now raised up again by the mercies of God and the merits of Jesus walk after a new manner in all religious and holy Conversation so should our deliverance be for the glory of his holy name through Christ Jesus for whatsoever Lusts we shall conquer or whatsoever good we shall perform the praise must wholly redound to him who did revive and restore us And surely we shall find it a most happy change from the slavery of sin the bondage of Satan and the fear of Hell to be acquainted with the pleasures of holiness the peace of a good Conscience and the love of God wherefore though this be the last let it not be thought the least of these Petitions but let us beg it with such Devotion as may attest our sincerity in all the other parts of this Confession so will our Heavenly Father grant them all to us through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Paraphrase of the Confession § 9. O Almighty God we thy poor sinful Creatures full of anguish and confusion for our offences against thy Majesty do make bold to come unto thee because thou art the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and for his sake inclinable to shew us mercy Thou art the Maker of us and all things and thou hatest nothing which thou hast made but hast pity on all the works of thy hands so that we are encouraged to make our supplication unto thee O thou judge of all men for it is in thy power for ever to acquit or to condemn us We tremble and blush to be found Sinners against so infinite a power and goodness but we must not add Hypocrisie to our disobedience Wherefore We acknowledge freely and bewail most bitterly our manifold offences of all kinds from the least of our Sins to the greatest of our Crimes and wickedness All and every one of which we long and frequently from time to time with many provoking aggravations most grievously have committed O Lord who can tell how oft we have offended * Here call to mind some of the greatest of thy particular sins in thoughts words or actions By thought in vain and evil imaginations by word in false uncharitable or blasphemous speeches and by Deed in ungodly unjust or intemperate actions For alas by all and every one of these ways we have daily sinned against thy Divine Majesty turning thereby thy loving kindness into displeasure and provoking thee to anger we have given thee cause most justly to let loose thy wrath and indignation against us to our utter ruine if thy mercy do not help us Our guilt is evident our danger apparent and our estate is most deplorable wherefore We do most passionately and earnestly repent us that ever we did commit them And are heartily sorry with all our Souls for these our so many and so abominable misdoings When we look upon the baseness and presumption of these vile offences The remembrance of them doth pierce our hearts with shame and sorrow and is most grievous unto us When we behold thy Favour which we have forfeited and Eternal Damnation which we have deserved thereby the burden of them presseth down our Souls with a load of terror and amazement that is intolerable Yet since thou callest all that are heavy laden we must not despair of thy pity but in this great distress we do beseech thee to Have mercy upon us and since our necessity forceth us to be importunate we will cry again Have mercy upon us We know thou art a most merciful Father though by sin we are unworthy to be called thy Children yet we hope thy bowels will yern upon us We lie prostrate and helpless begging of thee for thy dearly beloved Son our Lord Iesus Christ his sake and by the merits of his Cross and Passion to forgive us freely and fully for all that is past from the beginning of our life until this very moment Lord make us instances of thy mercy And grant when we have received so excellent and undeserved a favour that we may be so engaged thereby as that for ever hereafter we may beware of falling back into the like sin and misery Convert us we beseech thee as well as pardon us and enable us most obediently to serve and most intirely to please thee by spending the rest of our time in newness of life and all holy conversation Which through the help of thy grace we do here vow and resolve upon that this mighty change may tend to the honour and glory of thy Name who hast so wonderfully delivered us All which we most heartily beg through Iesus Christ our Lord to whose intercession for us do thou say Amen and it shall be to us according to thy word Amen SECT IV. Of the Absolution § 1. HE must be wholly a stranger to the Discipline of the Antient Church who knows not how great a care was taken that no publick offender might partake of these mysteries until by a long tryal and a great humiliation he had received an Absolution as publick as his crime had been so that it was a mighty and scandalous irregularity in S. Cyprians time a Nondum poenitentiâ actâ nondum exomologesi factâ nondum manu eis ab Episcopo Clero impositâ Eucharistia iis datur Cypr. de laps that lapsed persons by the favour of the Confessors and Martyrs were in some places suffered to Communicate without the solemn Absolution which yet was rectified afterwards b Vbique mysterii ordo servatur ut prius per remissionem vulneribus medicina tribuatur postea alimonia mensae coelestis exuberet Ambr. in Luc. But this godly Discipline being now every where laid aside it is so much the more necessary to supply it by this general Confession and Absolution Concerning which in general the Reader may consult what is said before Compan to the Temp. SECT IV. § 1. And as to this particular form it shall suffice to note that it is in imitation of that antient form of blessing c Benedictio ista pronuncianda est à sacerdote stante facie ad populum versâ manibus elevatis altâ voce in nomine Dei proprio RR. ap Fag Numb 6.24 c. being expressed by way of Prayer as there The Lord bless thee c. And since it is certain there is such a Power vested in the Ministers of the Gospel to support the spirits of a dejected Penitent by antedating his pardon in the name of God there can be no fitter opportunity to exercise this power than now when so many poor humbled Sinners are kneeling before God and begging forgiveness at his hands Then it becomes the Priest in Confidence of his Masters Mercy to give them his best wishes and with more than an ordinary Prayer to signifie as well as ask their pardon You have said with David We have sinned wherefore God hath sent his Minister like another Nathan to assure you that He hath also put away the iniquity of your
have mercy upon us 3. A Doxology to him also together with the whole Trinity For thou onely art Holy thou onely art the Lord thou onely O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most High in the Glory of God the Father Amen A Practical Discourse upon the Gloria in Excelsis § 3. Glory be to God on high on Earth Peace and good will toward men This blessed Hymn the Church hath learned from that Heavenly Choire which came to celebrate our Lords Nativity Luke 2.16 And since we have tasted the Coelestial Manna and fed upon Angels food it is fit we should join with them in singing the praises of their Lord and ours and as one of the Angelick Order first began and then a multitude of the Heavenly Host united their Voices so it was the Custom b Angelicum posthaec sacrifex pater incipit hymnum Inceptum complet vociferando Chorus Hildebert Conoman Episc of old for the Priest first to begin and then all the Communicants to compleat the Harmony of this divine Anthem It was first endited to set forth the happy effects of that Redemption which Jesus did undertake at his Birth and it doth declare that it caused Glory to be given to God in Heaven and made Peace for poor Sinners on Earth because it did engage the good will of the Almighty towards Men But all this was but expected and prophesied of then whereas now when the Merits of this Redemption are really and effectually communicated to Penitent Souls in this Sacrament those things are all performed and accomplished so that the worthy Receivers have juster cause now than ever to sing Glory to God in the highest note who dwelleth in the highest place c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliquando excellentissimè Math. 21.9 hoc loco terrae opponitur Grot. for he hath now done us the highest favour in making such Peace on Earth d Deus nobis haec otia fecit Virg. and giving such testimonies of his good will toward us No doubt the blessed Spirits above who sing at the Conversion of one Sinner do give glory to God in the highest now when he hath sealed his Covenant of Peace with so many and when they behold us all at peace one with another and rejoicing in these pledges of the divine favour The Church rejoyceth to see so many poor Souls revived with the hopes of Mercy e Gaudet Ecclesia redemptione multorum adstare sibi familiam candidatam spirituali exultatione laetatur Ambros de Sacr. l. 5. c. 3. every heart is full of joy and every Tongue is ready to bless the Lord for this happy reconciliation Oh let us strive to sing the Praises with an Angelick Spirit that so they above and we below may make a lovely Concord and if our Devotion cannot rise to the same note yet let our sincerity keep us in an agreeable Key and for the help of our affections let us thus meditate O my Soul behold and blush to see the Angels who are almost unconcerned sing for thy felicity while thou art silent and unmoved The Heaven is calm above thee the Earth is quiet round about thee and thy God hath testified his good will unto thee Rejoice and be exceeding glad admire and celebrate the Love of Jesus and the efficacy of that Sacrifice which hath filled Heaven with Glory Earth with Peace and all the World with Comfort O ye Celestial Powers it is my concern to magnifie him to whom you pay these Praises for I have received those Mercies which are the cause of your Joy Wherefore I will join with you and bless my God in the highest strain and I will pray that I may extol him more highly O let all the Lords redeemed on Earth and all the glorious Spirits of Heaven unite their Voices till all the World do resound with his Praise who hath restored Peace to us and shewed such good will unto men Hosanna in the highest § 4. We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give thanks unto thee for thy great glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty Having before propounded the subject of our Praises we now begin to descant upon it and first we glorifie the Father Almighty to whom the former Praises are primarily directed And although we are taught with many words to express our gratitude and our joy yet none can censure this as a vain repetition because it is done in imitation of those Celestial Hymns recorded in the Revelations viz. Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and might be c. Revel 7.12 and the like Chap. 5.13 as also because every word here used is highly pertinent and hath its peculiar and proper signification f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philem. Poet. Graec. We praise God by setting forth his Greatness we bless him by declaring his goodness we worship him with our Bodies we glorifie him with our mouth we give him thanks with our hearts for the great glory which he hath gotten to himself by these his Mercies toward us And further the adding so many words doth well express the vehemency of our affections and shew that we are so full of admiration and delight that we know not well with what words to signifie the pleasure which we feel within us And whilst we are repeating so many Phrases let our Souls be enlarged in comfortable reflections upon the goodness of God and then we shall not object against their number but find a new motion in our minds to comply with every one of these Eucharistical words and use every one of them with devotion O God the Father of Heaven whose mercy is over all the World I am infinitely pleased to behold the glory and to hear the Praises which thou hast gotten by thy mercy to poor Sinners and I could even pour out my Soul in the manifestation of that joy which my heart conceiveth at thy so universal Honour Wherefore I will praise thee by acknowledgments and bless thee with Hymns I will worship thee with the lowest reverence and glorifie thee in the highest note yea I will give thanks unto thee with all my Soul for thy Pity and thy Patience thy Mercy and long-suffering thy Bounty and Loving-kindness towards thy unworthy yet miserable Creatures And as all men do share in thy goodness I hope they will join in thy Praises in singing that Song of the Lamb which is to be the subject of eternal Hallelujahs Praise and Blessing Honour Glory and Thanksgiving be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne for ever and ever Amen § 5. O Lord the only begotten Son Iesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World Have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World Have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the
such as shall be religiously c. 3. The Matter to be done the most comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ 4. The manner how it is to be done 1. In Commmemoration to be by them received in remembrance of his c. 2. With thanksgiving both for 1. Christs death Wherefore it is our duty to render most humble c. 2. This Sacrament But also to be our spiritual food and sustenance c. 2. Exhortation in which note 1. The ground of this Exhortation viz. 1. The benefit of doing it well Which being so divine and comfortable a thing to them c. 2. The danger of doing it ill and so dangerous to them that will presume c. 2. The Paâ—ts of it which are 1. To consider of 1. The Dignity of this Sacrament My duty is to exhort you in the mean season to consider c. 2. The danger of profaning it and the great peril of the unworthy receiving thereof 2. To examine directing 1. In what manner and so to search and examine your own c. 2. To what end 1. Purity but so that ye may come holy and clean c. 2. Acceptance and be received as worthy Partakers 3. Directions unto 1. The Penitent to come fitly who must 1. Examine himself The way and means thereto is first to examine your lives c. 2. Confess to God and whereinsoever there to bewail your own sinfulness and to confess c. 3. Satisfie the wronged And if ye shall perceive your offences but also against your Neighbour c. 4. Forgive his enemies and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended c. 2 The Impenitent that they may not come so shewing 1. The reason of this Warning For otherwise the receiving of this holy Communion c. 2. The Persons warned Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer c. 3. The Warning it self Repent you of your sins or else come not c. 4. The danger of despising it Lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the Devil c. 3. The doubting that they may come with comfort 1. Why this Advice is given And because it is requisite that no Man should come but c. 2. To whom it is given Therefore if there be any of you who by this means cannot c. 3. The Couâ—sel it self directing them 1. Whither to go Let him come to me or some other c. 2. What to do and open his grief 3. For what benefit 1. Absolution that by the Ministry of Gods holy Word c. 2. Direction together with ghostly counsel c. 3. Comfort to the quitting c. A Practical Discourse upon this Warning § 3. Dearly Beloved on next I purpose through Gods assistance to Administer to all such as shall be religiously and devoutly disposed the most comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ It is the manner of mighty Princes whose entertainment requires extraordinary preparation to give notice by their Harbingers to those places where they intend to lodge and thus our Lord Jesus when he came in the flesh had St. John Baptist for his Herald to bid the World prepare Math. 3. and sent his Disciples as his Harbingers before his face to every City whither he intended to come Luke 10.1 thus also his Messengers do now proclaim his approach in this Sacrament wherein he comes in the Spirit to Feast with us Revel 3.20 and to dwell in us John 6.56 And oh how should this awaken us to prepare a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo lib. de Cherub for what provision is sufficient to make for the King of Kings who comes from Heaven in pure love to visit us and to do us good Why should we not receive the news with the same joy that Zachaeus expressed when he heard that Jesus purposed to be his Guest since wheresoever he is well received he brings Salvation to that House Luke 19.6 7 c. The Minister who hath appointed it in love to you seems by his courteous salutation to be well-pleased that he hath so good tidings to tell you and lest by ignorance or surprize you should lose the benefit of this blessed opportunity he gives you this timely intimation and fixes the very time as positively as Man can or ought to do we have not the time to come in our own power and so should always add if God please viz. that our life or health shall last so long b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graeca Versio Liturg. Angl. James 4.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Alcibiade and by his assistance viz. if he vouchsafe to afford us grace since we do but Administer the outward part Which short Parenthesis should also mind us how dangerous it is to neglect wilfully this next Sacrament because either we may not live to have another opportunity or not have the like grace and assistance from God if we despise this offer This warning is given to all but yet in the very first clause is signified that we would not willingly cast our Pearls before Swine c Sancta Sanctis ut Diac. clamat in Litur Graec. Math. 7.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. nor give this Sacrament to any but such as are religiously and devoutly disposed and for those who are so they need not be pressed or urged to come to the Holy Table since this most comfortable Ordinance doth attract them sufficiently by its own sweetness it is most comfortable to pious Souls and they who have found it so long for it and this very warning is to them a great pleasure and a sufficient invitation But if filthly wretches who relish nothing but Swinish pleasures and are full of Earthly things loath this Honey-Comb or despise this Manna it is no wonder let it be no prejudice to the mystery nor no hindrance to our preparation for if we upon this Summons do immediately endeavour to procure religious and devout dispositions we shall taste the comfort of it more fully than any words can express § 4. To be by them received in remembrance of his meritorious Cross and Passion whereby alone we obtain remission of our Sins and are made Partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven The necessity of this early and serious Warning is here further shewed from the two great Duties which all Christians are here to perform First We are not to be idle Spectators of the Mystery as they are in the Roman Church where if the people Communicate but once a year it is thought sufficient by the Lateran Council and at other times they only look on while the Priest alone Communicates Conc. Trident. Sess 22. Can. 8. a practice unknown to all Antiquity But we are commanded to receive the Symbols our selves in Remembrance as St. Paul speaks 1 Cor. 11.24 25. of that one offering once for all Hebr. 9.26.28 whereby Jesus hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified
pit He saw us wretched and miserable lying hopeless and helpless reserved in Chains of Darkness to the judgment of the great Day and then he had Compassion on us and broke our Bonds in sunder But there is one step higher still 4. Let us behold the noble design and happy consequence of this Deliverance he hath not only snatched us from the flames of Hell but made us Heirs of Heaven not only pacified our offended Judge but engaged him to become our most gracious Father so that he owns us for his Friends adopts us for his Children and intends us to be partakers of his endless joys We are taken from our Dungeon into the Family of God from his Bar into his Bosom and advanced to be like unto the Angels in glory and immortality Oh the heigth and length the depth and breadth of the love of Christ Who can sufficiently admire it that so great a Majesty should stoop so low and suffer so much for so poor and so evil-deserving wretches with purpose to advance them to so blessed a condition this is a subject fit for an Angels Song-Praise the Lord oh my Soul and let all thy powers be acted with such love and wonder that thou maist break forth into all the expressions of joy that admiration and gratitude can inspire thee with Glory be to thee O Lord most high § 9. And to the end that we should always remember the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour thus dying for us and the innumerable benefits which by his precious blood-shedding he hath obtained to us he hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries as pledges of his love and for a continual remembrance of his Death to our great and endless comfort Our merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous works that they ought to be had in remembrance Psal 111.3 but especially this work of our Redemption which to forget were an ingratitude baser than Heathens or Publicans ever knew Math. 5.46 and might almost compare with the Cruelty of his Murtherers Is it not our greatest comfort and our highest honour that we were thus redeemed by such a Saviour Can we forget that precious blood which was the price of our Souls and the purchase of Heaven by which we obtain benefits more than we can number greater than we can sufficiently apprehend Pardon and peace the love of God and the service of Angels Victory over Satan and the Conquest of Death the Conversion of Souls and the fruition of glory do all spring from it with many many more The Choire of Heaven bless God for it and Eternity is designed to sing the glory of this excellent love which had no pattern hath no parallel nor ever can it fully have an imitation John 15.13 Rom. 5.7 8. And is it possible now that those for whom all this was done should ever forget so rare a mercy or neglect so cheap d Qui meminit sine impendio gratus est Sen. so mean a return as to Commemorate it with thanksgiving Reason would deem this impossible but experience alas shews it is too frequent and both good and bad do more or less let slip the memory hereof Wherefore the holy Jesus found it necessary to appoint this Sacrament to be the Worlds Remembrancer therein It hath been the Custom of all Nations to preserve the memory of their Hero's and to perpetuate their deliverances by appointing publick Games and Festivals thus Cities commemorate their Founders and the Sects of Philosophers their first Authors yet all these being of humane Institution are soon apt to decay and beside they are without advantage to the Souls of men But our Lord hath appointed a Commemoration of his Death and our Salvation that shall as far out-last as it doth outvy them all A Coelestial Banquet and worthy of so great so divine an Author Which doth at once represent our Saviours Passion before us and convey its benefits to us it demonstrates his love confirms our Faith mortifies our Lusts it makes us like to Jesus and one with him And how can we have more evident pledges of his favour He knew we were apt to forget him and then we grow cold and dull exposed to our Enemies and open to all mischief wherefore he hath contrived these mysteries that we might neither want the comfort of remembring his holy Passion nor the benefit of sharing in the merits of it He had given himself for all before but now he gives himself to every particular Soul Let us then take care duly to receive these Tokens of his endless love and they shall begin a joy which shall never cease till our Lord in person shall appear in all his glory and by the brightness of his presence remove all these Vails and Coverings and give us leave to see him face to face § 10. To him therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost let us give as we are most bounden continual thanks submitting our selves wholly to his holy will and pleasure and studying to serve him in true holiness and righteousness all the days of our life Amen By this time surely we begin to be melted with these vigorous manifestations of the love of Christ and our affections big with gratitude and admiration begin to struggle within us for therefore is this representation made that we might remember it and remembred that we might celebrate it with Hymns and Eucharist My heart is ready O God saith the pious Soul My heart is ready Psal 108.1 Most seasonably therefore doth the Priest invite us to Praise the Lord with him just now and summon us to this excellent duty almost in the very words of St. Paul Heb. 13.15 We have seen the everlasting love of the Father the unspeakable kindness of the Son the incomparable grace of the Holy Ghost and our own infinite Obligations Let us therefore all join in offering up all possible Praise and Glory let us begin the Office with it that it may warm our hearts and dispose them for all the following parts thereof And let us worship the blessed Trinity with such sincere and hearty thanksgivings that the Choire of Communicants may be a little Emblem of that of Angels with this only difference that they openly behold that which we discern by Faith but both they and we rejoice in it with joy unspeakable and full of glory But because when we have done all we can we shall come far short we must resolve not only to make a few praises in this highest part of our Devotion but to perpetuate the duty to our lives end for our very life is too short and all our Thanksgiving too narrow to celebrate these mercies let us strive therefore to imprint the love of Jesus so deeply in our minds that the memory thereof may never depart from us but be ever in us and always dispose us to bless the Lord at all times in all places and upon all occasions And further since no praises
to you consider the sound of his Masters feet is behind him wherefore labour to express the same reverence both in Soul and Body as you would do if Jesus were visibly present with a train of glorious Angels say as the Primitive Christians did g Porro moris erat Communicaturis dum accipiebant Eucharistiam dicere Domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum Authore Origine hom 6. in divers ap Durant Lord I am not worthy thou shouldst come under my roof and at the sound of his words let you heart leap within you for joy and say whence is it that my Lord himself should come unto me and then according as you have opportunity you may from these very words be furnished with most pertinent Meditations Meditations before the receiving of the Bread §. 4. The Body of our Lord Iesus Christ An Act of Faith O Eternal word of God by whose power all things were made I will not ask how thou canst give me thy flesh to Eat because I am abundantly satisfyed in thy saying This is my Body since thou canst make it become to me whatsoever thou sayst it is h Oportet igitur non in sumptionibus Divinorum mysteriorum indubitatam retinere fidem non quaerere quo modo D. Bernar. I believe Lord help my unbelief What though my senses assure me the outward substance and its accidents still remain i Corporalis substantiae retinet speciem sed virtutis divinae invisibili efficientiâ probat adesse praesentiam Cypr. de coen Dom. Yet my Faith and my Experience tell me there is an efficacy therein beyond the power of any other thing Alas the flâ—sh would profit me nothing John 6.63 for he that is joined to thee must be one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 O let these sacred Symbols therefore make me partaker of thy nature and a partner in thy merits let them unite me to thee ingraft me in thee and make that body mine which did suffer Death for me and then I shall seek no further but be more happy than if I could understand all mysteries Sure I am This is thy body in Sacrament it communicates to us the blessings and benefit thereof and though presented in a figure and by a holy Rite yet it is to all its purposes that which it doth represent I will therefore receive it as thy Body and esteem it infinitely above all other food that I may not be judged for not discerning thy Body O let it be unto me according to my Faith Amen An Act of Humility I am a sinful wretch O Lord and yet if I bid thee depart from me I banish all true happiness from my Soul I long for thy presence but how shall I entertain thee thou wast born of a pure Virgin wrapped in clean linnen laid in a new Tomb and dwellest now where nothing defiled can enter but never was there so unworthy an Apartment prepared for thee as my polluted heart into which I durst not presume to bring thee but that I know thou canst make it clean However when by Faith I see that Body which all the Angels of Heaven worship I cannot but abhor myself in Dust and Ashes I am amazed to see such a Majesty come to visit a Sin-sick Soul in so poor a Cottage yea I cannot but tremble at thy presence O thou King of Glory because I am so overspread with the filth of sin But I will lament those corruptions which I cannot fully purge away and beseech thee not to despise me though I do deserve it I do profess my self unworthy but thy condescension in stooping to me will be the more illustrious k Majoris enim pretii beneficium est quod praestatur indignis Salvian and if thou hast less delight in me for the present thou shalt have more glory by me afterwards when thou hast changed my vile body and made it like to thy glorious Body according to thy mighty Power Amen §. 5. Which was given for thee An Act of Love Holy Jesus I am not worthy to touch this blessed Body as it is thine yet I presume to approach because thy Love hath made it mine This is the Sacrifice for my Sins the price of my Redemption and that by which my Soul was ransomed from Hell and rescued from a dreadful Execution it was given for me and it shall now be given to me And hast thou prepared such a propitiation for me and offered it unto me which is dearer to thee than thousands of Gold and Silver Lord I am even ravished with thy Love and transported with affection to thee who hast regarded me a forlorn Creature and disappointed my Enemies that waited to see my fall Dear Saviour I will love thee with all my Powers and strive and pray that I may love thee more and more as fervently as ever any of thy Saints have done I will give my self unto thee and despise all other things in comparison of thee and when I have once tasted of this all-saving Sacrifice which was given for me I am perswaded that neither Life nor Death pleasure nor pain things prâ—sent or things to come shall ever be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen §. 6. Preserve thy Body and Soul to Everlasting Life An Act of Desire O my Coelestial food the Bread that came down from Heaven how doth thy sweetness and my own necessities invite me My body alas is liable to temporal my Soul to Eternal Death and behold here is the Medicine of immortality which will remove the sting of the first and destroy the power of the second Death which will fill me with the graces which I want fit me for the glory which I desire and advance my Soul and Body above the power of Corruption I feel a mighty hunger created in me an Appetite kindled after these incomparable dainties which nothing but this Heavenly Manna can satisfie Behold I despise the meat which perisheth and feedeth for destruction and I long with a great impatience to taste of this Body of Christ of which I may eat and live for ever which will make the Grave unable to hold me and Hell not to dare to shut its mouth upon me O make no long tarrying but give me now and ever this Bread for I desire nothing but Christ and if I want this repast I shall faint or die before I come to the Mount of God A Meditation when the Bread is offered to us §. 7. Take and Eat this An Act of Admiration Whence is it that my Lord himself should come to me No sooner doth his voice sound in my ears but my heart within me leaps for joy Oh blessed tidings to my poor Soul almost famished with feeding on husks and vanity faint and languishing with grief and fear and behold thou sayst Take and Eat thou offerest thy self unto me and commandest me to feast upon thy own flesh
made An Act of acknowledgment Part. III. Most merciful Jesus although thou reservest the fâ—ll manifestations of thy love to my Soul till the glorious Resurrection yet as if thou wert impatient of so long a stay thou hast sealed at present thy gracious donative and my comfortable Title to a never-fading Crown Thou hast dearly bought it for me and thou hast freely given it to me wherefore I will vigorously endeavour after it patiently wait for it and chearfully expect it Ah my dearest Saviour I am here vexed with Crosses oppressed with Enemies troubled with corruptions and tossed on the waves of a thousand sins and miseries But it is my comfort amidst all these sorrows to receive this assurance that I shall ere long be translated into a blissful state never to know sin or feel pain to be in danger of Enemies or fear of Evil any more Oh how it enlightens my heart and makes my spirit vigorous to foresee the rest and peace the joy and pleasure to which I am consigned the glorious Society that waits for me Oh how welcom shall be that blessâ—d hour that summons me to enter into the joy of my Lord And whilst I stay I will behave my self O my Saviour as the Heir of thy Kingdom for I will destroy all Murtherers be they harboured in the most private retirements of my Soul I will pluck these Lusts from thence for they have crucified thee and they would still exclude me from those felicities which thou hast offered to me Lord I will hate every thing that keeps me from Heaven and love nothing but what may further me in my way thither I am resolved by the help of thy grace to live as one that is above all the trifling pleasures and sorrows of this lower World and I hope to demean my self as an Heir of Glory as one designed to be a Companion of Angels and to partake of thy bliss for ever and ever Amen So be it § 7. And we most humbly beseech thee O Heavenly Father so to assist us with thy grace that we may continue in that holy Fellowship and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in That goodness which hath bestowed so many and great favours upon us hath encouraged us to ask more Å¿ Ex perceptione praeteritorum munerum firma fit expectatio futurorum Bern. de temp And since we learn from St. John 1 Ep. 1. Chap. ver 6. that we can have no fellowship with Jesus if we walk in darkness and since St. Paul assures us Ephes 2.10 that the end of our Regeneration through Christ is that we may do those good works which God hath prepared for us to walk in Therefore the Church hath taught us in the next place to pray for such grace as may testifie the truth of our Union with Jesus and preserve the good things which we have received and in vain have we taken these pledges of love in vain have we sought to be united to Christ and his mystical Body in vain are all our hopes of Heaven unless we do hereafter persevere and bring forth good fruits t Et fides ipsa ut nativitas non accepta sed custodita vivificat Cypr. Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia sed finis Hieron We were fed with this Heavenly food not to fatten us with pride but to strengthen us for our journey this being given us as a Viaticum or repast to make us travel more chearfully in our way to the Heavenly Canaan u Vt Pascha Hebraeis ante iter per desertum Exod. 12.10 11. unde Philoni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur Sacrificia propter viam vide apud Macrob. Saturn lib. 2. c. 2. There was no other reason of Gods renewing us and giving us new favours but only that we might walk in newness of life Now because we cannot either continue in this blessed Society or do good works agreeable thereto without the help of Gods grace we must most humbly beseech our Heavenly Father who knows our necessity constantly and plentifully to assist us with his Grace that we may be such as Jesus is and do so as the Saints have done to whom we are united He is a root full of all sweetness and they all bring forth much fruit who are engrafted in him so that if we be barren of good works we are dead Branches and have no true Communion with Christ or our Brethren Pray we then with all possible fervency that we may never be cut off from this blessed Society nor want that grace which consolidates the Union O what honour and advantage what pleasure and reward shall we have by our perseverance Let not sinful vanities entice us to leave this sweetness let not the difficulty of obedience the fear of sufferings nor the terrors of Death affright us from it but let us go on in the path which God hath marked out both for us and all good Christians to walk in so shall we come to the same blessed end even Everlasting Glory But because so many men fancy their duty to be at an end as soon as they have praised God made fair promises and prayed unto him for his Grace and so grow remiss w Improbus quoad metuit omnia est promissurus simulatque timere defierit similis est futurus sui Cicer. 2 Phil yea and profane afterwards to the great scandal of this Sacrament and the ruine of their own Souls We must now shew that it is necessary we should practise as well as promise x Coneordet sermo cum vitâ ille promissum suum implevit qui cum videas illum cum audias idem est Sen. ep 75. and endeavour after and exercise the grace of God as well as pray for it y Et oratione operatio operatione fulciatur oratio Hieron in Thren 3.41 or else all our Petitions are Hypocrisie z Tanta sollicitudine petere audebis quod in te positum recusabis Tertul. Interdum enim obnixe petimus quod recusaremus si quis offerret Sen. ep 95. and our carelesness will shew we did but mock the Almighty all the while Let us therefore seriously lay to heart 1. The sin and danger of basely relapsing 2. Let us learn the means of a blessed perseverance 1. The Sin appears by these Considerations 1. It is apparent folly and madness for us to cast away those hopes and comforts which we have obtained with so much pains a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epic l. 2. meerly by inconsideration or to please a base Lust so that the Scripture compares such to bruit Beasts b Jerem. 8.6 2 Pet. 2.21 Psal 49. ult And verily Man being advanced to this honour and yet not understanding and valuing it is worse than the Beasts that perish for nothing is more bruitish than to lose peace of Conscience the love of God and the hopes of Heaven for the short and miserable
thanks unto thee with all our hearts for thy great glory Which is given to thee by all the World O Lord God We acknowledge thou art our Heavenly King who hast subdued our Enemies Thou art God the Father Almighty who hast designed and brought about this marvellous work We do also adore thee O Lord our Saviour remembring with delight and confessing with joy that thou art the only begotten Son of God Iesu Christ the anointed Redeemer And now O Lord God As thou art the most innocent Lamb of God slain and sacrificed for our offences and as thou art the most dearly beloved Son of the Father that by thy holy Passion takest away the sins of the World We entreat thee to Have mercy upon us and pitty us And again we beseech thee Thou that takest away the sins of the whole World since we are Sinners Have mercy upon us and forgive us And once more we pray thee O Thou that takest away the sins of the World take away our sins and receive our Prayer which otherwise might be hindred by them We know thou hast the only interest in Heaven wherefore we do again beseech thee Thou that sittest in great glory at the right hand of the Father that thou wilt have mercy upon us and save our Souls To thee we make this application for pardon and acceptance Blessed Jesus for thou only art holy in and from thy self To thee we seek for succour for thou only art the supream Lord of Lords Thou only O Christ together with the Holy Ghost the Comforter art most high in the favour and a Partner in the glory of God the Father constituting the holy and undivided Trinity which is blessed for ever Amen SECT V. Of the final Blessing § 1. OF the concluding the Ordinary Prayers with a blessing we have discoursed Comp. to the Temple SECT ult But besides it is apparent that the people were always dismissed from this Ordinance with a solemn Benediction pronounced by the Bishop when he was present a Plebs ab Episcopo cum benedictione mittatur Concil Agath can 30. and in his absence by the Priest b Populus non ante discedat quà m Missae solennitas compleatur ubi Episcopus non fuerit Benedictionem accipiat sacerdotis Concil 3. Arelatens yet so as none might depart till this was given by the one or the other Which Custom some would ground upon our Saviours practice who after his last eating with his Disciples Luke 24.43 took his leave with a blessing ver 50. The present form is taken out of holy Scripture the first part is from Philip. 4.7 The latter part is a Christian Paraphrase upon the old form of Moses Numb 6.24 25 26. for whereas the name of the Lord is thrice repeated there to note the Mystery of the Trinity we have explained it by the Father Son and Holy Ghost And what is further observable the following method will declare The Analysis of the final Blessing Sect. 2. This Blessing containeth a twofold wish 1. For the Peace of God to be in us shewing 1. The Excellency thereof The Peace of God which passeth all understanding 2. The end for which it is desired Keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord. 2. For the Blessing of God to be upon us intimating 1. Whence it must proceed And the blessing of God Almâ—ghty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 2. How it is to be imparted be amongst you and remain with you always Amen A Practical Discourse upon the final Blessing § 3. The Peace of God which passeth all understanding Keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord. When St. Paul had directed us to make our addresses to God by Prayers Supplications and Thanksgivings Philip. 4.6 he immediately adds And the Peace of God shall keep your hearts c. ver 7. So that he may seem to have designed this to be a Conclusion for this very office For we have now by Prayers Letany and Eucharist c Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 4.7 made our applications to the Divine Majesty Wherefore the holy man by this method ought now to give us the Peace of God We have begun in Piety and therefore we shall certainly end in Peace Hence all Liturgies generally conclude with the mention of Peace d In pace Christi eamus Lit. S. Jacob Reg. MS. enim lâ—git 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 4.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysos hom de jejun in Pasch In pace procedamus in nomine Domini Lit. S. Basil And there is not a more comprehensive blessing than Peace nor a more seasonable valediction after this Sacrament whether we understand it of the Peace which God hath made with us or of that which he requires of us 1. If we take it for the Peace which God hath made with us viz. for our Reconciliation to him by Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylac in loc Philip. and the internal Peace of Conscience following thereupon It is so admirable in it self and it brings such comforts to the Soul which enjoys it that it not only surpasseth all the gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge but passeth the capacity of the highest Understanding to comprehend it And whereas we do now all pretend to know and to love God and our Lord Jesus Christ the Minister prays that we may find such comfort and delight in our Peace and Reconciliation with God that it may keep us firm and constant to this Knowledge and Love that it may win the affections of our hearts and gratifie the powers of our Mind so as to attract us to a further progress in the knowledge of so gracious a God and in the love of so dear a Saviour He prays that this Peace may make us despise all the friendships of Sin and engage us to seek after a further acquaintance with God and a nearer Union with Jesus Christ so that we may fall off no more to vanity when we have tasted these divine pleasures 2. If we take it for the Peace which God requires of us viz. that Peace which by his command we here make with our Brethren which sense Theophylact also mentions it is very proper to wish that this Peace may keep our hearts also For we are all here joined in the Unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace and Amity as a token whereof the Antients finished these Mysteries with a kiss of Peace f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin M. Apol. 2. Osculum Pacis quod est signaculum orationis Tertul. de Or. Roman 16.16 and supposed they had not received aright unless they all departed in mutual Peace and Charity g Quale sacrificium est à quo sine Pace receditur idem Tertul. ibid. And this blessed Peace is both better than
all gifts of understanding and it hath a sweetness and pleasure in it that passeth all Carnal knowledge and none can tell the delights of this Peace but they that feel it Wherefore when the Minister sees you all united in this divine Peace he prays that you may find such comfort in this Amity and Concord as to keep your hearts and minds firm in loving that God who hath made you all friends That you may be so taken with these paths of Peace that you may desire to know more fully and to love more fervently the God of Peace and the Prince of Peace who first directed you into those blâ—ssâ—d ways In both Senses it is an apt and pious wish that we may not Apostatize nor fall of and therefore we ought to join our own Petitions to this Blessing that so we may be constant to the end § 4 And the Blesâ—ing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be amongst you aâ—d remain with you always Amen It is a principal part of the Priests Office to bless the People in Gods name Deut. 10.8 and he hath promised to bless those whom thâ—y bless Num. 6. ver 27. hereupon the Antient Christians departed not till the Priest had given them the Blessing h Domine benedic Benedictio Domini super nos semper nunc in secula seculorum Amen in fine Liturg. S. Chrys And the Congregation ought to receive it upon their knees as the Blessing of their spiritual Father And we are to believe it to be more than a bare Prayer because it not only begs but imparts a Blessing to those who are duly qualified We believe that God heard his Prayer in order to the Consecration of the Elements and why should we doubt of the efficacy of â—his Blessing i Benedicere populo non debet qui Christum meruit consecrare Hieron ep ad Ruffin We ought to believe that those whom Gods Minister blesseth shall be Blessed and accordingly let us most fervently desire of God to ratifie and confirm it For I assure you it is a most desireable thing It is the blessing of God Almighty which makes every thing to prosper and particularly it is the Blessing of the Father as to our Preservation the Blessing of the Son as to our Pardon the Blessing of the Holy Ghost as to our Sanctification and all this desired to be with us all at present and to remain upon us for ever O happy Soul that receives this Benediction what can such an one need or desire more than the Blessing of God and the favour of every Person in the Holy Trinity both now and for ever and yet wheresoever the Peace of God hath gone before this Blessing shall follow after Receive it then with Faith and thankfulness and when you have done worship and return home with joy since the Blessing of Heaven goeth with you and will never leave you so long as the Peace of God doth rule in your hearts and may that be for ever Amen The Paraphrase of the final Blessing § 5. Let the comfort which you find in The Peace and favour of God and the sweetness of that amity made one with another which passeth and excelleth all the gifts of knowledge yea and surpasseth all understanding to comprehend it Let this divine peace I say keep the affections of your heart and the powers of your mind firm and constant in the knowledge and sincere in the love of God our Father and of his Son Iesus Christ whom we have taken to be our Lord and only Saviour And let the blessing and favour of God Almighty which you all so much need and desire Even the Blessing of God the Father for your Preservation of God the Son for your Redemption and of God the Holy Ghost for your Sanctification Let each of these at present be amongst you and let them remain with you always to your lives end And may the Almighty say hereto Amen and then it shall be so An Appendix of the Additional Prayers § 1. Lest there should be any thing left unasked in this excellent Office the Church hath added six Collects more to be used at the Ministers discretion Concerning which there is little to be said in the general but that they are plain and pious and almost every sentence in them taken out of holy Scripture wherefore it will be sufficient to give them their proper Titlâ—s to manifest on what occasion they may most fitly â—e usâ—d as also to remark in the Margin the places of Scripture whereof they are composed and finally by a brief Paraphrase to illustrate every particular I. A Prayer for Safety in all Worldly Changes § 2. When we apprehend any danger by reason of the sudden Changes and sad Accidents to which we and all the World are liable there are two main particulars which we are to beg of God for our security 1. That he will always assist our Prayers 2. That he will direct us toward the right end For so long as we can pray fervently and are going on in the right course to Heaven we are in no danger whatsoever may happen The Paraphrase of the first Prayer Be pleased to Assist us according to thy promise a Rom. 8.26 and and help us Mercifully O Lord that we may be sincere and devout in these and all our Supplications and Prayers For we cannot be miserable so long as we can fervently call upon thee And thou that orderest every good Mans going b Psal 37 23 order the Conversation c Psal 50. ult and Dispose the way d Prov. 4. ult ubi Vulg. 70. addunt of us who are thy Servants That we may e Ipse autem rectos faciet cursus tuos itinera autem tua in pace producet still tend toward the attainment of our great end even Everlasting Salvation for so long as we remain in the paths that lead thither we are safe Wherefore do thou so direct us that among all the Changes of this uncertain World and all the sad accidents and Chances f Eccles 9.11 Fortuna est accidentium rerum subitus inopinatus eventus Lact Inst l. 3. Sect. 29 which may happen to us or any of thine g Cuivis potest accidere quod cuiquam potest Pub. Syr. in the course of this mortal life We and they may never presume or despair but ever be defended from all the mischiefs of those alterations â—y thy most gracious Providence watching over us and thy ready help afforded to us whensoever we are in danger All which we beg through the prevailing Mediation of Iesus Christ our Lord who always interceeds for our relief Amen II. A Prayer for the Preservation of Body and Soul § 3. The former Prayer mentions the Evils from which we would be defended this declares what it is which we desire should be preserved it is grounded upon St. Pauls Prayer 1 Thessal 5.23 and
Eyes all things lie open If we were to pass the strictest humane Examination our thoughts would be unobserved and unpunished but we are now to pass a nearer Scrutiny for in this Ordinance our God comes into see the Guests Math. 22.12 and as the Priest in the Temple to search the very Inwards of those who are about to offer up themselves to him Secondly If we complain that our hearts are deceitful Jerem. 17.9 so that we have neither strength to root out nor skill to discover all the Corruptions that are lodged there Let us look up to him who is able to help us in cleansing this Augaean Stable for we may be assured if he see it is our unfeigned desire to be purified his Omnipotence shall not be imployed to ruine us but to destroy our Lusts and his Omniscience not to find them out to our shame but to our amendment And thus the same Attributes that did terrifie us from rude and impure approaches will incourage us again to draw near by shewing us how we may be cleansed § 4. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the Inspiration of thy holy Spirit This Petition is the Paraphrase of Davids Prayer Psal 51.6 7. Make me a clean heart c. and the moral of all those c Psal 26.6 Lavabo ut rem divinam faciam Plaut procul ite profani washings used by Jews and Gentiles before they came to the Altar And it is the more necessary for us because we are not only entring upon the most solemn part of Gods worship but also in hope that Jesus himself is coming to lodg in our hearts Wherefore being conscious that we are overspread with the Leprosie of Sin while we are yet a great way off Luke 17.12 13. We cry out unclean unclean Levit. 13.45 46. And do call upon Jesus saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make us clean Mâ—th 8.2 For unless he cleanse us before we come too near He will either abhor us and our offerings Or at least those impure thoughts like Abrahams Fowls will steal away the benefit and the Comfort of our Sacrifice and while our bodies are in the holy place d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo leg Allegor carry our minds after abominable things leaving a Carcass before the Altar And therefore that no filthy imaginations may defile us nor secular thoughts disturb us Let us pray to be inspired with that purifying Spirit Psal 51.10 11. which will not only eject but keep out all evil affections and preserve the possâ—ssion for the blessed Jesus For he that took up a pure lodging for our Lord in the Virgins Womb must also prepare his Apartment in our Souls if ever we have his Company It is not with Notions or sublime Revelations but with holy inclinations and pure affections that we desire to be inspired which are more excellent in themselves and more necessary for this Heavenly Feast § 5. That we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy Name throuâ—h Iesus Christ our Lord Amen It is a great affliction to a truly pious man to find that his heart retains the least affection to iniquity since he desires to love God with all his Soul and with all his strength and to worship him with all his power But whilest sin hath a party within and is a Rival to our Lord We cannot perfectly love him nor worthily praise him no not in this holy Sacrament in which we ought to profess that we love nothing more than God nay nothing equal to him and to shew forth the greatness and goodness of our Redeemer to all the World We are therefore taught to intreat so earnestly for a pure heart lest by any secret delight in wickedness our protestations of love should be adjudged feigned and our praises hypocrisie by him that sees we affect something more dearly and magnifie and esteem it more highly than we do God himself We cannot indeed love God so much as he deserves but if we love him sincerely that is accounted perfectly And although we cannot sufficiently set forth all the praise of which he is worthy e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non semper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed qualemcunque convenientiam denotat Grot. in Math. 10.11 Bene itaque Graeca versio Petlaei hoc loco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet when we value him in our hearts above all things we are accounted to magnifie him worthily f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non magnum efficere sed magnum praedicare Deum Psal 34.3 Act. 10.46 that is suitably in some measure to his goodness Now since it is such a happiness thus to love and thus to praise God we must desire a clean heart the necessary means thereof through the merits and for the sake of Jesus Christ and then we may be assured that so excellent a thing asked for so noble an end and by so powerful and ingaging a name can never be denied to us and so this Prayer shall have its desired effect Amen The Paraphrase of the Collect for Purity § 6. O Almighty God whose power is terrible to all that approach thee with polluted Souls because thou art that Majesty unto whom the thoughts and imaginations of all hearts be open and apparent all Desires and wishes after any evil are known and evident And the God from whom no secrets in word or deed are hid or by any policy can be concealed The remembrance of our impurity makes us fear to draw near to thee till we have implored thee who alone art able to help us herein to cleanse and purge out all the thoughts of evil which are so commonly the Guests of our hearts lest they provoke thy pure Eyes to pass us by with abhorrency and deprive us of the comfort and benefit of this Communion Blessed Lord prepare thy lodging in our Souls by the inspiration of those pure thoughts and Heavenly desires which are the fruit of thy holy Spirit and the Harbingers of the King of Glory that we may as it is our unfeigned desire at all times and above all things most sincerely and perfectly love thee that thou maist have no secret lust to be thy Rival in our hearts and that we may also especially in this Sacrifice of Praise worthily magnify and agreeably set forth the glory of thy holy Name in giving so illustrious a Salvation to us through Christ Jesus for whose sake we beseech thee to hear us for he is thy Son and shall be our Lord for ever Amen SECT III. Of the Ten Commandments § 1. AS Moses by the special command of God did sanctifie the people before the first promulgation of this Law Exod. 19.14 15. So it is our care in the preceeding Collect that all may be pure which are now to hear it For Gods Law is so holy that such as have hearts defiled with the love of Sin are neither a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato Psal 19.8 9. worthy to
Almighty almost weary of Correcting thee and shewest thou lovest thy Sin too well to be easily torn from it Fifthly And finally how mischievous have the effects of thy transgressions been They have dishonoured God disgraced thy Religion incouraged the wicked to persevere incited the innocent to follow thy steps and offended weak and tender Christians This is indeed a sad story and if we rightly apprehend it may make the best to cry out with trembling and deep contrition Lord have mercy upon us But lest this dismal Account which will scarce fetch one sigh from a stupid Soul should overwhelm others in grief and desperation I shall add that we are not like the Jew who when the Law thundered from Mount Eball could only sign it with a dreadful Amen For we look further and beholding the Lamb of God make bold to crave mercy the very acknowledgment of our Sin being wrapt up in a Petition for Pardon And the right use of all this is not to affright us from Jesus but to drive us to him to shew not only how little we deserve but how much we need a pardon It is to represent how far God can forgive and how highly our dear Redeemer hath merited seeing so great and deserved vengeance is yet with-holden and the Gate of Mercy still kept open for such wretched Creatures Our design in this discovery of Sin is to convince us that it is high time to desist from adding to this infinite heap that it is extreamly necessary to seek for Absolution and that it will be an admirable ingaging favour if we be again accepted For Mount Sinah is the way to Sion and the Law our School-master to bring us to Christ When therefore your heart is full of these thoughts and when hope and fear sorrow and desire are strugling within you In the midst of these Passions bend your knees and begin to arraign your self at the Bar of your merciful Judge where humble Confession a In quantum tibi non peperceris in tantum tibi Deus crede parcet Tertul. is the readiest way to Remission Acknowledge therefore all you have found relate your shame and indignation at your self your grief and anguish for all your misdoings intreat as for your life and with all earnestness beg for pity and pardon remembring he never did cast off any that thus came to him Your Confession it self will be no other than a larger Paraphrase of Lord have mercy c. But if you require a form the Church hath made excellent provision in that acknowledgment before the Consecration b See Part. 2. Sect. 3. Sect. 9. to which the Reader is desired to turn and while his heart is in this frame with great Devotion to recite that Form § 8. But that this is not all the use of these Ten Commandments we may learn from the other part of the Versicle repeated after each of them which is Davids Prayer Psal 119.36 viz. And incline our hearts to keep this Law Which minds us of the next part of our Preparation for the Holy Sacrament to which the Law is apt to minister viz. Secondly The Renewing of our Covenant and this will necessarily follow our Confession if it be sincere and the language of a contrite heart Since we now have discovered the vileness and danger of our sinful courses We must needs be full of indignation against those ways and cannot but wish we may never fall into the like circumstances again Nay God may expect that those who are so drenched in tears and amazed with fear shall now study how they may keep the right paths of his Law hereafter And this was the principal end why you were put upon considering your ways that you might turn your feet to his Testimonies Psal 119.59 And if you be now desirous to do this it is the best sign of your Repentance the surest evidence of your pardon and the best disposition in the World for your reception of these Mysteries wherein it is Gods part to seal your Absolution by the blood of his dear Son and yours to give up your self entirely to his Service for ever hereafter since he hath so graciously quitted the old scores So that there is no doubt but the true Penitent doth now desire with all his Soul to forsake his Sins and do his duty better Only because he finds his heart averse and not easily inclined to this which his Conscience tells him is his interest and his happiness The Church hath added this short but significant Petition to him that can turn the heart and work in us both to will and to do That he would Encline c. Which Prayer that it may be said with Davids Spirit c Et oremus quod ille â—ravit quod oremus imitemur effectu si eramus sermone compatiamur mente S. Ambr. in Psal 119. We must resolve to follow those good inclinations when it pleaseth God to work them in us And to that purpose before we make this our solemn promise we must labour to bring our hearts to condemn the wayes of Sin and to approve of the ways of Holiness lest we should mock the Almighty by begging his help in that which we never intend to perform and lest our vow should vanish into Air if we do not first consider the particulars to which we bind our selves And for our assistance herein viz. that our Engagement may be advised and well grounded and our Prayers for the divine Aid may be hearty and sincere We may after our Confession while our hearts are yet bleeding for our former offences enlarge our thoughts into these or the like Meditations § 9. First to alienate our affections from Sin that we may in earnest and for ever renounce it Let every one of us ask his Soul these Questions First How little of either true profit or solid pleasure have I reaped from Sin The gain is cursed and intangled the delight short and unsatisfying ending either in vexation or a restless desire which stays longer and wounds deeper than ever the fantastick pleasure reached How certain is it that none of these purchases can last beyond the short duration of my frail life and how little security have I that my death shall not be ere the next Morning Secondly How great a trouble yet have I had all my life for this trifling and uncertain reward the gain was a shadow but have I not thereby lost my good name or my health my time and my parts the love of my best friends and the hopes of Gods favour Have not these Sins hindered my Prayers disquieted my Conscience set my Neighbours against me and filled my ways with losses crosses mischiefs and evil Accidents Have they not often made me ridiculous and base hated and distrusted and left me full of fears and sad expectations making my life uneasie and my death far more bitter and more terrible Thirdly But these are but the beginnings of sorrow
his Interest and his Children beloved of God De vitâ Constant l. 4. c. 45. And sure it is prudent to ask our greatest mercies often and especially then when by the commemoration of this All powerful Sacrifice we may be most likely to prevail Yet it is not necessary to disturb the Prayer of Consecration with this and the following General Intercession as the Roman Missals do but is much more conveniently set here in the first place I shall only add that these Reasons are given not so much to satisfie inquiring Curiosity as to shew how reasonable and fit it is that we should again fall upon this Duty with a fresh Devotion To stir us up whereunto here is new fewel in these varieties of Forms laid upon the Altar which will help us to break forth into holy Flames if the good Spirit but please to blow upon us The Analysis of the first Collect for the King Sect. 2. This Collect hath three Parts 1. Of whom we ask God dedescribed by 1. His Name Almighty God 2. His Supremacy Whose Kingdom is everlasting 3. His Might and Power infinite 2. For whom we ask 1. In general for the Church Have mercy upon the whole Church 2. In particular for 1. The King that he may be Pious intimating 1. The Cause And so rule the heart of thy chosen Servant CHARLES our King and Gouernour 2. The Effect that he knowing whose Minister he is may above all things seek thy honour and glory 2. The People that they may be loyal shewing 1. The Branches 1. Fidelity And that we and all his Subjects duly 2. Honour considering whose Authority he hath may 3. Obedience faithfully serve honour and humbly obey him 2. The ground of it in thee and for thee according to thy Blessed word and Ordinance 3. In whose name we ask Through Iesus Christ our Lord who with thee the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever one God World without end Amen A Practical Discourse on this Collect. § 3. Almighty God whose Kingdom is Everlasting and Power infinite have mercy upon the whole Church The entrance into this Prayer is a Confession of Gods Eternal Supremacy and Omnipotence in the very words of Scripture Psal 145.13 Dan. 4.34 Psal 147.5 thereby to lift up our hearts above the mutable glory and limited power of all Earthly Kingdoms to him that reigneth for ever and doth whatsoever he pleaseth Our Princes are many and not suffered to continue by reason of death Heb. 7.23 Be they never so great or so good so dear or so useful they must be taken from us But our Supream King is always one and Reigns throughout all Ages So that Gods Church can never want a Patron to secure it in all the changes of this World especially since his power is as infinite as his Dominion is endless and his might hath no limits but his will e Deo non posse nolle est posse velle Tertul. in Prax. Upon the serious meditation whereof we may with hope and chearful expectations ask for the Kings Majesty who is the Head of this Church and for all the Members of the same For this Everlasting and Almighty King is able to furnish them all § 4. And so rule the Heart of thy chosen Servant CHARLES our King and Governour that he knowing whose Minister he is may above all things seek thy honour and glory The blessings which are bestowed on the single members of a Church are the comfort and advantage only of a few but if it may please God to direct the King always to seek his glory herein he shews mercy to the whole Church and blesseth all the Nation at once For the Princes Piety doth put such discouragement upon Vice and cast so great a reputation and lustre upon Religion that good men out of love will follow and evil men for fear will pretend to comply with so excellent an example And thus vertue becomes publick encouraged and prevailing but wickedness infamous and obscure and loseth many of its followers which is curiously expressed in the 72. Psalm Nor is there any one Earthly thing that the truly pious Christian doth more heartily desire We beg with daily Supplications saith Lanctantius concerning the most Excellent Emperour Constantine that the Divine Majesty will always preserve you whom he hath chosen to preserve us all and that he will inspire you with a heart always to persevere in the love of God which will be advantageous and salutary to all and will procure your endless happiness and the peace of all your Subjects Lact. instit in fine Kings are the choicest of Gods Servants and in Scripture peculiarly stiled his chosen Psal 89.3.19 So that we may presume to beseech him to bestow more than ordinary Grace upon our dear Soveraign whom God hath so wonderfully restored to us and so mercifully preserved over us that no Prince in the World hath had such signal testimonies of the favours of Heaven to him We may pray therefore with much hope and we ought to beg with great Devotion that God would rule over him who governs us and guide him by whose Counsels we are ordered in such wise that he may ever have in his Eye the Power and Goodness of his great Master and always know that is consider f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 6. by whom he is deputed and bear himself continually as the Vicegerent of God by whom all Kings Reign and in all his actings and Consultations that he may aim at nothing so much as the advancing of the Divine Glory from whence all his honour is derived And surely herein our gracious King will firmly establish his own Throne and make all his Subjects happy For that Wisdom and Piety Justice and Equity which doth set for Gods glory and make so many join in magnifying him that hath set so excellent a Prince over us will be both his and our extraordinary benefit We will therefore ever Pray that our Soveraign Liege may be above all concern'd to continue his care to defend the Church and execute Justice that we may be happy under his shadow and after-Generations may call him blessed to which every loyal heart and pious Soul will most affectionately say Amen § 5. And that we and all his Subjects duly considering whose Authority he hath may faithfully serve honour and humbly obey him in thee and for thee according to thy blessed word and Ordinance We must not only look at the Kings duty but also be mindful of our own For the happiness of a Nation consisteth not only in a Religious Prince but also in Obedient people And therefore we are taught in the next place to pray that not only we but all that are under his Majesties Dominion may be loyal and faithful humble and obedient revering his Authority observing his Laws and opposing all his and our Enemies That we may serve him with our Estates and Persons if
God to whom they are now about to approach in the nearest manner and so shall they find a great benefit also from this duty but if they desire more particular directions see Comp. to the Temple Of the Lessons § 4 5 6 c. SECT VI. Of the Offertory and Sentences § 1. WE have now professed our Faith to God and next we must give some testimony to our Brethren that it is not a dead Faith but such an one as worketh by love Gal. 5.6 and is made perfect by Charity Jam. 2.22 m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ep ad Ephes Now there are three ways to exercise and express our Charity 1. Dando by giving here 2. Orando by interceeding in the Prayer for the Church Militant 3. Remittendo by forgiving in the general warning The first and most natural Act of Charity is to relieve the wants of the necessitous with somewhat which we can spare and this the Apostle adviseth us to do every Lords day 1 Cor. 16.1 and by his Authority our Church invites us to give Alms so often whether there be a Communion or no For this is now the only real offering which we Christians can make and is instead of those vast oblations and costly sacrifices which the Jews did ever join with their Prayers and it is the proper means of acknowledging Gods Bounty to us and supream Authority over us wherefore Alms ought to accompany all our solemn supplications And if the Jews at this day do instead of the daily Sacrifice which now they cannot offer give a small piece of money every day when they pray much more ought Christians so to do Buxtorf Synag Jud. cap. 5. to whom greater love is shewed and of whom larger Charity is required and yet we may complain with St. Basil that We know some who will fast and pray sigh and groan yea and do all acts of Religion which cost them nothing but will not give one farthing to the Poor what benefit is there saith he of all the rest of their Devotion o D. Basil hom 7. in Math. 19. It is well observed that our Saviour hath enclosed Prayer between Alms and Fasting Math. 6. and therefore they are called its two Wings without which it will scarce fly so high as the Throne of God However it is very necessary we should give somewhat with all our more solemn Prayers and yet because it is nothing worth if it be not given freely p Modicam unusquisque stipem Menstruo die vel cum velit si modo velit si modo possit apponit nam nemo compellitur sed sponte confert Tertul. Apol. cap. 39. We do as the Antient Church did perswade and not command it from the people that they may have an opportunity of a Free-will-offering not that they should think it is left to their liberty by God whether they will give or no and yet upon this false perswasion and the abuse of our Exhortation this Apostolical and excellent custom of Weekly Collections is now generally to the grief of all good Christians omitted and wholly laid aside § 2. The oblation of Alms which is at other times commendable is at the time of this Sacrament of love necessary and by no means to be omitted because our Saviour with respect no doubt to the Holy Table as Mr. Mede excellently proves Diatr Holy Altar Sect. 2. p. 18. c. directs us to bring our gift hither to the Christian Altar Math. 5.23 24. and St. Paul hath joined the Sacrifice of Alms to that of Eucharist Heb. 13.15 16. which our Saviour himself first practised for his custom of giving Alms at the Passover made his Disciples mistake his words to him that bare the bag John 13.29 and it is very probable that at the time of receiving this Sacrament were all those large donations of Houses land and money made Act. 2.44 45 46. For when those first Converts were all united to one Christ q Vt quibus erat unae fides esset una substantia quibus communis erat Christus communis esset sumptus Aug. de verb. Dom. Serm. â—7 and to one another in this Feast of love their very Souls were mingled and then they chearfully renounced their x Qui animo animaque miscemur nihil de rei communicatione dubitamus Tertul. Apol. propriety and easily distributed their goods among thosâ— to whom they had given their hearts before It was only indeed in the Church of Jerusalem where they had all things common but in other places where propriety was retained it is certain there were Collections every Sunday 1 Cor. 16.1 that is every time they received this Holy Communion and besides the mony contributed for the use of the absent it appears that every Communicant who was able brought something and offered at the Altar to furnish out a Love-Feast like those Festival Solemnities of Families and Kindred among the Jews and Romans f 1 Sam. 20.6 Valer. Maxim lib. 2. cap. 1. Ovid. Proxima cognati dixêre Charistia chari Et venit ad socios turba propinqua Deos. Fast 2. and to make one common Table where after the Receiving Rich and poor might lovingly Feast together 1 Cor. 11.21 Hither they brought Bread Wine Oil Milk and Honey and of all kinds of Gods Creatures and presenting them with great Devotion did agnize him Lord of all as Irenaeus sheweth at large the footsteps of which pious Custom remained till the Council of Gangr Can. 11. and perhaps much longer t Et populuâ— dat oblationes suas i. e. panem vinum Rubric in offic Râ—m Vide Raban Mâ—ur de instit Cler. l. although the most usual offering was money Theodoret observes u Theodoret hist tripart l. 4. cap 17. that Theodosius the Emperour when the time was come to offer arose and presented his oblation with his own hands It was not determined how much any man should give but all men were exhorted x Oblationes quae in Altaria consecrantur offerte eâ—ubescere debet homo idoneus si de alienâ oblatione communicaverit Aug. de Temp. Ser. 251. and enjoined to offer y 2. Concil Matiscon can 4. something according to their ability which if any neglected the Fathers censured them as unworthy Communicants z Dominicum celebrare te credis qui in Dominicum sine sacrificio venis D. Cypr. Our penurious and uncharitable Age may blush at the liberal offerings of our own Pious Ancestors who Crowned the Christian Altars at these Sacraments with rich Vessels and costly Vestments and offered at the Holy Table Deeds and noble Donations of Lands and Revenues Charters of great priviledges and immunities and all that might testifie their love to Jesus and his Church nay in the very times of Persecution they offered in such abundance that it appears by Tertullian and St. Cyprian these very oblations sufficed 1. To maintain the Bishops Priests and
relief to the poor And glad when u Temporalia mihi das restituam tibi aeterna Aug. de Verb. Dom. God whose Stewards they are affords them an opportunity to distribute some of their Riches to the needy This is the best use their Wealth can be put to being the laying up in store for them and theirs great blessings and thus they prudently make a good foundation on which they may build firm hopes of their being secured against the time to come and when the rich and uncharitable man is forsaken of his Wealth and Condemned this will so prevail that they who have been bountiful may attain through Gods mercy eternal life which is more worth than if they had purchased 10000. Worlds § 14. Hebrews 6.10 To give Alms is a sure foundation for Eternal Life which if any doubt because so small a gift alas cannot merit such a reward the Apostle proves it is sure to be rewarded in the persevering becaule of Gods Justice and the Truth of his promise Paraphrase You need not fear a sure reward for God hath obliged himself by his promise richly to requite it and sure you believe that God is not nor cannot be either so unrighteous to deny or so mindless that he will forget his promise Wherefore he will repay all your works of Charity and all the cost and labour which you have bestowed He cannot but with great delight accept this and all that proceedeth from that excellent principle of Love to God and your Neighbour which love to your Brethren he accounts you have shewed out of love to him and purely for his Names sake because they belonged to him They were relieved by you who have ministred necessaries to the Saints that were in need formerly and yet you are not weary of well-doing but finding it pleaseth him upon every Communion or Lords day you still â—o miniâ—ter to their supply § 15. Hebr. 13.16 This is to shew further that the Sacrifice of praise even in the Eucharist being not alone sufficient we must add the Sacrifice of Charity ver 15. and to assure us it shall be rewarded not only because of the promise but because it is so pleasing and agreeable to the very nature of God Paraphrase Though the legal Sacrifices be ceased and Christ hath expiated our sins by that one Offering of himself yet to do good to the Souls and to distribute of your wealth to relieve the bodily needs of your Brethren forget not especially in your solemn Addresses for with such Sacrifices of Charity under the Gospel also God is infinitely delighted and well-pleased because therein we imitate his mercy so that they will recommend all the rest of our services unto him § 16. 1 John 3.17 As our Duties are not so acceptable so neither can our love to God be so real without Charity to his Children and our Brethren in need whom he hath left poor on purpose to try our love to him Paraphrase He that pretends to Religion and yet is uncharitable is but an Hypocrite for whoso hath Mony Food or Raiment or any of this Worlds good things which he can spare from his own necessities and is not moved to pitty though he knoweth and seeth a poor Christian his Brother hungry destitute and naked if he have need and this unmerciful wretch cruelly refuseth to help him and shutteth out all thoughts that might breed commiseration or stir up his bowels of Compassion and so turn his Eyes from him How can such an one pretend or think there dwelleth any sparks of the love of God who is gracious to all in him that is so unlike the divine goodness and so little regards the poor whom God loves § 17. Tobit 4.7 Having now sufficiently pressed this Duty we do ex abundanti as the Antient Church use to do add two Exhortations out of the Apocrypha x Apocrypha pertinent ad ubertatem cognitionis Canonica ad Religionis Authoritatem Aug. de Civ dei l. 18. yet containing nothing in them but that to which the Canonical Scripture beareth witness Here is first An Exhortation almost the same with Deuter. 15.7 and Prov. 28.27 Secondly A motive which is grounded upon Acts 10.4 Paraphrase I counsel thee frequently and liberally to Give Alms to the poor out of thy goods which God hath given thee And never be so cruel to hide thine Eyes or turn thy face from the miseries or complaints of any poor Man But look with pitty hear with patience and relieve him with speed And then the face and favour of the Lord to whom thou must seek in all thy wants shall not be turned in anger away from thee But he will pitty and help thee in all thy distresses § 18. Tobit 4.8 9. This is also an Exhortation to Charity and is added to shew it is indispensably the duty of all to give somewhat more or less ver 8. agreeing with 1 Cor. 9.6 7. before and Mark 12.43 44. Secondly To assure us it shall be rewarded bountifully by God as above was said 1 Tim. 6.18 19. Paraphrase No Man can be excused from this Duty for all that God requireth is to Be merciful and Charitable after thy Power and according to thy Ability and the Estate that he hath given thee If thou hast much wealth therefore he expects thou shouldst Give plenteously for a very small gift is as nothing from a rich man But if thou hast little or no more than sufficeth thy self Do thy endeavour by labour and diligence to get somewhat and then trusting in God resolve chearfully and gladly to give Ephes 4.28 something out of that little which will be as acceptable from thee as greater gifts from others Ver. 9. And this is no unprofitable course for rich nor poor For so dispersing thine Alms gathered thou the surest riches for thy self Even the love of God and the Prayers of the poor which are a good reward for a small gift and will do thee more good in the Day of necessity and at the hour of Death than all the riches of the World § 19. Proverbs 19.17 If there remain yet the least scruple touching the reward of Charity because it is bestowed on a poor man who himself cannot make requital Here God doth first acknowledge the Debt and Secondly promise to pay it Paraphrase The mony given in Alms is surer laid up and better bestowed than that which we have in our hands for He that by liberal gifts sheweth that he hath pitty on the poor whom God hath left unprovided though they cannot repay him yet he is sure to be well requited because He lendeth it to him from whom we receive all even to the Lord whose peculiar care the poor are so that he accounts it done to himself Math. 25.40 He owns y Patrimonium tuum Deo foenera D. Cypr. Habuisti me largitorem fac me debitorem habeam te foeneratorem Aug. de Verb. Dom. the Debt And look what he layeth out upon
the Custom when any Persons brought their Offerings to the Altar for the Priest and the Pious By-standers to say The Lord accept thee Psal 20.3 4. 2 Sam. 24.23 in imitation whereof we do here beg the Divine acceptance both of our Charity and Devotion And that we may do it heartily let us consider how much they need to be accepted with favourable allowances for first If Alms and Prayers both be offered as it is pitty they should ever be parted though they do assist and recommend each other yet we do not think our gift hath obliged God to hear our Petitions nor our Petitions given such priviledge to our gift as that we may boldly challenge God upon the account of either wherefore we desire him with favourable and gracious acceptance to entertain them both Secondly If we respect the Alms alone which we have given though it be owned by Gods goodness to be offered to himself Prov. 19.17 and Math. 25.40 yet it were an arrogance not to be endured to think so Universal and excellent blessings were the purchase of our contemptible oblation which hath no proportion in its own value to them only if we present it humbly our gracious father will accept it as our acknowledgment of his goodness and a testimony of our Love Thus therefore we pray that he would accept our Alms viz. in mercy esteeming them not by their own worth but by the affection of the Givers Thirdly If we do only regard our Prayers we may soon discover how little they will avail unless the Lord accept them with grace As to those we have hitherto made if we look back upon the many wandrings and interruptions the coldness and indifferency the sin and infirmity that did mingle with them all we shall see we had need heartily to beseech God to accept them with benign interpretations and to excuse the imperfections of them But if these our Prayers be meant of those Petitions which we are now about to make in this Form let us remember how great a presumption it seems for us to ask for others nay for all people when as we are not worthy to pray for our selves yet let us humbly beg a candid acceptance of these Petitions which we offer not as if we were fit Advocates for all the World but in obedience to his Command who hath bid us thus to express our Charity § 5. Beseeching thee to inspire continually the Vniversal Church with the Spirit of Truth Vnity and Concord Among the several Prayers which were made at the Holy Table it was particularly enjoined that they should pray for The Holy Catholick Church extended from one end of the Earth to the other which the Lord had redeemed veith the precious blood of Christ saith the Author of the Apostolical Constitutions for the Sacrifice here commemorated was offered for the Church Acts 20.28 which is called the body of Christ Ephes 5.23 Colos 1.24 but because the body without the spirit is dead we therefore beg that as he once quickened the lump of Earth into a living Spirit by breathing into it the breath of Life so he will please to inspire his Holy Spirit into his mystical body according as he hath promised John 14.16 and that not only once John 20.22 but that it may continually be supplyed with vital influences by its Union with its Divine Head the Lord Jesus the blessed success whereof is noted in the three happy effects of this Heavenly Inspiration First That the Church will be directed into all Truth by the Spirit of Truth John 14.17 and 16.13 1 Epist 2.27 and so be preserved from Heresie Secondly That all the Members thereof shall agree in the same judgment and combine in the Unity of the Spirit Ephes 4.3 and so be secured from Schism 1 Cor. 1.10 Thirdly That the affections of all persons in this body shall be joined in perfect Concord and tied in the Bonds of Love and Peace Ephes 4.3 for the prevention of hatred wrath and emulation How passionately therefore is this blessed Spirit to be prayed for and how necessary are all and every one of these Truth without Unity is weak and troublesome Unity without Truth is dangerous and mischievous e Vnitas sine veritate proditio est D. Cypr. and both without Charity are insignifcant and cannot last long Let us consider the mischiefs which the Church hath endured by false Principles divided Judgments and opposite affections that in the apprehension of our want of this comprehensive Blessing we may most vigorously beg this continual inspiration which may make the Church happy by Unity in its Doctrine Harmony in its Discipline and Charity in the affections of all the parts and members thereof § 6. And grant that all they that do confess thy Holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word and live in Vnity and godly Love This Petition is but a further confirmation of the former for when the several Members of the Church live in Unity Peace and Love it is the best demonstration that the whole body is acted by the Divine Spirit John 13.35 Josh 22.31 for these universal mercies are to be obtained by induction of particulars and rhe internal inspiration ought to be manifested by Acts of a visible Charity Now if we want affections wherewith to make this request let us but view the miferable effects which differences in opinions and affections have produced in the Christian World consider how thereby Religion hath been disgraced and God dishonoured and all outrages have been committed the Heathens are scandalized and kept out and the Christians who are within are hindred in their Piety and our differences are made wider by arguing the more we dispute f Disputando de sacris accenditur tantùm contentio Sisin in Eccl. Hist the less we agree and while we contend for the Faith we lose our Charity But this is the fault of the men and not of the Religion for Jesus hath left us an impartial judge which is his holy Word and is Truth it self John 17.17 by which if we would without prejudice or interest suffer our Opinions to be tryed g Expellentes igitur hostile certamen ex verbis divinitùs inspiratis solutionem quaestionum mente percipiamus Constan Mag. ad Patres Nicaenos Hist trip l. 2. c. 5. it would happily compose all our controversies or where a determination is needless teach several Churches to dissent with more moderation and direct particular persons to submit in such things to their proper spiritual guides and to live in godly and Religious love with their fellow Christians h Maneat moralis benevolentia inter discordes sententiâ Lemma Cardin. Rachel If any say that there is little hope that this still voice of Gods word should be heard in the hurry of our contentions or no likelyhood of so sweet a composure I answer That however it is highly desirable and therefore ought to be prayed for and which is considerable
our Lord Jesus in that rare pattern of his present Intercession in Heaven the last Prayer he made upon Earth for his Church did pray That all of his Religion might be preserved in Truth and Unity John 17.17.21 so that we are assured we beg the same here that he intercedes for above and therefore if it should not be compleatly granted yet he that hath asked this with a great Devotion and endeavoured it to his power shall have satisfaction in the Testimony of a good Conscience and hath testified his unfeigned Charity to the Church and his love to all the Members thereof § 7. We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings Princes and Governours especially thy Servant CHARLES our King that under him we may be godly and quietly governed We have often prayed for the King already but principally respecting his Authority in the State so we prayed for him alone but now we consider him as a Principal Person in the Church of which he is under Christ i Nutritii patres Ecclesiae Jesai 49.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot pol. 3. as the Bishops of Rome of old confessed the supream Head and so are other Christian k Christus Imperatori omnia tribuit dominari eum non solum Militibus concessit Greg. Mag. Epist 64. ad Theodor. Princes in their several Countries wnom we therefore here do pray for also as St. Paul commands 1 Tim. 2.2 and as the Antient Church ever did in the time of this Mystery There are now three sorts of Rulers in the Christian World which are here expressed by three words First Kings that is such as have absolute Monarchies Secondly Princes who have Royal Authority in lesser Dominions though not without paying some homages Thirdly Governours who preside in Aristocracies and Common-wealths these and each of these are or ought to be supream Presidents over Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Affairs in the several Jurisdictions and since their Power is imployed to save and l Deus Op. Max. pietatis justae Actionis quoddam quasi vinculum nos esse voluerit Theodos Imp. Ep. ad Cyril defend the Church she is obliged to desire the King of Kings to save and defend them all from Invasions and Rebellions Treasons and all Mischiefs that they may not be hindred in the exercise of their most useful and pious Authority And if we prevail many Millions will receive benefit thereby and every Christian Nation shall have its share in this Blessing It happens I confess sometimes contrary to the wish of all pious Men that even Princes of the same Religion have differences with each other but then we must at this Holy Sacrament forgive our Enemies and with the welfare of the whole Church only we must pray for the safety of other Kings no further than is consistent with the welfare of our natural Liege for whom we must pray especially because under him we enjoy our Liberty and Religion our proprieties and our Peace and if it please God to defend him we doubt not but we shall have under him Quiet and peaceable lives in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 that is in two words we shall be godlily and quietly governed and thus our own interest may move us earnestly to intercede for the safety of our Soveraign for the benefit is ours more than his § 8. And grant unto his whole Councel and to all that are put in Authority under him that they may truly and indifferently Minister Iustice to the Punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the maintenance of thy true Religion and Vertue When Justice is purest in the King the Fountain thereof it is often corrupted in the streams the subordinate Dispensers for Mortal Princes cannot see all with their own Eyes m Numb 10.31 Heb loco oculorum h. e. Confiliarius 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut oculus nobis charus necessarius Fag Grot. in loc nor Act all things with their own hands though they be said to judg the Nation Psal 72.2 yet the Mountains or higher Magistrates and the little Hills that is inferior Officers do bring this Righteousness to the people who can seldom receive judgment immediately from the Princes mouth ver 3. Wherefore since we must be more particular in our desires for the welfare of these Kingdoms it is necessary that we pray for all that advise in the making and assist in the executing of good Laws viz. for the Kings Council at large in Parliament as the old Christians prayed pro Senatu or more strictly for the Lords of his Privy-Council who besides their Examination of Causes in those places and their influence upon the Royal Determinations are usually Persons enjoying the highest Dignities and weightiest Offices of the Nation And because by them and the lower Orders of Magistrates all Causes are decided we are bound to pray heartily for them that they may judge by the Rules of Equity truly and indifferently without mistake or partiality and have before their Eyes the great end of all Laws which is the punishment of evil Doers and the incouragement and reward of them that do well u Leges improbos supplicio afficiunt ac defendunt tuentur bonos Cicer. de leg 2. Pius IV. Pont. R pingebat laures cum Virgis cum hoc lemmate Praemium Poena pro sumbolo suo Nic. Cauâ—sin 1 Pet. 2.14 Rom. 13.3 4. And surely happy are the people that are in such a Case when their Counsellors are faithful and prudent their Judges deliberate and upright their Officers careful and without rigour for then the profession of Religion shall be guarded and the practice of Virtue incouraged Innocence shall be safe and wickedness punished nay all Vices made infamous according to the Will of God the desire of our gracious Soveraign and the wishes of all this people especially those who now at this Sacrament come to dedicate themselves to Piety and Devotion they have peculiar Reason to pray that they may be secured in their rights and encouraged in their holy purposes by the due Administration of Justice and the punishment of all that would harm or hinder them because their innocence doth more expose them to the designs of evil men § 9. Give grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops and Curates that they mat both by their life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word and rightly and duly Administer thy Holy Sacraments The greatest gifts that the divine goodness hath bestowed upon the Sons of Men saith Justinian in his Authenticks are the Royal Power and the Office of Priesthood Both of which are so contrived that they are necessary not only for the Conservation of the World but for the mutual support of each other o Christus voluit ut Christiani Imperatores pro vitâ aeternâ Pontificibus indigerent Pontifices pro cursu temporalium rerum Imperialibus legibus uterentur Rom. leg c.
and made us resolve to spare no pains that we may come worthily The Church hath in the next place provided the clearest discovery of the way and means thereunto which can be expressed in so few words This present Sentence is a direction to Repentance which is the preparation that Christ himself requires Math. 3.2 3. A duty that our sinful life makes to be always necessary yet the dignity of this Sacrament requires it should be done with more than ordinary care now so that here is a full description of all its Parts First Examination for sin by the Rule of Gods Commandmenâ—s which 1 Cor. 11.28 is put to signifie all the rest but having largely treated of this before Part. 1. Sect. 3. § 5. c. we shall only add that if we have done this well there will arise from it Secondly A sight of sin for by comparing our lives with the Rule of Gods Law we shall plainly discern wherein we have gone aside in greater or lesser matters and we have not searched enough till we have found out all our ungodly unjust or uncharitable actions all our false or vain filthy or prophane speeches and remembred as many as is possible of our evil malicious covetous wanton and proud thoughts especially if the Will m Fecit quisque quantum voluit Seneca Voluntas facti origo est quae nec tunc quidem liberatur cum aliqua difficultas perpetrationem ejus intercepit Tertul have consented to them for then our thoughts are directly sinful and if we sin in will the outward Act would follow but for want of opportunity And surely the serious consideration of all these will fill our hearts with sorrow and our Eyes with tears which is the third Part viz. Contrition and the bewailing of our own sinfulness The sorrows of David and the Repentance of St. Peter shewed themselves in Floods of tears and were too big to be confined within but we are apt to take off our Eye too soon before we see our guilt or apprehend our misery which makes our hearts so obdurate and unrelenting yet if we lose the favour of our Patron or are despoiled of our goods or follow a dear friend to the Grave we fill the World with our Clamours and bewail our selves with great expression but we offend God and lose our Souls and suffer Satan to rob us of our graces and our hopes and are as unconcerned as that Grecian Boy who was silent and followed his Game while he saw his Fathers House rifled but cryed out when his sport was interrupted If ever we would shed a tear can we have a sadder object can we grieve for any misery that equals this especially shall we be unaffected when unfeigned sorrow will obtain a pardon If the baseness of sin do not move us the goodness of our Heavenly Father methinks should melt us and when we feel the weight then let us ease our selves Fourthly By a sorrowful Confession of our sins in Thought Word and Deed with all their aggravations with shame and a great confusion laying open our sores to our Heavenly Physician and this we must do so as to shew our need and our desire of a Pardon as also to declare that we condemn these our evil doings and resolve never to do the like again n Confessio enim satisfactionis consilium est dissimulatio contumaciae Tert. de poen if we may be forgiven for those that are past for our Confession signifies nothing o Confessio autem Erroris est professio desinendi Raban Maur. de inst Cler. l. 2. if it be separated from Fifthly Unfeigned Purposes of amendment Prov. 28.13 Who would value the submission of him that had injured him unless his Confession of his fault were a testimony of his sorrow and an engagement not to offend again These purposes are the last but the chiefest part of our Repentance without which it will appear our Examination was slight and superficial our sight of sin none at all or very transient our sorrow forced and hypocritical our Confession formal if not odious because to confess and not resolve to amend is to tell the Almighty what we will do not to bewail that which we have already done Wherefore let all the parts of our Repentance aim at and end in these hearty purposes of new obedience And since God hath given us so full directions and so fair an opportunity against this Sacrament and several days time yet to do this in let us resolve to go through all these parts of a true Repentance that so we may have our pardon sealed in this Ordinance and be admitted to renew our Covenant § 9. And if ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against God but also against your Neighbour then ye shall reconcile your selves unto them being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the uttermost of your Powers for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any others When we come to Feast with God we must take all possible care that our minds may be like the top of Mount Olympus silent and serene without the least wind or storm of any Passion to disturb it Our Repentance as before must be so sincere as to procure our peace with God and our Charity as we are now directed must be so compleat as to reconcile us to all the World and so neither the amazing fears of Gods anger shall discompose us nor the confused motions of anger p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. leg alleg l. 2. or revenge disquiet us nor yet the sense of received injuries disorder our Brethren at this holy Feast of Love For our Lord hath instituted it to unite his friends q Contesseratio est mutuae dilectionis in membris Ecclesiae inter se Tertul. Ignoramus sine pace Communionem Hieron ep 62. in the Bond of inviolable Amity it is the Observation of Cato in Plutarch that publick Festivals r Mensam appara contentio sublata est Proverb Ben. Syrae and common Tables are an excellent means to compose differences and beget Charity and the Fathers believe that our Saviour though speaking in the Jewish Phrase of being reconciled before we offered our gift Math. 5.23 did directly aim at this Sacrament afterward to be established and by those words did enjoin every Communicant to be reconciled to those who had any cause of complaint against them under the penalty of their being rejected by God The Jewish Doctors teach that the Lord will not forgive the injuries between a Man and his Neighbour unless the Persons be first reconciled Hence it was that the Jews were ordered to ask and give mutual forgiveness before the Vespers of the Feast of Expiation and the Primitive Church would not admit those that were at Enmity to this Holy Communion Å¿ Concil Carthag 4. Can. 93. Concil Agathens 2. Can. 31. Now because in all differences there are two parties this Paragraph
of our Lips can be sufficient we are here prescribed another way to make our thanks to be continual viz. by glorifying God in our Lives And this we may effectually do 1. By resigning up our selves to the disposal of his providence 2. By yielding obedience to all his holy Commandments 1. By our submission to his will we glorifie him by declaring that through these tokens of his favour we are so satisfied of his Wisdom and his Love that we can be confident that whatsoever he shall appoint is good for us We tell all the World that whatsoever comes from God is just and holy wisely ordered graciously designed and full of mercy 2. By our serving him in Holiness we express how highly we are obliged to him how sure we are of the excellency of his Laws and how fully we are Conquered by his amazing love and thus the praises of God are writ in plain and real Characters in the lives of contented and righteous men so that all the World may read them The Eucharist is but for one hour the Hymns will soon be over but by Submission and Obedience we may glorifie our God continually and every moment Amen SECT II. Of the immediate Invitation § 1. THE Guests being come and the provisions ready it was the office of the Governour of the Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 2.9 to make them sit down which place the Disciples sustained in that miraculous feeding of the 5000. John 6.10 as an Emblem that they and their Successors should do it ever after in this Coelestial Banquet Thus our Church according to the Custom of the Primitive Christians orders the Priest to invite the Communicants to draw near So in that antient Book which bears the name of Dionysius the Areop we read the holy Man used to say Come my Brethren unto this holy Communion a Dionys Eccles Hier. cap. 3. And in the Liturgies of St. Chrysostome and St. James Come near with fear and Faith b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liturg S. Chrys And in the Constitutions Coming in Order with reverence and holy fear c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constit Apost l. 2. c. 57. Yet we do not only call men to this holy Feast but withal we mind them again of those qualifications without which God will not accept and receive them We do not saith St. Chrysost d Chrysost hom 24. in 1. ad Corinth exhort men to destroy themselves by impudent and rude approaches but that they may come with fear and purity unto the Lord We tell them all that unless they have truly repented and are in perfect Charity and have intire purposes of amendment they can neither come with Faith receive with Comfort nor depart with a blessing In the Olympick Games the Cryer by Proclamation enquired If any could accuse the Agonist to have been a Slave a Thief or of Evil Conversation for no such were allowed to strive there But our Herald saith the aforesaid Author makes his appeal to our own Consciences and makes us our own Accusers e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys ad Heb. 9. Eth. for every man best knows his own heart and each one is most concerned for his own safety therefore let us be ingenuous and deal truly between God and our Souls in this affair if our own hearts tell us we are not thus qualified in any measure we ought to forbear if we be in any tolerable degrees thus disposed I may say as they once to the blind man Mark 10.49 Arise be of good Comfort he calleth you When the Servant calls you in the name and by the rules of his great Master you are to repute it as the very words of Christ himself and to believe that he invites you It is recorded as the great honour of the famous Pindar f Scholias Graec. in ejus vitâ Lil. Greg. Giraldus Dialog 9. that the Priest of Apollo did by order from the God invite him frequently to Feast upon the remainders of his Sacrifices But how much more honour and Comfort hath the true Christian in being thus lovingly called by Jesus himself Come ye blessed of the Lord draw near with Faith and Feast with holy Joy and Comfort Let not the sense of former sins which you have repented of keep you back but bring you hither more humbly for the very next duty you are to perform is to ease your Soul of those sad remembrances by a meek and hearty Confession concerning which the Church gives you a full direction in two words 1. For the temper of your Souls that you make it with humility and Contrition 2. For the posture of your Bodies that you do it upon your bended knees as Shimei confest his Treason to King David 2 Sam. 19.18 and as all Criminals Petition mortal Princes for their Pardon Put therefore your outward and inward man into this posture so shall you be fit to repeat the adjoining Confession to which we shall turn our discourse when we have given you the Analysis and Paraphrase of this Invitation and so made it sufficiently plain to all The Analysis of the Invitation Sect. 2. This Invitation consists of three parts The Qualifications required in those that are invited viz. 1. Repentance Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins 2. Charity And art in Love and Charity with your Neighbours 3. Holy purposes And intend to lead a new life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his holy ways 2. The Invitation it self Draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort 3. A direction as to 1. The duty next to be done And make your humble Confession to Almighty God 2. The manner of doing it Meekly kneeling upon your knees The Paraphrase of the Invitation § 3. O all Ye that do sincerely and truly passionately and earnestly repent you of all your former iniquities and your sins which ye have committed And ye that have cast away all malice and are in a perfect state of Love and Charity with every one of your Neighbours And ye that condemning your by-past folly do resolve and intend to lead a new life taking Jesus for your guide following the Commandments of God fully and walking from henceforth unblameably in his holy ways in the name of Christ I bid you that are so qualified to draw near to this holy Table with Faith in your Saviours mercy and take this Holy Sacrament the pledge of his love to your great and endless Comfort only because you must have no secret accusations of Conscience to disturb your joy in this blessed Feast Open your heart to the Lord once more And make your humble Confession with great sorrow and contrition to Almighty God and that in the lowlyest posture meekly kneeling upon your knees to beg your Pardon from the King of Kings SECT III. Of the Confession § 1. BEsides those publick Confessions in the reconciliation of notorious Offenders
only with the Priest but with Angels and with Archangels and all the Company of Heaven c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys hom 18. in 2. ad Cor. for Jesus by his Death hath united Heaven and Earth and designed all his redeemed ones to sing Hallelujahs with the blessed spirits above for ever Wherefore it is fit that in this Commemoration of his Passion we should begin to unite our Voices to them with whom we hope to praise God to all Eternity Only as we sing with them let us sing like them and not spoil their blessed harmony by mingling flat and discordant notes O with what delight and pleasure sincerity and joy do they sing this Hymn while they are ravished with the prospect of the divine perfections Could we but see their felicity and hear their Musick it would transport us above our selves and make us forget and despise all other pleasures to join with them It may be we fear that we cannot sing in so high a note yet if we do it with like sincerity our lower key may grace the harmony and compleat the Concord Behold those blessed Spirits who had no need of any Saviour and who never did offend do praise God with incessant Voices for his mercy and love to us and seem to invite us saying O ye Sons of men praise the Lord with us and let us magnifie his name together How then can we be silent especially when our glorified Brethren Prophets and Apostles Saints and Martyrs do also bear a part in this admirable Hymn How justly do we stile the object of these praises a glorious Name since all the World resounds its praise To it Cherubin and Seraphin Angels and Archangels continually do cry Holy Holy Holy and all the Saints in Heaven and Earth do join to set forth the glory thereof § 7. Evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high This primitive and triumphant Hymn was first taught unto the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 6.3 when he was admitted to hear it sung in the Quire of Heaven But as Procopias well observes the Triple Holy could not fit the Jewish Synagogue and so was designed at first for the Christian Church who confess the Holy Trinity wherefore it was again revealed to St. John Revel 4.8 and afterwards constantly used by all Churches in the Celebration of these Mysteries for it is found in all the Liturgies of St. James St. Mark St. Basil and fully in St. Chrysostoms thus Before thee stand thousands of Archangels and many thousands of Angels Cherubins and Seraphins singing the triumphant Hymn chanting forth crying and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God c. and the like appears in the Apostolick Constitutions lib. 8. cap. 16. so that though some affirm that Sixtus the eight Bishop of Rome brought it first in use with the Latine Church about 130. years after Christ yet Nicephorus doubts not to say it was derived from an Apostolical Tradition hist lib. 18. c. 51. The Grecians call it the Trisagium because the word Holy is thrice repeated and of latter times do express it thus Holy God Holy Strong Holy Immortal d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sixt. Sene◠Bib. Sanct. l. 5. annot 58. Have mercy on us And they have a Tradition that they were commanded thus to repeat it by a Child which for some time was rapt up into Heaven in the time of a great Earthquake in the days of Theodosius junior and Proclus the Patriarch and by so repeating it the City was delivered However it is certainly an Act of Praise wherein we worship and adore the whole Trinity and Galatinus d Pet. Galatinus lib. 2. c. 1. de Jesai 6.3 saith it was antiently read in Jonathans Chaldee Paraphrase Holy Father Holy Son Holy Spirit but as it is nothing is more plain e Non semel dicunt ne singularitatem credas non bis dicunt ne spiritum excludas non sanctos ne pluralitatem aestimes sed ter repentant idem dicunt ut etiam in hymno distinctionem Trinitatis divinitatis intelligas unitatem Ambr. de sp sanc l 3. c. 18. ita Epiphan in Ancorat Procop. Gazaeus in Jesaiam than that every Person is acknowledged to be Holy and all to be one Lord God of Hosts who commands the Armies of Heaven and all the Creatures of the World whose Glory fills both Heaven and Earth Which way can we look or what can we think upon that doth not declare how great and gracious their Creator and Preserver is and how can we then refrain from giving glory also unto the Lord most High In his nature he is holy in all his works glorious let us praise him therefore with pure hearts for he is thrice Holy let us bless him with a mighty vigour that as the Angels make the Upper so we may make the lower Region Eccho with his praise It was long since ordained that this Hymn should be used every day supposing the faithful would never be weary of so sweet and desirable an imployment f Quia tam dulcis desiderabilis vox etiam si die noctuque possit dici fastidium generare non possit Concil Vasens can 6. An. 450. But surely it is most proper for this blessed Sacrament that as every person in the Trinity concurred to our Redemption so every one may be adored in the memorial thereof The Father is Holy who gave us such a Saviour the Son is Holy who effected this Salvation and the Spirit is Holy who sanctifies us by the vertue thereof and yet these three are one Lord to whom we must now with most fervent gratitude offer up the Sacrifice of Eucharist and Thanksgiving O ye Heavenly powers that rejoice for the sake of us poor Sinners we join with you and with joyful hearts over our Propitiation do sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God c. Glory be to thee O Lord most high Amen An Appendix of the particular Prefaces § 8. It is long since the daily and weekly Communions have been generally laid aside by the people for St. Chrysostome himself takes notice that ordinary Christians in his time had appropriated their communicating to the greater Festivals of the Church g Chrys orat de B. Philogono and some affirm that Fabian the Martyr did order those seasons especially for all the faithful to receive h Sabellicus Volatteranus ad An. Christi 236. And truly a solemn time of joy seems the most proper for the Celebration of this Heavenly Feast Now hereupon it came to pass that as the Church was wont at this Holy Table to give thanks for all mercies so they did peculiarly praise God for the mercy commemorated on that Festival upon which they did Communicate which doubtless was the Original of these particular Prefaces In the Roman Church there were formerly nine of them to which Vrban added
ever since by Jews or Christians or both with the greatest solemnity See how those blinded Jews rejoice over their Paschal Lamb in the midst of all their Calamities for the deliverance of their Fathers But we have a nobler Passover for a greater deliverance Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast and that upon the precious Body and Blood of the Lamb of God who was slain but is alive again and behold he lives for evermore Wherefore I will go to thy Altar with joy and tell out thy works with gladness O most mighty Saviour who hast not only died for my sins but risen again for my Justification and indeed what comfort could I have found in this memorial of thy Death if it had not been for thy Resurrection this Sacrament would have only remembred thy sufferings and renewed my sorrow to think that so excellent a Person had perished in the attempt of my deliverance but now it is become a Feast of joy because it is an assurance of thy Resurrection as well as a Commemoration of thy Passion And since thou livest sweetest Jesus we live also thy Resurrection raiseth our hearts from sad despair it gives a new life to our hopes it makes our sorrows light our labours easie our lives chearful and our death advantage because it hath lost its sting and is become the gate into immortality We can charm all our fears and troubles with this one word The Lord is risen yea the Lord is risen indeed For thou hast washed us in thy own blood and made us Kings and Priests to God to offer up at this thy Altar never-ceasing Praises Therefore with Angels c. A Meditation for the Communion on Ascension-Day § 11. I see O merciful Jesus thou art content for our sakes to stay here upon Earth when Heaven longs for thy return thou hast these fourty days denied thy self the full fruition of thy glories to dispel the sorrow and confirm the Faith of thy Disciples and yet at last their tears and embraces shew how loth they are to depart from thee But behold the day of thy Triumph is come and the holy Myriads are sent to wait upon thee the Heavenly Singers that go before cry Open your selves ye everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in to whom the Angels which come out to meet him answer in extasies of amazement Who is the King of Glory and all the Chorus that follow after reply Even the Lord of Hosts he is the King of Glory and thus with hymns and joyful acclamations is Jesus welcomed to his antient and most glorious Throne And now O my soul why standest thou gazing into Heaven he is too high to be discerned too bright to be seen with mortal Eyes since Cherubins are dazled at his splendor He is gone to his proper place and ascended thither whither thy desires carry thee and where ere long thou shalt see him face to face Thou standest like Elisha looking after him and lamenting thy Masters departure but he hath left his Mantle behind him even the mysteries of this holy Sacrament which to thy Faith is the flesh which he was cloathed with all and is designed to convey a double portion of his spirit unto thee so that it appears he hath left his Love with us when his Person was taken from us Away then with these sighs and tears lament no longer the absence of thy Lord for he is in this Blessed Feast he is here in his comforts and graces here in his merits and his love and his spirit can Minister the same benefits hereby which his personal presence would have given thee Go then with all possible speed and taste of this Heavenly Provision delight in it above all the sweetnesses in the World because it contains so many pledges and emblems of thy glorious Redeemers love when thou beholdest him that is thy head so advanced make haste to unite thy self nearer to him by partaking of his Body and Blood that thou maist finally reign with him in the mean time raise up thy thoughts above this lower World declare thy desire to be with Jesus send thy heart before and protest if he had not left thee some little tastes of his sweetness in the repast of this holy Table by the way thou couldst not have endured so long without him There is nothing which he loves comparable with his Throne in Heaven unless it be an humble and thankful heart into which I am about to receive him and as the Coelestial Quire welcomed him thither so will I receive him with joy into my poor Soul Therefore with Angels c. A Meditation for the Communion on Whit-Sunday § 12. I will go to thy Altar O Lord with a New-Sacrifice of Praise because thou hast given me a fresh instance of thy Love this day thou art slow to punish thy Enemies but speedy to comfort thy servants for no sooner was thy misery changed into glory but we received the greatest demonstration of thy affections no sooner didst thou put on thy Crown in Heaven but the Earth felt the bounty of thy Dispensations for it was not possible for thee sweetest Jesus to let thy promise remain long unperformed or the sad expectations of thy Disciples unsatisfied Being assembled therefore this Day with one heart in one place they are suddenly surprized with wonder and inspired with a Heavenly Power such as they had never felt before vigorous as a mighty wind chearing as the morning light inflaming their hearts with zeal and filling their mouths with Anthems indited in the languages of all the World Oh wonderful change their ignorance is turned into learning their mistakes into infallibility their fear into courage their weakness into strength their sorrow into joy and they in a moment made able to confound the Arts and conquer the oppositions of the Heathen World and maugre all the devices of Satan to set up the Kingdom of the Lord Christ And shall not we praise thee for these miraculous dispensations by which the Gospel was made known even to us in these utmost corners and last of times Yes holy Jesus we will also meet with one accord at thy Table not doubting but thou wouldst give us the same measures of thy spirit there if our duty or our necessity did require it it is enough to us that thou knowest our needs more than will supply them we dare not ask less thou wilt not give Thou hast given us thy self wherefore we believe thou wilt not deny us thy spirit without which we can have no interest in thee nor benefit from thee We come not gracious Lord with the carnal Jews to devour thy flesh but to partake of thy spirit which only giveth life the flesh profiteth nothing Behold thy Spirit hath converted Millions let me therefore together with thy precious Body receive here such proportions of thy holy spirit as may suppress my evil affections revive my dead heart comfort
we follow the example of Jesus who though he was able by his very word to make the Elements what he pleased yet he did first give thanks or crave a blessing to shew us what we must do m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. in Math. 26. He had given thanks in order to the Passover before Luke 22.17 and therefore it is likely that he made a peculiar Thanksgiving now relating to this mystery n Vid. Buxt Synag Jud. cap. 13. for so the Jews were wont to have several forms for the Passover o Super Pacifica benedicunt cum comedunt ea hoc modo Benedictus tu Domine Deus noster qui sanctificasti nos praeceptis tuis mandasti nobis comedere de Pacificis R. Salom. for the Peace-offerings yea distinct Graces for the meat and for the drink What the very words were with which our Saviour blessed God is not recorded so that all Churches have used their liberty in the manner of expressing this with some variety in the Phrase but as to the substance and design they are the same nor doth any Liturgy want some such supplication The Latine Church saith We humbly beseech and intreat thee O most merciful Father by Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord that thou wouldst accept and bless these gifts c. in St. Ambrose Make this our Oblation valid reasonable and acceptable which is made for a figure of the body and blood of Jesus Christ In the Liturgy of St. Basil We beseech thee let thy holy Spirit come upon us and upon these gifts here set forth to bless and sanctifie them c. And to name no more in that called St. Clements We offer to thee O Lord our King according to his institution this Bread and this Cup and we beseech thee vouchsafe to look graciously upon these gifts set forth in thy sight Now it is requisite that the whole Congregation should in heart join in this part of the Prayer to make it the more prevalent with Almighty God Math. 18.19 And to quicken us to ask with the greater Ardency let us consider how great a thing it is which we desire how earnestly did Moses pray when he was to bring water out of the Rock how fervently did Elijah call on his God when his sacrifice was to be kindled from Heaven but we do now beg a greater matter and for a much more noble end We behold the Creatures of Bread and Wine and we know them to be as yet no more p Antequam ergo consecretur panis est Ambros de sacr l 4 c. 5. But we desire they may be made the body and blood of Christ to us that although they remain in substance what they were yet to the worthy Receiver they may be something far more excellent which nothing can effect but that word q Si ergo tanta vis est in sermonibus Domini Jesu ut inciperent esse quae non erant quanto magis operatorius est ut sint quae erant in aliud commutentur Idem which made all things out of nothing We are not now begging for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life John 6.27 yet we ought to hope he will grant us this request because we are about to partake of this Ordinance both in a right manner as Christ did institute it and to a right end viz. for a memorial of his Death we long after our Saviour with a mighty Passion and in this manner he hath chosen to communicate himself therefore we may chearfully request that by the receiving this Bread and Wine which he hath chosen we may become partakers of his most blessed Body and blood for St. Paul assures us the Bread thus blessed is the Communion or Communication of Christs Body There needs no real change in the substance of the Elements for this participation is not by sense but by Faith This lively representation by the operation of the Spirit gives us a fresh remembrance of the Love and Merit of our Redeemers Passion so that by Faith we lay hold upon him as the only satisfaction for our sins and then the Power of God doth by these Symbols communicate our Lord unto us and convey unto our Souls all the salutary benefits of that great expiation We have all the real effects the virtue and the comfort of receiving Jesus though we do not tear his flesh with our teeth And if it may please God to make us partakers of the benefits of Christs Passion we will not inquire into the manner but we will believe because we feel the effects and rejoice in the graces that flow from him nor shall we desire more § 7. Who in the same night that he was betrayed took Bread The best pattern for the Celebration of this mystery is to be taken from the divine Author thereof our Lord Jesus whose Words and Actions are in this particular so punctually related in the Gospels on purpose to direct us in this solemnity and when the Rite was disordered in the Church of Corinth St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. sends them to the first Institution as to the Rule and Canon by which they ought to rectifie all that was amiss and for this reason as we have noted no Church in the World did ever omit these words of our Saviour by which they believed the Consecration to be principally made Wherefore let him that Ministers pronounce them with great deliberation and the profoundest reverence remembring he speaks in the person of Christ And let each Communicant think he is placed among the Disciples in the presence of Jesus at his first Supper and since every Word and Action is big with Mystery let him fix both his Eye and his heart upon the Holy Table and prepare to entertain every particular with a suitable Meditation And first when the time is mentioned in which this Heavenly Feast was instituted viz. The same night in which he was betrayed r 1 Cor. 11.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In quâ nocte tradebatur Litur Clem. In nocte quâ tradebat se ipsum pro vitâ mundi Lit. S. Basil Perperam itaque Missal Rom. habet Qui pridie quam pateretur even the last night which he lived in this mortal Body Then consider in this manner Behold what kind of Love O my Soul is expressed by thy Redeemer when our sins his treacherous servant and his enraged Enemies were contriving his Death he was designing an excellent benefit for us the stream of his affections was so strong that no baseness or ingratitude could check it we might have expected that the horror of this dismal night should have made him repent of his undertaking and have put him upon reversing all his former favours but lo he adds a greater than ever he had given before and appoints this as a seal to confirm and convey the rest unto us Thy Love was stronger than death and when all the terrors of
semper Deus Creat Durant de rit Eccl. l. 2. c. 44. that the antient Roman Church did not believe the substances to be annihilated no not after the Consecration Fifthly It was long before Rome it self did determine this Doctrine of Christs very flesh and blood being in the Sacrament g Ante Lateranense concilium Transubstantiatio non fuit dogma fidei Scot. 4. sent d. 11. q. 3. In Synaxi serò Transubstantiationem definivit Ecclesia diu satis erat credere sive sub pane Consecrato sive quocunque modo adesse verum corpus Christi Eras not ad 1 Corinth viz. not much above 400. years ago nor was it only opposed by Berengarius but the Master of the Sentences h Pet. Lomb. sent l. 4. c. 12. affirmed it was only a memorial and representation of the true Sacrifice and the famous Rabanus Maurus An. 850. plainly holds i Sacramentum in alimentum corporis redigitur virtute autem sacramenti aeterna vita adipiscitur Rab. Maur. de inst Cler l. 1. c. 3. The outward part still to remain and as Bread to be turned into the substance of the Body yea Scotus writ a peculiar Treatise against this then growing Doctrine which was condemned unjustly by Leo the IX not to mention now the Book of Bertram on this subject Sixthly To this we may finally annex many cogent reasons why this Transubstantiation is not to be believed viz. Because it is needless for us to expect to eat the natural flesh of Christ here where we come to seek a spiritual Union with him by Faith and an interest in his Death to which the eating his flesh would nothing conduce Again it is contrary to the nature of a Sacrament where the visible part must remain as the Water in Baptism doth to be a foundation for the inward and spiritual grace And further since the Heavens must contain Christs Body to the end of the World it is impossible it should be but one and yet many in several places at once always whole yet often broken received intire by every person and yet then at the right hand of God existing before yet Created by the Priest We must deny our Reason as well as our Senses if we can believe so great and absurd Contradictions Nor is it imaginable if this were the intent of our Lords words how he who was then alive and sitting at the Table could break and give himself or be eaten and yet remain intire and finally since we see and feel and tast it to be only Bread and Wine as to the substance still unless we will deny this great foundation of all our notions yea and of our Faith also we must not give credit to so strange and monstrous a conceit Yet still we do believe that every duly disposed Communicant doth receive really the Body and Blood of Christ in and by these Elements but it is by Faith and not by sense If we receive them in the manner and to the end which Christ appointed they give us a lively remembrance of his love and all-sufficient merit and thereby invite our Faith to embrace this Crucifyed Redeemer as the satisfaction for our sins whereupon he who is most ready to close with penitent Sinners doth by this rite of his own appointing give himself and the salutary benefits of his Death unto such and although the manner be mysterious yet the advantages are real and the effect more certain than if we eat or drunk his natural flesh and blood But we have diverted too far and therefore will reserve the Meditation upon this part until we come to the Administration Sect. III. § 3. § 10. Do this in Remembrance of me Having told us what it is which is presented to us our Lord goes on to prescribe the manner how we must make use of it viz. as a memorial of him The Ministers are to Do this which he hath done even to bless the Bread and break it and distribute it in remembrance of his Institution the people also are to Do this that is to take eat c. in Remembrance of his Passion And this being the great end of the Institution the Antients were wont always here to Commemorate all the principal Acts which Jesus hath done for us especially his Death k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in omnibus Graec. Liturg. Memores passionis Lit. Clem. Memorantes ergo nos salutarium ejus passionum Lit. Basil Memores gloriâ—sissimae ejus passionis ab inferis resurrectionis in coelum ascensionis Ambr. de sacr l. 4. c. 5. upon the Cross Our Master desires us not to celebrate his sufferings with a present expression of sorrow but by a perpetual remembring of them even as the brave Germannicus lying upon his Death-Bed desired his friends not to prosecute his Funerals with useless tears but if they would shew their love to him to do it by remembring his Will and executing his Commands Tacit. Let us then do this last Command of our dying Lord and remember him in these or the like thoughts It is but too apparent Blessed Lord how apt we are to forget thy dear love to us and thy bitter sufferings for us our continual transgressions publish it and our present stupidity and indevotion do declare it Praised therefore be thy goodness for these lively Emblems of thy most meritorious Cross and Passion oh that we may behold them with the same affections with which we should have been moved had we been spectators of thy horrid Tragedy so shall they imprint the Characters of thy love so deep upon our hearts that neither time nor temptation can obliterate them Behold we do here most affectionately call to mind the humility of thine Incarnation the merit of thy Death the power of thy Resurrection and the glories of thine Ascension And thus by thine own appointment Dearest Jesus we do shew our Thankfulness for thy Passion our Faith in thy Resurrection and our hope of thy second coming l In commemorationem mei i. e. hoc modo Mortem meam praedicabitis resurrectionem annuntiabitis adventum sperabitis donec iterum adveniam Ambros ut supr We will commemorate thy all-sufficient sacrifice before the Almighty to pacify his anger against us before the World to testifie our hope in a Crucified Saviour and before our selves to renew our sense of thy inexpressible love We will Do this so often and so sincerely with so much zeal and holy Passion that if it be possible neither we nor any others shall ever become unmindful of Thee and when we cannot have the Symbols before our Eyes the Impressions of them shall remain in our minds and our lives shall witness that we are not forgetful of thee § 11. Likewise also after Supper he took the Cup and when he had given thanks The life of Man requires not only meat but drink also to sustain it and therefore Christ hath set forth himself under both these to
back again to thy self better than I received thee There needs no application but that every Communicant do as sincerely make oblation of their Souls and Bodies to God for this the poorest may give and yet this is more acceptable than thousands of Gold and Silver If these reasons do convince us of the justice and the necessity of our making this Oblation we may learn in the next place from the very form in this Prayer how and in what manner it may be done for we are taught therein I. What it is which we must offer viz. our whole selves not only our Bodies but our Souls also n Quodâ—si corpus quo inferiore tanquam famulo utitur anima sacrificium est quanto magis anima ipsa cum se refert ad Deum August Deinde cum plena resignatione integrâ voluntate offer teipsum in honorem nominis mei corpus tuum scil animam mihi fidelitèr câ—mmittendo Tho. à Kemp. de imit Christi l. 4. c. 6. for we consist of both these God hath created and redeemed both and each of them in their capacity can do him service wherefore we must give him both or he will accept neither o Pectora vestra duanon admittentia curas Juven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macrob. Saturn because he hath no equal he will have no Rival All the members of our Bodies and all the powers of our Souls our Limbs and Senses our Will and Affections our Reason and Understanding must be dedicated to him for so long as any of these are under the bondage of sin the rest cannot be intirely the Servants of God Math. 6.24 II. To what end we make this Oblation of our selves First To be a reasonable Sacrifice The offering up of our Souls and Bodies since we are rational Creatures is not like the Sacrifices of brute Beasts by dying but by living agreeable to the will of God and the rules of right reason p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epicharmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. ap Stobaeum for reason as it is inlightned in us Christians doth direct us to approve of all things that are good and doth attest and confirm the Duties which God requires He therefore makes himself a reasonable Sacrifice who doth live prudently and piously and walk according to the dictates of the best reason he that is religious and just sober and humble meek and patient compassionate and charitable q Qui innocentiam colit Deo supplicat qui justitiam Deo libat qui hominem periculo subtrahit optimam victimam caedit Min. Foelix Vis Deos propitiare bonus esto satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est Sen. ep 95. for these things are in themselves the most rational and we have the greatest reason and the highest obligations to perform them Secondly We offer our selves to be an Holy Sacrifice that is to be pure and spotless as all those offerings were appointed to be r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · Athenaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · Suidas which were offer'd to the Divine Majesty And as all such offerings were set apart and sanctified never to be accounted the owners Å¿ Nullius autem scil hominis sunt res sacrae religiosae quod enim Divini juris est id nullius in bonis est Justinian instit l. 2. tit 1. Sect. 7. or to be used to any common or prophane use afterwards so when we are purified by the blood of Christ and dedicated to God it is with intent never to use our faculties as the servants of sin nor our members as the instruments of unrighteousness any more Our Eyes must not look towards wantonness our Ears must not hearken to vanity our tongues must not speak lies or slanders our hands must not wrong nor oppress nor our feet spurn the poor neither may our wit or reason our passions or our will be the slaves of Sin hereafter For we are Holy 1 Cor. 3.16 17. and if we unhallow our selves again it is a crime equal to Belshazzers sacrilegious drinking in the holy Vessels of the Temple Thirdly That we may be a Living Sacrifice for we do not vow to kill or destroy our selves as some of the Heathens did in honour to their less-deserving Deities but we resolve to Sacrifice our Lusts t Non enim sicut tunc corpora pro corporibus immolanda sed vitia corporis perimenda sunt S. Ambros in 12. ad Rom. by mortification because so long as they live we are dead to the service of God We engage to be living u Aqua viva Hebr. Dialecto est aqua fontana ebulliens perennis jugitèr manans that is lively and strong vigorous and persevering in all religious duties and that we will perform all kind of good works with such an alacrity as may express life and spirit so that although we do not or cannot return the love of Jesus by dying for him as he hath done for us yet we will live to him and desire our life no longer nor for no other end than to advance his glory and do his blessed pleasure And now if we do so far understand our own interest and are so really weary of the bondage of Satan as to desire and long for a better Master and do wish unfeignedly that we may be accepted as the servants of God let us resign up and dedicate our selves to him in this or the like form An Act of Oblation of our selves or the form of a Vow after the Holy Communion O most merciful Lord God I am amazed at the mighty faâ—â—â—â—s which thou hast shewed to me a sinful wretched Creature I cannot but acknowledge thy goodness although I can make no retribution had I all the World at my disposal I could freely give it all to thee as a testimony of my unfeigned gratitude but I hear thy gracious voice saying My Son give me thy heart It is not mine dearest Lord but me thou seekest sinful and miserable though I am yet I am that purchase for which Jesus hath left his glory laid down his life done and suffered all these things O marvellous condescension I am nothing I have nothing I am void of all good full of evil and deserving thy wrath so that I abhor my self and canst thou delight in me Be it so then for I will dispute no more with unsearchable mercy I believe O my God and wonder I can no longer resist thy condescending and Almighty Love I will with all the joy imaginable give my se f to thee for thou hast but lately restored me to my self Alas I have been a Prisoner to Satan a Slave to Sin and marked for destruction but thou hast procured my Pardon my Liberty and my Life requiring no more for so unexpressible bounty but only that I will intirely become thine Had I the life of an Angel the understanding of a Cherubin or the powers of one of the Heavenly Host