Sacramental Symbols as a direct consignation of pardon not that it is them compleated for it is a work of time it is as long in doing as repentance is in perfecting it is the effect of that depending on its cause in a perpetual operation but it is then working and if we go on in duty God will proceed to finish the methods of his grace and snatch us from eternal death which we have deserved and bring us unto glory And this he is pleased by the Sacramental all the way to consigne God speaks not more articulately in any voice from Heaven than in such real indications of his love and favour 14. Lastly since the Sacrament is the great solemnity of prayer and imitation of Christs intercession in Heaven let us here be both charitable and religious in our prayers interceding for all states of men and women in the Christan Church and representing to God all the needs of our selves and of our Relatives For then we pray with all the advantages of the spirit when we pray in the faith of Christ crucified in the love of God and of our neighbour in the advantages of solemn piety in the communion of Saints in the imitation of Christs intercession and in the union with Christ himself Spiritual and Sacramental and to such prayers as these nothing can be added but that which will certainly come that is a blessed hearing and a gracious answer SECT III. Devotions preparatory to this Mystery Ejaculations I. 1. I Will praise thee with my whole heart before the Angels will I sing praise unto thee 2. I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy loving kindnesse and for thy truth for thou hast magnified above all thy name the word of thy praise 3. In the day when I call upon thee thou shalt answer and shalt multiply strength in my soul. 4. How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me Thy mercy O Lord endureth for ever 5. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope 6. My soul doth wait for the Lord more than they that keep the morning watches that they may observe the time of offering the morning sacrifices 7. O let my soul hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption he shall redeem his people from all iniquitie II. 1. Our Lord is gentle and just our God is merciful 2. The Lord keepeth the simple I was humbled but the Lord looked after my redemption 3. O my soul return thou unto thy rest because the Lord hath restored his good things unto thee 4. He hath snatched my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will therefore walk before the Lord in the land of the living 5. I have believed therefore will I speak in the assemblies of just men I will greatly praise the Lord. 6. What shall I return unto the Lord all his retributions are repayed upon me 7. I will bear the chalice of redemptions in the Kingdom of God and in the name of the Lord I will call upon my God III. 1. I will pay my vows unto the Lord I will then shew forth his Sacraments unto all the people 2. Honourable before the Lord is the death of his holy one and thereby thou hast broken all my chains 3. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments 4. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth yea I will praise him among the multitude 5. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from them that condemn his soul. 6. His work is honourable and glorious and his righteousnesse remaineth for ever He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred 7. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion he hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his covenant he hath shewed his people the power of his works blessed be God The Prayers to be used in any day or time of preparation to the Holy Sacrament I. O Thou shepherd of Israel thou that feedest us like sheep thou makest us to lie down in pleasant pastures and leadest us by the still waters running from the clefts of the rock from the wounds of our Lord from the fountains of salvation thou preparest a table for us and anointest our heads with the unction from above and our cup runneth over let the blood of thy wounds and the water of thy side wash me clean that I may with a pure clean soul come to eat of the purest sacrifice the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world II. THou givest thy self to be the food of our souls in the wonders of the Sacrament in the faith of thy Word in the blessings and graces of thy Spirit Perform that in thy Servant which thou hast prepared and effected in thy Son strengthen my infirmities heal my sicknesses give me strength to subdue my passions to mortifie my inordinations to kill all my sin increase thy Graces in my soul enkindle a bright devotion extinguish all the fires of hell my lust and my pride my envy and all my spiritual wickednesses pardon all my sins and fill me with thy Spirit that by thy Spirit thou maist dwell in me and by obedience and love I may dwell in thee and live in the life of grace till it pasâ— on to glory and immensity by the power and the blessings by the passion and intercession of the Word incarnate whom I adore and whom I love and whom I will serve for ever and ever III. O Mysterious God ineffable and glorious Majesty what is this that thou hast done to the sons of men thou hast from thy bosom sent thy Son to take upon him our nature in him thou hast opened the fountains of thy mercy and hast invited all penitent sinners to come to be pardoned all the oppressed to be eased all the sorrowful to be comforted all the sick to be cured all the hungry to be filled and the thirsty to be refreshed with the waters of life and sustained with the wine of elect souls admit me O God to this great effusion of loving kindness that I may partake of the Lord Jesus that by him I may be comforted in all my griefs satisfied in all my doubts healed of all the wounds of my soul and the bruises of my spirit and being filled with the bread of heaven and armed with the strength of the Spirit I may begin continue and finish my journey thorow this valley of tears unto my portion of thy heavenly kingdom whither our Lord is gone before to prepare a place for every loving and obedient soul. Grant this O Eternal God for his sake who died for us and intercedes for us and gives himself daily to us our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Amen CHAP. II. Of
they had zeal for the good of souls Let no man say I repent in private I repent before God in secret God who alone does pardon does know that I am contrite in heart For was it in vain was it said to no purpose whatsoever ye shall loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven we evacuate the Gospel of God we frustrate the words of Christ so S. Austin And therefore when a man hath spoken the sentence of the most severe medicine let him come to the Presidents of the Church who are to minister in the power of the Keyes to him and beginning now to be a good son keeping the order of his Mother let him receive the measure and manner of his repentances from the Presidents of the Sacraments Concerning this thing I shall never think it fit to dispute for there is nothing to inforce it but enough to perswade it but he that tries will find the benefit of it himself and will be best able to tell it to all the world SECT VII Penitential Soliloquies Ejaculations Exercises and preparatory Prayers to be us'd in all the days of preparation to the Holy Sacrament I. ALmighty and eternal God the fountain of all vertue the support of all holy hope the Author of pardon of life and of salvation thou art the comforter of all that call upon thee thou hast concluded all under sin that thou mightest have mercy upon all Look upon me O God and have pity on me lying in my blood and misery in my shame and in my sins in the fear and guilt of thy wrath in the shadow of death and in the gates of hell I confesse to thee O God what thou knowest already but I confesse it to manifest thy justice and to glorifie thy mercy who hast spared me so long â—hat I am guilty of the vilest and basest follies which usually dishonour the fools and the worst of the sons of men II. I have been proud and covetous envious and lustful angry and greedy indevout and irreligious restless in my passions sensual and secular but hating wise counsels and soon weary of the Offices of a holy Religion I cannot give an account of my time and I cannot reckon the sins of my tongue My crimes are intolerable and my imperfections shameful and my omissions innumerable and what shall I do O thou preserver of men I am so vile that I cannot express it so sinful that I am hateful to my self and much more abominable must I needs be in thy eyes I have sinn'd against thee without necessity sometimes without temptation only because I would sin and would not delight in the ways of peace I have been so ingrateful so foolish so unreasonable that I have put my own eyes out that I might with confidence and without fear sin against so good a God so gracious a Father so infinite a Power so glorious a Majesty so bountiful a Patron and so mighty a Redeemer that my sin is grown shameful and aggravated even to amazement I can say no more I am asham'd O God I am amaz'd I am confounded in thy presence III. But yet O God thou art the healer of our breaches and the lifter up of our head and I must not despair and I am sure thy goodness is infinite and thou dost not delight in the death of a sinner and my sins though very great are infinitely less than thy mercies which thou hast revealed to all penitent and returning sinners in Jesus Christ. I am not worthy to look up to heaven but be thou pleased to look down into the dust and lift up a sinner from the dunghil let me not perish in my folly or be consumed in thy heavy displeasure Give me time and space to repent and give me powers of Grace and aids of thy spirit that as by thy gift and mercy I intend to amend whatsoever is amiss so I may indeed have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same Inspire me with the spirit of repentance and mortification that I may always fight against my sins till I be more than conquerour Support me with a holy hope confirm me with an excellent operative and unreprovable faith and enkindle a bright and a burning charity in my soul Give me patience in suffering severity in judging and condemning my sin and in punishing the sinner that judging my self I may not be condemned by thee that mourning for my sins may rejoyce in thy pardon that killing my sin I may live in righteousness that denying my own will I may always perform thine and by the methods of thy Spirit I may overcome all carnal and spiritual wickednesses and walk in thy light and delight in thy service and perfect my obedience and be wholly delivered from my sin and for ever preserved from thy wrath and at last passe on from a certain expectation to an actual fruition of the glories of thy Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Amen Amen 1. I am in thy sight O Lord a polluted person sin like a crust of leprosie hath overspread me I am a scandal to others a shame to my self a reproach to my relations a burden to the earth a spot in the Church and deserve to be rejected and scorn'd by thee 2. But this O God I cannot bear It is just in thee to destroy me but thou delightest not in that I am guilty of death but thou lovest rather that I should live 3. O let the cry of thy Sons blood who offers an eternal Sacrifice to thee speak on my behalf and speak better things than the blood of Abel 4. My conscience does accuse me the Devils rejoyce in my fall and aggravate my crimes already too great and thy holy Spirit is grieved by me But my Saviour Jesus died for me and thou pittiest me and thy holy Spirit still calls upon me and I am willing to come but I cannot come unlesse thou drawest me with the cords of love 5. O draw me unto thee by the Arguments of charity by the endearments of thy mercies by the order of thy providence by the hope of thy promises by the sense of thy comforts by the conviction of my understanding by the zeal and passion of holy affections by an unreprovable faith and an humble hope by a religious fear and an increasing love by the obedience of precepts and efficacy of holy example by thy power and thy wisdom by the love of thy Son and the grace of thy Spirit Draw me O God and I will run after thee and the sweetnesses of thy precious ointments 6. I am not worthy O Lord I am not worthy to come into thy presence much less to eat the flesh of the Sacrificed Lamb For my sins O Blessed Saviour Jesus went along in confederation with the High Priests in treachery with Judas in injustice with Pilate in malice with the people 7. My sins and the Jews crucified thee my hypocrisie was the kiss that betrai'd thee my covetous
comfort us and he will judge us and he will save us and it can never be well with us till love that governs heaven it self be the Prince of all our actions and our passions By this we know we are translated from death to life by our love unto our brethren That 's the testimonial of our comfort I was hungry and ye fed me I was hungry and ye fed me not These are the Tables of our fiâ—al judgment If ye love me keep my Commandments That 's the measure of our obedience In that ye have done kindnesse to one of these little ones ye have done it unto me That is the installing of the Saints in their Thrones of Glory If thou bringest a gift to the altar leave it there go and be reconciled to thy brother That 's the great instrument of our being accepted No man can love God and hate his brother That 's the rule of our examination in this particular This is a new Commandment that ye love one another There 's thâ— great precept of the Gospel This is an old Commandment that ye love one another There is the very Law of Nature And to sum up all Love is the fulfilling of the Law that 's the excellency and perfection of a man and there is the expectation of all reward and the doing all our duâ—y and the sanctification of every action and the spirit of life It is the heart and the fire and the salt of every Sacrifice it is the crown of every Communion And all this mysterious excellency is perfectly represented by that divine exhortation made by Saint Paul Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened For even Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of MALICE and wickednesse but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth Now concerning this grace if we will inquire after it in order to a worthy receiving the holy Communion we must inquire after the effects and offices of Charity and by the good we do or are ready to do take an account of our selves in this particular The offices and general duties are three 1. Doing good 2. Speaking good and 3. â—orgiving evil SECT II. Of doing good to our Neighbours HE that loves me does me good for until love be beneficial it is not my good but his fancy and pleasure that delights in me I do not examine this duty by our alms alone for although they are an excellent instrument of life for alms deliver from death said the Angel to old Tobit yet there are some who are bountiful to the poor and yet not charitable to their neighbour You can best tell whether you have charity to your brother by your willingnesse to oblige him and do him real benefit and keeping him from all harm we can Do you do good to all you can Will you willingly give friendly counsel Do you readily excuse your neighbours faults Do you rejoyce when he is made glad Do you delight in his honour and prosperity Do you stop his entry into folly and shame Do not you laugh at his miscarriages Do you stand ready in mind to do all good offices to all you can converse with For nothing makes Societies so fair and lasting as the mutual endearment of each other by good offices and never any man did a good turn to his brother but one time or other himself did eat the fruit of it The good man in the Greek Epigram that found a dead mans scul unburied in kindnesse digging a grave for it opened the inclosures of a Treasure And we read in the Annals of France that when Goutran King of Burgundy was sleeping by the murmurs of a little brook his Servant espied a Lizard coming from his Masters head and essayed to passe the water but seeming troubled because it could not he laid his sword over the brook and made an iron bridge for the little beast who passing entred into the earth and speedily returned back to the King and disturb'd him as it is supposed into a dream in which he saw an iron bridge which landed him at the foot of the mountain where if he did dig he should find a great heap of gold The servant expounded his Masters dream and shewed him the iron bridge and they digged where the Lizard had entred where they found indeed a Treasure and that the Servants piety was rewarded upon his Lords head and procured wealth to one and honour to the other There is in humane nature a strange kind of noblenesse and love to return and exchange good offices but because there are some dogs who bite your hand when you reach them bread God by the ministery of his little creatures tells that if we will not yet he will certainly recompence every act of piety and charity we do one to another * This the â—gyptians did well signifie in one of the new names of their Constellations For when the wife of Ptolomaeus Euergetes had vowed her hair to the Temple upon condition her husband might return in safety and she did consecrate the beauty of her head to the ornaments of Religion Comonus the Astronomer told her that the Gods had pâ—aced her hair among the Stars and to this day they call one knot of Stars by the name of Berenices hair For every such worthinesse like this will have an immortal name in some Record and it shall be written above the Stars and set by the names of the Sons of God who by doing worthy things have endeared Communions and Societies of mankind In all the Sacrifices of the Ancients they were hugely kind to one another they invited their friends to partake the Sacrifice and called them to a portion of the pardon that they might eat of that mercy and that forgivenesse which they expected from their God Then they sent portions to the absent then they renewed Leagues and re-established Peace and made marriages and joined Families and united hearts and knitted Interests by a thred and chain of mutual acts of kindness and endearment And so should we when we come to this holy Sacrifice we must keep our hearts entire to God and divide them amongst our Brethren and heartily love all them who feed upon the same Christ who live by the same faith who are entertained by the same hope and are confederate by the laws and the events and the causes by the acts and emanation of the same Charity * But this thing is plain no discourse here is useful but an exhortation all that can be said is this that it is decent and it is useful and it is necessary that we be very kind and very charitable to all the members of Christ with whom we are joyned by the ligatures of the same body and supported by the strength of the same nourishment and blessed by influences from the same Divine head
sins frequently and repents frequently gives great reason to believe that his repentances are but pretended and that such repentances before God signifie nothing yet that is nothing to us it may be they are rendred ineffâ—ctual by the relapse and that they were good for the present as Ahabs was but whether they be or be not yet if he be not ashamed to repent so often we must think it no shame and no imprudence to forgive him and to forgive him so that he be restored intirely to his former state of good things that is there must be no let in thy charity if there be in prudence that 's another consideration But his second repentance must be accepted as well as his first and his tenth as well as his fifth And if any man think it hard so often to be tied to accept his repentance let him understand that it is because himself hath not yet been called to judgment he hath not heard the voice of the exactor he hath not yet been delivered to the tormentors nor summed up his own accounts nor beheld with amazement the vast number of his sins He that hath in deepest apprehension placed himself before the dreadful Tribunal of God or felt the smart of conscience or hath been affrighted with the fears of hell or remembers how often he hath been spared from an horrible damnation will not be ready to strangle his Brother and afflict him for a trifle because he considers his own dangers of perishing for a sum which can never be paid if it never be forgiven Question III. What indications and signs of repentance are we to require and to accept as sufficient I answer that for this circumstance there is as proper an use and exercise of our charity as in the direct forgiveness We are not to exact securities and demonstrations Mathematical nor to demand the extremity of things If thy enemy be willing to make an amends accept of his very willingnesse for some part and his amends for the other Let every good act be forwardly entertained and persuade you heartily that all is well within If you can reasonably think so you are bound to think so for after all the signs of repentance in the world he may deceive you and whether his heart be right or not you can never know but by the judgment of charity and that you may better use betimes For when ever your returning enemy saies he does repent that is gives humane and probable indications of his repentance you cannot tell but that he saies true and therefore you must forgive The words of Christ are plain if he returns saying I do repent then it is a duty and we can stay no longer for he that confesses his sin and praies for pardon hath done great violence and mortification to himself he hath punished his fault and then there is nothing left to be done by the offended party but to return to mercy and charity But in this affair it is remarkable what we are commanded by our blessed Lord Agree with thine adversary quickly c. lâ—ft thou be constrained to pay the utmost farthing Plainly intimating that in reconcilements and returns of friendship there is supposed alwaies something to be abated something clearly forgiven for if he pay thee to the utmost farthing thou hast forgiven nothing It is merchandise and not forgivenesse to restore him that does as much as you can require Be not over righteous saith Solomon that is let charity do something of thy work allow to her place and powers and opportunity It was an excellent saying of St. Bernard God is never called the God of revenges but the Father of mercies because the original of his revenges he takes from us and our sins but the original and the causes of his forgivenesse he takes from himself and so should we that we restore him that did us wrong to our love again let it not be wholly because he hath done all that can be required but something upon our own account let our mercy have a share in it that is let us accept him readily receive him quickly believe him easiy expound all things to the better sense take his word and receive his repentance and forgive him at the beginning of it not to interrupt his repentance but to incourage it and that 's the proper work of charity in the present Article Question IV. Whether after every relapse must the conditions of his pardon be harder than before I answer that I find no difference in the expression of our blessed Saviour It is all one after seven times and after seventy times and after seventy times seven times If he shall return saying I repent that 's all is here required But then because by saying I repent is not meant only the speaking it but also doing it must at least be probable that he does so as well as say so therefore although as soon as he does so so soon you must forgive him yet 1. After the first forgivenesse and at the second and third offence we are not obliged so readily to believe his saying as after the first offence at which time although he did violence to justice and charity yet he had not broken his faith as now he hath and therefore the oftner he hath relapsed the more significations he ought to give of the truth of his repentance He that is pardoned and sins again cannot expect so easily to be acquitted the third time as at the first saith S Basil. At the first fault we must believe his saying because we know nothing to the contrary but when he hath often said so and it is seen so often that he did not say true he that is forgiven and then relapses is obliged to do more the next time he pretends repentance 2. Altâ—ough we â—re bound to forgive him intirely even after a thousand injuries if he does truly repent yet this person cannot expect to be imployed or to be returned to all his former capacities of good because it is plain he hath not cured the evil principle the malicious heart or the evil eye the slanderous tongue or the unjust hand his covetous desire and his peevish anger and then though we must be ready in heart to receive him to all the degrees of his former condition when he shall be capable and is the same man that ought to be imployed yet till he be so or appears so in prudent and reasonable indications he must be pardoned heartily and prayed for charitably but he must be handled cautiously It must not be harder for thee to pardon him after ten thousand relapses and returns but after so much variety of folly and weak instances it will be much harder for him to say and prove he does repent But in this our charity must neither be credulous nor morose too easie nor too difficult but it is secure if it pardons him and prayes for him whether he repents or no. 3.
or prevails dangerously and because our returns to God and the mortifications of sin are divisible and done by parts and many steps of progression they that delay their Communion that they may be surer do very well provided that they do not stay too long thâ—t is that their fear do not tâ—rn to timorousness their religion do not change into superstition their distrust of themselves into a jealousie of God their apprehension of the greatness of their sin into a secret diffidence of the greatness of the Divine mercy And therefore in the first conversions of a sinner this reverence may be longer allowed to a good man than afterwards But it must be no longer allowed than till he hath once communicated For if he hath once been partaker of the Divine mysteries since his repentance he must no longer forbear for in this case it is true that he who is not fit to receive every day is fit to receive no day If he thinks that he ought wholly to abstain let him use his caution and his fear to the advantages of his repentance and the heightning of his longings but if he may safâ—ly come once he may piously come often He caâ—not long stand at this distance if he be the man he is supposed But for the time of his total abstention let him be conducted by a spiritual guide whom he may safely trust For if he cannot by the usual methods of repentance and the known Sermons of the Gospel be reduced to peace and a quiet conscience let him declare his estate to a spiritual Guide and if he thinks it fit to absolve him that is to declare him to be in the state of grace and pardon it is all the warrant which with the testimony of Gods Spirit bearing witness to our spirit we can expect in this world I remember what a religious person said to Petrus Celestinus who was a great Saint but of a timorous conscience in this particular Thou abstainest from the blessed Sacrament because it is a thing so sacred and formidable that thou canst not think thy self worthy of it Well suppose that But I pray who is worthy Is an Angel worthy enough No câ—râ—ainly if we consider the greatness of the mystery But consider the goodness of God and the usual measures of good men and the commands of Christ inviting us to come and commanding us and then Cum timore reverentiâ frequenter operare Receive it often with feare and reverence To which purpose these two things are fit to be considered 1. Supposing this fear and reverence to be good and commendable in his case who really is fit to communicate but does not think so yet if we compare it with that grace which prompts a good man to take it often we may quickly perceive which is best Certainly that act is in its own nature best which proceeds from the best and the most perfect grace but to abstain proceeds from fear and to come frequently being worthily disposed is certainly the product of love and holy hunger the effect of the good Spirit who by his holy fires makes us to thirst after the waters of salvation As much then as love is better than fear so much it is to be preferred that true penitents and well-grown Christians should frequently address themselves to these Sacramental Unions with their Lord. 2. The frequent use of this Divine Sacrament proceeds from more as well as from more noble vertues For here is obedience and zeal worship and love thanksgiving and oblation devotion and joy holy hunger and holy thirst an approach to God in the waies of God union and adherence confidence in the Divine goodness and not only hope of pardon but a going to receive it and the omission of all these excellencies cannot in the present case be recompenced by an act of religious fear For this can but by accident and upon supposition of something that is amiss be at all accounted good and therefore ought to give place to that which supposing all things to be as they ought is directly good and an obedience to a Divine Commandment For we may not deceive our selves the matter is not so indifferent as to be excused by every fair pretence It is unlawful for any man unprepared by repentance and its fruits to communicate but it is necessary that we should be prepared that we may come For plague and death threaten them that do not communicate in this mysterious banquet as certainly as danger is to them who come unduly and as it happens For the Sacrament of the Lords body is commanded to all men saith Tertullian and it is very remarkable what St. Austin said in this affair The force of the Sacraments is of an unspeakable value and therefore it is sacriledge to despise it For that is impiously despised without which we cannot come to the perfection of piety So that although it is not in all cases the meer not receiving that is to be blamed but the despising it yet when we consider that by this means we arrive at perfection all causless recusancy is next to contempt by interpretation One thing more I am to add whereas some persons abstain from a frequent Communion for fear lest by frequency of receiving they should less esteem the Divine mysteries and fall into lukewarmness and indevotion the consideration is good and such persons indeed may not receive it often but not for that reason but because they are not fit to receive it at all For whoever grows worse by the Sacrament as Judas after the Sop hath an evil spirit within him for this being by the design of God a savour of life it is the fault of the receiver if it passes into death and diminution of the spiritual life He therefore that grows less devout and less holy and less reverent must start back and take physick and throw out the evil spirit that is within him for there is a worm in the heart of the tree a peccant humour in the stomach it could not be else that this Divine nutriment should make him sick Question II. But is every man bound to communicate that is present or that comes into a Church where the Communion is prepared though but by accident and without design and may no man that is fit omit to communicate in every opportunity To this I answer That in the Primitive Church it was accounted scandalous and criminal to be present at the holy Offices and to go out at the celebration of the Mysteries What cause is there O Hearers that ye see the Table and come not to the Banquet said St. Austin If thou stand by and do not communicate thou art wicked thou art shameless thou art impudent So St. Chrysostome and to him that objects he is not worthy to communicate he answers that then neither is he fit to pray And the Council of Antioch and of Bracara commanded that those
uâ—certain evils none at all or very excusable And â—herefore it was to very great purpose that thâ— Apostâ—e gave command that eveâ—y man should examine himsâ—lf and so let him eaâ— that is let it be done as it may be done thorowly lâ—t him do it whose case it is and who is most concerned that it be done well let it be done so that it may not be allayed and lessened by the judgment of charity and therefore let a man do it himself For when the Curate comes to do it he cannot do it well unless he do it with mercy for he must make abatements which the sinners case does not often need in order to his reconciliation and returns to God where severity is much better than gentle sentences But the Minister of Religion must receive in some cases such persons who ought not to come and who should abstain when themselves give righteous judgment upon themselves For if it be lawful for Christian people to communicate with evil persons it is lawful for Christian Priests to minister it it being commanded to the people in some cases to withdraw themselves from a Brother that walks inordinately but no where commanded that a Minister of Religion shall refuse to give it to him that requires it and is within the Communion of the Church and is not yet as an heathen and a publican and it is evident that in the Churches of Corinth the Communion was given to persons who for unworthiness fell under the divine anger and yet no man was reprov'd but the unworthy Communicants and themselves only commanded to take care of it For he that says the people may not communicate with wicked persons falls into the errour of the Donatists which St. Austin and others have infinitely confuted but he that says the people may ought not to deny but that the Priest may and if he may communicate with him it cannot be denied but he may minister to him But this was the case of the Sons of Israel who did eat Manna and drank of the rock and yet that rock was Christ and that Manna was also his Sacrament and yet with many of these God was angry and they fell in the wildernesse And if Baptism was given as soon as ever men were converted in the very day of their change and that by the Apostles themselves and yet the same Christ is there consigned and exhibited we may remember that in Scripture we find no difference in the two Sacraments as to this particular But in this there needs not much to be said they that think things can be otherwise and have tried have declar'd to all the world by the event of things that although the guides of souls may by wise and seasonable discourses persuade and prevail with some few persons yet no man can reform the world and if all were rejected whose life does not please the Curate some will not care and will let it quite alone and others that do care will never the more be mended but turn hypocrites and they are the worst of men but most readily communicated Some other evils do also follow and when we have reckoned schisms partialities reproaches animosities and immortal hatreds between Priest and People we have not reckon'd the one half 6. When to separate Criminals can be prudent and useful and is orderly limited and legal it ought not to be omitted upon any consideration because it is the sinews and whole strength of Ecclesiastical discipline and is a most charitable ministery to souls and brings great regard to the holy Sacrament and produces reverence in the Communicants and is a deletery to sin and was the perpetual practice of the best Ages of the Church and was blest with an excellent corresponding piety in their Congregations upon which account and of other consideraons S. Cyprian S. Basil S. Chrysostom and divers others call upon Prelates and people to exercise and undergo respectively this Ecclesiastical discipline But this hath in it some variety 1. For if the person be a notorious a great and incorrigible Criminal refusing to hear the Church proceeding against him upon complaint confession or notoreity and consequently to be esteem'd as a Heathen and a Publican then comes in the Apostolical rules with such a one not to eat and withdraw from such a one for there is no accord between Christ and Belial between a Christian and a Heathen or an Unbeliever that is one who is thrust into the place and condition of an Infidel and give nâ—t thâ—t which is holy unto Dogs 2. But if he be within the Communion of the Church and yet a Criminal not delated not convict not legally condemned and yet privately known to be such or publickly suspected and scandalous the Minister of Religion must separate him by the word of his ministry and tell him his danger and use all the means he can to bring him to repentance and amends before he admits him if the Minister of Religion omits this duty he fals undâ—r the curse threatned by God in the Prophet If he does not warn him if he does not speak to the wicked to give him warning to save his life his blood shall be upon him 3. If there be a regular jurisdiction established and this spiritual authority be backed with the secular it must be used according to the measures of its establishment and for the good of the Church in general and of the sinner in particular that is although the person be not as a heathen and excommunicate by the Churches sentence yet he must be rejected for a time and thrust into repentance and measures of satisfaction and as he must not refuse so must not the Minister of the Sacrament otherwise admit him and in this sense it was that S. Chrysostom said he would rather lose his life than admit unworthy men to the Lords Table 7. But because piety hath suffer'd shipwrack and all discipline hâ—th been lost in tâ—e storm and good manneâ—s have been thrown over board the best remedy in the world that yet remains and is in use amongst the most pâ—ous sons and daughters of the Church is that they would conduct their repentance by the continual advices and ministery of a spiritual guide for by this alone or principally was the primitive piety aâ—d repentances advanced to the excellency which we often admire but seldom imitate and the event will be that besides we shall be guided in the wayes of holiness in general we shall be at peace as to the times and manner of receiving the holy Sacrament our penitential abstentions and seasonâ—ble returns and we shâ—ll not so frequently feel the effects of the Divine anger upon our persons as a reproach of our folly aâ—d the punishment of our unworthy receiving the Divine mysteries And this was earnestly advised and pressed upon their people by the holy Fathers who had as great experience in their conduct as