comfort us and he will judge us and he will save us and it can never be well with us till love that governs heaven it self be the Prince of all our actions and our passions By this we know we are translated from death to life by our love unto our brethren That 's the testimonial of our comfort I was hungry and ye fed me I was hungry and ye fed me not These are the Tables of our fiâ—al judgment If ye love me keep my Commandments That 's the measure of our obedience In that ye have done kindnesse to one of these little ones ye have done it unto me That is the installing of the Saints in their Thrones of Glory If thou bringest a gift to the altar leave it there go and be reconciled to thy brother That 's the great instrument of our being accepted No man can love God and hate his brother That 's the rule of our examination in this particular This is a new Commandment that ye love one another There 's thâ— great precept of the Gospel This is an old Commandment that ye love one another There is the very Law of Nature And to sum up all Love is the fulfilling of the Law that 's the excellency and perfection of a man and there is the expectation of all reward and the doing all our duâ—y and the sanctification of every action and the spirit of life It is the heart and the fire and the salt of every Sacrifice it is the crown of every Communion And all this mysterious excellency is perfectly represented by that divine exhortation made by Saint Paul Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened For even Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of MALICE and wickednesse but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth Now concerning this grace if we will inquire after it in order to a worthy receiving the holy Communion we must inquire after the effects and offices of Charity and by the good we do or are ready to do take an account of our selves in this particular The offices and general duties are three 1. Doing good 2. Speaking good and 3. â—orgiving evil SECT II. Of doing good to our Neighbours HE that loves me does me good for until love be beneficial it is not my good but his fancy and pleasure that delights in me I do not examine this duty by our alms alone for although they are an excellent instrument of life for alms deliver from death said the Angel to old Tobit yet there are some who are bountiful to the poor and yet not charitable to their neighbour You can best tell whether you have charity to your brother by your willingnesse to oblige him and do him real benefit and keeping him from all harm we can Do you do good to all you can Will you willingly give friendly counsel Do you readily excuse your neighbours faults Do you rejoyce when he is made glad Do you delight in his honour and prosperity Do you stop his entry into folly and shame Do not you laugh at his miscarriages Do you stand ready in mind to do all good offices to all you can converse with For nothing makes Societies so fair and lasting as the mutual endearment of each other by good offices and never any man did a good turn to his brother but one time or other himself did eat the fruit of it The good man in the Greek Epigram that found a dead mans scul unburied in kindnesse digging a grave for it opened the inclosures of a Treasure And we read in the Annals of France that when Goutran King of Burgundy was sleeping by the murmurs of a little brook his Servant espied a Lizard coming from his Masters head and essayed to passe the water but seeming troubled because it could not he laid his sword over the brook and made an iron bridge for the little beast who passing entred into the earth and speedily returned back to the King and disturb'd him as it is supposed into a dream in which he saw an iron bridge which landed him at the foot of the mountain where if he did dig he should find a great heap of gold The servant expounded his Masters dream and shewed him the iron bridge and they digged where the Lizard had entred where they found indeed a Treasure and that the Servants piety was rewarded upon his Lords head and procured wealth to one and honour to the other There is in humane nature a strange kind of noblenesse and love to return and exchange good offices but because there are some dogs who bite your hand when you reach them bread God by the ministery of his little creatures tells that if we will not yet he will certainly recompence every act of piety and charity we do one to another * This the â—gyptians did well signifie in one of the new names of their Constellations For when the wife of Ptolomaeus Euergetes had vowed her hair to the Temple upon condition her husband might return in safety and she did consecrate the beauty of her head to the ornaments of Religion Comonus the Astronomer told her that the Gods had pâ—aced her hair among the Stars and to this day they call one knot of Stars by the name of Berenices hair For every such worthinesse like this will have an immortal name in some Record and it shall be written above the Stars and set by the names of the Sons of God who by doing worthy things have endeared Communions and Societies of mankind In all the Sacrifices of the Ancients they were hugely kind to one another they invited their friends to partake the Sacrifice and called them to a portion of the pardon that they might eat of that mercy and that forgivenesse which they expected from their God Then they sent portions to the absent then they renewed Leagues and re-established Peace and made marriages and joined Families and united hearts and knitted Interests by a thred and chain of mutual acts of kindness and endearment And so should we when we come to this holy Sacrifice we must keep our hearts entire to God and divide them amongst our Brethren and heartily love all them who feed upon the same Christ who live by the same faith who are entertained by the same hope and are confederate by the laws and the events and the causes by the acts and emanation of the same Charity * But this thing is plain no discourse here is useful but an exhortation all that can be said is this that it is decent and it is useful and it is necessary that we be very kind and very charitable to all the members of Christ with whom we are joyned by the ligatures of the same body and supported by the strength of the same nourishment and blessed by influences from the same Divine head
unreasonable fears and nothing but a single ray from heaven can give them any portions of comfort and these men never trust to any thing they do or to any thing that is done for them and fear by no other measures but by consideration of the intolerable misery which they should suffer if they did miscarry and because these men can speak nothing and think nothing comfortable of themselves in that agony or in that meditation therefore they can make use of this rule by the proportions of that judgment of charity which themselves make of others and in what cases and in what dispositions they conclude others to die in the Lord if they take those or the like measures for themselves and accordingly in those dispositions address themselves to the holy Sacrament they will make that use of this rule which is intended and which may do them benefit 5. As there are great varieties and degrees of fitness to death so also to the holy Sacrament he that hath lived best hath enough to deplore when he dies and causes enough to beg for pardon of what is past and for aids in the present need and when he does communicate he hath in some proportion the same too he hath causes enough to come humbly to come as did the Publican and to say as did the Centurion Lord I am not worthy but he that may die with most confidence because he is in the best dispositions he also may communicate with most comfort because he does it with most holiness 6. But the least measures of repentance less than which cannot dispose us to the worthy reception of the holy Mysteries are these 1. As soon as we are smitten with the terrors of an afflicted conscience and apprehend the evil of sin or fear the Divine Judgments and upon that account resolve to leave our sin we are not instantly worthy and fit to communicate Attrition is not a competent disposition to the blessed Sacrament because although it may be the gate and entrance of a spiritual life yet it can be no more unless there be love in it unless it be contrition it is not a state of favour and grace but a disposition to it He that does not yet love God cannot communicate with Christ and he that resolves against sin out of fear only or temporal regards hath given too great testimony that he loves the sin still and will return to it when that which hinders him shall be removed Faith working by charity is the wedding garment and he that comes hither not vested with this shall be cast into outer darkness But the words of St. Paul are express as to this particular In Christ Jesus nothing can avail but faith working by love and therefore without this the Sacrament it self will do no good and if it does no good it cannot be but it will do harm Our repentance disposing us to this Divine feast must at least be contrition or a sorrow for sins and purposes to leave them by reason of the love of God working in our hearts 2. But because no man can tell whether he hath the love of God in him but by the proper effects of love which is keeping the Commandments no man must approach to the holy Sacrament upon the account of his mere resolution to leave sin untill he hath broken the habit untill he hath cast away his fetters untill he be at liberty from sin and hath shaken off its laws and dominion so that he can see his love to God entring upon the ruines of sin and perceives that Gods Spirit hath advanced his Scepter by the declension of the sin that dwelt within till then he may do well to stand in the outward Courts lest by a too hasty entrance into the Sanctuary he carry along with him the abominable thing and bring away from thence the intolerable sentence of condemnation A man cannot rightly judge of his love to God by his acts and transports of fancy or the emanations of a warm passion but by real events and changes of the heart The reason is plain because every man hath first loved sin and obeyed it and untill that obedience be changed that first love remains and that is absolutely inconsistent with the love of God an act of love that is a loving ejaculation a short prayer affirming and professing love is a very unsure warrant for any man to conclude that his repentance is indeed contrition for wicked persons may in their good intervals have such sudden fires and all men that are taught to understand contrition to be a sorrow for sins proceeding from the love of God and that love of God to be sufficiently signified by single acts of loving prayer can easily by such forms and ready exercises fancy and conclude themselves in a very good condition at an easie rate But contrition is therefore necessary because attrition can be but the one half of repentance it can turn us away from sin but it cannot convert us unto God that must be done by love and that love especially in this case is manifestly nothing else but obedience and untill that obedience be evident and discernable we cannot pronounce any comfort concerning our state of love without which no man can see God and no man can taste him or feel him without it 3. A single act of obedience in the instance of any kind where the scene of repentance lies is not a sufficient preparation to the holy Sacrament nor demonstration of our contrition unless it be in the case of repentance only for single acts of sin In this case to oppose a good to an evil an act of proportionable abstinence to a single act of intemperance for which we are really sorrowful and as we suppose heartily troubled and confess it and pray for pardon may be admitted as a competent testimonial that this sorrow is real and this repentance is contrition because it does as much for vertue as in the instance it did for vice alwaies provided that whatsoever aggravations or accidental grandeurs were in the sin as scandal deliberation malice mischief hardness delight or obstinacy be also proportionably accounted for in the reckonings of the repentance But if the penitent return from a habit or state of sin he will find it a harder work to quit all his old affection to sin and to place it upon God intirely and therefore he must stay for more arguments than one or a few single acts of grace not only because a few may proceed from many causes accidentally and not from the love of God but also because his love and habitual desires of sin must be naturally extinguished by many contrary acts of virtue and till these do enter the old love does naturally abide It is true that sin is extinguished not only by the natural force of the contrary actions of vertue but by the Spirit of God by aids from heaven and powers supernatural and Gods love hastens ouâ— pardon and acceptation
Sacramental Symbols as a direct consignation of pardon not that it is them compleated for it is a work of time it is as long in doing as repentance is in perfecting it is the effect of that depending on its cause in a perpetual operation but it is then working and if we go on in duty God will proceed to finish the methods of his grace and snatch us from eternal death which we have deserved and bring us unto glory And this he is pleased by the Sacramental all the way to consigne God speaks not more articulately in any voice from Heaven than in such real indications of his love and favour 14. Lastly since the Sacrament is the great solemnity of prayer and imitation of Christs intercession in Heaven let us here be both charitable and religious in our prayers interceding for all states of men and women in the Christan Church and representing to God all the needs of our selves and of our Relatives For then we pray with all the advantages of the spirit when we pray in the faith of Christ crucified in the love of God and of our neighbour in the advantages of solemn piety in the communion of Saints in the imitation of Christs intercession and in the union with Christ himself Spiritual and Sacramental and to such prayers as these nothing can be added but that which will certainly come that is a blessed hearing and a gracious answer SECT III. Devotions preparatory to this Mystery Ejaculations I. 1. I Will praise thee with my whole heart before the Angels will I sing praise unto thee 2. I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy loving kindnesse and for thy truth for thou hast magnified above all thy name the word of thy praise 3. In the day when I call upon thee thou shalt answer and shalt multiply strength in my soul. 4. How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me Thy mercy O Lord endureth for ever 5. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope 6. My soul doth wait for the Lord more than they that keep the morning watches that they may observe the time of offering the morning sacrifices 7. O let my soul hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption he shall redeem his people from all iniquitie II. 1. Our Lord is gentle and just our God is merciful 2. The Lord keepeth the simple I was humbled but the Lord looked after my redemption 3. O my soul return thou unto thy rest because the Lord hath restored his good things unto thee 4. He hath snatched my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will therefore walk before the Lord in the land of the living 5. I have believed therefore will I speak in the assemblies of just men I will greatly praise the Lord. 6. What shall I return unto the Lord all his retributions are repayed upon me 7. I will bear the chalice of redemptions in the Kingdom of God and in the name of the Lord I will call upon my God III. 1. I will pay my vows unto the Lord I will then shew forth his Sacraments unto all the people 2. Honourable before the Lord is the death of his holy one and thereby thou hast broken all my chains 3. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments 4. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth yea I will praise him among the multitude 5. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from them that condemn his soul. 6. His work is honourable and glorious and his righteousnesse remaineth for ever He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred 7. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion he hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his covenant he hath shewed his people the power of his works blessed be God The Prayers to be used in any day or time of preparation to the Holy Sacrament I. O Thou shepherd of Israel thou that feedest us like sheep thou makest us to lie down in pleasant pastures and leadest us by the still waters running from the clefts of the rock from the wounds of our Lord from the fountains of salvation thou preparest a table for us and anointest our heads with the unction from above and our cup runneth over let the blood of thy wounds and the water of thy side wash me clean that I may with a pure clean soul come to eat of the purest sacrifice the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world II. THou givest thy self to be the food of our souls in the wonders of the Sacrament in the faith of thy Word in the blessings and graces of thy Spirit Perform that in thy Servant which thou hast prepared and effected in thy Son strengthen my infirmities heal my sicknesses give me strength to subdue my passions to mortifie my inordinations to kill all my sin increase thy Graces in my soul enkindle a bright devotion extinguish all the fires of hell my lust and my pride my envy and all my spiritual wickednesses pardon all my sins and fill me with thy Spirit that by thy Spirit thou maist dwell in me and by obedience and love I may dwell in thee and live in the life of grace till it pasâ— on to glory and immensity by the power and the blessings by the passion and intercession of the Word incarnate whom I adore and whom I love and whom I will serve for ever and ever III. O Mysterious God ineffable and glorious Majesty what is this that thou hast done to the sons of men thou hast from thy bosom sent thy Son to take upon him our nature in him thou hast opened the fountains of thy mercy and hast invited all penitent sinners to come to be pardoned all the oppressed to be eased all the sorrowful to be comforted all the sick to be cured all the hungry to be filled and the thirsty to be refreshed with the waters of life and sustained with the wine of elect souls admit me O God to this great effusion of loving kindness that I may partake of the Lord Jesus that by him I may be comforted in all my griefs satisfied in all my doubts healed of all the wounds of my soul and the bruises of my spirit and being filled with the bread of heaven and armed with the strength of the Spirit I may begin continue and finish my journey thorow this valley of tears unto my portion of thy heavenly kingdom whither our Lord is gone before to prepare a place for every loving and obedient soul. Grant this O Eternal God for his sake who died for us and intercedes for us and gives himself daily to us our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Amen CHAP. II. Of
which is intended to be signified by all the exterior passions but when he hath no sign he must be the more careful he have the thing signified and then all is right again But happy is that soul which comes to these springs of salvation as the Hart to the water brooks panting and thirsty longing and passionate weary of sin and hating vanity and reaching out the heart and hands to Christ and this we are taught by the same Mystery represented under other Sacraments the waters of the spiritual Rock of which our fathers drank in the wilderness the Rock was Christ and those waters were his blood in Sacrament and with the same appetite they drank those Sacramental waters withal we are to receive these divine Mysteries Evangelical Now let us by the aids of memory and fancy consider the children of Israel in the wildernesse in a barren and dry land where no water was marching in dust and fire not wet with the dew of heaven wholly without moisture save only what dropt from their own brows the air was fire and the vermin was fire the flying serpents were of the same cognation with the firmament their sting was a flame their venome was a fever and the fever a calenture and their whole state of abode and travel was a little image of the day of judgment when the elements shall melt with fervent heat These men like Salamanders walking in fire dry with heat and scorched with thirst and made yet more thirsty by calling upon God for water suppose I say these thirsty souls hearing Moses to promise that he will smite the Rock and that a River should break forth from thence observe how presently they ran to the foot of the springing stone thrusting forth their heads and tongues to meet the water impatient of delay crying out that the water did not move like light all at once and then suppose the pleasure of their drink the unsatiableness of their desire the immensity of their appetite they took in as much as they could and they desired much more This was their Sacrament of the same Mystery and this was their manner of receiving it and this teaches us to come to the same Christ with the same desires For if that water was a type of our Sacrament or a Sacrament of the same secret blessing then that thirst is a signification of our duty that we come to receive Christ in all the ways of reception with longing appetites preferring him before all the interests in the world as birds do corn above jewels or hungry men meat before long orations For it is worth observing that there being in the Old Testament thirteen Types and Umbrages of this holy Sacrament eleven of them are of meat and drink such are * the tree of life in the midst of Paradice * the bread and wine of Melchisedeck * the fine meal that Sarah kneaded for the Angels entertainment * the Manna * and the roasted paschal Lamb * the springing Rock * and the bread of proposition to be eaten by the Priests * the barley cake in the host of Midian * Sampsons Fathers oblation upon the rock * the honey-comb that opened the eyes of Jonathan * and the bread which the Angel brought to Elijah in the strength of which he was to live fourty days all this to shew that the Sacrament is the life of the spiritual man and the food of his soul the light of his eyes and the strengâ—h of his heart and not only all this and very much more of this nature but to represent our duty also and the great principle of preparation Meat is the object and hunger is the address The wine is the wine of Angels but if you desire it not what should you do with it for the wine that is not to satisfie your need can do nothing but first minister to vanity and then to vice first to wantonness and then to drunkenness St. Austin expressing the affections of his Mother Monica to the Blessed Sacrament says that her soul was by the ligatures of faith united so firmly to the Sacrifice which is dispensed in the Lords Supper that a Lion or a Dragon could not drag her away from thence and it was said of St. Katherine that she went to the Sacraments as a sucking infant to his mothers breasts and this similitude St. Chrisostom presses elegantly See you not with what pretty earnestnesse and alacrity infants match their nurses breast how they thrust their lips into the flesh like the sting of a Bee Let us approach to this Table with no lesse desire and with no lesse suck the nipple of the holy Calice yet with greater desire let us suck the grace of the holy Spirit And it is reported that our Blessed Lord taught St. Mechtildis When you are to receive the holy Communion desire and wish to the praise of my Name to have all desire and all love that ever was kindled in any heart towards me and so come to me for so will I inflame and so will I accept thy love not as it is but as thou desirest it should be in thee Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden saith Christ that is they that groan under the burden of their sins and feel the load of their infirmities and desire pardon and remedy they that love the instruments of grace as they are channels of Salvation they that come to the Sacrament out of earnest desires to receive the blessings of Christ's death and of his intercession these are the welcome guests for so saith God Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it for he hath filled the hungry with good things said the holy Virgin Mother for Christ is food and refreshment to none else for the full he hath sent empty away If therefore you understand your danger and deeply resent the evil of your infirmities and sinful state if you confesse your selves miserable and have all corresponding apprehensions if ye long for remedy and would have it upon any termes if you be hungry at your very heart and would fain have food and Physâ—ck health and spiritual advantages if you understand what you need and desire what you understand if these desires be as great as they are reasonable and as lasting as they are great if they be as inquisitive as they are lasting and as operative as they are inquisitive that is if they be just and reasonable pursuances of the means of grace if they carry you by fresh and active appetites to the communion and that this may be to purpose if they fix you upon such methods as will make the Communion effect that which God designed and which we need then we shall perceive the blessings and fruits of our holy desires according to those words of David as it is rendered in the vulgar Latin the Lord hath heard the desire of the poor and his ear hath hearkned to the preparation of their heart An earnest
and unfruitful soul I have already a parched ground give me a land of Rivers of Waters my Soul is dry but not thirsty it hath no water nor it desires none I have been like a dead man to all the desires of heaven I am earnest and concerned in the things of the world but very indifferent or rather not well enduring the severities and excellencies of Religion I have not been greedy of thy Word or longed for thy Sacraments The worst of thy followers came runing after thee for loaves though they cared not for the miracle but thou offerest me loaves and miracles together and I have cared for neither Thou offerest me thy self and all thy infinite sweetnesses I have needed even the compulsion of laws to drive me to thee and then indeed I lost the sweetnesse of thy presence and reaped no fruit These things O God are not well they are infinitely amiss But thou that providest meat thou also givest appetite for the desire and the meat the necessity and the relief are all from thee II. Be pleased therefore O my dearest Lord to create in thy servant a great hunger and thirst after the things of thy kingdom and the righteousnesse of it all thy holy graces and all the holy ministeries of grace that I may long for the bread of heaven thirst after the fountains of salvation and as the Hart panteth after the brooks of water so my soul may desire thee O Lord. O kindle such a holy flame in my soul that it may consume all that is set before me that it may be meat and drink to me to do thy will III. Grant O blessed Jesus that I may omit no opportunity of serving thee of conversing with thee of receiving thee let me not rest in the least and lowest measures of necessity but passe on to the excellencies of love and the transportations of an excellent Religion that there may remain in me no appetite for any thing but what thou lovest that I may have no satisfaction but in a holy Conscience no pleasure but in Religion no joy but in God and with sincerity and zeal heartinesse and ingenuity I may follow after righteousnesse and the things that belong unto my peace until I shall arrive in the land of eternal peace and praises where thou livest and reignest for ever world without end Amen CHAP. III. Of Faith as it is a necessary disposition to the Blessed Sacrament EXamination of our selves is an inquiry whether we have those dispostions which are necessary to a worthy Communion Our next inquiry is after the dispositions themselves what they ought to be and what they ought to effect that we may really be that which we desire to be found when we are examined I have yet only described the ways of examining now I am to set down those things whereby we can approved and without which we can never approach to these divine Mysteries with worthinesse or depart with joy These are three 1. Faith 2. Charity 3. Repentance SECT I. Of Catechumens or unbaptised persons THE Blessed Sacrament before him that hath no faith is like messes of meat set upon the graves of the dead they smell not that nidour which quickens the hungry belly they feel not the warmth and taste not the juyce for these are provided for them that are alive and the dead have no portion in them This is the first great line of introduction and necessarily to be examined we have the rule from the Apostle Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Châ—ist is in you except ye be reprobates As if he had said ye are reprobates and Jesus Christ shall never dwell in you except by faith without this you can never receive him and therefore examine strictly your selves concerning your faith But the necessity of this preparation by faith hath a double sense and a proportionable necessity 1. It means that no unbaptised person can come to the holy Communion 2. It means that those that are baptized have an actual and an operative faith properly relative to these divine Mysteries and really effective of all the works of faith Of this we have the most ancient and indubitable records of the Primitive Church For in the Apology which Justin Martyr made for the Christians he gives this account of the manner of dispensing the holy Eucharist It is lawful for none to participate of this Eucharistical bread and wine but to him who believes those things to be true which are taught by us and to him that is washed in the laver of regeneration which is to the remission of sins and who live as Christ hath commanded Shut the proâ—hane and the unhallowed people out of doors So. Orpheus sang None comes to this holy feast but they whose sins are cleansed in Baptism who are saâ—ctified in â—hose holy waters of regeneration who have obedient Souls eaâ—s attentive to the Sermons of the Gospel and hearts open to the words of Christ. These are they who see by a brighter light and walk in the warmâ—h of a more refreshing Sun they live in a better air and are irradiated with a purer beam the glories of the Sun of righteousnesse and they only are to eat the precious food of the sacrificed lamb For by Baptism we are admitted to the spiritual life and by the holy Communion we nourish and preserve it But although Baptism be always necessary yet alone it is not a sufficient qualification to the holy Communion but there must be an actual faith also in every Communicant Neither faith alone nor baptism alone can suffice but it must be the actual faith of baptized persons which disposes us to this sacred Feast For the Church gives the Communion neither to Catechumens nor to Infants nor to mad men nor to natural fools Catechumens not admitted to the holy Communion Of this besides the testimony of Justin Martyr St. Cyril of Alexandria gives this full acoount We refuse to give the Sacraments to Catechumens although they already know the truth and with a loud voice confesse the faith of Christ because they are not yet enriched with the holy Ghost who dwells in them who are consummated and perfected by Baptism But when they have been baptized because it is believed that the holy Ghost does dwell within them they are not prohibited from the contact and communion of the body of Christ. And therefore to them who come to the mystical benediction the Ministers of the Mystery cry with a loud voice Sancta sanctis Let holy things be given to sanctified persons signifying that the contact and sanctification of Christs body does agree with them only who in their spirits are sanctified by the holy Ghost And this was the certain and perpetual Doctrine and Custom of the Church insomuch that in the primitive Churches they would not suffer unbaptized persons so much as to see the
the beloved Son the first born of every creature according to the Prophecies which went before him of the seed of of Abraham and David and of the Tribe of Judah He who is the maker of all that are born was conceived in the womb of a Virgin and he that is void of all flesh was incarnate and made flesh He was born in time who was begotten from eternity He conversed piously with men and instructed them with his holy Laws and doctrine He cured every disease and every infirmity He did signs and wonders among the people He slept and eat and drank who feeds all the living with food and fills them with his blessing He declared thy Name to them who knew it not He enlightned our ignorances He enkindled Godliness and fulfilled thy will and finished all that which thou gavest him to do All this when he had done he was taken by the hands of wicked men by the treachery of false Priests and an ungodly people he suffered many things of them and by thy permission suffered all shame and reproach He was delivered to Pilate the President who judged him that is the Judge of the quick and dead and condemned him who is the Saviour of all others He who is impassible was crucified and He died who is of an immortal nature and they buried him by whom others are made alive that by his death and passion he might free them for whom he came and might dissolve the bands of the Devil and deliver men from all his crafty malices But then he rose again from the dead he conversed with his Disciples forty days together and then was received up into heaven and there sits at the right hand of God his Father We therefore being mindful of these things which he did and suffered for us give thanks to thee Almighty God not as much as we should but as much as we can and here fulfil his Ordinance and believe all that he said and know and confess that he hath given us his body to be the food and his blood to be the drink of our souls that in him we live and move and have our being that by him we are taught by his strength enabled by his graces prevented by his spirit conducted by his death pardoned by his resurrection justified and by his intercession defended from all our enemies and set forward in the way of holinesse and life eternal O grant that we and all thy servants who by faith and Sacramental participation communicate with the Lord Jesus may obtain remission of our sins and be confirmed in piety and may be delivered from the power and illusions of the Devil and being filled with thy Spirit may become worthy members of Christ and at last may inherit eternal Life through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. IV. Of Charity preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament SECT I. THE second great Instrument of preparation to the blessed Sacrament is Charity for though this be involved in faith as in its cause and moral principle yet we are to consider it in the proper effects also of it in its exercise and operations relative to the Mysteries For they that speak distinctly and give proprieties of employment to the two Sacraments by that which is most signal and eminent in them both respectively call Baptism the Sacrament of Faith and the Eucharist the Sacrament of Charity that is Faith in Baptism enters upon the work of a good life and in the holy Eucharist it is actually productive of that Charity which at first was designed and undertaken For Charity is that fire from heaven which unlesse it does enkindle the Sacrifice God will never accept it for an atonement This God declared to us by his Laws given to the sons of Israel and Aaron The Sacrifice that was Gods portion was to be eaten and consumed by himself and therefore to be devoured by the holy fire that came down from heaven And this was imitated by the Persians who worshipped the fire and thought what the fire devoured their god had plainly eaten So Maximus Tyrius tells of them that bringing their Sacrifices they were wont to say O Fire our Lord eat this meat And Pindar in his Olympiaes tells of the Rhodians that when they brought a Sacrifice to Jupiter and had by chance forgotten to bring their fire he accepting of their good intentions and pitying their forgetfulnesse rained down upon them a golden shower from a yellow cloud that is a shower of fire came and consumed their sacrifice Now this is the great emblem of Charity the flame consumes the feasters Sacrifice and makes it a divine nutriment our Charity it purifies the Oblation and makes their Prayers accepted The Tables of the Lord like the Delian Altars must not be defiled with blood and death with anger and revenge with wrath and indignation and this is to be in all senses of duty and ministration an unbloody Sacrifiâ—e The blood of the Crosse was â—he last that was to have been shed The Laws can shed more but nothing else For by remembring and representing the effusion of blood not by shedding it our expiation is now perfected and compleat but nothing hinders it more than the spirit of war and death not only by the emissions of the hand or the apertures of a wound but by the murder of the tongue and the cruelties of the heart or by an unpeaceable disposition It was love that first made Societies and love that must continue our Communions and God who made all things by his power does preserve them by his love and by union and society of parts every creature is preserved When a little wâ—ter is spilt from a full Vessel and falls into its enemy dust it curles it self into a drop and so stands equally armed in every point of the circle dividing the Forces of the enemy that by that little union it may stand as long as it can but if it be dissolved into flatnesse it is changed into the nature and possession of the dust War is one of Gods greatest plagues and therefore when God in this holy Sacrament pours forth the greatest effusion of his love peace in all capacities and in all dimensions and to all purposes he will not endure that they should come to these love-feasts who are unkind to their brethren quarrelsom with their neighbours implacable to their enemies apt to contentions hard to be reconciled soon angry scarcely appeased These are dogs and must not come within the holy place where God who is the Congregating Father and Christ the great minister of peace and the holy spirit of love are present in mysterious Symbols and most gracious Communications For although it be true that God loves us first yet he will not continue to love us or proceed in the methods of his kindnesse unlesse we become like unto him and love For by our love and charity he will pardon us and he will
violence not only to the laws and manners but even to the very nature of men Lions indeed and Tygres do with a strange curiosity eye and observe him that struck them and they fight with him above all the hunters to strike again is the return of beasts but to pardon him that smote me is the bravest amends and the noblest way of doing right unto our selves whilest in the wayes of a man and by the methods of God we have conquered our enemy into a friend But revenge is the disease of honour and is as contrary to the wisdom and bravery of men as dwelling in rivers and wallowing in fires is to their natural manner of living and he who out of pretence of valour pursues revenge is like to him who because fire is a glorious thing is willing to have a St. Anthonies fire in his face 2. He that is injured must so pardon as that he must not pray to God to take revenge of his enemy It was noted as a pitiful thing of Brutus that when his army was broken and himself exposed to the insolencies of his enemies and that he could not revenge himself he cryed out most passionately in the words of the Greek tragedy to Jupiter to take vengeance of young Octavius But nothing is more against the nobleness of a Christian spirit and the interest of a holy communion than when all meet together to pray for all and all for every one that any man should except his enemy that he who prayes for blessings to the whole mystical body of Christ should secretly desire that one member should perish If one prayes for thee and another prayes against thee who knows whether thou shalt be blessed or accursed 3. He that means to communicate worthily must so forgive his enemy as never to upbraid his crime any more For we must so forgive as that we forget it not in the sense of nature but perfectly in the sense of charity For to what good purpose can any man keep a record of a shrewd turn but to become a spie upon the actions of his enemy watchful to do him shame or by that to aggravate every new offence It was a malicious part of Darius when the Athenians had plundered Sardis he resolving to remember the evil turn till he had done them a mischief commanded one of his servants that every time he waited at supper he should thrice call upon him Sr. remember the Athenians The Devil is apt enough to do this office for any man and he that keeps in mind an injury needs no other tempter to uncharitableness but his own memory He that resolves to remember it never does forgive it perfectly but is the under officer of his own malice â—or as rivers that run under ground do infallibly fall into the sea and mingle with the salt waters so is the injury that is remembred it runs under ground indeed and the anger is head but it tends certainly to mischief and though it be sometimes lesse deadly for want of opportunity yet it is never lesse dangerous 4. He that would communicate worthily must so pardon his enemy that though he be certain the man is in the wrong and sinned against God in the cause yet he must not under pretence of righting God and Religion and the laws pursue his own anger and revenge and bring him to evil Every man is concerned that evil be to him that loves it but we cozen our selves by thinking that we have nothing to do to pardon Gods enemies and vile persons It is true we have not but neither hath any private man any thing to do to punish them but he that cannot pardon Gods enemy can pray to God that he would and it were better to let it all alone than to destroy charity upon pretence of justice or Religion For if this wicked man were thy friend it may very well be supposed that thou wouldest be very kind to him though he were Gods enemy and we are easie enough to think well of him that pleases us let him displease whom he list besides 5. He may worthily communicate that so pardons his enemy as that he endeavour to make him to be his friend Are you ready to do him good Can you relieve your enemy if he were in want Yes it may be you can and you wish it were come to that And some men will pursue their enemy with implacable prosecutions till they have got them under their feet and then they delight to lift them up and to speak kindly to the man and to forgive him with all the noblenesse and bravery in the world But let us take heed lest instead of shewing mercy we make a triumph Relieve his need and be troubled that he needs it Rescue him from the calamity which he hath brought upon himself or is fallen into by misadventure but never thrust him down that thou mayest be honoured and glorious by raising him from that calamity in which thou art secretly delighted that he is intangled Lycurgus of Sâ—arta in a tumult made against him by some Citizens lost an eye which fact the wiser part of the people infinitely detesting gave the villain that did it into their Princes power and he used it worthily he kept him in his house a year he taught him vertue and brought him forth to the people a worthy Citizen To pardon thy enemy as David pardoned Absalom that 's true charity and he that does so pardon needs no further inquiry into the case of conscience It was an excellent saying of Seneca When thou doest forgive thy enemy rather seem to acquit him than to pardon him rather excuse the fault than only forbear the punishment for no punishment is greater than so to order thy pardon that it shall glorifie thy kindness and upbraid and reproach his sin 6. He that would be truly charitable in his forgiveness and with just measures would communicate must so pardon his enemy that he restore him to the same state of love and friendship as before This is urged by St. Bernard as the great imitation of the Divine mercy God hath so freely so intirely pardoned our sins that he neither condemns by revenging nor confounds by upbraiding nor loves lesse by imputing He revenges not at all he never upbraides and when he hath once pardoned he never imputes it to any evil purposes any more And just so must our reconciliation be we must love him as we loved him before for if we love him lesse we punish him if our love was valuable then he is forgiven indeed when he hath lost nothing I should be thought severe if I should say that the true forgiveness and reconciliation does imply a greater kindness after than before but such is the effect of repentance and so is the nature of love There is more joy over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance and a
thy mysteries and communicate to me thy gifts and love me with that love thou bearest to the Sons of thy house Thou hast given me thy Son with him give me all things else which are needful to my body and soul in order to thy glory and my salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. III. An act of Love and Eucharist to be added if there be time and opportunity O Lord Jesu Christ Fountain of true and holy love nothing is greater than thy love nothing is sweeter nothing more holy Thy love troubles none but is entertained by all that feel it with joy and exultation and it is still more desired and is ever more desirable Thy love O dearest Jesu gives liberty drives away fear feels no labour but suffers all it eases the weary and strengthens the weak it comforts them that mourn and feeds the hungry Thou art the beginning and the end of thy own love that thou mayest take occasion to do us good and by the methods of grace to bring us to glory Thou givest occasion and createst good things and producest affections and stirrest up the appetite and dost satisfie all holy desires Thou hast made me and fed me and blessed me and preserved me and sanctified me that I might love thee and thou would'st have me to love thee that thou mayest love me for ever O give me a love to thee that I may love thee as well as ever any of thy servants loved thee according to that love which thou by the Sacrament of love workest in thy secret ones Abraham excelled in faith Job in patience Isaac in fidelity Jacob in simplicity Joseph in chastity David in religion Josiah in zeal and Manasses in repentance but as yet thou hadst not communicated the Sacrament of love that grace was reserved till thou thy self shouldst converse with man and teach him love Thou hast put upon our hearts the sweetest and easiest yoke of love to enable us to bear the burden of man and the burden of the Lord give unto thy servant such a love that whatsoever in thy service may happen contrary to flesh and bloud I may not feel it that when I labour I may not be weary when I am despised I may not regard it that adversity may be tolerable and humility be my sanctuary and mortification of my passions the exercise of my daies and the service of my God the joy of my soul that loss to me may be gain so I win Christ and death it self the entrance of an eternal life when I may live with the Beloved the joy of my soul the light of my eyes My God and all things the blessed Saviour of the world my sweetest Redeemer Jesus Amen An Eucharistical Hymn taken from the Prophecies of the Old Testament relating to the blessed Sacrament Praise ye the Lord I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the Assembly of the upright and in the Congregation He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred the Lord is gracious and full of compassion He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant His bread shall be fat and he shall yield royal dainties Binding his Foal unto the vine and his Asses colt unto the choice vine he washed his garment in wine and his cloaths in the bloud of grapes In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things a feast of wine on the lees He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth for the Lord hath spoken it And the Lord their God shall save them as the flock of his people for how great is his goodness and how great is his beauty Corn shall make the young men chearful and new wine the virgins The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in He shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Take with you words and turn to the Lord saying Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips for in thee the Fatherless findeth mercy The Lord hath said I will heal their backslidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away They that dwell under his shadow shall return they shall revive as the corn and blossom as the Vine the memorial thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon The poor shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever for he hath placed peace in our borders and fed us with the flower of wheat For from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same the Name of the Lord shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto his Name and a pure offering for his Name shall be great among all Nations Who so is wise he shall understand these thiâ—gs and the prudent shall know them for the waies of the Lord are right and the just shall walk in them but the transgressors shall fall therein Glory be to the Father c. A Prayer to be said after the Communion in behalf of our souls and all Christian people 1. O most merciful and gracious God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory thou art the great lover of souls and thou hast given thy holy Son to die for our salvation to redeem us from sin to destroy the work of the Devil and to present a Church to thee pure and spotless and undefiled relying upon thy goodness trusting in thy promises and having received my dearest Lord into my soul I humbly represent to thy divine Majesty the glorious sacrifice which our dearest Jesus made of himself upon the Cross and by a never ceasing intercession now exhibites to thee in heaven in the office of an eternal Priesthood in behalf of all that have communicated this day in the Divine Mysteries in all the Congregations of the Christian world and in behalf of all them that desire to communicate and are hindred by sickness or necessity by fear or scruple by censures Ecclesiastical or the sentence of their own consciences 2. Give unto me O God and unto them a portion of all the good prayers which are made in heaven and earth the intercession of our Lord and the supplications of all thy servants and unite us in the bands of the common faith and a holy charity that no interests or partialities no sects or opinions may keep us any longer in darkness and division 3. Give thy blessing to all Christian Kings and Princes all Republicks and Christian Governments grant to them the
Spirit of mercy and justice prudence and diligence the favour of God and the love of their people and grace and blessing that they may live at peace with thee and with one another remembring the command of their Lord and King the serene and reconciling Jesus 4. Give an Apostolical Spirit to all Ecclesiastical Prelates and Priests grant to them zeal of souls wisdom to conduct their charges purity to become exemplar that their labours and their lives may greatly promote the honour of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus O grant unto thy flock to be fed with wise and holy shepherds men fearing God and hating covetousness free from envy and full of charity that being burning and shining lights men beholding â—heir light may rejoyce in that light and glorifie thee our Father which art in heaven 5. Have mercy upon all states of men and women in the Christian Church the Governors and the governed the rich and the poor high and low grant to every of them in their several station to live with so much purity and faith simplicity and charity justice and perfection that thy will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven 6. Relieve all oppressed Princes defend and restore their rights and suppress all violent and warring spirits that unjustly disturb the peace of Christendom Relieve and comfort all Gentlemen that are fallen into poverty and sad misfortunes Comfort and support all that are sick and deliver them from all their sorrows and all the powers of the enemy and let the spirit of comfort and patience of holiness and resignation descend upon all Christian people whom thou hast in any instance visited with thy rod And be graciously pleas'd to pity poor mankind shorten the days of our trouble and put an end to the days of our sin and let the Kingdom of our dearest Lord be set up in every one of our hearts and prevail mightily and for ever 7. I humbly present to thy Divine Majesty this glorious Sacrifice which thy servants this day have represented upon earth in behalf of my dearest Relations Wife Children Husband Parents Friends c. Grant unto them whatsoever they want or wisely and holily desire keep them for ever in thy fear and favour grant that they may never sin against thee never fall into thy displeasure never be separated from thy love and from thy presence but let their portion be in the blessing and in the service in the love and in the Kingdom of God for ever and ever 8. Have mercy upon all strangers and aliens from the Kingdom of thy Son let the sweet sound of thy Gospel be heard in all the corners of the earth let not any soul the work of thy own hands the price of thy Sons blood be any longer reckon'd in the portions of thy Enemy but let them all become Christians and grant that all Christians may live according to the Laws of the holy Jesus without scandal and reproach full of faith and full of charity 9. Give thy grace speedily to all wicked persons that they may repent and live well and be saved To all good people give an increase of gifts and holiness and the grace of perseverance and Christian perfection To all Hereticks and Schismaticks grant the Spirit of humility and truth charity and obedience and suffer none upon whom the Name of Christ is called to throw themselves away and fall into the portion of the intolerable burning 10. For all mankind whom I have and whom I have not remembred I humbly represent the Sacrifice of thy eternal Son his merits and obedience his life and death his resurrection and ascension his charity and intercession praying to thee in vertue of our glorious Saviour to grant unto us all the graces of an excellent and perfect repentance an irreconcilable hatred of all sin a great love of God an exact imitation of the holiness of the ever blessed Jesus the spirit of devotion conformable will and religious affections an Angelical purity and a Seraphical love thankful hearts and joy in God and let all things happen to us all in that order and disposition as may promote thy greatest glory and our duty our likeness to Christ and the honour of his Kingdom Even so Father let it be because it is best and because thou lovest it should be so bring it to a real and unalterable event by the miracles of grace and mercy and by the blood of the everlasting Covenant poured forth in the day of the Lords love whom I adore and whom I love and desire that I may still more and more love and love for ever Amen Amen SECT III. An Advice concerning him who only Communicates Spiritually THere are many persons well disposed by the measures of a holy life to communicate frequently but it may happen that they are unavoidably hindred Some have a timerous conscience a fear a pious fear which is indeed sometimes more pitiable than commendable Others are advis'd by their spiritual Guides to abstain for a time that they may proceed in the vertue of repentance further yet before they partake of the Sacrament of love and yet if they should want the blessings and graces of the Communion their remedy which is intended them would be a real impediment Some are scandalized and offended at irremediable miscarriages in publick Doctrines or Government and cannot readily overcome their prejudice nor reconcile their consciences to a present actual Communion Some dare not receive it at the hands of a wicked Priest of notorious evil life Some can have it at no Priest at all but are in a long journey or under a Persecution or in a Country of a differing perswasion Some are sick and some cannot have it every day but every day desire it Such persons as these if they prepare themselves with all the essential and ornamental measures of address and eanestly desire that they could actually Communicate they may place themselves upon their knees and building an Altar in their heart celebrate the death of Christ and in holy desire joyn with all the Congregations of the Christian world who that day celebrate the holy Communion and may serve their devotion by the former Prayers and actions Eucharistical changing only such circumstantial words which relate to the actual participation And then they may remember and make use of the comfortable Doctrine of S. Austin It is one thing saith that learned Saint to be born of the Spirit and another thing to be fed of the Spirit As it is one thing to be born of the flesh which is when we are born of our mother and another thing to be fed of the flesh which is done when she suckles her Infant by that nourishment which is chang'd into food that he might eat and drink with pleasure by which he was born to life when this is done without the actual and Sacramental participation it is called spiritual Manducation Concerning which I only add the pious advice of