✚ Ʋpon the Priest's Recess from the Altar, and standing at a distvnce on the lowest degree thereof.

BEing thus Dispos'd and Fi­gur'd by this Fundamental Notion: I no sooner see the Priest in his Sacerdotal Habit, or Vestment, Ascending up to the Altar first, and suddenly Des­cending again to the very lowest degree; But it remembers me in­stantly, of Man's Propinquity to God in Adam whilst he stood Inno­cent; and then of his being thrust out of his Presence again quick­ly, [Page 5]upon Adam's sin; of which, by being deriv'd from him, we are every one Guilty, and so, not only driven out of Paradice, but even debas'd down to the lowest degree that such a Creature could fall.

DEVOTION.

O My God! I am sensible of my present Condition; that, during This Life I am in a Banishment from Paradice; caus'd by that sin, which I committed in my first Parent Adam; and that, by That Original, and many more Personal Transgressions, (where­of I stand Guilty before Thee,) I am fallen into the Lowest State, that a poor Creature can (likely) be brought unto.

And I feel, that (by thy Grace, which Thou art pleas'd to Afford [Page 6]me, even in this miserable Condi­tion of mine) I do thereof Re­pent me, and therefore Ought to range my self, (as I do,) among the Lowest of any that can pretend to be Thy Servants, (that is,) among the Penitents.

'Tis also by the same Grace, that Thou put'st me in the Humble Po­sture of a Stranger and Way­faring-man only in This World; by causing me to Turn again (by Little and Little, as the Motions and Conduct of Thy Holy Spirit Guide me) toward That Paradice, out of which, for my sins I was driven.

O keep me Thus Humbled, I beseech Thee, and never suffer me to forget either of these Low Con­ditions, which are so proper to the state of a Sinner, and so proper to the state of a Convert too: Nor let me swell higher by the least proud [Page 7]Conceit; That being It, that ruin'd me at First.

Take out of my Spirit all Incli­nations to Things of Greatness or Port, and give Me a Holy Affecti­on to Meanness, as being most suit­able, to what, indeed, I am; to the Example of my Saviour Jesus Christ, as He liv'd here; and especially, to this present Cendes­cention of His, in the Sacrament, Humbling himself to be, in such Ordinary and Despicable Ele­ments, and this, at the Word of a poor frail Man.

The Confiteor.

THe Priest standing Thus, at a distance, yet still between Hope and Despair; bethink­ing himself what to do. 1. Bow­ing. [Page 8]2. Advancing the Cross of Christ. 3. Calling on the Trini­ty. In Nomine, &c. Ʋt supra. and encouraging him­self towards God. 4. By a Psalm of David's, Judica, &c. 5. At last in an Humble Posture; he acknowledgeth, and Confesseth, That he is unworthy to approach nearer to Him, or so much as to His Altar: And that Thus 'tis with him, most deservedly; (as for that Original sin, wherein he was Conceiv'd, and to which he Implicitly Assented; so like­wise) for many other commit­ted by him, with a more express Will, throughout the whole course of his Life.

And here, I conceive, that surely, he maketh not this Con­fession for Himself only, but for Every one Present; yea, for the whole Church; (for in Her Name [Page 9]he comes now to Offer the Sacri­fice.) And hence it is, that the Minister who represents the People, makes a Confession with him in the same Words.

By It, is the whole Assembly, and every one of us in particu­lar, (for whom he therefore speaks in the Singular Number) Invited to put himself, together with him, in the Posture and State of a Penitent; and to ac­knowledge before God, our own unworthy Condition.

DEVOTION.

VOuchsafe me, O my God! The Grace of Tenderness of Heart; Seriously and deeply to resent my own vile and dangerous Condition, so far at least, that Pre­sently (without any longer delay) I may lay open the worst of my [Page 10]Self, and Confess to Thee, (to­gether with the Priest;) and Own in Thy sight, All my Faults; by a Repentance so True and Real, as may last, and make it self, ever hereafter, appear to be so, more and more in All the Actions of my Life to come.

Imprint in my Soul a Restless desire of Returning to Thee for Good and All: Eternally to serve Thee: Beginning this Ser­vice now in this World, as I mean to continue it hereafter in the next, without Interruption or Relaxa­tion; at least, carrying it on, so Evenly, from this my last Peni­tence; that so, I may make Repa­ration (in some sort) for my Fail­ings and Recidivations, and Breaches of Faith and Promise, since my First Conversion; which I should have taken care, not to have prov'd so false unto, nor ever once to have violated.

Deus tu Conversus, &c.

AFter this Confession; and that the Priest and Mini­ster have openly avow'd their Faults and Indignities, both seve­rally and joyntly Praying for each other: They further Animate and Encourage one another, by Reflection on God's Mercy, ex­press'd in Words of a Holy Boldness and Confidence, as they find them in the Scriptures Psal. 85. of the Mes­siah. Deus tu Conversus, &c. Ostende nobis Domine, &c. So [Page 12]proclaiming (alternately) that, though from themselves they can hope for Nothing, yet they cannot but grow most Confident in their God, considering what he hath given his Word for, to perform.

With such Holy Cheerful­ness; and yet still check'd by a private Awe, occasion'd by his particular sins (secretly (then also) Pray'd against;) The Priest adventures up again to the Altar, and Kisses It. In token (say I) of a New Reconcilia­tion to Christ Jesus, and all His Church-Triumphant: for by the Altar is represented Christ Cru­cify'd, and by the Relicks of some Saints enchas'd in It. The whole Body of that Triumphant Society, now more nearly joyn'd to their Head, and becoming even one with Him.

DEVOTION.

I Adore, O Lord, this Infinite Mercy of Thine; which is now brought into my Mind by the Priests going up again unto Thy Altar, and Kissing of It, in To­ken that Thou art again Reconcil'd to us.

So early was Thy Goodness to us, that no sooner had We Offend­ed Thee, but instantly Thou hadst projected a Way, by which we might come to be Pardon'd. As appears by thy Calling after, and search­ing out, our first Parent in Para­dice, immediately after he had fled from Thee, and lost himself.

In that so Antient, and indeed Eternal project and design it is, that Thou hast already (in effect) Pardon'd us, so long before We were Born; and extended Thy [Page 14]Grace even to Ʋs, in Jesus Christ, before all Ages, as one of Thy Apostles hath computed it.

And now, Thy Mercifulness, still equally willing to make good that Design, and to appear as Great and as Ready to save in Time, as it was to Project, in Eternity; doth here Receive Ʋs into Favour again, as soon as ever We but Acknowledge, and Confess our Faults, as that Prophet of thine hath Noted, and as Thou publickly declarest to Thy whole Church, in admitting the Priest thus to Kiss thy Altar (which is an Image, and stands in stead of thy self) sudden­ly after he hath ended His and Our Confession: Thereby to shew, that Perform we but our Duty once in a true Confession of our Faults, and there's no doubt to be made, but Thou, in the same moment art Re­concil'd unto Ʋs.

I most Earnestly beseech Thee to give me the Grace to value, and en­tertain, this Immense Bounty of Thine, with a Respect due to it; and to enable me, in some degree to imitate it: That is, that, (First, never, never willingly Offending Thee, never so; next) for those Involuntary Lapses, and Delin­quencies, which my surpriz'd infir­mity so often stands guilty of (and in this frail Life, are utterly un­avoidable,) I may so take all dili­gent Care, to discharge my self of Them, as soon as ever I perceive them committed, as Thy Goodness is ready to Pardon them, as soon as ever, in a true Penitence and De­testation, I acknowledge them before Thee.

At the Introit.

THis which is call'd the In­troit Vide Du­rand. l. 4. c. 5. Goar. p. 124. of the Mass, signi­fies, That great De­claration Evangelical, which God made to Mankind presently upon Adam's Fall, Of his good Pleasure and Will to deliver them from that Mi­sery, wherein they lay; and to restore them to Grace and Favour again, by giving them a Saviour

This seems so to me; because every Introit in particular, ei­ther Prayes, or gives Thanks for, or Celebrates with some Joy, some special Execution of that Will of God, suitable to the Feast or Mystery, for which the Mass is said.

DEVOTION.

I Thank Thee, O my God, for that, ever since that first In­clination and Good Will of Thine: To be again Reconcil'd to Mankind; Thou hast taken care, (all along) to make it evidently Appear to men, by some real effect thereof; and by some par­ticular Grace and way of Dispen­sation, suitable to each Age, hast gone on, advancing and Accom­plishing by little and little, that thy Great Design of Redeeming and Saving the World, even to the very Fulness of Time, where­in it was to be, Entirely perfected.

O that the Resolutions which I, too, have already taken; or shall, farther yet, take to do Thee Ser­vice towards this End, might have something in them also, of the Sta­bility [Page 18] and Immutableness of that, Thy unchangeable and everlast­ing Purpose. And that (though sometimes I be not able to Execute them fully according to my Inten­tion, yet (even then) they may discover themselves in some (par­tial yet seasonable) Effects, enough to testifie, that I have not forgot them, or am Ʋnfaithful to Thee; but only do expect, (with some Pas­sion) the Time wherein I may, ac­cording to my little Abilities, most compleatly acquit my self.

Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, &c.

WHat are these, but ar­dent Aspirations and Sighs of the Saints for the ful­filling of that Promise of the Fa­ther [Page 19]in the sending his Son; ad­dress'd to the Son himself, whom they Invoke as a Saviour, and would incline Him to come quickly?

They are Thrice repeated in Honour of the Holy Trinity, from whom they beg the accom­plishment of that Mystery.

Christe Eleison, Is said in the second place to shew 'twas the second Person, they demanded to be their Saviour. And every person is Invok'd thrice, to shew the numerous multitude of these Desires which they put up to the Trinity before the attaining them.

The number of Three, signi­fying (Often, or many times) in Scripture: So St. Paul is said to Pray Thrice, &c. (1.) Often, to have his Temptation remov'd.

DEVOTION.

INcrease in me, O Lord, my Faith Of the Holy Trinity, and of Thy Incarnation, by which means thou art become the Saviour of the whole World; and kindle in my Heart a lasting, longing De­sire of Thy second Coming; no way Inferior to What the Antient Patriarchs had to See Thy First.

As the chief Point of Their Piety and Devotion consisted in This, Of a Strong Faith and Pas­sionate (yet Patient) Attendance for the Day of Thy Incarnation and Resurrection; So, (by thy Grace and Favour) Let It be the scope of Mine; still to be, in an Earnest Expectation and Wait­ing for the Great Day of thy Tri­umph; when Thou shalt appear so Gloriously to All Men, and to All [Page 21]Angels. And let me Live (in This Interim,) with the Eye of my Intention, so uncessantly fix'd, Upon Thy Divine Person; as thou thy self Livest, by having Thine perpetually plac'd, on That of Thy Father: And may my Heart ever and anon breath out her Wishes, in these words, Veni, veni Domine & Noli tardare; Even Come, Come Lord Jesu, and tarry no longer!

Gloria in Excelsis.

NOw is Represented the Performance of That Pro­mise of the (so much desired, and so long expected) Messias com­ing; together with the Joy of Men and Angels immediatly up­on It. This being the Hymne Sung at His Nativity.

Very properly therefore is This Angelical Hymne of Joy, omitted upon days of Sadness and Penitence; such as are days of Commemorations of the Dead and Ordinary Feria's which (in going before Sunday, the day of the Resurrection) sitly shaddow out to us the Time of this Life to be a Time of Repentance and preparing our selves for that Great Lords-day at the General Resurrection. And so this Hymn of Glory is Sung still on every Lords-day, and the days of the Blessed Virgin, and the other Saints now Regnant in the Glo­ry of Christ their Lord.

DEVOTION.

I Humbly Thank Thee, my God! That thou hast been pleas'd, to give Me my Being; [Page 23]Now, after thy Incarnation and Nativity; Ʋnder the New-Law, and In Thy Holy Church; Thus separating me, from so many Infi­dels; so many Hereticks and Schismaticks, as be without: and (if I be not Treacherous to my self, from) so many False Christians, that Live, even in the midst of It, as if they had as little Faith as those.

I beseech Thee, that, As the Reflection upon this Transcendent Good, is deservedly the Cause of so Great Joy and Jubilation, com­mon, to All the Angels in Heaven; and on Earth, to All Men, of good Will; so It may ever Affect my Soul, more sensible and more piercingly, then All the Pleasures, or then All the Pains that can be­fall It in this World.

Make me count it, my chiefest Felicity, to be One, in the Num­ber ber [Page 24]of those Men of Peace and Good-Will, that the Angels Sa­luted and gave the Joy to at Thy Nativity.

Give me that Peace which the World cannot give, and That Good Will, which alone gives me back again to Thee. There's no good, Good Will, but in a True Love of Thee; O, give me That!

Dominus Vobiscum.

HEre the Priest turning about to the People and Blessing Them, seems to Communicate to them the Benedictions of Christ Jesus, now born in the Flesh, for this very purpose to Bless Mankind. And therefore his Blessing in particular, is, That God may continue amongst Ʋs: [Page 25]Exprest in those very words which unfold That Name, which the Scripture gives to Christ in order to his Incarnation, that is, Emanuel, as much as to say. A God with Ʋs.

But before he pronounceth This Blessing, He Kisses the Al­tar, as It were taking It in his Mouth, first from Jesus Christ himself, (in whose stead stands the Altar,) as from whom, be­ing an in-exhaustible Spring, open'd by God for our refresh­ment: All manner of Blessings, Favours and Graces are deriv'd upon Us.

DEVOTION.

VOuchsaefe me the Grace to lead, (in this Blessed Time of the New-Law, and in the Communion of thy Holy Church, [Page 26] where thou art still Present with Ʋs, after a special manner) such a Life, as may render me capable of all thy Blessings; that thou mayst still Turn thy Face towards Me, and lift up the Light of Thy Coun­tenance upon Me, to succour Me, and to impart unto Me, every day more and more of that Rich Trea­sure which thou hast provided for Me.

V;upon the Priest's turning back again, and Praying. Oratio.

HAving breath'd forth this Benediction over the People; He turns him to Jesus Christ again, (1. to the Altar) [Page 27]to present to Him some Prayers (as the time requires, one, or more) for Confirmation of That Blessing, and humbly to testifie his Dependance on him, as not being any thing, but his Instru­ment; nor able to confer on others the least good, but only by way of Humble Petition to his Divine Majesty.

DEVOTION.

ENable me to Pray, without Ceasing, as thy Scriptures Command me; since, in this Life thou bestowest Nothing upon Us for our good, but by being Peti­tion'd first.

Let me then still be putting up Requests unto Thee; often Re-in­forcing the Old; and Multiplying (as Thy Priest at the Altar does) New, upon every important occasion.

At the Reading the Epistle.

NExt is read The Epistle, taken sometimes out of the New Testament: Sometimes out of the Old: This puts me in mind of that Notice which was all along given To the Jews of the Coming of their Messias; first by the Prophets fore-told; and then exhibited to them by St. John, and the Apostles.

And for this reason (I think) 'tis read on that Corner of the Altar which is on the Priest's Right-hand; because the Jews were a Nation chiefly Belov'd of God, and at first his chosen People, to whom he entrusted his Oracles.

DEVOTION.

I Do not a little Wonder at Thy Constant and Ʋntyr'd Love to the Jews; who were the Only People, whom Thy Prophets were sent to Save, to whom Thou thy Self cam'st and Preached'st the Gospel: And (though not the Only, yet) the First, to whom Thy Apostles declar'd Thy Resur­rection. Thy Resurrection; A point of such moment, that to Re­present It the more Lively; The Priest, (who sustains the Person of Thee Risen) throughout the Whole Mass, even in the Act of Sacrificing and Oblation, Celebrates all Standing.

O, my God, Permit not Me, to Slight Thy Holy Word; or to Undervalue its Preachers, who come to Ʋs in Thy Name, and on [Page 30]thy Errand: As that Stiff-necked, Hard-hearted and Rebellious Peo­ple have rejected the Addresses of the Prophets and Apostles Thy Servants, nay, of Thy Son Christ Jesus himself.

Let not thy Holy Commands be a New Occasion and Aggra­vation of Sin to Me, as to Them It was; but Improve them to Me into True Gospel, and Words of Salvation; by Inspiriting me to do That which Thy Law injoyneth; and not suffering my Sinful Incli­nations, to Quench this Spirit, and Evacuate Thy Grace.

Immediately after the Epistle read, succeeds the Gradual, with ei­ther Alleluja or the Tractus.

IF with the Alleluja, I appre­hend that thereby Priest and People joyn in Acclamations of Praise and Thanks to God; as It were in lieu and Supplement for the Jews Ingratitude, Infide­lity, and great neglect of the Go­spel, as if therefore by way of Reparation we would shew our selves the more zealous, and by certain Degrees of Versicles and Benedictions raise our selves to be more Attentive to what they slighted.

Or, if in the place of Alleluja, a Tractus be annex'd; (which being a Mournful Ditty, there­fore appointed for days of Peni­tence and Sorrow; and to be read more Gravely, and drawn out more leasurely, and Sadly,) We are admonish'd thereby to com­pose our selves to ask Pardon of God, for Those Sins, which we also, (no less than the Jews) have committed, in our Great Neglect of the Gospel; and to look on our selves as partakers of their Guilt, and to be Peni­tent for It.

DEVOTION.

LEt Thy Goodness prevent me from such Jewish Ingrati­tude, and more; Now I have re­ceived from thee, so many more and Greater Favours than They. [Page 33]As, particularly, The Light of the Gospel, the Grace of Baptism; and then a greater Portion of Thy Holy Spirit Confirming Me, and Even Thine Own Body and Blood for Nourishment.

Be It the Business, to take up All my Thoughts All my Life long, To weigh the Greatness, and Variety of Thy Mercies: And may Nothing in the World have such Power, as to make me pass by inconsiderately, much less to forget, the least.

The Tractus. DEVOTION.

I Fall down before Thee, O dear Father with Shame, and great Confusion of Face; calling to Mind Those Sins which I have committed, particularly, against [Page 34]the Precepts of thy Gospel; which Gospel, I (though I refus'd not with the Jews, but entertain'd it with Protestation to Live ac­cording to it; and if need were, to Die for It, yet) have violated frequently by Great and Enormous Crimes; being so much less ex­cusable than They, into how much stricter an Oblation I enter'd into.

I have Cause enough to fear, O my God, that Thou shouldst Aban­don Me too, at last, as Thou hast for saken Them; because, having contracted a deeper Guilt than They, 'tis but Reason I should be more severely punish'd.

To provide against such a mis­chief in Time; I now beg of Thee, The Spirit of Repentance; which I beseech Thee to Give and continue to Me, to my last gasp; whereby, to Expiate my grievous Faults, and to put me again into [Page 35]the Quality of a True Christian.

For the Spirit of Repentance It is, which is the very Beginning of Christianity; and most Pro­per Condition of the New Law; delivering us from the Sins, and consequently from the sad Effects of the Old; (which is, according to the Apostle, the Law of Wrath and Death) and working out of us by degrees, still more, what yet it finds in us as Relicks of the Flests, of Judaism, or of base Earthli­ness.

Ʋpon the removing the Book.

UPon this Action, my Con­sideration is; That The Jews (refusing to Hear and un­derstand aright the Prophets and Apostles) were at length [Page 36]Neglected; and the Apostles turn'd unto the Gentiles, bring­ing The Gospel and the News of a Saviour to Them; which is now represented, by changing the place of the Book, from the Right Hand of the Priest, to the Left; denoting that Christ, had now left the Jews, who before were the people of His Right­Hand; and that (in their stead) The Heathens at His Left (that is, abandon'd heretofore to the Curse of God, and not His people) were now made his people, and dearly Belov'd; and That among Us it is that Jesus Christ now keeps Residence and Establishes His Church.

Here is made indeed No inti­mation at all, that the Gospel was ever Preach'd to the Jews, (though to them it was Preach'd first;) and here is something be­tokening; [Page 37]as if Christ had Preach'd It to the Gentiles (which yet he never did:) But the Reason of Both is,

First, That That is omitted; because that Preaching of it to the Jews was so In-effectual and Fruitless, as not considerable; especially in respect what Glo­rious Entertainment It had afterward, among the Gentiles, in the full Explication and vi­gour of It, as of a New Law.

And Secondly, That This is solely insisted on, Because, though Christ Preach'd not Himself in person to the Gentiles, but only by his Apostles & Ministers, yet was It, in so wonderful Success and Communication of Grace, and Benediction, and Reformati­on of Manners (the True Fruits of the Gospel) that Now only, among these, seems He to have [Page 38]fully Exercis'd his Office of an Evangelical Preacher; now on­ly, indeed, to have promulga­ted the Law of Grace in the quickening Spirit, as oppos'd to That of the Jews in the Killing Letter.

DEVOTION.

NEver, O Lord, take away, The Grace thou hast Given, from Me, to Confer It on Ano­ther, as, in thy Justice Thou hast remov'd Thy Gospel from the Jew to the Gentile.

Let Thy Gifts in me be with­out Repentance, as Thy Scripture speaks.

Make me ever Remember That saying of St. John 3 Apoc. 11 (a Figure of Thy Elect!) Take heed, Hold fast That which Thou hast, that no man take Thy Crown.

Let me not be Tempted to prize my self as more Worthy than such Offenders, whom thou hast not favour'd, as Thou hast done Me; least I come under that Curse and Malediction wherewith Thy Apostle Threatens the Gentiles, 11 Rom. 20, 21, 22. if they arro­gantly insult over the Jews, whom Thou hast rejected.

Transplant Me, Out of those Countries of the World, where Thou art not duly Worshipped, into some Holy Land, Exempt from its Malignity and Corruption; where I may serve Thee more free­ly, and more Faithfully.

Make me comprehend the force of those words of the Apostle, Ex­horting Ʋs to follow Thee, On the Right-hand, and on the Left; that at all turns, Of Adversity and Prosperity, Health and Sick­ness, [Page 40]Life and Death; I may cleave to Thee unseparably.

The Gospel.

THe Book being remov'd to the Left-hand of the Priest, To shew (as I have said) the publication of the Gospel of Je­sus Christ, now to those on his Left-hand, That were his Ene­mies, the Gentiles; After some preparation, by, 1. Particular Prayers for Assistance. 2. And Benediction. 3. He Crosses the Book and Himself. 4. And Names the part he intends to Read.

5. The People stand up, and Answer, Gloria tibi Domine; and in that posture, (continue du­ring the Reading) 6. Testify, not [Page 41]only their readiness to Hear, but also to put in Execution, what­ever is therein propos'd.

7. The Gospel being read, the people give again their Appro­bation. 8. With Laus tibi Christe, and the Priest saying. 9. Per Evangelica Dicta, &c. Kisseth It. All testifying a high respect to the Gospel.

The Book continues in that same place almost to the end of the Mass: Intimating thereby, the continuation of the Gospel among the Gentiles only, to al­most the end of the World.

DEVOTION.

GIve me the Grace to under­stand, and take the Words of Thy H. Gospel, as one of thy Faithful Ones; that is, As a Man ready to do, as It says, and to [Page 42]practice suitably to what he Pro­fesses to Believe.

Make Me Stand always firm, and Erected above All, that (other­wise) might be Impediments to my Ready Obedience; Hearing thy Voice as a Friend of the Bride­grooms, and joying in nothing so much, as rightly to Understand Thy Will, and fully to Accomplish It.

Let My Spirit Kiss Thee, (as at the End of the Gospel, the Priest does the Book,) thereby, in all Holy Reverence to Adore Thee, after I have gotten a glimpse of Thee, by that Light, which thou hast Now been pleas'd to dart into Me, from Thy Words.

Make me always keep thus, Close unto Thee; and continue in this Union with Thee, which certainly I Owe unto Thee, as to One that hath the Words of Eter­nal [Page 43]Life, and Art the very Soul of the Gospel. O, whither should I go from Thee? Never let any Occurrence in this Life, never any danger that any Enemy of mine may engage me in, be able to sepa­rate Me from my Obedience to Thee.

It is in This preparation of Heart, for whatsoever Thou shalt Command Me, (be the Conse­quencce what It will,) that I de­sire to lay the Foundation of all my Piety and Devotion.

At the Credo.

THe saying of the Creed, is a Protestation of our Faith and Obedience to the Gospel coming to Us from God through the Lips of the Priest.

DEVOTION.

BƲt let me not Content my Self only with this Inward Prepa­ration of Heart To Believe, and Serve Thee so; but give me Cou­rage to profess before all the World the Sincerity of an Un­feigned Faith in Thee, and Con­stant Love to Thee; by which, I pretend to Honour and Observe Thee in all things, without ever being asham'd of the Truths and Maximes of Thy Gospel. Of every one of which; as well the least as the greatest, let me still have an equal undispensable esteem; and be ready to maintain all in General; nay, each one in particular, (though with the certain loss of whatever belongs to me beside; even of my Life it Self, and Salvation too, if That were possible) in All the Oc­casions [Page 45]and Encounters that the Conduct of Thy Providence, for Tryal, shall engage Me In.

In special, O my Saviour, I Believe that Thou art the Son of the Eternal Father; That You both, Produce the Holy Spirit from everlasting; and that You, all Three, Reside after a most signal manner in The Church; which is so the House of the Faithful, as that out of It, There is no Faith at all to be found; or, at most none such, as shall any thing avail, to­wards Salvation.

I am resolv'd to Believe, as Truth, all that is deliver'd to Me as from You; and to confirm and justifie my Belief by my Words; and my Words, by good Works of all sorts; and my Works, by all the Variety of Sufferings, that You shall think fit to send me.

The Second Dominus Vobiscum.

AFter this Profession of Faith, or (if that be omitted,) immediately after the Gospel, the Priest, having first Kiss'd the Altar, turns to the people, to Bless them in Christ's Name for so Respectful a Re­ception of the Gospel, and pub­lick profession thereof.

DEVOTION.

HElp me, O Lord, to receive with Pious Affections This Blessing which Thy Priest now Dis­penseth, (in turning Himself to­ward Thy Faithful) as from Thee; Now, that we have Assented to Try Word, and thereof made a publick Profession.

And Bless me thereby more In­ternally Thy Self, that this Thy Grace may cleave to, and continue in my Heart, enabling It to Per­severe in Thriving and Growing up thereby to a Holy Life, and con­stant practice of Obedience to all Thy Commandments.

The Offering and Offertory.

HEre was brought in (An­tienly) Immediately after The Benediction, the peoples Offerings, as an Effect (as it were) of that Benediction. Then before these Offerings laid on the Altar, Sung both Priest and People certain Praises to God, (which, were call'd the Offerto­rium, or That, with which They presented their Offerings,) to [Page 48]terstifie the Sincerity and Joy of Heart wherewith they brought their Gifts, and appear'd before Him.

Antiently (before Things came to be set in better Order by the Church) These Offerings were Numerous, and had their good Use, and Edification too. For every particular Christian pre­sented Bread to the Priest, both for Materials to be Consecrated for the Sacrifice, and withall, for a Token of his Union to the Body of Christ Jesus, and Com­munion with the Church; The whole Congregation uniting it self (by This means) and putting It self (as it were) between the Hands of the Priest, to be Offer­red up with the Body of Christ Consecrated, and made, in that Bread which they Contributed.

The Priest, indeed, Conse­crated not all that was brought, but took only One or Two, (as occasion was) in the lieu of all; that, so as the many Breads, offer'd severally, (by each of the Faithful Ones) represented the divers Members of the Church; the Paucity of the Breads chosen out of all for Consecration might likewise Typifie the Unity of those Members amongst them­selves, and with the One Body of Christ, where all by Partici­pation were United together.

DEVOTION.

I Here Offer up unto Thee, my God, All that I have, oram; in Acknowledgement and Return, for That Light of Truth, which Thou hast imparted to Me by Thy Gospel at this Time; being con­vinc'd, [Page 50]that, in respect of It, All other things are but as dross, or nothing; and that Thy Merciful Favour and Love, is incomparably more worth, than this Life it self; Nay, than the Lives of all the Per­sons now in the World put toge­ther, and Offer'd up to Thee all in one Great Sacrifice.

I strip my self of all that can any ways be call'd mine before Thee, and here put it into Thy Hands; that there may be nothing about me, to hinder me from entring into that close and perfect Union, that ought to be between Thee and me, and Me, and every Member belonging to the Body of Thy Church; being well assur'd, that nothing causes a Division between Thee and those Members, or a­mongst Our selves between one ano­other; nor slackens the Bond of Charity more, than an Adhae­sion [Page 51] to the Things of this World.

The Oblation or Suscipe.

The Priest having receiv'd the Offerings, presents them to God, by heaving them up towards Heaven upon the Pa­ten. For that Bread which He offers up on the Paten, is instead of all that was brought to Him by the people, either effectually and really, or Spiritually and Intentionally only; and so re­presents the whole people to be Incorporated, and Offer'd up with the Body of Jesns Christ, in that Holy Sacrisice.

Hence It is, that the P [...]iest declares, that He makes this Obiation for, and in the Name [Page 52]of, All the Faithful, Living and Dead, and particularly for All (Circumstantibus) there present. For the present, brought their Offerings, not only for them­selves, but for the Dead also, as Owning their Communion with the Body of Jesus Christ, and with His Church; and this is still the Intention Comprehen­sive, and secret meaning of the Charity of every Faithful Chri­stian, though It be not then Actually in his Mind or Thought

And it is to be Noted, that the Priest professeth He makes this Oblation, for the Numberless Sins, not only of Others, but of His Own, [Meis] Because the sins committed every day by the best amongst Us, are in every deed innumerable; and 'tis im­possible to know their Multi­tude and variety; our Infirmi­ty [Page 53]and Concupiscence vitiating those Actions, in some degree, which seem to be most Holy, to let pass others.

DEVOTION.

I Beseech Thee, that, As the Priest presents to Thee upon the Paten, That Offering which He is to Consecrate for all the People; so, This Oblation that I have Now made of all that I have, and am, may likewise be re­ceived and accepted by our Lord Jesus Christ, as tender'd together with It: That the same Priest may Offer, and Consecrate it also to Thee for Me, that so it may please Thy Divine Majesty; who hast set such Order to things, as not to receive any thing from us, but by Him.

And may this Oblation dis­pose Me, by little and little to Im­molate and Sacrifice my self wholly to Thy Glory, in what manner It shall best please Thee to require It.

That it may conduce toward the Expiation of All my Sins, known and unknown; and what other Obliquities are hourly occasion'd by my frail and Infirm Nature.

And, since I cannot be totally exempt from These, unless by death, which is the only sure-End of all Offending; Grant, that (to Can­cel their account as fast as It grows upon me) I may offer up, and Con­secrate to Thee, sincerely All the short Remainder of this Life; and then pass so much the more Joy­fully into the next, as where I shall be secur'd from discontenting Thee any longer.

Of the Mixture of Water and Wine.

THis puts me in mind of the Union of the Divinty and Humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ; and then of the Unity of all the Faithful (well denoted by Water, a Symbol of Weak­ness) which Jesus Christ (well typify'd by Wine, an Emblem of strength.)

And as the Priest Offer'd up The Bread before, so now he makes 1. Oblation of the Wine and Water; and in Them again of the People, to God.

The Suscipiamur.

2. And lastly, Oblation Generalis [...] He makes the First Gene­ral Oblation of All, [Page 56] Bread, Wine, Himself and People altogether, jointly, with Humi­lity and Contrition, into the Hands of God, and thereby Sanctifies and Prepares the whole matter of this Sacrifice.

DEVOTION.

O Strengthen my Weakness (represented by this Water) with a new Force and Virtue of Thy Spirit, which is the Muste or New Wine of the Law of Grace. Make me depend on Nothing, nor cleave to any Thing but Thee; since Thou alone art the Power of God, and Vigorous Life of the Soul; in whose Absence, the strong­est Activity in Man, is but mi­serable Infirmity.

And, as now, The Priest pre­sents to Thee the Chalice, thereby to Sanctifie It before He proceed to [Page 57]Its Consecration; so help Me, O Lord, to Offer up my Self to Thee, Fortified and Heighten'd by Thy Blessing and Grace; by which I may be Encourag'd and En­flam'd, and so make my self every time more and more capable to be Offer'd up in Sacrifice to Thee, and even to Die for Thee. Which is really the Greatest Favour that thou canst do any Mau, during His Abode here.

Washing of the Priest's Hands.

THis meaneth Repentance for the daily Pollutions we incurr by our Frailty; For there's no approaching This Holy Sacrifice, without renoun­cing and quitting as much as is possible, such Impurities by a [Page 58]sincere Grief for, and loathing of them; though but Sins of In­firmity.

Hence It is that the Priest Washeth only the Tops of his Fingers: To signifie, that when one comes to Offer this Sa­crifice; 'tis no time then to set about Repentance for Mortal Sins (such, one should have been freed and purg'd from, before;) but all that is to be done, is on­ly to Wash off (yet by unfeigned Grief and true Compunction) those lesser Impurities and Defile­ments, which in the course of this Life, and by Conversation with things of this World, we cannot avoid, but that they will be sticking, at least to the Out­ward parts, (as it were) of our Souls; and to the Works of our Hands. But those that willing­ly neglect to Purify themselves [Page 59]from these, though never so small Imperfections, are un­worthy of this Sacrament, saith St. Denis; as, on the contrary, The greatest Sins and Abomina­tions that be, cannot render those unworthy of approaching to It, who have dis-engag'd their Wills from them, and tru­ly detest them in their Hearts.

DEVOTION.

SƲffer not, O my God, the Pol­lutions of this World, so to Defile My Hands, (that is, My Actions) as that they should con­tract any store of Filth from It; but (since 'tis impossible to Converse here, in this Earthly Habitation, cleanly, without All Sullying;) Grant, that, at most, The Spots, may but arrive to the outmost and lesser parts of Them, as It were to the very Tops of the Fingers on­ly. [Page 60](A Petition suggested to me, by the Priests Washing His.)

First, Possess my Heart, intire­ly, and at all times; and then let my Actions regard Thee too, as their Principal Object; and if seconda­rily in their Out-sides, and parts farthest off, They touch the fouling Earth; Let me never cease Wash­ing them with Tears of True Re­pentance, and in the Water and Grace of Thy Holy Spirit, till They be again Purify'd.

Especially, as often as I come be­fore Thee, to partake of the Com­munion of Thy Blessed Body, and to assist at That most Holy Sa­crifice, to which it would become Ʋs to approach, in the greatest Purity, Man in this Life can be capable of. Because It is a darker Vision of God; and some Repre­sentation of our Imployment in Hea­ven, whither no Unclean Thing can Enter.

Suscipe Sancta Trinitas.

THe Priest having put him­self into This Purity of Body and Mind, with most pro­found Humility makes a Second General Oblation of all. Oblation Generalis 2 1. Directing it to the proper Object of Wor­ship, The Holy and Blessed Tri­nity; And 2. Applying it to the right End. Of Commemoration of the Passion, Resurrection and As­cention of Jesus Christ, Of Honour to all the Glorify'd Saints; in the Church Triumphant, and of [Page 62] Salvation to all yet in the Mili­tant, by their Intercession im­plor'd. 3. Kisses the Altar.

Orate Fratres.

THe Priest having already implor'd the Intercession of the Glorious Saints above, for the things specify'd, and parti­cularly for that Acceptance of This Oblation and Sacrifice; Now turns himself to the People desiring them to Joyn their Prayers to the same End.

DEVOTION.

DErive into me, O Lord, That Grace which the Priest Re­ceives, upon the Kissing of the Altar that stands in stead of Thee; that assisted by It, I may bear a part in That Common Prayer, [Page 63] which He now Exhorts all the Faithful to joyn in with Him; To Supplicate Thee, favourably to Re­ceive The Sacrifice He is here go­ing to Offer unto Thee, in the Be­half of the whole Church.

And do it the rather, for the Honour of those Great Mysteries, and Those Holy Saints, which he hath just now made particular Commemoration of; on purpose to teach us, the Value of this Extraordinary Act of Grace, by the Greatness of the Means im­ploy'd to obtain It.

Agitate now, in the Strictest Closet of my Soul, by the means of this other Prayer, which the Church calls Secret; and produce therein the proper Effects of those good Thoughts, which Thou hast been pleas'd to form in Me, to Prepare me the better for this Sacrifice.

The Preface.

SO call'd; because 'tis the En­try to the Canon of the Mass, and the last Immediate Prepa­ration-general to the Sacrifice.

For, here, the Priest endea­vours to prepare the People, by putting them in mind, 1. Of raising up their Heart in Devotion to God, and taking It off from all Thoughts or Inclinations to any thing here below. That they begin this Sacrifice of Offering up Christ to His Father, by first Offering up their own Hearts, which must be still the Anti-Sa­crifice to all others, or else they will be of no profit.

2. And when the People An­swer, that They have their Hearts [Page 65]so Elevated and dispos'd, and set upon God, as he desires them to have. 3. The Priest rests not therewith Content, unless They make present Reflection upon This, and Consider that it is not They themselves, but God that hath rais'd their Hearts, and drawn them towards Himself; and therefore that they ought Instantly to make their Acknow­ledgement thereof by publick Thanks, before they go any fur­ther. 4. Gratias Agamus, &c.

5. To which they Reply, that this is very fitting and just; and so they proceed to do it by the Priest, in publick and in private by their own particular Resent­ments; moving their Hearts ac­cording to the Words which they hear from him. For so now he begins here, in a Louder Tone. 6. To acknowledge the [Page 66]Mercies and Blessings, that God showers down on Men, at all Times and in all places; and in particular, those which at that very occasion, the Churches Or­der recommends to be Comme­morated.

7. But then She, by great Modesty, Conscious to her self how mean a Thing Her Laudes and Praises are, to be tender'd to Gods Supreme Majesty, she makes haste to joyn her Self in this Action to her Lord and Spouse Jesus Christ, and by Him to present her Praises, and Thanks to the Father; Offering up withall (joyntly) those Infi­nite and Eternal Benedictions, that he uses to give him.

8. And not t [...] omit any Hymnes of this Nature, she en­deavours to make one too, in the Consort of Angels, Cheru­bims [Page 67]and Seraphims, that Mag­nify, Adore and tremblingly Re­verence (through Jesus Christ) The Majesty of God.

Hence It is, that she joynes her self to Them under Him, as under the common Patron of Men and Angels; That so, All together by their chief Head, may Worship and Glorisie the Deity. And therefore now useth she here, upon Earth; That very Ditty, which the Scripture hath reveal'd to be us'd by the Angels in Heaven, in their Honouring of God; Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.

9. And to It adjoyns another, Triumphantly Sung by Men of Jerusalem to Jesus Christ, Bene­dictus qui venit, &c. Testifying hereby, the Unity of Spirit mo­ving Angels and Men to Praise the Divine Majesty, for the Ap­proach and Coming of his Son.

DEVOTION.

Raise up my Spirit, at this Instant, Great God, far above all the things of this World; to fasten It upon, and make It Conceive, both the Variety and Greatness of Thy Blessings; espe­cially those conferr'd upon us, by Thy Son Jesus Christ his Assuming and Uniting our Nature into Himself.

I must needs acknowledge that my single Abilities are much too Weak to perform this as I ought, and therefore cannot Thank and Praise Thee as I should: Vouchsafe to permit and help Me to joyn the very best I have, to those of the Choire of Angels above; borrow­ing from, and using with them, those Transcendent Acclamati­ons wherewith they Adore Thee to [Page 69]all Eternity; that so I may begin to Honour Thee here on Earth, as they do in Heaven; and imping my Wings with Theirs, mount not according to My feebleness but Their force.

Enrich me also, with a Part of the Innocence, and (almost An­gelical) Purity of those Souls, who Sung to Thee, that Triumphant Jubilee at thy Entrance into this lower Jerusalem; that so the Song, that I would now take Thee with, might be more perfectly, made up of all its parts; especially that Can­terelle of Angels, and This Base of Men.

Why not prepare my Self, in this Solemn manner? To, (certainly) the greatest Action upon Earth, The Sacrificing of Thy Son: By, (as much as I can procure) The Holyest Hosanna's and highest Ravishments of Spirit that Mor­tality can bear up with.

In this Elevation and Extasie, (such as 'tis) Thee I adore My Saviour Jesus Christ, sitting at the Right Hand of Thy Father. To Thee, as High-Priest, and prime Sacrificer, I joyn, this Wretch, my Self (though Infinite, Infinitely unworthy, to be, not only in thy Company, but here, among the Angels and Blessed Saints now Assembled at this Sacrifice of a God. O amaze me, with that Con­fusion, that belongs to me, for not being, such as I ought, at this So­lemnity!)

The Canon.

NExt succeeds the Canon of the Mass, so term'd be­cause 'tis the Rule, and Constant Order which the Church ob­serves in the Celebration of this Sacrifice; This is alone never to be alter'd, as the other parts of the Mass are, which use to be vary'd according to the di­versity of several Mysteries, and the Feasts by which they are Ce­lebrated: But this being the chief part, becomes, as the Sa­crifice it self, Immutable.

Te igitur, &c.

ANd 'tis considerable, That it begins with an Address to the Father, presenting to Him the Sacrifice, as being the Prime Principle and Beginning not only of all Creatures, but also of the Divine Persons in the Holy Tri­nity.

We Offer up this Sacrifice to Him, by, and through Jesus Christ, His Son our Lord.

That is, By Jesus Christ, as our Only Mediator, taking part of the Father, in being His Son, and so God, from all Eternity; and taking part with Us in being made Man, by his Humanity; wherein, He hath receiv'd the Power and Dominion over Hea­ven, and Earth; and always Offers up A Sacrifice to His Fa­ther, [Page 73]as the only High-Priest, to whom all other Priests here in the Church are but subservient Officers and Ministers, Offering up the same with Him.

For, That which the Son of God in Heaven, and This which the Priest here below, Offers, however it differ in the manner, is in Reality and Substance but One and the same Sacrifice. And it is Offer'd here principally for the Whole Catholick Church, in whose Name, the Priest presents himself, before God, to do Ho­mage. For though this here, and that Sacrifice there (as 'tis said) differ not in the Substance of the Thing, yet in the manner of Offering, it does; and accor­dingly this is offer'd, but for the Church Only, and all the Faithful within its Communion, though the other of which (This, yet, is [Page 74]Commemorative,) be for the whole World, as the Scripture testifies.

DEVOTION.

O God the Father!

1. I Here Worship, and pay Ho­mage to Thee, as to the prime Principle of all Things, both in Earth and Heaven too; of all Sanctity in Men and Angels, of all the Persons in the God-head, of the whole Trinity, and of all the Deity it self also; as far as Thy Church, taught by Thee, can, and doth (though but Lispingly) speak it.

It is to Thee. (I acknowledge) in this quality of prime Princi­ple that this Sacrifice is due; and so to Thee is It Now Offer'd by Thy Church, and by Thine own Son, who is prime Priest, as Thou art the prime Principle.

2. I Worship Thee also, as the chiefest and last End of all Crea­tures, recurring and Ebbing into Thee, as They flow'd from Thee.

3. Vouchsafe me the Grace to Reflect upon Thee always after this manner; as well by the Motions of my Will too, as I do still by the Tendencies of my Nature, which rests, only and un-interruptedly, upon Thee, as Its Author and sup­port.

4. Let me account it a Happi­ness, that I can Perish for Thee, and not Be; as well as I have re­ceiv'd from Thee, to be: And that in some forward Disposition to This, I may now present my self to Thee at this Sacrifice of Thy Son, To be Offer'd up with Him, and to die every day Thus before­hand, to make my self readier to be Sacrificed to Thee, Once, really, and indeed; To yield up [Page 76]this Life, for Thee, (which Thou hast given me) in any such Oc­currences, as it shall please Thee to fit for Me, and Me for it.

5. Lastly, I Worship Thee in the Fore-sight of that Last Sacri­fice, which, at the End of the World, Thy Son shall make to Thee of all other Creatures, before He Offer up his Elect to Thee, (as a Sacrifice too, but) after a far more Ad­mirable manner. For He shall first Consume by Fire all visible Things; to make men see, by the Light thereof; That Thou alone art a fit Object for their Love, as Thou alone art He, that hast a Being, firm, and Incorruptible.

The first Memento.

COnsequently the Priest de­scends to some Particulars in the Church, yet living, Com­memorating, First Those for whom especially he Intends the Offering of this Sacrifice; And being thus United to the Living here, in Cha­rity in, Honour and Reverence (growing too from the same Charity) he next aspires to joyn with the principal Saints Living in Paradice, as the Glorious and Blessed Virgin, The Apostles, and chief Prelates of the See Apostolick together with other Great Saints in several Conditions: Imploring Gods protection to be granted through their Prayers: Thereby, in this Mystical Bond of Mutual [Page 78]Love testifying the Communion and inseparable Conjunction of the Church-Militant and Tri­umphant.

DEVOTION.

I Offer unto Thee, O my Lord, Thy whole Church all Thy Chosen, and especially Those, whom thou (in a manner) hast gi­ven me; uniting them to Me by a particular tye, that in This little number I may represent to my self Those few which Thy Father hath Chosen out of all the World, and Given to Thee, from all Eternity; that I may Love Them, and Serve Them, as Thou dost uncessantly Love, and Assist all Thine.

Have in mind, O Lord, Them and Me, by the Intercession of All Thy Saints; and particular­ly of the Blessed Virgin; of the [Page 79]Apostles and Bishops of the Apo­stolick See; who are now made by Thee the chief in Heaven, as They were First the Chief in Thy Church, here on Earth.

I desire to make one among These, in the Offering up my Self toge­ther with them, This Sacrifice.

Hanc igitur Oblationem.

AFter all, the Priest makes the Third General Obla­tion of the whole matter of the Sacri­fice, Oblatio Generalis 3 putting his Hands over both the Host and Chalice together.

By this putting His Hands over them, He joyns Himself and the whole Congregation, & Church to this matter of the Sacrifice, protesting then to God, That He Offers and Sacrificeth all this to him; and substitutes in the place, this to be Sacrific'd for Himself, and Them, since it is not permitted that they should Sacrifice so as to destroy them­selves.

Such a thing, just did God Ordain in the Old Testament, where he commanded the Jews to lay their Hands upon the Head of the Sacrifice, which they Of­fer'd to Him; to shew that they were One with It, and that in their stead it was Sacrific'd.

DEVOTION.

STretch forth Thy Divine Power Over me, as now the Priest Extends his Hands over That Bread and Wine which He is about to Consecrate; that I also, with those Elements may in some sense be Converted into the Body and Blood of Thy Son, and consequently in Him be Offer'd up as an Acceptable Sacrifice and Holocaust, which thou canst not Despise.

The Consecration and Elevation.

THis Protestation made, the Priest proceeds to the Prayer of Consecration, inclu­ding a Commemoration of what [Page 82]Jesus Christ, did, and said when He Instituted This Holy Myste­ry; and Imitating Him, Blesses and Consecrates the Bread and Wine in the same manner, and with the same Words as He us'd.

And immediately after Con­secration, and profound Adora­tion of Each, (to give Example to the People in all Piety,) He Elevates each aloft; both to shew that He Offers them up to God the Father, above in Heaven; and also to make the People more Visibly behold Jesus Christ, and so to bow down and Wor­ship Him.

DEVOTION.

BRing now fresh into my Me­mory, and fill my Fancy with all that Thou didst for Ʋs, that Night before Thy Death; [Page 83] when Thou Institutedst the Blessed Sacrament of thy Body and Blood, as the last, and most incomparable Pledge of Thy Love to Ʋs, and a Memorandum indelible of our Ob­ligation to Thee.

Assist Me with Thy Grace, O my Saviour, and I will Imitate Thee, and give my self to Thee, (even as thou gavest Thy Self to Me) without any reserve.

Change my Heart, as Thou Changest This Bread!

Create a new Heart in Me, by this new Body!

Transubstantiate in Me, that seeming Life and Strength, (which yet is (indeed) but a dying feebleness,) into a True and Di­vine Spirit; as Thou changest the Wine, which is but the Blood of the Grape, a Terrestrial juice, in­to the Vigour and Blood of God.

Grant that this present Eleva­tion of Thy Body and Blood in mine Eye, may produce another like It in my Heart and Spirit; as to Crucifie my Flesh, (that is) my Passions, and to deliver me from all Affections to this World; so also to enflame me with a desire of that Life above, and always to keep my Conversation in Heaven, with Saints, with Angels; and with thine Own Dear Self, sweet Jesu.

I Adore Thee, O my Saviour in all Thy Elevations. Thy Ele­vation on the Cross, the Day of Thy Passion, Thy Elevation in the Air, at the great Day of the Last Judgement; Thy Elevati­on to the Right-hand of Thy Fa­ther, in that never-ending Day of Eternity!

DEVOTION.

SAnctify me here now by Thy Presence, Renew me again by Thy Nativity, Purify me, by the Memory of Thy Passion, by which Thou hast Obliterated in Thy Self the Memory of those Sins, which lay so heavy upon Thee, to the very last Gasp of Thy Life here.

Ʋnde & Memores Domine, &c.

THen immediately to express that by Words, which he (just now did in Action,) the Priest makes a Solemn and more [Page 86]distinct Oblation to God the Fa­ther, Avowing that He Offers this (now Holy, Pure, and Im­maculate Sacrifice; as for the whole Church, so in the Person of Jesus Christ, whose room he supply'd in the Mystery of the Consecration.

And he sayes he does it in the Honourable Memory of the three great Mysteries of the Son of God, His Passion, Resurrection and Ascension. In the word Pas­sion, including whatsoever the Son of God Suffer'd for Us, from the first Moment of his Concep­tion to the very last of his Death: All which space, was one con­tinual Suffering for the Re­demption of the World.

By these Three, methinks, the Church in this Sacrament, (which she calls Mysterium Fidei) would represent unto our Thoughts the [Page 87]very principal and most necessa­ry Objects of our Faith, without which we cannot be sav'd: Which are (in St. Augustin's Judgement,) the Passion and Re­surrection (of which the Ascension is the accomplishment) of Jesus Christ.

And for this very Reason (perhaps) is the number of Three so often observ'd in the Bene­dictions, Crosses and Oraisons; to intimate to Us; the Holy Trini­ty, the Capital Object of our Faith, and withall this Blessed Sacrament, which is Offer'd up to all Three Persons therein, though attributed more parti­cularly to the Father.

This may here be Noted by way; that the Crosses made by the Priest on the Hoste after Con­secration, are not (as others) Benedictions, but only marks of [Page 88]Crucifying of the Hoste, inti­mating the particular manner of its Immolation.

DEVOTION.

BLess me, O my God, by fre­quent Impressions made upon my Soul, of Thy Death and Passion; as the Priest makes Tokens thereof, by so often Sign­ing the Cross ✚, upon Thy Body and Blood, after he hath Offer'd them up unto Thy Father.

Multiply upon Me, Thy Graces in abundance; Now that thou hast vouchsafed to Consecrate and make Me Thy Son by Baptism, and to Feed me in the Fucharist with thine own Substance, the same with That of the Son of God; That my Whole Life may be suitable to so Divine a Birth and Aliment.

Accord me the Grace, I Pray Thee, that in all Occurences of This Life, Good or Bad, I may still draw Comfort from Thy Cross to support me; that I may Ever and anon, renew in my mind the Memory thereof so effectually, as thereby to sweeten to my self, my Sufferings, and to learn Mo­deration in Happier Success; and throughout the whole course of my Time, to find still, in That Histo­ry, seasonable Applications to all my Necessities.

At the Supra Quae.

NExt He Prays God Graci­ously to accept from Us, This Sacrifice, remembring how well he was pleas'd with That of Abel, that of Abraham, and [Page 90]that of Melchizedech; that so, having so kindly taken from those Holy Men (the most Fa­mous Sacrificers in all Antiqui­ties,) such remarkable Types and Figures of This; he would not less favourably receive from Us The Substance it Self; but endue us with some of that Grace and Purity, wherewith They ac­companied the Offering up of what was indeed but the shad­dow of This.

DEVOTION.

I Beseech Thee, O my God, That as This Sacrifice is altogether Spiritual and Divine; having nothing in It of Sensible or Earth­ly, but only the Outward Ap­pearance, and Shell as it were; so I may Offer it up to Thee, toge­ther with the Priest, by a Motive [Page 91]and Inspiration wholly Spiritual and Divine; in such manner, as That, the very External Actions themselves flowing from; and go­vern'd by it, may have Nothing of Flesh or Corporealness in them, except the bare Appearance, and Outside only: And that all the Works and Services which I pay to Thee, during my whole Life, may be One Continual Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving, Inter­nal and from the Heart: That being (according to the Scriptures) the Chief Sacrifice that thou likest and Callest for.

Thus let me Imitate the Devo­tion of those Holy Patriarchs, Abel, Melchizedech, and Abra­ham; who Sacrific'd to Thee after the same manner long before the Evangelical Law of Grace by Voluntary Affection, and not by Command, in the Spirit, not Let­ter; [Page 92] and became thereby the most Notable Figures, of the Sacrificing that Thou performd'st afterward, more perfectly, to Thy Father; and that all Thy Faithful are ob­lig'd to perform, together with Thee, all their Life long.

Let me not Rest in, or Con­tent my self with, the bare Out­ward Actions and Ceremonies how Solemn and Pompous, and truly Great soever they are them­selves; but Worship Thee, chiefly by a Movement that comes into my Heart (like that Fire of Old) from Thee thy self, in that Spirit; and in That Truth, which alone Sove­raignly Ingratiate to Thee what­ever is Offer'd; Even this very Oblation of Thy Self.

Supplices te Rogamus.

HE proceeds higher, and Prays that this Sacrifice, may now be Offer'd, rather up­on that High-Altar of Gods in Heaven by his most Holy Angel. For touch'd with a Conscious­ness of his own great unfitness to Offer a Sacrifice so tran­scendently Holy, he falls back, to Re-substitute Jesus Christ in his own room, that He, himself (who is The Angel of the Great Councel,) would Offer It up to the Divine Majesty.

By this imploying, that as Je­sus Christ is the only High-Priest for this Sacrifice, so He alone is fit to be the Presenter of It to His Father, and to hear [Page 94]the Name of Angel, (however it be in some sense Communica­ted to other Priests also,) and that no man is worthy to be, in this; no, not so much as His De­puty.

DEVOTION.

YEt, (after all) 'tis not Me, O my God, 'tis not Me, nor any one else here Offering Sacri­fice to Thee, that I desire Thee to Regard in this Action; Regard Jesus Christ; who is That Angel, That Mediator between God and Men, That Sacrificer for the whole Church, Regard Him.

Be He the Person, that now Presents to Thee this most Holy Host; and be We meerly and bare­ly His Instruments; not stirring in this Heavenly Operation, in the [Page 95]least guise as we are Animated, and Mov'd by His Spirit.

And whatsoever we have about us, Impure and Unclean, let It all sall off, aad be quite remov'd from us by the Cleansing power of Thy Grace! That, As, in very deed, It is not We that Live, but He that Lives in Us; so It may truly be said, It is not We now that Offer up to Thee this Sacri­fice, but It is He that Offers it in Us; as who alone hath the Fa­culty and Power to do It.

But keep Ʋs, (all the while This is doing) in a Trembling Posture, looking at this Sacrifice and My­stery, as that which the Church hath thought and styl'd Terrible; that, all our Confidence in a Business of this High Nature (so infinitely beyond the Port of our low and despicable Condition) may be rais'd, and support It self solely [Page 96]upon Jesus Christ; and we be no more than the visible Hands of that other Invi [...]sible one, by which he presents It to Thee above, upon that Caelestial Altar.

The Second Memento.

THis Sacrifice now fully per­fected, He designes it, First for the Dead; Offering It up for Them in a particular Commemoration; (following here in the custom, ever practic'd in the Church. 2. And then for the Living; and more earnestly and (intimated by a Thump on the Breast, and a more Audible Tone) for such as are Present; that we may all be joyn'd to the Society of Those in Glory; not for our Merits; but for those of [Page 97]Jesus Christ; since we have none of our own, but what He pleases to Impart to Us, and account Ours.

DEVOTION.

DO not forget, O Lord, Those Souls whom, (though gone out of this World;) Thou hast yet a Favour for; because they are better dispos'd for the receiving the Effects of Thy Mercy, in That Condition, than those, who are still joyn'd to this Body of Clay.

Haste, so much the more to help Them, as They do more Humbly, and more Patiently wait for Thy help; desiring no other Happiness than to fulfill thy Will, and good Pleasure; and therefore, finding (so far as That is done upon them) even in Purgatory, and in the midst [Page 98]of extream pains (which they suffer) a kind of Paradice.

I would, I had as much Purity as They; to be the more capable of Interceding for Them! But since I come far short of That; I inter­pose, and present Thee with that of those Saints, who now reign with Thee, (which is the best that can be found among Creatures,) but espe­cially with that of the King of Saints Thy Son; from whom, as from the Fountain and Head flow all those Graces and Merits which Thou hast Communicated to Thy Servants; and to whom, thou canst not deny the farther Perfecting, and Final Accomplishment of Thine Elect; since Thou hast al­ready begun to work Righteousness and Holiness in Them.

Add then, and Finish the Rest of what is to be done in Them; and Unite both the Living and the [Page 99]Dead to Thy Son; as to the proper Head of Their Body, and only Source of their Virtue and Victo­ry; that, together with Him, they may Sing to Thee Triumphant Lauds to all Eternity, after they have Labour'd, and Suffer'd, as He, and in Him, to Thy Glory, in this World.

DEVOTION.

O That these Words, now spoken out, by the Priest, might Humble me Effectually, to make me Cry to Thee for Mercy; for my self and all Thy Faithfull upon Earth; who all, with me now, appear before Thee, but as One and the same sinner, and one and the same Penitent.

Work in me the Flexibleness, and Humble dejection of that Publican, whom Thou hast Justi­fy'd, in the Temple and under the Law; that smiting my Breast, like Him, I may obtain the same Grace, which Thou accorded'st to Him, at the same time that Thou didst blast the Pride of the Pha­risee.

Per quem Haec Omnia, &c.

ANd from this Acknow­ledgment of our own Worth­lessness, the Priest goes on, to another much Greater; Con­fessing to God the Father, that also This Sacrifice (now upon the Altar,) and all its worth and Virtue, or what ever else con­tain'd in it, comes only from [Page 101]Him by Jesus Christ, by whom He Creates It, to be a Source of Sanctity and Life, and all Blessings; and so Gives It to Ʋs.

Not, but that Jesus Christ was all this before; But because by the same Act by which He produceth Him in this Sacra­ment, He likewise Communi­cates to Him all those Graces and Virtues which he hath; as, by that Act by which He begot Him from all Eternity, He also en­dow'd Him with all those Excel­lencies and Perfections proper to the Son of God; and so, is the production of this Sacra­ment, a lively Image of that Eternal Generation.

Nor is this yet all, that is acknowledg'd; but farther, That the same God the Father thus pro­ducing & qualifying this Sacra­ment, also Gives it to Ʋs, (Prae­stas [Page 102]Nobis) and by it derives in­to Us a Participation of all the Excellencies it contains; so that this Sacrament, becomes not only an Image of that Eternal Generation of Jesus Christ before all time, but also of that Incar­nation of Him, by which, in time, the Father gives Him to Us, and with Him all His Per­fections by a New Production; as in many Places Holy Scrip­ture testifies.

DEVOTION.

THee, O God the Father, Thee I Adore, as the Prime and Original Author of this Sacrifice, and wonderful Mystery.

The Holy Ghost makes It by the Priest; Jesus Christ makes It by the Holy Ghost, but Thou makest It by Jesus Christ; and [Page 103]'tis from Thee, as from its Foun­tain, that all the Graces, all the Perfections, all the Great things contain'd in this Sacrament are deriv'd; and It again becomes ano­ther Fountain of them to Ʋs.

I Admire and Celebrate, from the bottom of my Heart this Mi­racle; and more yet that Bounty, which (after it hath wrought it) so Applies it to Men; thereby to Feed them; thereby to Save them; just as, (for Thy Works have no Parallels, but Thy works,) just as, Thou gavest Thy only Son to Men by another Miracle of Incarnati­on in the fulness of time after Thou hadst first begotten Him in Thy bosom before all Time, by (which transcends all Miracles) an Eter­nal Generation.

O let this account of Thy good­ness debase and cast me down as low, as doth mine own Illness; [Page 104] since, in the midst of all these Fountains and Sluces of Graces, so super-abundantly deluging from forth this Mystery; wretched I, shall still remain, parch'd, and barren, and dry, and Wither'd I, unless thou stream into me from thence, (and that uncessantly) another new Grace, by which I may suck in the Benefit of all the rest.

Per Ipsum, & cum Ipso, & in Ipso, &c.

NExt to these Two Acknow­ledgements; the Priest here makes a Third; That That Ho­nour and Glory that ariseth to God the Father from this His Infinite Bounty, comes not to Him, but By, and With, and In Jesus Christ.

By Jesus Christ, as through the Hands of a Mediator, for God receives nothing from Us im­mediately, nor we from Him; but Jesus Christ standing in the middle between, Hands all things from the Father to Us, and so back again from Us to the Father.

With Jesus Christ, Because the Son being in all things equal to the Father, receives too equally with Him, the Glory that men render unto Him, and all in the Union of the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Christ, Because He is the Vine, and all men but the Branches in Him, and only by being in Him can they bear any Fruit to His Father, the Husband­man.

DEVOTION.

EStrange me, O my God, from from all Humane Inventions, and ways of Worshipping Thee, of what sort soever, though never so specious and Holy in Appearance!

In things of Thy Service, let me never be Acted by my own private Spring; by my own pro­per Spirit; nor upon any Motive, tending to give my self Satisfacti­on: That I may do nothing, but at the Call, and in submission to the Conduct, and by the Spirit of Thy Son; since Thou Receivest not any thing from Us, but what we Offer unto Thee by Him, as being the Mediator; nay, as being the First Mover and Author of all the Good we do; nor received'st it so, neither, but in the same Act by which He receives It, together [Page 107]with Him, because both are one and the same Nature, One and the same God; and therefore are both equally concern'd, and Honour'd by the Homages we pay.

Lastly, Thou receivedest nothing but in Him also; (that is,) but from Those, who are so in Him, as that He, and They are but One; living in the Unity of His Body consisting of such Members, and Co-integrated with Him, (in a True, though not Ordinary sense) In one person.

May I never be perswaded to ac­knowledge any other manner of Honouring and Serving Thee, or of Performing Acts and Exer­cises of Holy Religion to Thee, but This, wherein are compriz'd, and to which tend, all that be good and True, so that (in Effect) The Eucharist, and Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Thy Son, may [Page 108]be to Me not only a Lively Repre­sentation and Continual Memo­rial of His Passion; but also a complete and moving Model of all the Actions and good Works that belong to a Christian Life.

O, Holy Body of my Saviour! Let Virtue Issue out from Thee to Bless me; Now that the Priest Lifts Thee, and the Chalice a little up from the Altar into the Air, and presently re-placeth you there again. It is, even so O Lord, that thou usest to give Ʋs suddain and short Glympses of Thy Self, in this Life, by cer­tain quick Gleams of Light, which dure not like those Thou displayest in Heaven, permanently, and Eter­nally! But 'tis enough to make me Thine for ever; that but once, thou vouchsafe to pass before the Eyes of my Soul, though but like a flash of Lightning, as hereto­fore thou didst to Elias.

Humble my Soul lowly with the Priest, still as He bowes so oft before thee at Thine Altar, and Adores Thee in Silence. Let the Eyes thereof shew their Modest Submission, in Closing themselves to All the Objects of this World, and They shall quickly discern Thee upon the Altar of my Heart within, when I am Thus become Thy True Temple.

At the Pater Noster.

NOw these acknowledge­ments (or Acts of Faith) being thus Solemnly made; that whatsoever Good we receive from, or whatsoever Service or Worship, or Glory we there­upon pay to God, do all pass through Jesus Christ; the Priest [Page 110]proceeds to desire that this de­vout Spiritual Commerce be­tween Heaven and Us may be put in Execution; and he begs It, not only in the Name of Jesus Christ, joyning himself to Him, as a Brother, imploring one common Father; but in Those very words which Jesus Christ taught Ʋs to say; Testifying thereby, that, not only the Ex­ternal Vocal Prayer (which he recites) is His; but the Inter­nal, Mental one too; and that It is He, and His Spirit that Prayes in Ʋs, and makes Ʋs Pray, and say so.

But because, in the very first words of this Lords Prayer, we are to call God Our Father; The Priest reflecting upon the great­ness of the Honour we receive by being permitted the Use of That Title; because of Gods Infinite [Page 111]Eminency and Grandeur above Us, vile and abject Creatures, Infinite unworthy to take such a Term into our Mouths, He ex­cuses this Presumption in Him­self, and Us; declaring, that if we dare to call God Our Father, It is, not only by the command of Jesus Christ; but also by the very Express form of words so drawn by Himself, for Us to do It by; which we much less dare to alter, or omit.

Wherefore he proceeds to say it; as with some Considence (shewn by a louder Tone) so, with Earnest and flagrant Desire, that what is contain'd in this Prayer, may be accomplish'd, and stand Ratify'd for ever; To which Vote the People give their most Hearty Assent, by their subjoyn­ing the last Clause (as it were Subscribing and Sealing it with) Et Libera nos a Malo.

And thus is the Canon of the Mass clos'd with the same Joynt desire of Priest, and People; and with the same Elevation of Hearts, and Aspiration towards God, as its Preface began with.

DEVOTION.

TIs most properly Now, (Cer­tainly) Now at the Holy Mass, that Thou Obligest Ʋs to believe Thee to be Our Father; Now that Thou here dispencest to Ʋs Thy Childrens Bread, [...]eding Ʋs, with the Body and Blood of thine only Son, with His very Substance, Humane and Divine, to make Ʋs Gods too, and Chil­dren of the most High.

This Largess and Honour is so Great, that, though our Faith permits not to doubt of It, yet an Humble Estimate of our selves [Page 113]and true Acknowledgement of our great vility and unworthiness makes it (almost) incredible; at least suffers us not to receive any assu­rance thereof, but in the single & bare contemplation of thy Mercy only.

Imprint, (we beseech thee,) This Resentment so deep in our Souls, that we (growing as little in our own esteem, as we are de­sign'd to be Great in Thine) may, therefore be made the more certain of this Great Favour, and Incom­prehensible Dignity; and by this means be in a better disposition and preparation to receive the precious Earnest thereof, in the Commu­nion of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, which is but the Typical Pledge of that Other Infinitely Higher and more Au­gust, which thou reserv'st for us in Heaven.

Only, take such Care of Ʋs, in the mean time, that we no way degenerate from this Divine qua­lity of being Children of Thine; nor render Our Selves unworthy of having Thee for Our Father, by some Ungracious deed, that may argue Ʋs to Be, no less than thy profest Enemies.

O, (if the frailty of this Pre­sent Life, is not Compatible with an absolute Freedom from all sorts of Faults, as (we are sure) the Feli­licities of the Next will be; yet) Guard Ʋs, at least, that we incur none but such, as are altogether Inseparable from this Frailty; and so ruine not that Dignity, which Thou hast given us, of being Thy Children, for all This: Only take we good heed still, of Explating them again, as soon as ever com­mitted; and of Procuring from Thee our Own Pardon, by Par­doning [Page 115] in like manner, freely and from the Heart, whosoever have Offended Us; since this is that most Equitable Condition, which thou hast so wisely caution'd in this Admirable Prayer, and wilt sure­ly Observe, so as not to Pardon the Trespasses, against Thee Our Fa­ther; unless we first forgive those that our Brethren commit against Ʋs.

I cannot say, that I would desire such Exact Purity, or so Perfect an Absolution from all my Sins, for any other reason, but that I may be so able more Holily to Serve and Glorifie Thee; having no desire of any one thing in this World so much, as to see Thy Name Hallow'd, Thy Kingdom come and Establish'd in the total Ruine of Thine Enemies; Thy Will be done in the utmost Lati­tude, as well by good Men as Bad, [Page 116]These fulfulling It, though against their Own Will, but those in perfect Love, and True Obe­dience.

Libera Nos quaesumus Do­mine, & Da Propitius Pa­cem.

THe Canon ended; the Priest now begins to prepare Himself to the Participation and Communion of this Sacri­fice. Which he does First, by Imploring Peace from God. 2. And then wishing and deriving It to the People; (still shewing that he can impart to them, nothing of Himself, but must first receive it Himself from God.)

Now Peace is the chiefest and prime qualification or dispositi­on toward the Receiving of this Sacrament, which is a Sacra­ment of Ʋnion and Love: And therefore, as this Sacrament is the most Powerful means to work it in them, who partake thereof Worthily; so doth It prae-require It in Them (as far as they by other means can pro­cure It) that they may Wor­thily pertake thereof by express Precept of the Son of God so often repeated; and especially in that famous Text which Commands us to go, 5 Mat. 24. and be Recon­cil'd to our Brother, before we Offer up our Gift at God's Altar.

DEVOTION.

I Now supplicate Thee, O Lord, for this First Preparatory Peace, which is the necessary and best Disposition toward the receiv­ing of that other, which Thou de­sir'st to confer on Ʋs by this Holy Sacrament and Sacrifice; for in the Gospel we learn,Luc. 10.6.that Thy Peace cannot rest upon any but such as are First the Sons of Peace.

This Peace, then, not finding how to Repose It self upon me here, in a perfect Aboliton of All Passions, (as It shall do here­after in Heaven,) may It, at least, Possess me in a perfect Absolution from all my past Sins; which let me Hate and Abolish perfectly, by a True and Ʋnintermitted Peni­tence: That so, I may begin to [Page 119]receive now, in the Communion of this Sacrament That Peace, which consists in a total Ruine and Ex­tirpation of Passions; which are Calm'd and Cur'd more effectually by the Blessed Eucharist, than by any other Remedy whatsoever!

Ʋpon the Fraction of the Host.

IT is worth the Noting here; That, after the Priest hath made Supplication for This Peace of God, before He derive It, by way of Blessing, to the Church, He first divides the Host into three parts, representing the 3 several Estates and Portions of the Church, for which He hath implor'd Peace. And the part re­presenting this Portion of the Church Now Militant here on [Page 120]Earth, He laye down upon the Altar; that, which is for That other Portion Now Expectant in Purgatory, He holds still in his Hand; after he hath sever'd from It, a third Part, which he puts into the Chalice, to signify, both that third Portion of the Church, Now Regnant, and Triumphant (and as it were imbib'd and ab­sorpt into the Deity) in Heaven: And also Jesus Christ Himself, as the First Born from the Dead, and Re-uniting His Body and Blood, and so entring into the Glory of God, as the Head and Elder Brother of all the Saints.

Pax Domini.

ANd hence, in the very joyn­ing of this third part of the Hoste to the Chalice, he wisheth the Peace to the People, [Page 121]informing Us thereby, that Jesus Christ rais'd again, and Enter'd into Glory, gives Peace to his Church; and that This Peace is nothing else, but an over-flowing of that Complai­sant Tranquility, which in His Glory, himself infinitely abounds with, and fully satisfies the Blessed in Heaven.

DEVOTION.

INcrease in me, O my Father, Faith and Charity; That I may Believe, as this Sacrament now lying upon the Altar, is but one Bread only (that came down from Heaven) so, That the whole Church together with Jesus Christ make but one Body; and that the distinction and separation of Persons in It by distant places, do no more hinder Its Unity, than if They were all, [Page 122]and always visibly to the Eye, closely compact and joyn'd together, even as this Hoste upon the Altar, is still, (after its division into parts here, representing the divers Mem­bers in the Church) as truly and precisely one, as it was before.

I beseech Thee, Enable me to Love and Embrace Jesus Christ in Heaven; and his Members where-ever dispers'd throughout the World, with an Affection as True, and with an Enamouredness, as Great and Constant as if they were perpetually by me, and I en­joyed their Personal Corporal Pre­sence; Thy Grace Ʋniting Me to those, from whom I am absent; and severing me (in a Holy Ab­straction) even from, those to whom I am most Present; my very self, and all to whom Thou hast any way joyn'd me in this World.

The Agnus Dei.

TO Jesus Christ therefore in particular, is this Address made for that Peace; Praying Him three several times to vouchsafe It. Now to that part of his Church, here, yet remain­ing; as at His Ascention he gave it there to them he left be­hind; and as He Himself now enjoys It. and makes others en­joy It too; His Fellow-Citizens in that Jerusalem above, that City of Peace. And all this en­forc'd, not only by an Ardent Affection (imply'd in the Repe­tition) but also by a Choice and most pertinent Compellation of of Him, as of the Lamb of God, just now lying upon the Altar to [Page 224]take away our Sins, (the Impe­diments) and so making our full Reconciliation and Peace with the Father.

DEVOTION.

I Presume, O God, to Petition Thee for Thy Peace, though it be, indeed, The greatest of all Thy Gifts, since, but the day before Thy Death; thou left'st to Ʋs this Legacy, in the Persons of Thy Apostles, as the Close and Accomplishment of all the Rest; and wert pleas'd to stile Ʋs Children of Peace.

But let It be Thy Peace; not that of the World: The Inward Peace of Thy Holy Spirit to at subsists un-impair'd, in the midst of all pains and outward Conflicts to be sustain'd by Ʋs for Thy Service.

Let it be a Peace, wholly pro­ceeding from Thy Mercy: The Result of a Conscience undefil'd, and of Remission of all Sins; The Crown of a Perfect Righte­ousness, obtainable only by Thee, who art That Lamb of God, Sacrific'd to Reconcile Us unto Thy Father, and to make Peace between Heaven and Earth, which the Sin and Rebellion of Men and Angels had set at so great an En­mity.

I beg of Thee, then, That Peace, which is settled upon the Full For­giveness of Sin, which caus'd that division between Thy Father and Ʋs; that the Peace which I ought to have with Men, may be the Na­tural Issue of what I have with God First; and so be no Humane but a Divine Peace.

For, as the Wisdom of men, with Thee is but Folly, so neither [Page 126]is Humane Peace, any thing else than a War, displeasing to Thee; in so much that Thou hast profess'd to Persecute all those, and disperse their Bones, who so Combine to­gether.

I am transported with a parti­cular Joy, and Consolation; to hear it now Thrice Asserted, that Thou art He who takest away Our Sins; I were undone, but for That Mercy, and but for that farther Assurance which Faith gives me, that Thou in bearing our Sins in Thy Body, dost also Extinguish them; The Lost Sheep upon Thy Shoulders, being both Carry'd, and Cur'd.

The Pax Tecum.

THen he gives the Pax to all present, immediately after he hath ask'd It of Jesus Christ, by the peculiar Prayer to Him for that purpose, Domine Jesu Christe: And after he hath (as it were) taken It from the Altar submissively by a Holy Kiss, a Symbole of Peace.

But in the Mass for the Dead, all this is omitted and only Their Rest Pray'd for; because the Gi­ving of the Pax among the Faith­ful Assembled together, (which was Antiently by a Kiss Oral, as now by Kissing an Instrument, as a Crucifix, &c. for that use) was held as a Pledge of the Joy and Tranquility in Paradice; and [Page 128]so thought less proper for the days of Sadness and Mourning for those who yet by their Sins were detain'd from Entrance in­to That Joy.

DEVOTION.

SO Cur'd, I will take, and Kiss the Pax which is given to Me on the Priest's part, or rather, in truth, on Thine; since He him­self, before He derives It to the People, takes It from Thee, in That Kiss given to the Altar, which is in stead of Thee.

O, make me keep always This Peace, this Sacred Peace; and let me never care for other, as I am not taken with any thing call'd good, unless it come from Thee.

And in this Preparation let me Approach to the Communion of Thy Blessed Body, which (as is said,) [Page 129]is the Earnest and beginning of That more Perfect Peace, that we Hope to enjoy in Heaven, intima­ted by Thy Prophet, promising on Thy part, A Peace that transcends all other Peace.

The Communion.

NExt, the Priest having dis­pos'd Himself: to Com­municate, by those two Prayers, Domine Jesu Christi, Fili Dei, &c. and Preceptio Corporis; and pro­tested His own great Unworthi­ness, in those Words of the Cen­turion, Domine non sum dignus, &c. thrice re-doubled; after a little pause, (or Humble Examinati­on,) Eates the Body, and then Drinks the Blood in the Chalice: After each, adding a short Rap­ture or Meditation.

Then he proceeds to Communicate the Others that are dispos'd thereunto.

SHewing, hereby, that both Priest and People do par­take of the same Sacrifice, are fed with the same Spiritual Food, from the same Table, ad­mitted to the same Pasture, all in quality of being the Sheep of the same Shepheard.

And in this the Priest seems to Acknowledge: First, In Humi­lity, that in that Respect of be­ing a Sheep of Christ's, and to be fed by Him, He is nothing at all different from the People.

Secondly, In Charity, that the dispensing the things of God to the People, ought to proceed from the fulness which He hath received from God Himself; [Page 131]and that He is to feed the Faith­ful out of his Store, and that which remains over and above.

DEVOTION.

LOrd, I am not worthy of the least of all Thy Mercies, much less of the Greatest, as is this Communion of Thine own Body and Blood, by which, Thou enter­est into Me, and (in a most in­effable manner) minglest Thy self with my very Substance; trans­planting into Me, Thy Humani­ty, Thy Divinity, Thy Person; nay, (together with It,) The whole Trinity; so that I am, not only their Temple, as before, but in some kind, even one, with Thee and It.

This is a Favour so great, and so incomprehensible, that I may well look on my self as most unwor­thy [Page 132]of it; not only because I no way deserve It, but because I can no way Understand It, since it surpasses all thoughts of Men or Angels.

Grant me, that, after a Com­munion and Union so Miracu­lous, I be never any thing but Thine, never any thing but Thee: And that nothing be ever able to separate me, in the least kind, from Thee: But that I may see all Creatures far remov'd from, and Infinitely below Me, who am in Thee; and that, as I am not to Live, but In Thee, so I may have no Affection neither, No sense, but for Thee; Not coucern'd in any thing, but so far as thou wilt have Me, or as thou esteemest Thy self concern'd in It.

Let this Food be my Everlast­ing Nourishment, and let me so Relish It, that it may make me [Page 133]loose the Taste of all things else, and the gust of My self especially.

That remaining un-alter'd, and Incorruptible in my Heart; it may Consume all the Corruption in my Body and Soul, and Sublimate them to a Being totally Spiritual and Incorruptible too; partly, Now; but Perfectly, at the Great Resurrection.

May it be within me, a Head and Fountain of Life; perpetually running into Actions, and Increa­sing, toward that Life wholly Divine and Immortal; and re­tarding and putting off farther and farther the Encroachments of a Death, (which I still carry about Me;) In like manner, as the Cor­poral Food, which I take, re­spites me from the Assaults of Death, and helps to lengthen and prolong this Mortal Life of my Body.

let it be always at Hand, since It ought always to be in my Heart. And let the Remembrance and Respect wherewith I shall every Moment, (in a kind of Mastica­tion and Chewing) Honour and Adore: It Innure me to Taste and Comprehend the Excellency there­of, as far surpassing All Manna, or what-ever other most Delicate Dainties, which can never free Ʋs quite, from Perishing, but Perish themselves; whereas This on the contrary hath an undecayable Life in It self, and makes Ʋs to live everlastingly.

Let It be to me instead of all other! Affecting me with all the Pleasures and Gusts that any Spiritual Refection is capable of, as That Manna is said to give the Jews, all the Delicious Relishes that were to be sound in any other repast of the Body.

Let is fully satisfy me; and make me so Reflect upon this great Happiness of being fed, now in this Life, with the same Bread which so abundantly blesseth with all Felicities Men and Angels, that I never Covet more.

Let this Sacred Body, be the Soul of my Soul, as my Soul is the Soul of my Body; and let all my Thoughts and Affections, all Ener­gies, Motions and Actions, what­ever I feel or do, proceed from It; as all my Natural Movement and Operations come from my Soul.

Let it be in me A Spring of all Graces, streaming them out unto me every moment suitably to my Necessities; That Well of Liv­ing Waters flowing up to Ever­lasting Life, which it hath pleas'd God to open, not only in the midst of His Church, as in the middle of Paradice: But also in the [Page 136]Middle and Heart of every Faith­ful Soul, which is to Him, no less a Paradice, and a Church, than the whole Ʋniversal.

Let this Divine Source, quench the Thirst of my Soul; Allay my Heats, and Irregular Desires, by Nourishing another Supernatural Heat of Grace and Divine Love, which Dissipates those strange In­flamations, and Carnal Feavers of Concupiscence; and may that Love consume in me the very Seed of Sin, as it Cherishes and makes take root that other Seed of Life and Im­mortality.

Let this Admirable Spring float my Soul, higher and higher above all Creatures Visible and In­visible, till it bring it up into my God, from whom it self is fed; it being natural to all Waters to raise themselves as high as their Beginnings, and to Advance [Page 137]thither too, whatever they carry.

Let this Food, as soon as I have taken It, give Proof of its Effi­cacy; in making me Strong and Potent against those occasions of Sinning, which before abus'd my Feebleness, and were too preva­lent over Me.

Let it give me New Spirits and Light, First to discover and dis­cern; and then to Crush and de­stroy the least Reliques and Re­mains of any Sin, into whatever part it is Retir'd, or under what disguise soever It lurks and hides: These being, indeed, the True Idols and Abominations which God hath commanded to put from Ʋs and utterly to annihilate, if we mean to Receive and Conserve His Grace.

Lastly, It is My Saviour Him­self that is in This Sacrament: O, that I might Love (according to [Page 138]His Example here,) Retirement, Re-collection, Abstraction and Separation from all Creatures, as He continues still unmix'd with any, (now, no less, in, within me; than in the whole Church) always, In a Profound Silence? under a Wonderful Humility, leading, here, a Life perfectly In­ternal, and absorpt in a Contem­plation, and Adoration perpe­tual, of the Greatness and Incom­prehensible Majesty of God his Father!

DEVOTION.

THe Fragments, O Lord! The least Crum that jalls from [Page 139]Thy Table, the least Drop of Thy Wine, no Remainder of Thy Honey Comb, is so little, but is enough for me, as well as for that modest Canaanite; and for Thy Apostles, at that miraculous En­tertainment in the Desart, or at That Collation upon Thy Resur­rection.

Indeed all the Graces, that we are capable of in This Life, are but Crums falling from That Thy Table above; but few drops of that Inexhaustible Fountain, with which, Thy Blessed in Heaven, are so abundantly Refresh'd, but on Ʋs here, are but sprinkled, a little to relieve our Necessities, and sustain Ʋs from fainting in our Passage through the Desart of This World.

Yet; (as Thou art, no less whole and Entire, in the pettyest Par­ticle and Attom of these Symbols, than in the biggest Portion; so) I [Page 140]avouch, that there is force enough to Nourish me, and to Strengthen me too, against all mine Enemies; in the Lightest Grain of Thy Grace; because Thou art always All in It; and With, and By It dost uncessantly derive Thy Spirit into Our Hearts.

Which, well considered, should Oblige Ʋs, everyone, to live Con­tented in This Life, (as we shall do in the Next) be the Gifts Great or Small that we receive from Thy Mercy.

Ʋpon the bringing back again of the Book to the Right-Hand.

IT is to shew, that the Gospel which was remov'd from the Jews, at first, shall return to them again, and be receiv'd, towards the end of the World.

And then, (the whole Church, consisting both of Jew and Gen­tile, being United together,) The Priest Blesseth God for all the Favours shewn to it in order thereunto; and particularly for the Present Communion, by which he hath re-united so many; be­seeching Him that this Recei­ving of Him at this time may tend to His everlasting Honour.

DEVOTION.

I Admire and Adore, O my God, Thy Goodness and In­sinite Patience; who, having been so long Oppos'd and Vilifi'd by the Jews, wilt yet, at last, before the end of the World receive them again for all that, and restore to them the Light of the Gospel, before taken from them: as is signifi'd by bring­ing back the Book, before the Mass [Page 142] ends, to the place It had at the beginning.

God forbid, I should ever De­spair, of any Sinner, how Great, or Wretched and Harden'd soever he be, as long as He yet Lives! No, let me rather, in all Humility wait, till Thy Mercy or Thy Justice de­clare it self toward Him, in the Season that Thou hast appointed; and the mean while Pray for Him: Wishing Him Thy Grace, with the same Charity, wherewith Thy Church still implor'd It for the Jews her Enemies and first Perse­cutors, though receive it they should not till after many Ages; and at present, are Harden'd, and even Abandon'd by Thee, after a manner most notoriously Hideous.

O let me so Intercede for a Mer­cy, and a true Repentance, for the worst of mine Enemies! make me carry them always in my Heart, [Page 143]though they little deserve It, and have turn'd me out of theirs; as Thou lodgest and bearest me in Thine, without considering my un­worthiness; and wert willing to receive me, even when I hated Thee, and ran from Thee as fast, and as far as I was able.

Sweeten me into a Benignity! that as I have receiv'd Thy Grace without all merit; so I may keep it without all Envy, and be an ear­nest Suitor unto Thee, that Thou wouldst vouchsafe it also to those, who (I am sure,) cannot less de­serve it than I. Nay, let it be to me a particular delight and joy, when ever Thou shalt be pleas'd to indulge it to them in a greater abundance than Thou hast done to me; that so, even their abundance may be as truly mine, and the [...]ches of them supply what is wanting in me, as Thy Apostle says.

At the last Benediction.

AFter this tender of Thanks; in Conclusion of all, the Priest turns to the People, to Bless them; as was us'd to be done in the Old Law, after the Sacri­fice, and shall be more fully done hereafter by our Saviour Him­self, in that General Benediction, of all the Elect, at the end of the World. Hence is it that he reads the Gospel of St. John, treating particularly of the Eter­nal Generation of the Word, and the Highest Mysteries of that His Deity; To shew, that, imme­mediately after that Last Bene­diction, we shall pass into Hea­ven; there to be better acquain­ted with, and Eternally Admire [Page 145]and Praise these Mysteries: And that Jesus Christ, having ga­ther'd together all His chosen, shall lead them in, and place them in the Bosom of His Father, where He is from all Eternity His Only Son; and where He shall admit Us as His Brethren, that where He is, We may be also; and this without any pre­judice of His being still the On­ly, because He shall make Us One with Him. Amen.

DEVOTION.

I Beseech Thee, O my God, to make me so partaker of Thy Body and Blood, and so to Order the rest of my Life; that I may receive That great Benediction which Thou shalt give to Thy Ser­vants at the Last day; The which, is now Represented unto Me by [Page 146]This, which the Priest gives to the People, in the end of the Mass.

In the Hope of This let me live, and grow Invincibly strong, against the rudest Assaults of the Enemy. In the expectation of so great Comfort, let my Heart be so Establish'd as to Dread nothing; nor can the greatest Beauties or Pleasures in This World seem any thing to the sight of That last Glory, or to the perception of That Blessing accumulative of all Bles­sings, which then shall be receiv'd, in the presence of Millions of Angels, and of all Men, which ever were, or shall be.

DEVOTION.

ANd, after that Solemn Be­nediction, take me, O my God, with Thee into Heaven; that Heaven of Heavens! Where I may enjoy Thee in Thy Majesty, in thy Beatitude, and Life so Glo­rious! A Scantling of which seems to be Represented to Ʋs, by that Beginning of St. John's Gospel, which is said after the Mass. Wherein those two Sublime Points of Our Faith, the Trinity, and the Incarnation, are Insisted on, to shew that Our Eternal Happi­ness shall consist in the Clear Vision of That, which here we have [Page 148]humbly acknowledg'd and embrac'd though but in the obscure and Im­perfect Light of Faith; and that We shall Live Eternally, By Con­templation of the Essence, and Trinity of the Persons in the God-head, as Thou Thy self livest in it, by Comprehension.

Remove, O Lord, out of my mind any other Thought, and out of my Heart all other Delight or Pleasure! Let me now in Time, take full Contentment in This Ob­ject, which (and no other,) must make me Happy in Eternity.

I Believe.

O My Saviour and my God! When I consider that this Heavenly Manna, thy most Holy Body, (so miraculously contriv'd to be our Nourishment, as we pass through the Desart of this World) is affirmed to be truly and Sub­stantially present upon the Altar, immediately after the Words of [Page 152] Consecration; I am struck with wonder and amazement, and have not a word left me to say, but this, (which is a plain con­fession of my ignorance, and all that those Israelites could reply upon the first view of that other Manna) Man hu, Man hu. What's this! What's this!

Lord have pity on me! My best natural understanding, my Judgement, as rational and hu­mane, all my Senses set them­selves in opposition to it, and frame a thousand objections to the contrary, to deterr me away: (say they,) How can it possi­bly be that Christ should give us his very Flesh to eat? This is the hardest saying of all, never to be conceiv'd, never to be Be­liev'd.

But it is by thy Grace, O my God, that these Seducers in my own Bosom have not yet prevai­led upon me; I have done still, as those two great Servants of thine Councel'd me, St. Ambrose and St. Austin: I have fled presently to my Creed; and opposed to all their contradictions, that Sym­bol, that short Lesson, which thy Apostles took care to teach thy servants heretofore. In the first place, I Arm my self with that, as with a sure Cart of thy protection: with It I close and shut up my Heart as with a Sig­net, that none of all these sug­gestions can find the way in; and like a well-stor'd Quiver, it hath afforded me a thousand and a thousand good Shafts, by which I am enabled to keep them off, and ruin them all.

What? (say I;) if all other Arguments were nothing; doth not this one word alone, that stands in the very Front of my Creed, (I Believe) suffice to defeat the forces of all such Rebellious Thoughts, and make them fall backward?

I Believe, 'Tis the word that was given me at my first entrance and Enrolment in this sacred Militia, and was pronounc'd by me then, at my Baptism, by the mouth of those who there un­dertook for me; and I must still make it good.

I am therefore, not one that pretends to be an understander of the Mysteries of my Salvation; not a Disputer, not one of the Intelligent; but my Profession is to be one of the Faithful, a Be­liever. And therefore, by how much hard and incomprehensible [Page 155]this Sacrament is made appear to me, by so much the more is it likely to be one of the Articles I am to believe, and so rendred by its proposal more venerably credible; For Faith There, comes to its true Lustre, and is seated, as it were on its Throne; where the Understanding is most hum­bled by Obscurities.

ARTICLE I. In God the Father Almighty, ma­ker of Heaven and Earth. &c.

God is God in all his works, God. but his Deity appears to us most in his Greatest: And be­cause this Sacrament is confess'd to be one of them (if not the ve­ry Greatest of all) what surer Te­stimony can it bring with it, to make me believe it to be so, (the [Page 156]work of the Almighty,) than its being wonderful, and un-intelli­gible?

Are there not Three distinct Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in one and the same single Essence? A compleat Trinity in a most simple Ʋnity? That Faith which hath swallowed and di­gested this transcendent difficul­ty; how comes it now to stick, and make scruple of Believing One and the same Body to be in divers places at once?

God defend me from the temper of those Rebellious Children, The Father. that came to question his Omnipotent Arm; and say, can he prepare a Table for us in the Wilderness? (And could all their projecting thoughts ever have pitcht upon such a way as that of Manna?)

Well, whatever part of this Paschal Lamb I cannot Chew by my Reason, I will cast it into, as it were, the Fire of the unlimi­ted power of this Fa­ther, Almighty. whom I believe to be Almighty; These little Clouds of Difficulties, that so intercept, and put this Sacra­ment out of the sight of our Na­tural Eye, how easily do they vanish in the clear Sun-shine of Gods Omnipotency? What so hard, that this Fire consumes not?

The bare Word God hath had such Virtue, Maker of Heaven, &c. as to give a Being to such things as were not at all; How much more is it able to give a different Being to what already is? and how? and in as many places as he pleaseth? He hath made that which was Not at all any where, [Page 158]to be Some-where; why can he not as well make That which is but Some where, to be every where.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord.

Whilst I am assured, O my Saviour, His Son. that thy Father so loved the World, as to give Thee, (his on­ly Son) to be its Feeder, and Physician; What wonder is it, (say I within my self,) if this Son, of equal Love and Bounty with his Father, do (further) give himself to be its very Food, and Physick too; thereby to make himself more intrinsecal­ly, a Saviour, and King, Our Lord. and Lord over All, and through All.

Which was conceived of the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary.

So wert thou Conceiv'd O my God, in the Womb of a Virgin, without any use of Man! And why then do we look for Natu­ral Conditions and Pro­perties in That Body, Conceiv'd. which was made at first; not according to the Order of Nature? and Born of a Vir­gin.

Since thy Body took up no place then, when it came forth thro' the un-open'd and Virginal Womb of thy Mother, (for, o­therwise, Born. it had forced the Seale of her Virginity) piercing it only as the Sun-beams do the Christal; How should it seem incredible, that in the Sacrament, it needs as little Locality.

Suffer'd under Pontius Pilate, was Crucify'd, Dead and Buried.

He that Lov'd Thee so dearly, O my Soul, that, (when he could have sav'd thee with shedding but one drop of his Blood only; nay, by the least of his Sufferings; yet) was so willing to expose all his Body to such Torments, and Passion, and to a most bitter Death too, that thou mightest have Life; Ah! He it is; the very same He, who, (that This life might be preserv'd and main­tain'd in thee) gives thee That Body to Nourish it too! Or is this only so hard to be believ'd, from his Love? whilst every Mo­thers Love, contents not it self, to have brought forth an Infant, partaking of the same substance with themselves, unless with the [Page 161]same substance they proceed to Feed and Nourish it too?

The truth is; After so many divers Shadows, and Represen­tations of that Passion of His, wherewith his Servants were once sustain'd; as the Paschal Lamb, Manna, and many others; It had been a very lean and hun­gry Commemoration, a cold Entertainment of it for his Chil­dren; If, to that purpose there had been set before them, no­thing, but meer Bread and Wine.

He descended into Hell, the third day He rose again from the Dead.

Again, if he, that would have Visited his Friends, Descent. lodg'd in the Bosom of Abraham many other ways; yet had rather Descend in Person, and visit them by the Real [Page 162]Presence of His Soul: Why should it seem strange, if, in like manner, tho' he could have found out infinite other means to Nou­rish Ʋs by, yet he made choice of This as the most endearing, most Admirable, most Amorous, even to give his Own Flesh to Us for Food

If by his Raising It from the Dead, Resurrection. he hath quite freed His Body from those grosser Pro­perties of Passibility or suffering violence, of Weight, of Thickness, of Opacousness and the like; so that with It he penetrated the Stone of his Sepulchre, pass'd through Doors that were shut, (which could never be done but by causing two Bodies to be so in one place, that the One should take up no room) made it invisible, Ʋnpalpable, Imperceptible, and to [Page 163]take up no place at all; why can he not make It so in this Sacra­ment, though never so excluded from Room or Sense; since he hath affirm'd It to be there? Why should we tie him still to the conditions of a mortal and Corruptible Body?

He Ascended into Heaven; Sit­teth on the right Hand of God the Father Almighty.

Can it seem strange to us that This Body of his, should come in­to Our Bodies Really and substan­tially, though supernaturally; when as mounting lighter and swifter than any Bird, Ascent. beyond all the Laws of a Humane Body, It soar'd above all the Spheres, and sat It Self down at the right Hand of God his Eather, far [Page 164]beyond the highest Heavens, out of all Place and Where? (for what Superficies can environ That Body, which is above all Bodies?) And then, what hinders but that It may be present here too, after the same manner, without fil­ling any Place or Ʋbi.

And from thence He shall come to Judge the Quick and the Dead.

And so, no longer confin'd to Place or Ʋbi, His coming. nor subject to Weightiness; He shall appear at the last day with His Saints in the Air, made Visible to all Men, where-ever they are (though to divers effects,) as Miraculously as he is now Invisible to them in the Sacrament.

And then shall He Judge as Guilty of His Body and Blood, [Page 165]those that have participated of this precious and adorable Sa­crament unworthily, because they discern'd not the Body of their Lord.

Of what kind of Meat was it ever said, but this; that He that eat It unworthily, became Guilty of the Blood of Jesus Christ? because it being Really the Body of Jesus Christ, It makes them too really guilty of It, who abuse It, and discern it not. No such severe Sentence is given about Manna, or the Paschal Lamb, though that in Eating Them, Christ was to be Fed on too, Spiri­tually, and by Faith.

I Believe in the Holy Ghost.

As all that God has done heretofore he hath done it by Holy Ghost. [Page 166]the Operation of the Holy Ghost; so doth he now by the same Holy Ghost, work these Supernatural Things, which none but Faith conceives.

How shall this thing be, said (the Blessed Virgin) since I know not Man? The Angel Gabriel re­ply'd, The Holy Ghost shall come upon Thee, and the Power of the most High shall overshaddow Thee.

So now, thou demandest the like; How shall the Bread be made the Body of Josus Christ? and I, I answer then just so, The Holy Ghost overshadows and works these things inneffably, un-con­ceivably. That Holy Ghost that dictated the Sacred Text, would he have ever put in these words there, so plain and punctual, as are, This is my Body, were it not the true Body of our Lord? would He not have added there some [Page 167]declaration of his meaning, had it been other than what those words do bear in their principal and proper acception? He that was sent to teach the Church all Truth, would He have let it fol­low an Errrour and a Lye, in an Article of such importance? and so long together?

The Holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints.

And (in good ear­nest) how could one call the Church Holy (which is never but One, H. Cath. Church. in all times and places, where, and when it is,) if it did not maintain the Truth, as well in this point as in others, in all times, in all places, and amongst all Nations, which it hath not done, if the True Body of our Lord be not in the Sacrament?

Again, Communion of Saints. is there any more perfect Communion of Sts. than this? where­by we are One Bread and One Bo­dy, for as much as we are all par­takers of the same One Bread that came down from Heaven, living in It Self, and also giving life? And how can it be (precisely) understood, that we should all Eat of One and the same Bread, if this Bread were not the Body of Jesus Christ? otherwise, look how many places, nay, how many Persons; so many Breads (in strictness of speech,) there would be. And if you under­stand it so, that we Eat all One and the same Spiritual Food by Faith only, what greater Com­munion hereby, Saints, Christians. hath one Christian now with all other Chri­stians [Page 169]than He hath done with those Jews of Old, who Fed on Jesus Christ by Faith, and conse­quently on One and the same Spi­ritual Food?

The forgiveness of Sins.

Lord, thou hast said that Thy Body and thy Blood in this Sacra­ment was Given, Broken, and Shed for many, for the Remission of Sins. Ah, neverlet it enter into my thoughts to Believe, that any Other Blood was spilt, any Other Body given for the Remission of my Sins, than what was proper, and naturally Thine! And what? A simple Figure and Commemora­tion only of That, can it ever have such a Power? The Blood of the Heyfer sprinkled, (though the true and near Figure of that Blood shed upon the Cross, yet) [Page 170]serv'd only to the Purification of the Flesh: No, 'tis the Proper Blood of God alone, that purges Our Consciences from dead works, to serve the Living God.

The Resurrection of the Body.

O Gracious Jesus! When shall It be, that in a moment, in the twinkling of an Eye, at the last Trump, the Dead shall arise; and the same Flesh of every One now crumbled into Dust, and scatter'd a thousand ways, shall be re-compacted again into an Incorruptible, Immortal Consisten­cy?

Good God, the Miracle of Miracles This! And yet I am contemplating one (well nigh) Equal That in a Moment too, in the twinkling of an Eye, at the Trumpet of thy Word, that very [Page 171]Body of Thine, Seated at the right Hand of thy Father in Hea­ven is in a certain manner Re­produc'd in this Sacrament, in all places where-ever the Mystery of It, is duly Celebrated.

But, O my wonderful Saviour! If a little Leaven can Leaven a great Lump of Dough: If one Spark of Fire be enough to Enflame a whole House; if one Grain of Corn put into the Earth, there works so, as out of that Earth to cause so many more to grow, and shoot up; How may I hope that Thy Blessed Body entring in­to mine, will, Greg. Nyssen, cap. 37. in its due time, fer­ment it so, as to make It rise; warm and heat, and Enflame It so as to make It like Thy Glorious Body, and cause it to come up, Immortal, Impassible, Subtile, [Page 172]Nimble, Clear and Shineing with all the Radiant Qualities that be­long to Its perfection, and may be expected from so Divine a Seed. This Efficacy, I confess can never be in the Figures of thy Body: It comes only from the true and Real Presence of thy Precious Body It Self being There.

The Life Everlasting.

And indeed what other Nou­rishment, Blessed Saviour, but thy dear Body alone, can possi­bly give A Life Everlasting? It must be Bread that Lives It Self, or it cannot give Life, Bread that comes down from Heaven to give a Heavenly Life; Bread, that is no other than Thine Own Self my Lord and my God, to give an Immortal, Eternal, Ever­lasting Life.

The Manna which was a true Type and Figure of thy Body, yet could not do That, there is need of some Food to be had more Substantial, and Solid, and Spiritual for such a Life, and what can that be, but Thy Self who hast Life in Thy Self, and Livest now, and for evermore, World without End, Amen.

This you see (if you have Read and Weigh'd it well) that the Articles of Our CREED, can­not be consider'd in that full heighth, (wherein they ought to be literally and expresly believ'd, and profess'd by every good Christian;) but that withall, they dispose the Soul to a Firm Faith of the Real Presence of the true Body and Blood of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament; which Article, (thereby) seems to car­ry [Page 174]a very Natural and congeni­ous proportion to all the rest, at least as the possibility, I may add, and probability of it; which is enough for the first step.

The next step shall be to weigh the several Testimonies of the Fathers, and Their various Expressions; wherein they seem to Labour, so to set down what they believ'd in this High My­stery, as that it might not be mi­staken by Others; wherefore from Them it will further appear, that the Faith of the greatest part of the Church in all Ages, was, (as it is now,) of the Real Presence.

Lastly, Shall the particular Exceptions, Answers, Limita­tions, Distinctions, Subterfu­ges, of latter Dissenters, as to [Page 175]those Testimonies be produc'd and brought into the Light, One by One.

All this, if you receive not Sa­tisfaction before; and if not after, I have no other way left to help you with, but Prayer. Jam hoc qui dicit, Non meis Disputatio­nibus Refellendus sed Sancto­rum Orationibus Revocandus est. Aug.

Ad Mensam Dulcissimi Con­vivii, &c.

TO Thy Table, O most Boun­tiful Lord Jesus Christ, where, with such Delicious and Heavenly Food, Thou usest to Entertain and Feast Pure Souls; I a sinner, though not presu­ming on any Merit or Desert of Mine, but solely, on Thy Good­ness, and Gracious Invitation; do (yet) Tremble and Fear to approach.

For,

I have a Heart still prone to evil; and Treacherous evne to the deceiving of my Self:

A Mind unconstant in all good Purposes.

A Body enslav'd to sin, and which hath been Tainted, and render'd loathsome by Corrup­tion Original, and many Crimes committed in it:

Senses wholly depriv'd, and by long Custom dispos'd, to ad­mit any sort of Temptation.

Members, all retain'd for the Service of some Vice or other.

A Tongue especially, an un­ruly Evil, and under no Guard or Discipline; It self a very World of Iniquity.

And therefore now, in this Misery and great Perplexity, (what to do, and how to carry my self (in this Conjuncture of [Page 178]Thy Call, and my own Wretch­edness,) towards Thee, a God of so much Benignity, but of such a Frightning Majesty too,) I nevertheless, am here come unto Thee.

But

To Thee, as the Fountain of Mercy:

To Thee, as the sole Curer of all my Maladies and Distem­pers, at Present; and the best Preserver against all Ills to come: And whom I dare not appear before, as my Judge; I humbly Sue to have for my Sa­viour.

To Thee, O Lord, as such I here unbind, and lay open my Wounds and Sores:

To Thee I discover my shame.

I know my Sins are great, and many; and they cause this Fear in me; but I hope in Thy [Page 179]Mercies, which are without number or stint.

Look upon me, Then, with those tender Eyes of Thy Com­passion, O Merciful Jesus, Eter­nal and most Munificent Savi­our, God and Man; Crucify'd for Man!

Hail Saving Sacrifice, Offer'd up on the Altar of the Cross, for Me, and all Mankind!

Hail, Precious, and Royal Blood, pour'd forth of the Wounds of my Crucify'd Lord; and Cleansing a whole World from Sin.

Remember Lord, this Crea­ture of Thine, for whom Thou hast spilt that Blood.

I am sorry that I have Offend­ed Thee, I desire to Amend what is Amiss.

Take from me, O most In­dulgent Saviour, all my Ini­quities [Page 180]and Transgressions, that so beset me, and cleave so close to me; that being Purg'd and Sanctify'd throughout, in Spi­rit, Soul, and Body, I may come Worthily to feed at Thy Table; on the Holiest of all Things

And Grant, that this Sacred prae-libation and fore-taste of Thy Body and Blood, which I now intend to take, though most unworthy, may be to me,

A full Remission of my sins:

A perfect Evacuation of all vitiated and peccant Humours.

A chacing out of my Mind all unseemly Cogitations:

A producing therein a Series of better Thoughts and Senti­ments:

An Effectual and Active Prin­ciple of doing, ever hereafter, Things pleasing to Thee:

An Impregnable Defence, both of Soul and Body against all Assaults or Treacheries of mine Enemies.

A Token of present Grace; and a sure Pledge and Earnest of future Glory. Amen.

Another.

ALmighty and Immortal Fa­ther! Behold I come to this Sacrament of Thy only be­gotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

I come,

As an Infirm and Languish­ing Person, to the Physitian that gives Life and Health.

As one Defil'd and Unclean, to the pure Spring of Grace and Mercy.

As the Blind, to a Light of never failing Clearness.

As a Poor and Indigent Crea­ture to the Lord of Heaven and Earth.

I humbly supplicate, and be­seech Thee, therefore, in such Abundance, and so copious over­flowing of Plenty of Favours, To daign me

A Cure of mine Infirmity,

A Cleansing from my Defile­ments,

A Recovery from Blindness,

An Enriching of my Poverty,

A Nuptial Garment, for hid­ing my Shame and Nakedness.

That, being admitted a Guest at Thy Table, and Feeding on the Bread of Angels, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; I may demean my self, with

So great Reverence and Hu­mility,

So true Contrition and Devo­tion.

So much Purity and Faith,

That purpose and Intention,

As may most conduce to the Salvation of my Soul.

Grant me now, (I pray Thee) to Receive, not only the Sacra­ment of our Lords Body and Blood, but the Virtue also, and real Effect of the Sacrament.

O most Merciful God, Grant me in such manner to Receive This Body of Thy only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, which he took from the Virgin Mary; that I may thereby become In­corporated into His Mystical Body, and be one of its Living and Sound Members.

O most Indulgent Father! Vouchsafe, that this Thy Be­loved Son, whom now I intend to Receive, as here He comes Masqu'd and under these Veils; So I may hereafter be admitted [Page 184]to Enjoy, with open Face, in full Vision, as with Thee, and the Holy Spirit, he Lives and and Reigns, one God, World without End, Amen.

Prayers after Communion.

I Give Thee Infinite Thanks from the very bottom of my Heart, and with all the Powers and Fa­culties of my Soul and Body, Holy Lord, Omnipotent Father, Eter­nal God!

Who hast now Vouchsafed Me, a Sinner, a most unworthy Servant, upon no account of any Merit in me, but in meer condescention of Thy Mercy; to have an Interest in this Inestimable Sacrifice, and Holy Communion, of the Precious Body and Blood of Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ.

Which I have now Offer'd, and fed upon,

In Honourable memory of His Death and Passion;

In Gratitude for all Benefits Receiv'd, &c.

For Reconcilement, and Remis­sion of my Sins, &c.

For increase of Grace; to, &c.

In Memory and Veneration of such and such Servant or Saint of Thine, &c.

And I humbly beseech Thee, that these Acts of Devotion and Worship of Thee, may not be to me any new Guilt of Sin, to be Punish'd; but an Effectual Inter­cession rather, and Procurement of Pardon!

An Armory of Faith, and Shield of Good Will;

A clean riddance of all Vices in me.

A total quenching of Lust and Concupiscence.

An Increase of Divine Love and Patience; of Humility, Obe­dience, and all other Virtues.

A Fortress against all the Ma­chinations of my Enemies, Visible and Invisible:

A perfect Calming of all Com­motions from Flesh or Spirit.

A close adhaesion to Thee, the only True God; and the Happy Conclusion of my Life.

And after this Viaticum, Con­duct, I beseech Thee, Thy Servant, to that inexpressible, never-ending Feast where Thou, together with Thy Son, and Holy Spirit, Indivi­sible Trinity; art to Thy Saints,

Their true Light,

Their full Satisfaction,

Their everlasting Joy,

Their compleat Delight, and

Their Every perfect Happiness.

Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Another.

O My Lord Jesu! Sweet above all Sweets!

Infuse into my Heart, my Bowels, and inmost Entrails of my Spirit; such a strong Passion for Thee; so True, Clear, Apostolick, and most Sanctify'd Affection to Thee; that my Soul may languish and be always melting with a Love of Thee only! Long for Thee; pant after Thy presence in these Thy Courts, the places of Thy particular Residence and Worship; wish to be quite dis­solv'd, to be with Thee, yet nearer.

Make my Soul Hunger after Thee,

The Food of Angels,

The Refreshment of Sanctify'd Spirits,

Or daily Super-substantial Bread, full of all Delightful Relishes and [Page 188]Suavities, Savouring of the Varie­ties of all-pleasing Tasts and Gusts.

After Thee, whom the Angels so much Covet to pry into, let my Heart always have an Appetite, and feed on Thee;

Let it ever Thirst for Thee;

The Spring of Life,

The Fountain of Wisdom and Knowledge,

The Source of Eternal Light.

The Torrent of Pleasures,

The Plenty of God's House,

Court Thee; seek Thee; find Thee; run after Thee; over-take Thee: Muse on Thee, Talk of Thee, do all things to the Praise and Glory of Thy Name.

• With Humility,
• With Discretion,
• With Delight,
• With Felicity,
• With Affection,
• With Perseverance.

And be Thou only at all times, my Hope, my Confidence, my Riches, my Pleasure, my Divertisement, my Joy, my Rest, my Peace, my Delight, my sweet Perfume, my Meat, my Sauce, my Meal, my Retirement, my Aid, my Wisdom, my Portion, my Possession, my Treasure; on which my Mind may still run, my Heart be ever set, fix'd, and unchangeably Establish'd.

Amen.