen of Feasts the Festival of Festivals the great and holy Sunday the day in which the hopes of Eternity were confirm'd to us and the Great day in which Salvation was given to the World The * Constit Ap. l. 7. c. 37. Apostles injoining the Observation of it to all Christians and probably when we are bid to keep the Feast 1 Cor. 5.8 it belongs rather to the Annual than to the Weekly Feast of the Resurrection As some Wise and Learned men think that the Lords-day mentioned Rev. 1.10 does not so much mean a Sunday at large as Easter-day for * Procop. de bell Perfic l. 1. c. 18. this day was honoured by the Christian World above all other days ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 583. this day is a day of rejoycing on Earth and it is a Holy-day in Heaven too for if the conversion of one
before Christ's Passion is by his Resurrection put into a state of favour and a capacity to return and to be reconciled to his maker And God grant that his whole Church may be reconciled to their Saviour and to each other that they may duly keep the Feast and live in love and unity here till they all triumph together in Heaven Amen The Epistle Philip. 3.8 YEA doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead The Gospel Luke 24.13 BEhold two of them went the same day to a Village called Emmaus and while they communed together Jesus drew near and went with them but their eyes were holden that they should not know him and he said unto them What manner of communications are these which ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad They said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth whom the chief Priests and our Rulers have delivered to be condemned to death and have crucified Then said Jesus unto them Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory And beginning at Moses and at the Prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself And he was known to them in breaking of bread The MEDITATION AMong all our Blessed Saviour's unhappinesses the incapacities of his Disciples understandings was not the least by reason of which tho their Master was the Wisdom of the Father and endowed with the Holy-Ghost without measure which enabled him to speak not only vvith the greatest authority but vvith the greatest veracity and plainness yet they vvere alvvays unvvilling to give entire credit to his sayings Some of them they could not understand and others they vvould not believe So vvhen he discoursed of the great mystery of the Sacrament and averred that no Man could have life in him except he did eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood many of his follovvers apprehended that he vvould oblige them to turn Canibals and so vvent back and vvalked no more vvith him Among vvhom St. Mark himself say the Ancients vvas disgusted and left that holy Society and had not St. Peter opportunely reclaimed him the Church had lost that Evangelist Nor was St. Peter himself free from this crime for vvhen our blessed Saviour gave the Twelve an account of his sufferings and that the redemption of the World was to be accomplish'd by his Crucifixion he whose mind was possest with other notions of the Kingdom of the Messiah was scandalized at the declaration and rebuked his Lord not knovving that our Saviour's Cross vvas to be his Throne and by his Agonies only he was to merit Crovvns and earn Triumphs Nor could all that their infallible Guide could say to inform them better drive out this notion out of the heads of the rest of the Apostles no not vvhen they savv him crucified dead and buried and could not but remember that he promised to rise again the Third day The Women more officious than vvise had brought Spices to embalm him as if the Lamb of God had fallen like a common Sacrifice as if the Lord of Hosts had been captivated by the Grave his Povvers baffled and his Promises cancel'd And tho the empty Sepulchre the sight of the Grave-cloaths orderly laid up and the testimony of the Angel vvere undeniable proofs that Jesus was not there but was risen yet their admiration was stronger than their Faith and the Disciples of both sexes were surprised they hardly believed their eyes for as yet they knew not the Scriptures that he must rise from the dead and wondred at all that was come to pass In the head of those devout female proselites was Mary Magdalene who tho once an Angel of darkness had now the purity and zeal of one of the Seraphim she was all ardor and resolution she was the first who went to the Sepulchre on the day of the Resurrection she was earlier up than the beloved Disciple who lay in his Master's bosome and for that reason should have afforded his Master a place in his own heart in his memory and in his love and she had more courage than Peter tho a man of extraordinary fervor she dreaded not the guards nor the shadows of the night that had not yet given place to day but hastens her steps to the venerable Tomb and when she beheld the empty Sepulchre how deep is her concern at the loss of her Saviour She wept bitterly as if she would have softned the Rock and made the most insensible and obdurate parts of the Creation mourn with her the death of her best Friend And tho these were sad disappointments and the sight had affrighted all that followed her yet there she still continues she was the last who return'd from that awful Garden nor did she at length miss of her expectations for they who sow in tears shall reap in joy The Angels first confirm her hopes and immediately after the Lord of the Angels gave her a view of his sacred Person Remember O my Soul the first appearance of our Saviour after his Resurrection was to the most sinful Magdalene nor do thou despair but that thou maist also be admitted to a share in his favour but remember also that this honour was vouchsafed to the penitent Magdalene to Magdalene transported with the ardors of Divine Love that had destroyed all the heats of Lust If thou longest therefore to be blest with such priviledges rise early and begin betime to serve thy Maker weep over thy follies that have deprived thee of the company of thy Saviour and these methods will recall thy departed Redeemer and thy sins which are many shall be forgiven because thou hast loved much To Mary Magdalene among the softer Sex was the first appearance vouchsafed and among the men the next was to St. Peter the first a Woman of the loosest manners and most profligate conversation the second a Man of strong boastings and a weak faith who when he promised to dye with his Master denied him thus the worst of sinners had the preference in this discovery and why should I doubt but that there is mercy also for me and my Saviour hath the same compassion for my Soul as he had for Mary Magdalen's or St. Peter's Magdalene was our Saviour's first Apostle after his Resurrection she had a commission to instruct St. Peter himself and the beloved Virgin too and to tell them their
dastardly and low-spirited were even the very Apostles tho they lived and dayly conversed with him their courages were impaired by their sears they betrayed deserted and denied him but his Resurrection did beget in the mind of the Christian World a true generosity and fortitude able to subdue and trample on all dangers in as much as men of no breeding no natural valour of no interests or friends durst prefer the confession of their Saviour and his Gospel to their Countrey and Relations to their quiet and security and to life it self and passionately to chuse scourges and prisons and the various methods of death before all sorts of voluptuous enjoyments But what is more and more acceptable than all knowledg and all power the Resurrection of Christ gave the Holy-Ghost to the World for the blessed Spirit could not be given till Christ was risen Thus this one act of the Almighty Redeemer of mankind baffled all the fears of his servants compleated the satisfaction for their sins secured unto them the company of the Spirit of Truth Peace here till they should be carried into his Kingdom on the wings of Angels And what greater blessings canst thou wish than these O my soul Give the riches and the honours of this life O my dearest Saviour to others I will never envy their fruitions so thou give me thy Self let me partake of the benefits of thy Resurrection in the pardon of my sins in the indwelling of the Comforter in my mind and in the first fruits of obedience in frequent approaches to thy Table and other acts of devout converse with thee and leaving the manner of my death to thy disposal for on these terms in what sort or at what time soever it shall be I shall not be disturbed I shall be happy in the remembrance that when my Master comes and finds me so doing he will give me a share in his joys The Collect. ALmighty God who through thine only begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome Death and apened unto us the gate of everlasting Life we humbly beseech thee that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect through Jesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy-Ghost ever one God world without end Amen The Anthem The Resurrection and Aseension I. COme holy Spirit from above Come warm me with Seraphick love That I may the triumphant Jesus sing Whose resurrection heaven to earth did bring And put thee long'd-for peaceful Dove upon the wing II. Jesus is risen mount my mind And leave this sordid earth behind God made thy body dust but Sin a grave Let thy Soul too its Resurrection have No longer be thy Lusts the Worlds or Satan's slave III. Attend the Conqueror to his Throne Who from the lower world is flown Make tho the meanest one in that parade The bleeding Jesus did my heart in vade And none can heal the wound but he whose hand it made IV. View yonder Arch inscrib'd above Sacred to Coelestial Love There the incomparable Jesus dwells Iesus who charms thee by the strengest spells Love him with transports O my passions and none else V. See the bright Angels how they glide Up and down by 's Chariot's side See where ten thousand hover and attend To guard the Conqueror to his journies end Whose Chariot does directly to God's right hand bend VI. There Jesus fixes and from thence Sheds his benignest influence And like triumphant Victors does bestow His donatives on us who dwell below That we in time our Triumphs may accomplish too VII You Angels you who dwell above Spend all your time in songs and love While I who sadly want your light and fire Detain'd in sensual fetters would mount higher And wish to do what I can only now admire VIII You Guardians are by Heaven design'd To awe and to protect Mankind When Jesus rose you did the news relate When he ascended you did on him wait That I might triumph so give me my Saviours Fate Rules of Conduct for Easter-Day and the Sacrament § 1. It is taken for granted that the devout Person hath humbled himself in the sight of God for his sins the Week aforegoing more particularly on Good-Friday and the Holy Saturday and it is requisite he should watch a great part of if not all the Saturday night which time should be spent in more intense Supplications and more ardent Meditations the Vigils of the Ancient Church were an excellent Institution and Watching and Prayer are joined by our Saviour and we are bid to be sober and to watch unto Prayer by the Apostles that is to fast to watch and to pray it is true the Vigils at last gave offence and were for that reason almost all prohibited because such promiscuous meetings of men and women under the covert of the night did administer to many Exorbitances But the Vigils of Easter and the greater Festivals were always kept up and are so still in the Churches of the East and tho our Church doth not expresly injoin the observation yet it mentions them in her Rubricks and leaves every man to his own liberty to watch in his Closet where there can be no such temptation as gave occasion to the disuse of that practice And whenever the Christian Penitent goes to bed it is requisite to rise very early on Easter day because our Blessed Master rose ‖ Joh. 20.1 while it was yet dark § 2. After the private devotions are performed and the necessary duties of the Family if any considered and attended the good man goes to Church nor will he choose to receive any other where but at his own Parish Church if there be a Sacrament there which on this Festival is expresly enjoined to be celebrated over all Christendom * Can. 6. The Council of Gangra denounc'd a solemn Anathema against the Erecters of private Conventicles that those who dislik'd the publick Assemblies might communicate at home in private And by the old †Ludov. 1. tit 101. Lothar l. 1. tit 357 c. Capitulars every Priest was ordered to be degraded every Layman to be excommunicate who lest his own Parish to receive the Blessed Eucharist in another unless extraordinary business or a Journey called them that way or they had a dispensation so to do from their Superiours § 3. But if the devout Person be hindred by sickness or some other inevitable obstruction he bears the loss with Patience but looks on it as a great affliction and longs to go up to the House of the Lord and to communicate with his Saints and that he may not lose all the benefit of the solemnity his thoughts are present and go along with the Service and he begs God earnestly to accept of his willing mind and to send him his Blessing and his Holy Spirit as much as if he actually communicated Thus the
of it to dine with him treating them with all affability and humble carriage relieving their bodily wants and instructing their minds and by this means earning their Prayers And this he does over and above what he hath given at the Offertory where he hath liberally according to his ability offered unto God and the Poor remembring that a thinking Heathen never came in sight of an Altar tho but occasionally but he tendred something thereon if it were but a little Salt or a handful of Flower and thought himself also obliged to provide for the indigent as for his brethren § 23. At his return he does not think fit to go immediately to his own dinner but retires to his Closet * Scalig. de Emendat temp l. 6. the Jews were obliged that night on which they did eat the Passover to taste nothing after it for the whole night that the relish of the Paschal Lamb might continue in their mouths a long time and the reason holds good in the Christian Church for our Blessed Saviour after he had eaten of this Supper resolved never to eat more till he had accomplish'd our redemption for says he I will drink no more of the fruit of the Vine till I drink it new in my Father's kingdom In the Closet the good man recollects the proceedings of the day and in his thoughts acts over again the solemnities of that glorious triumph for he dares not spend any part of this day but in holy Offices in Meditations and Prayers in acts of Faith and Love of Piety and Charity in Reading and Conference and in all other exercises that may serve to increase his virtues both in number and degree especially in holy praises and solemn thansgivings to God for all his benefits § 24. And after this manner he expresses himself I am thine and nothing shall separate thee from my love on the Cross every member of thy body every faculty of thy soul had its sufferings and its agonies for my sins and should I reserve any thing from thee No my most obliging Saviour I make an intire oblation of my self to thee a whole burnt-offering sacrificed in the flames of holy love and this I do with all my might and power nothing could atone for my sins but thy sufferings nor can any thing testify my gratitude but the devoting of my self to thy service Thou hast redeemed me thou God of Truth and I will be thy servant for ever My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour For I have found him whom my soul loveth Jesus the Messiah of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits I will receive the Cup of Salvation and will praise the name of the Lord. I will go into thy House with my offerings and will pay my Vows which I promis'd with my lips when I was in trouble § 25. To which he subjoins Lord my single praises make but an insignificant and low sound they are the poorest of recompences and the most disproportioned to thy Majesty and thy Merits I therefore call in the assistances of Angels and of the whole host of Heaven of Sun Moon and Stars of the Earth and Sea and all that is therein to joyn with me in the magnifying of my Redeemer Let all the World worship thee sing of thee and bless thy name let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord for great is the Glory of the Lord and let all the Earth be filled with the knowledg of his Glory for his Name alone is excellent and his Glory above Heaven and Earth Amen Amen Glory be to the Father c. Then follows the Trisagios Holy God Holy and Powerful Holy and Immortal have mercy upon us § 26. After which he thus expresses himself How unwillingly have I left the place where my blest Saviour dwells and how well pleased should I be could I live and communicate with him always How amiable is that Palace where my dear Friend fixes his residence And how do I long to be treated continually at the Supper of the Lamb Oh that I could dye this very moment if it were but pleasing in the sight of my Heavenly Father and pass immediately from this antepast of joys to the intire entertainment of that Glorious Feast And would my Redeemer affist me how readily would I be this moment his Martyr How acceptable would a Prison or the Rack the Flames or a Sword be to me so I could by any means embrace an opportunity to let my beloved Jesus know how dear he is to me how much I value him and how ready I am to offer him my Blood who hath shed his own Blood for me upon the Cross and sed me with it at his Table And if that be an Honour that I am not worthy of and perhaps not capable of yet O Lord let me always be thy Martyr in resolution and since there is so much happiness in communicating with thee let me never leave the World so suddenly but that I may have the assistance of a good Priest to give me in thy name Absolution and to strengthen me in the agonies of death with the blessed Sacrament § 27. After which Meditation the worthy Communicant uses this Prayer taken out of the * Ps 8. c. 14.15 Constitutions commonly called the Apostles How ready and willing is my soul which hath been cherish'd and fed with the most Precious Body and Blood of my Saviour to offer him the thanks which I can pay tho neither what he deserves nor what I ought since he hath vouchsaf'd me the honour to partake of his holy Mysteries Grant holy Jesu that it may be for my Health not for my Ruin for my Happiness not for my Condemnation for the Security of my Soul and Body for the increase of Piety for the remission of Sins and for the introducing me into thy Palace for thy Name is called upon me and into thy Family I am adopted among thy faithful Servants Strengthen me and them by thy Holy Spirit inlighten our ignorance and supply all our defects and confirm us in the resolutions of a holy Life rescue and defend us from Satan and all our enemies ghostly and bodily sanctifie and protect help and keep us in our going out and in our coming in and at last assemble us in thy Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all Glory Honour and Worship now and for ever Amen To which he adds this other Collect. ALmighty God who hast united the Christian World in one common Brotherhood by the Holy Sacrament that we being many might be one body because we are all partakers of that one Bread let me be partaker this day of the Prayers of all that this day have communicated whereover thy Church be dispers'd over the face of the whole earth and let my Petitions be available in