as well as backward in remembrance of his Death and he who eats and drinks with the Drunken will soon be apt to say My Lord delays his coming tho' to such he himself has said That he will come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and will cut him in sunder and divide him his portion with the Hypocrites The frequent Reflection on our latter End will also mightily confirm us in our holy Purposes of Obedience the time of our own particular Iudgment or at least of our passing into our unchangeable Eternity which we should often meditate upon and Discourse concerning it with our Fellow Christians instead of those impertinencies and worse which make up so great a part of common Conversation And those who thus speak often one to another and remind each other of their Duty need not be much concerned tho' they are despised for it by ill Men since the Lord himself will hearken and hear and remember them for it when he comes in Vengeance to destroy the Ungodly Malac. 3. 16. 4. 1 2. § VII In the next place we would do well to consider that the Sacrament is appointed for our perfection in Grace as well as Conquest over our Sins 'T is not enough merely to escape the Pollutions of the World but we must also aspire towards Perfection to be strong Men in Christ. We are all called to be Saints to Glory as well as to Vertue and why should we then be content with the lowest measures He that thinks he 'll be just good enough to be saved if he does not miss of that must not however expect much Comfort Nay not to go forward is to go backward in the way to Heaven We are obliged by the Sacrament to do all we can for him who has done so much for us Always to abound in the work of the Lord since when we have done our best we shall be so far from Supererrogation However as Health and Strength are infallible Signs of Life so we shall obtain this great Advantage by stronger Degrees of Grace that we may be better satisfied of the Truth and Sincerity thereof Consider that this would render God's Service much more easie and delightful to us But this must cost us constant Pains and Labour for Sloth is the greatest Obstruction to our growing in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ and is commonly the last Enemy in this World that is destroyed in a Christian. Conquer that and all is done Shake off that Ague of the Soul remember your Vows call for Strength believe and all things are possible Give Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for he that does these things shall never fall and the higher we rise in Piety here the shorter Steps we shall have to Heaven and it 's very probable the higher Degrees of Glory among those many different mansions in our Father's House § VIII In the last place when we are called again by God's Providence to another Sacrament which happy Opportunity we will be careful never to neglect let us in our Preparation and Examination impartially enquire how we have performed those Vows we made in the last and how we have profited by it To rejoyce and bless God if well to be humbled if otherwise and the greater the Defect the deeper the Humiliation I speak here of lesser Infirmities rather than of presumptuous scandalous Sins the Habits whereof while unreformed and unrepented do utterly exclude from the Sacrament as well as from Heaven Nor ought we by any means to be ungrateful if we find that thro' God's Grace preventing us that we might be willing and assisting us when we were willing we may have obtained any Advantage against our Spiritual Enemies If any Sin be weaker any Vertue stronger whether Patience or Humility or Resignation or Devotion for which we are again to approach full of Gratitude to the Holy Table to offer the Sacrifice of Praise and take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. These things if we observe and do thro' the whole Course of our Lives we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour but an abundant Entrance shall be ministred unto us into his Everlasting Kingdom To whom be Glory in the Church throughout all Ages Amen! Questions for the Evening 1. WHAT Mercies have I received this Day Answers of Prayer Deliverance from Evil common or extraordinary Blessings 2. What Sin have I committed What Duty omitted 3. What have I done endeavoured or designed for God's Glory or the Good of my Neighbour or have I lost any Opportunity for either 4. With what Success have I encounter'd those Sins to which my Circumstances or Constitution most incline me Passion Sloth Impurity Intemperance Vanity c. 5. How have I improved my Time this Day Am I any wiser or better than I was the last Have I thought of Death and Judgment 6. Have I Pray'd and How And the same of Meditation and Reading 7. What Mercy do I want for Soul or Body my Self or Relations that I may now ask it 8. Have I remembred my Promises made at the last Sacrament and how have I performed them Questions for the Morning 1 DID I Read and Pray Meditate and Examine my self last Night and in what manner 2. Did I think of God last and first 3. What Sin have I committed in Thought Word or Deed What Duty omitted since Evening 4. What Occasions may I probably have this Day of serving God or my Neighbour 5. To what Temptations am I like to be exposed 6. What Mercies have I received What do I want Short Directions for those who are really straightned for Time and cannot go through the larger Methods of Examination already given 1. BE sure this be more than a pretended Necessity as in the case of indispensible and unavoidable Business or the like since the more conscientious and exact you are in your Preparation and Examination Note That this Sheet is to be plac'd after Page 186. you may generally speaking expect the greater Advantage by the Sacrament Turtle-Doves or young Pigeons were not accepted of Old unless where the Presenter could not reach a more costly Sacrifice 2. This being taken Care of never indulge any ill grounded Scruples so far as to suffer them to hinder you from coming to this Divine Banquet See what has been already said on this Head both from Authority and Reason in Answer to the Objections against Receiving 3. It can scarce be supposed but you may redeem some time on the Morning of the Lord's Day when you may retire from the World and 1. Use the Prayers here at Preparation or any other that is proper for that Occasion 2. Consider the Nature of the Sacrament and your Happiness in having one Opportunity more of partaking in it 3. Examine your Conscience by the Ten Commandments
To acknowledge them and to bewail our manifold Sins and Wickedness since we can by no means hide them from the Eye of Heaven and they are the truest and justest Causes of Lamentation and Sorrow Nor are we to rest in generals but here again to call to mind the greatest and most hainous Sins whereof on our former Examination we have found our selves guilty whether in Thought Word or outward Action These we are to acknowledge we have most grievously committed which may imply the hainous aggravation of them for which we must own that we have provoked most justly God's Wrath and Indignation against us that we have deserved his Anger and all the dreadful Consequences thereof in the Punishments both of this and another World § V. And having thus confest and acknowledged our Sins their number continuance extent and aggravation we are directed to proceed to the formal Act of Repentance for them to profess that we do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings and woe to him who tho' he joyns in this solemn protestation with all good Christians yet does not truly and earnestly repent of his Sins nor is heartily sorry for them which how can he be thought to be when he falls into them again on the next Temptation whereas if we do truly repent of them the Remembrance of them will be indeed grievous unto us and their Burthen intolerable We shall know how evil and bitter a thing it is to depart from the Living God and be weary and heavy laden and fly to Christ to give us rest Which Repentance and abhorrence of our Sins ought to be raised to the greatest heighth at the time of Consecration when we see Christ's Sacramental Body broken and his Blood poured out for us and just at the time of receiving when we ought with an Holy Indignation to bring our Sins and nail them to the Cross of Christ to kill those Murderers as Benaiah did Ioab at the Horns of the Altar to sacrifice them there and hew them in pieces before the Lord in short to be deeply afflicted for them and to make firm Resolves to forsake them § VI. In order to which we must in the third place ask mercy for Christ's sake and pardon for all our Sins as the Church teaches us in those moving and tender Expressions Have mercy upon us Have mercy upon us most merciful Father For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake forgive us all that is past And this we have need to pray for since without Forgiveness the past Guilt remains as well as the Punishment due for our Sins tho' we should no more commit them But both are remitted in this Sacrament to the worthy Receiver not by Virtue of our own Merits or any Preparation Examination or Repentance or even of the very Act of outward receiving but merely for Christ's sake on account of his Merits and Intercession and by the Virtue which flows from his wounded Side his spiritual Flesh and Blood inwardly received by the Faithful in this Ordinance § VII Now we are taught to conclude this Confession with praying that God would grant us that we may ever hereafter serve and please him in newness of Life without which all that 's past is in vain nor is there any that 's so perfectly renewed that he has not still need to purge out something of the old Leaven And tho' God will give such Grace to those who worthily partake of this Sacrament yet has he appointed Prayer as the means to obtain it and of our perseverance in well-doing and daily encreasing in Goodness which Prayer does virtually contain a Promise to use our own utmost endeavors to amend our Lives that Resolution of better Obedience which seems to be the very Act wherein we renew our Covenant with God and engage to fulfil our part of it which if we do faithfully perform he will never be wanting to his § VIII Thus much for Repentance The second Grace to be exercised at the Sacrament is Faith which we are to reduce into Act when the Minister declares in the Absolution That Almighty God has promised forgivenness of Sins to all them that with hearty Repentance and true Faith turn unto him further praying ' That God would have mercy upon us pardon and deliver us from all our Sins confirm and strengthen us in all Goodness and bring us to Everlasting Life Which Absolution we are humbly to receive upon our Knees as an authoritative Declaration from one commissioned by Christ himself to bind and loose and to remit and retain Sins to which we are to add a hearty and faithful Amen as being fully assured that God will perform what he has promised by his Son if we neglect not our parts in the Covenant Faith is here more eminently necessary as well with respect to all the Promises of the Gospel as to the particular Benefits of this Sacrament and the application of them to our selves For our Lord has said He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last Day The faithful Receiver eats and drinks Salvation this Sacrament shall eminently conduce unto it He is thereby united to Christ one with Christ and Christ with him and by virtue of that indissoluble union sealed in this Holy Ordinance he receives a Principle of Immortality whereby he shall be not only raised from the Death of sin in this World but at length raised from the Grave and live in endless Happiness which also seems to be the meaning of the Prayer in the very delivery of the Elements The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve the Body and Soul to Everlasting Life to which most devout Christians add their private Amen as being fully perswaded that it shall have that happy efficacy to every worthy Receiver And the same Act of Faith they are to exert when they hear the Minister read those comfortable Words which our Saviour saith by himself and his Apostles to all that truly turn unto him Come unto me all that travel and are heavy laden and I will refresh you c. To which the devout Soul will be ready to answer Draw me and we will run after thee or with St. Peter To whom should we go but to thee thou hast the Words of eternal Life And so in the rest of the Sentences applying them to himself by a particular Act of Faith and saying Lord I believe help my unbelief And this Faith will be mightily advanced by our actual advertence to Christ's spiritual presence in this Holy Ordinance more eminently graciously and peculiarly than in any other And the highest Act of it is to be exercised at the very instant of receiving § IX Devotion is in the third place highly necessary to a Worthy Communicant at the time of Celebration and in all the parts of that Holy Office By which Devotion is meant the intense abstraction or withdrawing of
the Mind from all wordly things till it acquires a contrary bent and inclination and mounts freely and vigorously towards Heaven despising and trampling all the ridiculous trifles of this perishing World and counting all things but Dung and Dross for the Knowledge for the Love of a crucified Redeemer which every very good Man experiences in some happier moments of his Life Now the way to obtain this is the vigorous acting of Faith Repentance Humility and Divine Love and the Energy and inward free motion of the Mind towards Heaven And to this the Church invites in those Words which were used on this occasion in the Primitive times The sursum corda or Life up your Hearts to which the Congregation replys We lift them up unto the Lord which we have the highest reason to do when he confers such inestimable Favours upon us and when Christ instituted this Feast as has been said principally for this Reason that we should think upon him our absent Friend give our selves a little ease and breathing from the amusements and care of Life escape from this World and fix our Hearts upon a better upon that happy place where Christ sits at the right Hand of God and whither if we are faithful to him we shall at length also arrive seeing he has prayed to his Father That all those whom he has given him may be with him where he is that they may behold his Glory St. Iohn 17. 24. § X. A fourth Grace is Humility This is indeed included in Repentance for a true Penitent must be humble But we must be more explicite in it and are directed by the Church to form a particular Act thereof immediately before the Consecration when the Priest kneeling at the Lord's Table says in the name of all that communicate We do not presume to come to this thy Table O merciful Lord trusting in our own Righteousness but only in thy manifold and great Mercies We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs under thy Table And indeed one would wonder that any Christian should think he could express too great Humility either of Body or Mind when he comes before the Throne of God to receive his Pardon 'T is this most humble prostration of Soul this abasement and annihilation of our selves and utterly disclaiming our own merits which seems to be the bottom of that seraphical Divinity which has made so much noise in the World If they make it more than this 't is dangerous Enthusiasm as has appeared both in the Church of Rome and others If they rest it here as is done in some part at least of Sancta Sophia it is accountable and rational and may be of great Advantage in the course of a Christian Life especially in the Sacrament where the lower we abase our selves the higher will God raise us And this we ought particularly to exercise when we see the Minister approaching to us with the Bread or Wine and firmly to believe that we shall receive our Saviour together with them § XI But yet fifthly this ought not to hinder but rather to encrease our Thankfulness because as has been said the Sense of God's Goodness must needs be advanced by the consideration of our own unworthiness To this the Church especially directs us Above all things ye must render most humble and hearty Thanks to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And again after the Sursum Corda we are invited To give Thanks to our Lord God to which the Congregation answers 'T is meet and right so to do On which follows that solemn Act of Thanks and Praise which the Priest alone pronounces as 't is said our Saviour did in St. Luk. 22. 19. and in 1 Cor. 11. 24. He took Bread and when he had given Thanks he broke it From which Actions the whole Sacrament obtained two Names the Eucharist from giving Thanks as 't is expresly called in two or three places of the New Testament in the Syriac Version and breaking of Bread as 't is stiled in the Acts of the Apostles Now this praising God and acknowledging and adoring his infinite Goodness ought to spread it self thro' every part of the Office And even our Repentance and Humility would be so managed as to encrease our Praises But we should more especially exercise our Thankfulness when the Minister says It is meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all times * 1 Thess. 5. 16. and in all places give Thanks unto God on which follows that Seraphical Anthem repeated by Saints here below and Angels above Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels c. In which the pious Communicant joins both in Heart and Voice as well as in the particular Prefaces before it wherein we are directed to praise God either for the Birth of Christ or his Resurrection or Ascension or for his sending the Holy Ghost or else we adore the Divine Trinity in the Unity of the Godhead which Prefaces seem to have been added because the Church does not doubt but that so often at least as these greater Festivals return there will be a Communion And after we have received We entirely desire our heavenly Father mercifully to accept our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving and we most heartily thank him that he has vouchsafed to feed us who have duly received these Holy Mysteries with the spiritual Food of the most precious Body and Blood of his dear Son and assured us thereby of his Favour and Goodness towards us And then we again break out into that Hymn of Praise to the whole Blessed Trinity part of which is the same that was sung by the Angels at the Birth of our Saviour Glory to God on High on Earth Peace Good-will toward Men. But more especially are we to have our Hearts filled with the most exalted Praises in the very Act of Receiving to which the Minister exhorts us in the delivery both of the Bread and Wine Nothing but Faith and Holy Ioy and humble Praise are then to be admitted Then when the Holy Soul is in the Mount with God and says 't is good for her to be here and if any thing of disturbance can find Entrance 't is because she must so soon return again to a sordid vexatious impertinent World when she is now already on the Wing for Heaven is advanced so far upward in that glorious Road and would so gladly fly away and be at rest in the Bosom of her Redeemer § XII The last Grace is Charity taken in the largest Sense for Love to God and to our Neighbour 1. Love to God the Soul of all Piety which quickens and enlivens every Christian Duty This is here encreased by remembring God's Love to us in sending his Son and our Saviour's Love in giving himself to die for us This Sacrament is the dearest Token of his Love and the
IV. Our Behaviour in it And in the V. After we have received and during the whole course of our Lives especially the Time betwixt different Celebrations To which shall be added Prayers Meditations and Hymns suited to the several Parts of this Holy Office CHAP. I. Of the Nature of the Sacrament § I. THE Sacrament of the Lord's Supper may be thus described 'T is a Memorial and Representation of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ instituted by Christ himself in the room of the Jewish Passover wherein by the breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine we renew our Covenant with God praising him for all his Goodness and testify our Union with all good Men and whereby the Benefits of our Saviour's Death are sealed and applyed to every faithful Receiver § II. 'T is a Memorial of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ. I confess the whole Sacred Action has been stiled by the Fathers as well as by some Excellent Persons of our own Church the Christian Sacrifice the unbloody Sacrifice and is indeed such in the same Sense that Prayer and Praise whereof it is in a great measure compos'd are styled under the Gospel spiritual Sacrifices Nay it comes yet nearer to the Nature of the old Eucharistical and other Sacrifices because 't is an Oblation of something visible namely Bread and Wine to be consum'd to God's Honor which are then offer'd when the Minister places them on the Christian Altar or Holy Table as was done more solemnly by lifting them up in the antient Church immediately after which in the Prayer for the Church Militant he beseeches God to receive our Oblations as well as Alms and Prayers which may relate to the Bread and Wine newly offered But since it has no shedding of Blood therein which has been thought essential to a proper Sacrifice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 macto facio is used in the same Sense and that the shedding of our Saviour's Blood is only Sacramentally represented in it and not actually and properly poured forth as it was upon the Cross whereon he was once offered to take away Sin and since the Sacrament is a Memorial of that one Oblation of Christ and 't is contrary to the Nature of a Memorial or Remembrance of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ to be the same with that Sacrifice it remembers for these Reasons we cannot own any such proper propitiatory attoning Sacrifice * Homily of the Sacrament Part 1. We must take heed lest of the Memory it be made a Sacrifice exactly as Eusebius who says our Saviour left us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Sacrament as the Romanists do believe any more than we can think with them that 't is available both for quick and dead of neither of which we find any Footsteps in the Holy Scriptures Suffice it therefore that we believe it a Sacrifice in the highest Sense that Prayer and Praise are so call'd in the New Testament because it requires and is compos'd of the most exalted Acts of both that we believe it an Offering or Dedication of the Bread and Wine to the sacred use as well as we therein offer our selves anew to God and that we believe the whole Action a Memorial a Commemoration and Representation of the inestimable Sacrifice of the Death of Christ whereby alone we expect Life and Salvation § III. First 'T is a ' Memorial or Commemoration of Christ's Death and of the Sacrifice which he thereby offer'd for us That is by this sacred Action we record and keep it in mind till he come again to Iudgment And that according to his own Command as St. Luke * St. Luk. 22. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 24 25. relates it of the Bread and St. Paul both of the Bread and Wine This do in remembrance of me As forgetfulness of God's Goodness and Ingratitude for it must needs have been great occasions of the fall of Man so that very fall renders us still more forgetful and ungrateful Mankind will therefore have always need enough of Helps to their Memory in religious Matters And some of these God has appointed wherever there has been a revealed Religion Thus the Sacrifice of the Passover was instituted for a Remembrance of what the Israelites suffered in Egypt and of God's wonderful Mercy in delivering them from it as well as to typify or shadow forth unto them Christ himself our great Passover The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was in like manner instituted That we might keep in memory that which Christ suffered for us and delivered to us such a sensible Sign and remarkable solemn Action being much more likely to preserve a lively impression of it than if it had been only barely recorded in History Now this Commemoration may be considered either with respect to our selves or with respect to God as it respects our selves we not only therein commemorate God's Love in general to Mankind in giving his Son and our Saviour's Love in giving himself a Ransom for all Men to bring them into a Capacity of Salvation on their Faith and Obedience but yet farther the actual Application of his meritorious Sacrifice to our selves on our performing the Conditions of his Covenant and his infinite Goodness in making us partakers of his Holy Word and Sacraments and thereby calling us to this State of Salvation and preserving us in it As this Commemoration relates to God we do also in the Communion present a Memorial of a sweet Savour before him and beseech him for the sake of his dear Son and by his Agonies and bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion and precious Death to have Mercy upon us and grant us the Remission of our Sins and all other Benefits of his Sufferings Not that God is either ignorant of our Wants or unwilling to relieve us or forgetful of us But we must be sensible of these things our selves and of God's Power to help us and seek for Relief in those ways he has appointed And well may we more solemnly commemorate our Saviour's Sacrifice in this Sacrament when we do the same in some degree even in our daily Prayers and ask all for his sake and in a Sense offer him anew to his Father applying his Attonement and pleading his Merits and trusting in his Intercession and Meditation Nor ought we to forget that the antient Liturgies did not only commemorate our Saviour's Death in the Sacrament but likewise his Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven § IV. Secondly But there is not only a Commemoration but a Representation too of our Saviour's Death in the Holy Communion 'T is not a bare Remembrance of it 't is a lively Scheme and Figure of what he endur'd As oft as ye eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup says the Apostle ye do shew forth or rather by way of Command shew ye forth the Lord's Death till he come Declare it proclaim it tell the People what great things he has done Whence
mistaken Principles or the Temptation of the Devil so that they directly question God's mercy or at least their own Fitness for it and for the Seals of it and thence are on the very brink of despair § XL. As to the first of these Cases where there only remain some unaccountable Scruples so that a Person says I am afraid to do such or such a thing tho' I know not why I am afraid and when whatsoever bears the Face of an Objection has been fairly answered the Rule is we may perform any indifferent Action for that very reason because it is indifferent and there are no circumstances that alter its nature we must perform what is a certain Duty as is in the case before us receiving the Sacrament because we are to look on any unreasonable Scruples to the contrary as no other than the Temptations of the Enemy If as in the second place we do properly doubt and the Arguments appear to us equal for the doing or not doing such an Action we must omit an indifferent Action because there can be no hurt in such omission but there may be in the doing it as in the case of eating Flesh lately mentioned we may not omit a certain Duty as receiving the Sacrament but ought rather to suspect our own Reasoning where our Duty is so clear by undoubted Revelation tho' we must carefully use those means which God has appointed for removing that Scruple and Doubtfulness But in the third place where the degree of doubting is so high as to reach even to despair of God's mercy from which dreadful Condition he evermore preserve us and which is often the effect of some grievous Sin continued in without Examination and Repentance this I think is the only doubting which incapacitates us for receiving And that this does so is intimated in the first Exhortation before the Communion That 't is requisite no Man should come to it but with a full Trust in God's mercy and with a quiet Conscience But then due methods must be used to obtain this happy Temper and he must open his Grief to his spiritual Physitian that he may give his Advice and Prayers against the Tempter and that he may receive the benefit of Absolution or a solemn authoritative declaration of Pardon on his sincere Repentance To which if he adds his own Prayers and Endeavours he may well hope that God will restore unto him the Ioy of his Salvation and that he shall be admitted to this blessed Feast To the neglect of which formerly he ought to examine if he does not owe his present Trouble § XLI Want of Preparation is also often brought as an Excuse for not receiving Persons have not had Time for such strict Examination as they think necessary and therefore they say they dare not come Now to this common and popular Objection I shall first oppose both the Authority and Reason of a very excellent Person who clears the whole difficulty in a few words * Arch-Bishop Tillotson of frequent Communion Fol. Edit p. 283 284. It is says he a pious and commendable Custom in Christians before their coming to the Sacrament to set apart some particular time for the Work of Examination but how much every Person should allot is a matter of Prudence some have reason to spend more time because their accounts are heavier and some have more leisure and freedom But the End is to be principally regarded which is to understand our Condition and to reform what 's amiss and if that be observed whether more or less time be allowed matters not much He goes on The best preparation for the Sacrament is the general Care of a Good Life and he that is thus prepared may receive at all times when opportunity is offered tho' he had no particular foresight of that opportunity and he shall do much better to receive than to refrain because he 's habitually prepared tho' he had no time for actual preparation and to quote no more we cannot imagine that the Primitive Christians who received so constantly could allot any more time for the preparation for it than for any other part of divine Worship Thus far the most reverend Author wherein he says nothing against either Preparation or Examination which he owns to be highly useful but only against refusing to receive for want of actual preparation or always allotting a considerable portion of time to this Exercise even when Persons are before habitually prepared to receive and have not time for such actual Preparation § XLII I cannot think of any other Objections made against receiving the Sacrament by any Persons who own themselves satisfied with the publick way of Worship tho' there are two more which have been brought by such as differ from us therein The first from the posture of receiving The second from the Company Our Saviour and his Disciples they say did at the first Institution receive in a Table-posture and they dare not take it kneeling because it looks so like that Adoration of the Sacrament which we blame in the Church of Rome Nor can they without great Scandal join with such a promiscuous Society some of whom perhaps to their own knowledge may be very ill Men. § XLIII In Answer to the first The Sacrament being instituted in the room of the Paschal Feast and during the Celebration of it our Saviour made use of the same posture wherein he and his Disciples were before placed which being according to the Custom of the Antients in Feasting a sort of recumbency or leaning on one another's Bosoms neither sitting nor kneeling it could not perhaps be changed without disorder till the whole Ceremony was over But from hence none can justly conclude that the Gesture of kneeling at the Sacrament in order to express our deep Humility is any ways unlawful Kneeling is a fit posture for all acts of Devotion The Eucharist is the highest act of Worship or rather it contains in it many other acts Prayer Praise Thanksgiving and Adoration And why should we not then in the celebration thereof fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker The Jewish Church added the Bread and the Cup to the Passover these our Saviour himself used in the administration thereof and is not this a much greater alteration than that of a single Gesture He retained the second Cup of Blessing used by the Iews he received after Supper with several other Circumstances which are not at present observed even by those who make these Objections against our Form for much less considerable alterations The main Reason why some well-meaning Persons might at first scruple kneeling at the Sacrament seems to have been the Fear lest this should tend to the Adoration of the Elements or of any fansied corporal presence of Christ's Body and Blood in them But this is entirely precluded by our Church who must be allowed to know best the meaning of her own Injunctions and Practice and in order to
this Sacrament the solemn Seal of God's Covenant with us and of the Nature of that Covenant which he has made with us by his Son is presupposed in every Communicant Tho' where any are ignorant of these first Principles they may find some account of them in the first Chapter of this Manual Nor ought any to presume to receive without they have such knowledge however an equal clearness in these Matters cannot be expected nor is it required from all sorts of People but a Man shall be accepted according to what he hath if he has made the best of his Opportunities of Knowledge And after all a Person that is truely humbled for some degrees of ignorance in these and other spiritual Matters is in a much safer Condition than those whom Knowledge puffs up without either Humility or Charity § IV. A competent Knowledge being presupposed of the Nature of these Holy Mysteries there will not need much proof that some actual Preparation is highly requisite before we receive them 'T is true the Preparation of Man's Heart in this as well as all other Cases is from the Lord But none are so weak as not to know their own Endeavours are also necessary we must judge our selves if we would not be judged of the Lord. We must purify our selves before we eat the Passover for he that presumes to eat it in his uncleanness that is without repenting of his Sins that Soul shall be cut off from among his People We ought to be cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary and if we have done our Endeavours the good Lord will pardon what is unavoidably wanting Iosiah commanded the Levites to prepare and sanctify themselves and to prepare their Brethren against that famous Passover which was kept in his time And if Preparation was so necessary for the Jewish Passover we cannot think it altogether needless when we are to partake of this Christian Feast which we ought to keep neither with the Old Leaven of Judaism or Heathenism or an open notorious wicked Life neither with the as dangerous Leaven of malice and hypocrisie but with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth Without such preparation we may eat and drink unworthily kindle God's Wrath against us and provoke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of Death § V. But a great part of this Preparation as has been said consists in Examination For how can we know how Accounts are between Heaven and us unless we look into them What our Debts are What Mercies we receive What we still want and which the best way to obtain them What Sins we are to confess and to fight against Where we are to plant our Batteries Where to expect an Assault What the best methods of Defence What Auxiliaries we want and where to obtain them This the Apostle strictly commands every Man to do to examine or prove himself and so to come to the Holy Table not to come without Examination or to stay away on pretence of not being examined Something indeed of this Nature is the Practice of every good Christian every Day of his Life as it has been even of moral Heathens to examine his Conscience before he sleeps what Sins he has that day committed and by what Steps he fell into them and penitently and earnestly to implore Forgiveness for what 's past and Grace for the future to do better And 't is not easie to imagine how any Man should be a very good Christian without it whereas whoever does constantly and carefully practise it for which he may find excellent Rules and Directions among the Devotions annexed to the Whole Duty of Man and for want of that there are some Questions added at the End of this Treatise must needs make a more than ordinary Progress in Christianity and will more especially find a wonderful advantage therein as to the easiness of his actual Examination and Preparation for the Communion § VI. Which actual Preparation and Examination immediately before we receceive are highly requisite because they may make up for defects in the habitual as being more exact and more solemn than our daily Inquisition into the State of our Minds And this may be done with very great Advantage by setting apart some one day in the Week before the Communion where a Person is at his own disposal and his necessary Affairs will permit him entirely for this great Concern in order to search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. This would be near the End of the Week because otherwise the Impression made by it may be apt to wear away again before the Sacrament or at least not to be so deep and lively as at less distance Nor might it be so convenient to put it off to the very last Day of the Week lest something or other should intervene and hinder it But for those who have not really leisure for such a solemn Preparation or in the case of an accidental Communion which could not be foreseen if they are before habitually prepared we have already seen the Opinion of our best Divines that they ought not to reject such an Opportunity for want of a more solemn actual Preparation However he who has but a little time ought to do his diligence to give of that Little A Servant or labouring Man may at least redeem an Hour or two either in Mornings or Evenings for this great Work which they can do for their worldly Interest on any extraordinary Occasion Few have so much Business but they can find time for their Diversions many for their Sins and are our Souls only not worth a few Hours which he who bought them so dearly assures us are more worth than all the World Besides most of the following Directions may be observed while a Person is employed in many sorts of Work especially in the Fields and concerns of Husbandry And for many Tradesmen they have yet greater leisure which one would think should be much better filled up this way than in a shameful Idleness or in what is yet worse the reading ill Books and profane and immoral Plays which scarce ever fail of rendring the mind not only weak and trivial but even averse to Piety and unfit for all the Offices of a Holy Life For those who are really straitned as to time there will be particular Directions for Examination and for their Ease the following Rules are abbreviated But this is not the case of so many Persons as plead that Excuse since we shall frequently hear Men complain that their Time lies upon their Hands and they know not how to employ it And for such as these and all those who can command so much time as to go through them the larger Directions which now follow are chiefly intended § VII When the Day approaches whereon we expect one happy Opportunity more to meet our Saviour at his own Table whose Invitation by his Ministers we are to receive with the
greatest Ioy and the greatest Reverence the first thing we do would be to sequester our selves from the World nay even from all worldly Thoughts and the troublesome Cares of Life To do this with all possible Intention and with the whole force of our Minds with firm Resolves and full purpose of Heart not to admit any other Business any other Thoughts unsuitable to this great Work Which having begun with devout Prayer for the Divine Assistance let us proceed in the impartial Examen of our Consciences on the following Heads 1. Of our Repentance 2. Holy Resolutions 3. Faith 4. Thankfulness And 5. Charity All which if we find in some good degree wrought in us by God's Holy Spirit we may approach with comfort to this Sacrament § VIII And first We are to examine our selves concerning our Repentance wherein the Nature of it consists whether habitual or actual and under actual Repentance may be included our particular Examination by the Rule of God's Commands before we approach the Sacrament The general Nature of Repentance consists in a thorough Change of Heart and Life so as to hate all Sin and turn to God to love God more than the World or our Lusts or even than our own Lives in the prevailing bent the settled Choice of our Minds and to evidence this by keeping his Commandments To live in the course of no greater Sin such as Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness neglect of Publick Worship or the like which waste the Conscience and are a perfect Contradiction to true Repentance and must be left immediately as we would avoid eternal Misery not to indulge so much as Sins of Infirmity nor to say is it not a little one such as sloth passion forgetfulness of our Duty in some Instances wandring Thoughts or the like for a Christian is to fight against all Sin and such as are at first comparatively little yet do all deserve God's Anger and eternal Punishments and will if they are neglected grow bigger and at last perhaps irresistible I say true Repentance is a thorough Change of the whole Man the Principles Inclinations and Desires as well as outward Actions and hence it 's call'd in Scripture the New-Man the New-Heart the New-Creature because we are all by Nature the Children of Wrath and guilty of Original Sin * Vid. Discourse of Baptism nor is there any who has lived to years of Discretion but what has made that sad use of his Reason to sin against his Maker and to commit many actual Transgressions if not to fall into grosser habits of wickedness from which God knows very few can say they are wholly innocent in this degenerate Age Now there is no way to recover from this and to escape God's Anger but by forsaking Sin with the greatest abhorrence and detestation 'T is therefore evident that those are miserably and dangerously mistaken who fansie they repent because they have some Fear of Hell some light checks of Conscience and transient Sorrow for offending God without effectually leaving all wickedness and coming to God from whom they have wander'd and leading a Holy Life Then have we this habitual Repentance when by God's Grace we do in the main course of our Lives express our Love to God and hatred of Sin and sorrow for it and are become New Men and make it our chief Business to strive against our Corruptions manfully to resist them effectually to work out our own Salvation To have that Image of God renewed in us which we lost by the Fall And thus much for habitual Repentance § IX Actual Repentance is that which every good Man puts in practice on his falling into any Sin and which he should renew more particularly and exactly before he comes to the Lord's Table whereunto we are directed in the first Exhortation on the Sunday before the Communion which we would therefore do very well seriously to peruse in order to our Preparation for it Wherein we are taught That 't is our Duty to search and examine our own Consciences and that not lightly and after the manner of Dissemblers with God but so as that we may come Holy and Clean to this heavenly Feast And we are further directed to do this by the Rule of God's Commands and whereinsoever we shall perceive our selves to have offended either by Will Word or Deed there to bewail our own sinfulness and to confess our selves to Almighty God And to assist us herein we may find large and exact Catalogues of Sins in several Books of Devotion particularly those annexed to the Whole Duty of Man which if you have not you may if you please make use of this following and examine your self concerning the particular Breaches of God's Commands either of the first or second Table § X. The Breaches of the first Command of the first Table are 1. Atheism or at least Atheistical Thoughts or Discourse too common among the foolish Wits of the Age 2. Polytheism or believing or worshipping more Gods than one the main thing forbidden in this Command under which may be included Ditheism or worshipping two Gods of which those cannot clear themselves who pay Divine Honours to any whom they believe not essentially one with the Father and Tritheism if any now are guilty of it which is worshipping three Gods whereas there is but One Supreme there can be but One God tho' Three Persons who is over all blessed for ever 3. Covetousness which is Idolatry Immoderate Love of our selves or of the World that Carnal-mindedness which is Death A violent and unreasonable Passion for any Person or Thing in this World 4. Wilful Ignorance of God or of his Word carelessness of our Souls neglecting or despising Instruction 5. Presumption upon God's Mercy A false Peace and Security in Sin As on the other side distrusting his Power or Goodness or murmuring against him or despairing of his Mercy 6. Worshipping Angels or Saints 7. Witchcraft or doing interpretative Homage to the Devil by using Charms consulting with Wizards cunning Men and the like which is esteemed by our greatest Divines a degree of renouncing our Christianity * Bp. Hopkins Bp. Andrews W. D. of Man c. 8. Unthankfulness Lukewarmness Indevotion Pride Impenitence 9. Want of Love to God Faith in him Dependance on him Submission and Resignation The Breaches of the second Command are 1. Idolatry which is making any Images with intent to bow down to them or worship them or actually paying such Worship to them even tho' God himself be represented by them any visible corporeal Representation of God being a contradiction to his pure spiritual Nature and a high Breach of this Command * Deut. 4. 15. as is even the forming any corporeal Image of him in our mind much more believing a material God 2. Sacrilege Robbing or profaning Churches detaining Tythes or any thing that is dedicated to God God forgive all Nations Families and Persons that are guilty of it 3. Loathing Manna neglecting or
the highest Thankfulness and Love For how can a Rebel be fit for Pardon if he is not thankful when 't is offered him 'T is therefore necessary that we should so long so seriously remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour thus dying for us even before we come to the Solemn Sacramental Commemoration of it till our Hearts burn within us as did the two Disciples that we may thereby be in some measure fitted to meet our Saviour and that he may make himself known unto us as he did unto them in breaking of Bread St. Luke 24. 32. But we must take care that this Remembrance have a future lasting influence on our Lives Ill Men may remember Christ's Death but it 's certain that whatever they may pretend they do it presumptuously not thankfully because it is not productive of a Holy Life It makes them nothing better but rather encourages them to go on in their Sins whereas true thankfulness will naturally produce unfeigned Obedience And to make us both obedient and thankful one would think there should need no more than to consider deeply from what Evils Christ has saved us by his Death no less than the Power of Sin the Wrath of God and everlasting Misery And what Benefits he has obtained for us by it the Pardon of Sin the Favour of God Grace to serve him and eternal Happiness some of which are actually conveyed as all of them are assur'd and seal'd in this blessed Sacrament to every penitent faithful grateful Receiver § XV. The last thing necessary to a worthy Communicant is Charity To be in Charity with all Men. When we bring our Gift to the Altar we must be first reconciled to our Brother We must offer it and sincerely desire and endeavour it and if he refuses to be reconciled the Fault is on his side nor ought another's Crime to keep us from our Duty and Happiness This Charity must also show it self in an universal Love to Mankind wishing praying for endeavouring and as much as in us lies promoting their temporal and spiritual Welfare But especially this Holy Love is to be acted and exercised towards all Christians and particularly towards those with whom we communicate not forgetting the Poor whom we are to relieve as well at the Offering which ought not to be neglected at the Sacrament as any other way that lies in our Power The exercise of this Divine Grace is more eminently necessary when we approach to this blessed Feast because 't was one great End of its Institution it being designed to increase Christian Unity and Holy Love among the Faithful who herein communicate both in temporal and spiritual good things who Feast and make a Covenant with each other as well as with the great Inviter and being many are hereby made one Body and one Bread 1 Cor. 10. 17. We are therefore carefully to examine our selves before we come thither whether we heartily forgive our Enemies and are ready to render Good for Evil Whether we feel this Divine Flame in our Hearts and dearly love all those that bear the Image of the heavenly And in order to produce in us both parts of this Grace one would think we should need do no more than consider seriously how many Talents our Lord has forgiven us how much he has done and suffered for us even while we were his Enemies and that we are all Members of one Body whereof Christ is the Head § XVII And thus have we finished what relates to our Preparation for the Sacrament and those several Graces concerning which we are to examine our selves before we approach unto it Repentance attended by good Resolves Faith Thankfulness and Charity Not that we should forbear to come thither if we do not find all these in the utmost perfection but where we find any of them weak and languid we must strengthen the things that remain and be humbled for our Imperfections and endeavour earnestly after higher degrees of Grace and consider the means appointed to encrease them especially the Holy Sacrament wherein they are to be all exercised and renewed as will appear in the next Chapter And in the mean time most humbly and devoutly to fall upon our Knees and in the following or any better Forms * See the excellent Devotions added to the Whole Duty of Man or those in the Christian Sacrifice of Prayer thus address our selves to the Giver of all good things for a Supply of our Necessities A Confession when we are Preparing for the Communion ALmighty and most merciful Father who mayst for my Sins be most justly displeased with me for ever cast me off from thy presence and condemn me to Everlasting Misery I am ashamed O Lord and blush to lift up my Face unto thee for all my misdeeds are before thee and my most secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance I was shapen in Iniquity and conceived in Sin by Nature dead in trespasses and sins averse to Good and violently inclined to Evil ignorant of God and an Enemy to him in a lost and undone Condition and utterly unable to help and to deliver my self And I have added to this Original Sin many hainous actual Trangressions Here let the Penitent repeat those Sins whereof on the former Examination he has found himself guilty The Remembrance of all which I desire may be most grievous as their burden is most intolerable unto me for I have done all these abominations with many aggravating Circumstances which have highly encreased the Guilt of them without regard to thy tender Mercies or to thy terrible Judgments or to my own repeated Vows and Resolves of Repentance and Obedience O make me to abhor them and my self for them and to repent in Dust and Ashes I know that my sorrow for them is no satisfaction to thy offended Justice yet since thou dost require it of me to render me capable of thy Mercy work in me I beseech thee by thy Holy Spirit such a true and unfeigned Remorse for them that I may entirely forsake them and come Pure and Holy to thy Heavenly Feast O God be merciful to me a Sinner who cry unto thee in an acceptable Time and in the Day of Salvation O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and One God have mercy upon me a miserable Sinner O God the Father of Heaven who didst send thine Only Son out of thy Bosom to tast Death for every Man that we might not die eternally accept his Attonement accept his Intercession and be reconciled unto me thro' his Blood In my Father's House is Bread enough and to spare O let me not perish with Hunger O Son of David have mercy on me and if thou canst do any thing since thou canst do all things help me By thine Agony and bloody Sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious Death and Burial Good Lord deliver me I desire not to be saved from the Guilt of my Sins only or
Church accordingly tells us That to the End we should always remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ in dying for us he has instituted and ordained Holy Mysteries as Pledges of it And the actual and lively Consideration hereof of Christ's wonderful Love towards us miserable Sinners so ungrateful so unworthy so often guilty of broken Faith and broken Vows who have loved the World and our own Lusts more than him who have grieved him who have wounded him who have crucified him by our Sins and who continue to do so for there is no Man that lives and sins not and all this to him who still loves us and still offers us Peace and Pardon and Grace and Heaven and even his own blessed Body and Blood in this heavenly Feast Shall not all this prevail with us to give him our worthless Love again for the rest of our Lives To give it him without exception and without reserve It must it will it cannot fail of having this happy effect if we carefully regard every part of this sacred Action and intently consider our Saviour's Death as represented therein especially while the Minister is consecrating the Elements the whole Prayer of Consecration being made up of a lively and thankful Recognition of our Saviour's sufferings and of his instituting the Sacrament in memory of them We are therefore in order to the exercising and encreasing of our Love to Christ diligently at that time to regard the Minister with our Eye and Christ with our Hearts When we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out then to consider with all the Agonies of our Souls and with Hearts pierced and melted with the Love of Jesus what Agonies he himself endured for us both in his Body and Mind Then to look on him whom we have pierced and mourn for him and delight in him and hate those Sins which were the cause of this and which can only divide us from his Love and especially when we actually receive Then are our Souls to be intimately united to his Divine Person Then are we to embrace him as the chiefest of Ten Thousands and fairer than all the Children of Men to adore his infinite Perfections to be lost in the contemplation and admiration of them and to be wholly ravished with his Love § XIII Which will mightily assist us in the exercise of the other branch of Charity Love to our Neighbour for this cannot but be easie to us when our Minds are raised to this happy Temper The Love of Christ will subdue the Enmity of our Natures towards each other that Pride which is the cause of almost all Quarrels that bitterness of Spirit and Rancor and Malice and Revenge and Anger Those obscene Birds will all fly away before the Beams of the blessed Sun of Righteousness as did the Devils of old from their Oracles All our Hatred will be against our Sins all our Indignation our Resentments our Revenge for neither were those in vain implanted in our Minds will be turned quite another way O how happy would the World be did but the Body of Christians frequently and worthily receive the Communion I am confident nothing could sooner heal the wide Wounds of Christendom as I believe the neglect of it has been the great Original of them as well as of all our own Factions and Divisions All good Men must love one another if they often met at this Holy Table They could not they dared not there retain or nourish any pique against each other They would Love much both Christ and his Members because they so often considered that much was forgiven them And tho' this may seem a Digression yet the Truth and Consequences thereof appear so plain and so considerable that I knew not how to omit it But to return Charity is here to be actually exercised towards all Christ's Members especially towards those with whom we communicate We are to knit our Hearts most closely and intimately to them with the Bands of Holy Love Poor and Rich without exception only loving those most that love God most We are to pray for them all and not only in the Offertory but on other occasions to do them all the Good we can by faithful Counsel by tender and prudent Reproof and by all lawful and possible means promoting the welfare of their Souls and Bodies And lastly by devout Prayer to God for them as we are directed That all who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be filled with his Grace and heavenly Benediction But tho' our Charity is to begin there we are not to confine the Exercise thereof to those only who then actually communicate with us for we are also directed by the excellent Spirit of our Church shewing it self in those Holy Confessors and Martyrs who composed her Liturgy humbly to beseech God to grant by the Merits and Death of his Son Jesus Christ and thro' Faith in his Blood that not only we but also his whole Church may obtain Remission of our Sins and all other Benefits of his Passion Which may he grant who has so dearly purchased it for us to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Glory Honour and Dominion now and to Eternal Ages Amen! If there be any time between the Consecration and actual Receiving the Communicant may make use of these following Devotions An Act of Penitence O Infinite offended Goodness who art a consuming Fire to the obstinate Sinner but infinite to pardon those who confess and forsake their Sins I desire earnestly to repent of all my Misdeeds I will acknowledge my Transgressions before thee and mine Iniquities will I not hide I have sinned I have sinned O Father against Heaven and before thee Against thy Mercies and thy Judgments the Thunder of thy Law and the still small Voice of thy Gospel Against the clearest Manifestations of thy wonderful Love in sending thy Son to shed his Blood as an attonement for the Sins of the whole World which precious Blood of his I have too often trampled under Foot and crucified the Son of God afresh by my repeated Iniquities Not all his bitter Agonies have been so far able to pierce my hard Heart as to make me entirely forsake my Sins which were the Cause of them Tho' he sweat Drops of Blood in the Garden tho' his Soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto Death tho' he endured the Contradiction of Sinners tho' he was mocked and buffeted and spit on and crowned with Thorns and scourged and fainted under his Cross and was nailed unto it and raised in the Air a spectacle to Men and Angels tho' he there groaned under the weight of our Guilt and of our Sins imputed unto him tho' he thirsted tho' he fainted tho' he cried out as if thou thy self couldst have forsaken him tho' he bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost O! shall all this nothing move me shall my Heart be as hard as the nether Milstone
anxious Thoughts distrest God's bounteous Love does thee restore To wonted ease and rest 8. 9. My Eyes no longer drown'd in Tears My Feet from stumbling free Redeem'd from Death and deadly Fears O Lord I 'll live to thee 10. When nearest press'd I still believ'd 11. Still glori'd in thy Aid Tho' when by faithless Men deceiv'd All all are false I said 12. To him what Offerings shall I make Whence my Salvation came The Cup of Blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now I 'll take 13. And call upon his Name 14. Those Vows which in my greatest straits Unto the Lord I made Shall now be at his Temple Gates Before his People paid 15. That Life which thou O Lord didst save From raging Tyrants free 16. That ransom'd Life thy Bounty gave I dedicate to thee 17. My Heart and Voice at once I 'll raise Thy Goodness to proclaim With loud and grateful Songs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Praise I 'll call upon thy Name 18. Yes all those Vows which in my straits Unto the Lord I made Shall now be at his Temple Gates Before his People paid 19. His Priests shall mix their Hymns with mine His Goodness to record And all Ierusalem shall joyn With me to praise the Lord. PSALM CXVII 1. YE Nations who the Globe divide Ye numerous People scatter'd wide To God your grateful Voices raise 2. To all his boundless Mercy shown His Truth to endless Ages known Require our endless Laud and Praise Doxology To him who reigns enthron'd on high To his dear Son who deign'd to die Our Guilt and Errors to remove To that bless'd Spirit who Grace imparts And rules in all believing Hearts Be endless Glory Praise and Love PSALM CXVIII 1. GLad Hymns and Songs of Praise rehearse To th'Maker of the Universe Whose Goodness does so far extend Whose wondrous Mercy knows no End 2. Let Israel now no more oppress'd With Quiet and with Plenty bless'd Praise him who all their Bliss did send Whose wondrous Mercy knows no End 3. Let Aaron's Sons who round his Throne In sacred Hymns his Goodness own While his bless'd Service they attend Confess his Mercy knows no End 4. Let all who with Religious Fear Approach his Gates and every Year With Gifts fair Sion's Hill ascend Confess his Mercy knows no End 5. With deep distress encompast round To him I cry'd and succour found He me from Exile did retrieve And safe and free as Air I live 6. He 's on my side and I 'll despise 7. Th' Efforts of all my Enemies 8. On him 't is safer to rely 9. Than Princes who may fail or die 10. Tho' Troops of Foes besieg'd me round 11. As angry Insects swarming sound 12. Their short liv'd Mischief I can scorn Noise without Strength like Fire in Thorn 13. At once they charg'd and prest me all Yet staid by God I could not fall 14. My Saviour he to whom belongs The Tribute of my grateful Songs 15. Nor shall my single Thanks be paid Lend me ye Saints O lend your Aid Let Health and Joy be spread around With Praise let your glad Gates resound 16. God's own Right Hand has Wonders wrought And conquer'd those against him fought 17. He smiles and grants me happier Days And here I now my Saviour praise 18. Heavy his angry Strokes did fall But ah I well deserv'd 'em all Yet in the Confines of Despair And Death he found and sav'd me there 19. Now to his Holy House return'd Who late a helpless Exile mourn'd Thro' th' Everlasting Gates I 'll go And pay him part of what I owe. 20. 21. A pious Crowd I 'll with me bring And with glad Heart my Saviour sing 22. That Stone the Builders once displac'd Now to the Corner's Head is rais'd 23. God's Hand the great Event has wrought Wondrous and passing human Thought 24. This is the Day the Lord has made Therein let all our Vows be paid 25. Still hear and save O still defend And heavenly Joy and Comfort send 26. Blessed be he who'll Blessings bring Pardon and Grace from Heav'ns high King We who from his high Altar bless Will for his People ask Success 27. He from the Confines of Despair Has rais'd us to the Lightsome Air. Let the crown'd Victims haste away And Thousands after Thousands slay Wash the broad Courts with sacred Gore Till Bashan's Fields can send no more 28. And what thou valuest far above Thee O my God! I 'll Praise and Love 29. Whose Goodness does so far extend Whose wondrous Mercy knows no End FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Charles Harper at the Flower-de-Luce over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet THE Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. An Heroic Poem dedicated to her most Sacred Majesty in Ten Books Attempted by Samuel Wesley M. A. each Book illustrated by necessary Notes explaining all the more difficult Matters in the whole History Also a Prefatory Discourse concerning Heroic Poetry The Second Edition revised by the Author and improved with the Addition of a Large Map of the Holy Land and a Table of the Principal Matters with Sixty Copper-Plates by the celebrated Hand of W. Faithorn Folio Linguae Rom. Dict. Luculentum Novum A New Dictionary in five Alphabets Representing first the English Words and Phrases before the Latin Second The Latin Classic before the English Third The Latin Proper Names of Persons Countries c. Fourth The Latin Barbarous Fifth The Law-Latin The whole compleated and improved from the several Works of Stephens Cooper Gouldman Holyoke Dr Littleton a large Manuscript in three Volumes of Mr. Iohn Milton c. In the Use of all which for greater Exactness recourse has always been had to the Authors themselves Cole's Dictionary in Octavo Eng. Lat. and Lat. and Eng. The Pantheon representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods and most Illustrious Heroes in a short plain and familiar Method by way of Dialogue Written by F. Pomey For the Use of Schools The Second Edition wherein the Whole Translation is Revised and much amended and the Work is illustrated and adorned with elegant Copper-Cuts of the several Deities c. The Lives of the Roman Emperors from Demitian where Suetonius ends to Constantine the Great Containing those of Nerva and Trajan from Dion Cassius A Translation of the Six Writers of the Augustean History And those of Dioclesian and his Associates from Eusebius and others with the Heads of the Emperors in Copper-Plates dedicated to His most Sacred MAJESTY In two Volumes By Iohn Bernard A. M. English Examples to Lily's Grammar Rules for Children's Latin Exercises with an Explanation to each Rule For the Use of Eton School Gratii Falisci Cynegeticon cum Poematio Cognomine M. A. Olympii Nemesiani Carthaginensis Notis perpetuis variisque Lectionibus adernavit Tho. Johnson M. A. Accedunt Hier. Fracastorii Alcon Carmen Pastoritium Jo. Caii de Canibus Libellus Ut Opusculum vetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dict seu de Cura Canum incerto Auctore
Constitution of the Communicant If a Person be strong and healthy and finds no inconvenience from abstinence but rather that his Mind is thereby more abstracted from the World and more fixed and intent on what he is going about as well as he gains more time to fit himself for it in such cases it may be better to abstain from any Food as our Ancestors did formerly from other lawful things before the Communion * Vide Bede's Ecclesiastical History But on the other side if Persons be of a weak Constitution and find that such Fasting the Morning before they receive does really disorder them and render them less fit for God's Service they may be assured in such cases as St. Paul says of another indifferent Action they may do what they will they sin not or rather they would here do better to eat than to forbear because Fasting is no farther a Duty or acceptable than as it tends to the better performance of other Duties Besides there is no such thing as Fasting here enjoyned or any Example of it in the Scriptures and our Saviour instituted this Sacrament after Supper Which I mention because some weak Persons may have brought this among other frivolous pretences against receiving that when they have tried to Fast as that morning they have been thereby thrown into great Disorder CHAP. IV. Of our Behaviour immediately before the Communion and when we receive it § I. WHEN the pious Communicant is going to the House of God and more nearly approaching to his Holy Table he ought to keep his Heart with all Diligence steddily to fix his Thoughts and Intentions and Expectations and all little enough considering the subtilty and vigilance of his Adversary who as he does all he can to hinder Men from coming to this Sacrament so doubtless he will not be wanting in his Endeavours to disturb them when they come and obstruct their profiting by it and happiness in it If we have any Discourse in our way thither it ought to be only such as that in the 122 Psalm which is thought to have been repeated by the pious Worshippers of old when going up to offer at the Temple in Ierusalem In the first and second Verse I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the House of the Lord. Our Feet shall stand in thy Gates O Ierusalem Now as this accurate Care and steady Intention of mind is highly necessary when we approach the House of God so is it more particularly and eminently needful when we draw near to the Holy Table If we suffer our Words our Eyes or even our Thoughts to wander in our way thither we shall find it very difficult and next to impossible to retain those good Dispositions which we brought with us from our private Devotions or even to retrieve them when we are present at the place and in the Act of Worship And indeed this seems to be the very Reason why we are so often disturbed with wandring Thoughts in God's Service and find so little Comfort or Benefit sometimes in the highest Acts of it because we are seldom upon our Guard in our approaches to it A Prudent Christian will therefore be so far from indulging himself in unprofitable Discourse or wandring Thoughts when he is coming to this heavenly Banquet that as soon as he is entred the House of God he will fall on his Knees and acknowledge his glorious Presence who inhabit therein and humbly implore his Assistance and Grace and retire deeply into himself and endeavour to compose his Mind to such a devout Frame as may some way qualifie him to meet his Saviour and receive a Blessing from him § II. Which leads to our Behaviour during the actual Celebration of this Sacrament And after the most strict and impartial Enquiry into the useful Labors of good Men on this Subject one must be forced to acknowledge that nothing can be found so compleat so rational and so moving as those Exhortations and Directions which the Church has provided on this occasion in her Communion-Service containing the Quintesence of all the ancient Offices and carrying so much of the Primitive Simplicity Gravity and Piety through every part of it that it has been acknowledged to be very full and excellent even by those who are so unhappy as not to use it I shall therefore take those Directions which are necessary to regulate our Behaviour at the time of receiving from the several Parts of the Churches Office which will be of great Advantage in order to fix the ensuing Advices in our Memories and assist us in their Practice when we shall meet with them all in order except some few things which relate to our private Devotions in the Churches excellent Form already mentioned on every part whereof we ought therefore to bend our Minds with the utmost Intention and go to along with every Word which the Minister pronounces which if we are careful to do and to observe those Directions he therein gives us we cannot fail of being worthy Receivers And we are therein directed to most of the same things which were before mentioned as necessary to our Preparation tho' here they are to be all exercised and acted anew with the utmost Intention of our Minds And they are first Repentance 2. Faith 3. Devotion 4. Humility 5. Thanksgiving 6. Charity And in the last place a particular actual and solemn Remembrance of our Saviour's Death and the Ends of it and of the Institution of this Sacrament § III. And first for Repentance which we must renew and exercise at the Table of the Lord because we are there to renew our Covenant with him and must consequently with the deepest Contrition implore his Pardon for our frequent Breaches of it I do not know whether ever there were in any humane Writings so lively full and pathetick a Form of Confession as that which the Church here uses in the Name of all those which are minded to receive the Holy Communion and one would think it were scarce possible for any unless the most hardned Sinner to repeat this Confession after the Minister without being touched and moved by it and without feeling something of Contrition and Sorrow for his Offences This I dare affirm that there 's no good Man who has duly prepared himself for this Ordinance but when he comes to this part of the Office will find himself most sensibly and deeply affected with it For as the Church has immediately before invited those who do truly and earnestly repent of their Sins to draw near and take this Holy Sacrament so it instructs them in this most humble Confession to Almighty God how to exercise that Repentance In the first part whereof we are taught to acknowledge and bewail our Sins In the second actually to repent of them to detest and abhor them In the third 'to beg mercy for Jesus Christ's sake and in the last place to implore strength against them § IV. 1.