CHAP. I. Of the Obligations of Religion, es­pecially the Sacraments, to Holi­ness.

WEre the Christian Religion to be judg'd of by the excellency of its Author, and the purity of its Precepts, by the wisdom of its contri­vance, and the usefulness of its designs, it would need no other Credentials that it came down from Heaven, and that its O­riginal was from God: But if we judg of it by the practices of its professors, who under the mask of Piety, allow themselves in all sorts of sensuality, who scruple not to break all their Vows made to their Ma­ker, tho confirm'd and renew'd in the pre­sence [Page 14]of Men and Angels, and sealed by the most precious Body and Blood of the Son of God; who call themselves Saints, and yet live more irregularly than Brutes: This very consideration is enough to en­cline a man to applaud the Morals of the Heathen World, and to believe, that ei­ther that body of holy Precepts is not the Gospel of the blessed Jesus, or such men are not professors of it: so strongly are the generality of Mankind in a loose and ungovernable Age, bent towards Vice and Ruin: Nor can it otherwise be expected, when men put on the form of godliness, in defiance to the power of it; and think, that the Redemption wrought out for them by Christ, is only a deliver­ance to do all sort of abominations. Nor can I give a better Reason, why the Chri­stian World are so degenerate from truth and holiness, than that so few of us reflect on the Obligations of the Covenant that we have enter'd into with God, tho so of­ten and so solemnly acknowledged by us, that we confidently lay claim to the Privi­ledges, but never mind the Duties of Re­ligion. May our gracious God so merci­fully forgive me, and the rest of sinners, our former neglect, as we may resolve for [Page 15]the time to come, to alter our course, and put on more becoming Resolutions, and faithfully make good what we have so so­lemnly promis'd our Redeemer.

For when I seriously, and as becomes a Christian, consider with my self the Re­lation which every baptized person hath to the Son of God; and that that initia­tory Sacrament was design'd, as to free him from his share in Adam's sin, so to engage to a life of Obedience to the Laws of our blessed Saviour; and that therefore we are buried with him in baptism, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life, reckoning our selves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; I cannot but remember, that among all those holy and beneficial Precepts which he hath blest the World with, that is none of the least in advantage and usefulness, that in­joins me to do as he did in remembrance of his Passion, the great cause of our re­demption and happiness, and encourages me to frequent communicating, because as often as I do eat that bread, and drink that cup, so often do I show forth the Lords death till he come; so often do I call to mind my [Page 16]old promises of obedience and conformity to the divine prescription, and enter into new engagements to love and adore my Saviour.

How eagerly therefore ought my soul to pursue after, and to embrace all Op­portunities of coming to that holy Table where God exhibits himself? Happy are those Servants of his, who stand continu­ally before him, and keep themselves al­ways in that frame of mind that fits and encourages them to communicate every day. Happy are those men who only want Occasions, but are never defective in intention or preparation; who are ne­ver without the Wedding Garment, nor without Oyl in their Lamps. How did our dear Saviour long to in­stitute the Sacrament Luke 22.15.; with desire did he desire to eat the passeover, at the close of which the Eucharist was celebrated, before he suffered? And shouldst not thou, my soul, as ear­nestly long to receive it? Were this Sa­crament like that of Baptism, not to be re-iterated, or but once only in my life to be received, and that just before my death, with what ardors of mind should I wish to be dissolv'd, that I might thus also be with [Page 17]my Saviour? And must the Blessing, be­cause it is common, be for that Reason cheap? Is the bread of Heaven become contemptible, because it may be my daily food?

But remember, O my soul, it is not e­nough to approach this Venerable Altar, unless thy Repentance be sincere, thy Sor­row hearty, thy Resolutions unalterable, thy Piety flaming, and thine Alms gene­rous. My preparations should be the same with those of dying persons, not of those who have lived loosly all their days, in hopes to make their faint desires of Hea­ven, when the pleasures of the Earth have deserted them, to pass for true love to those joys; but of those who all their lives long have been crucified to the world. My care ought to be so to approach Gods Table on Earth, as if I were the next mo­ment to be carried by Angels to eat bread with him in his Kingdom. It is true, I am too sensible that this is more easily talkt of than done; that when the good Man is acting the Priest, and sacrificing himself to God, then Satan is at his right hand, perplexing him. And I have sadly expe­rimented, how difficult it is to deny my self, to put off the Old Man, and to cru­cifie [Page 18]my transgressions: But is it not, O my soul, much more sad and difficult, more uneasie and distracting, to be confin'd to utter darkness, and to endure the tortures of Hell in a remediless Eternity? To ar­gue from a present state of ease, is a short­ness of discourse that is not to be allowed. Were I never so passionately bent to gra­tifie an unreasonable Lust, I doubt not but I should be afraid to proceed, did any man but threaten me with immediate death, if I should pursue my unlawful design: And ought I not with greater Reason to forbear, when that God who can neither lie nor deceive, threatens me with everlasting damnation? Am I afraid of the crackling of Thorns, and will not Thunder scare me? Do I run away from an ignis fatuus, and wilfully throw my self into insufferable flames? In the Name of God therefore I do now resolve to fit my self for the approaching Festival of Easter: and whatever I have heretofore done, I will no longer put off my dear Saviour, but will from this instant give my self in­tirely to his service.

CHAP. II. Of the common Excuses for not com­municating.

BEcause through our natural aversness to all that is good, my own evil heart is inclinable to supersede this so be­neficial a commerce with my God, I will first show how vain my pretences are for absenting, and then how dangerous it is to come unprepared. And first, the com­mon Excuses are very vain and unbeco­ming: For the command to receive this Sacrament, is so plain and obligatory, that I am convinc'd nothing should excuse me from frequent communicating; And yet [Page 20]so perverse is my will, so ungovernable are my passions, that the good which I would do, Heave undone, and the evil which I should not do, that I do; so that some­times when I have a desire to communi­cate, I presently find that Ardor easily cool, and end in an unbecoming luke­warmness, and unconcernedness for the Offices of Religion. Thus I grow old before I am good: And to learn an act of Vertue is a business of time: while on the contrary, my sins grow to maturity in their Cradle, and are like a spot of Oyl, which being at first hardly percei­vable, suddenly spreads its self, till it fully the whole Garment. Satan, the Adver­sary of Mankind, musters many little Arguments to affright me, and my own heart is strongly inclinable to comply with him; as if when God had made so noble a provision, and sent out his ser­vants, his Ministers, to call them who are bidden to the Wedding, he would contentedly be put off with slight answers, and poor excuses. Oh, how apt is my Vicious Nature, either wholly to neglect the Offices of Religion, or to look on them as burthensome and tedious, that the Prayers are too long, and the Re­proofs [Page 21]of the Sermon too sharp! But if to the Prayers and Sermon the Eucharist be added, I am too prone not only to be weary, but angry with God; and think it is well done to be so, not considering what an happiness it is to have Commu­nion with my Saviour, and how much more uneasie my state would be, should my God require from me, as he did from the Jews, such expensive sacrifices, and personal attendances on the solemn Feasts at his Temple: as also how unreasonable it is to imagine, that God hath adorn'd this inferior world with such Variety of good things, only to swell my Pride, and pamper my Lusts; and in the mean time hath reserved nothing for himself, but what is cheap, contemptible, and of no value?

One solemn excuse is, I have no leisure: and 'tis the plea of the men in the Luke 14.18; &c. Parable. This, says a good man, sounds like confession and humili­ty, but is in truth denial and defiance: it is called want of leisure, but is in reality sloth, idleness, and irreligion. Can I judg it equitable, to give all my time to my secular Business and Recreati­on, [Page 22]and none to my God, to whom I owe a liberal portion of my enjoyments; nay, all my enjoyments, and my self too? Have I so many days to trifle away, and none for the concerns of Eternity? My whole life should be one continued Sab­bath, and every act of my Calling, either as a Man, or a Christian, a preparative to the Communion, and to my Death. And would a man spend his hours so vainly, that when he hath most need of comfort, he should most want it; and when he comes to die, be bereaved of all consolation? And is not the same care to be taken, to fit my self for the Sacra­ment, as for my last Account? What God now invites me to, is a matter of great weight; the business is, whether I intend to be saved, or not? If I think Heaven not worth the looking after, it is no wonder if I am to every good work a Reprobate, and insensible of my need of the means of Grace: But if I resolve to be a Candidate for Glory (as it were better for me that I had never been born, than to live voluptuously here a while, and be damned for ever), I must apply my self to that method that will give me a title to it; and the only method [Page 23]is an holy life; and that state is not at­tainable without means, among which, frequent communicating is an excellent instrument of conveying Grace into the mind, of renewing my Resolutions, and applying to my soul the Merits of my Saviour: So that if I put any estimate on my salvation, there is a necessity of my coming often to God's Table; and when I say, I want time to prepare my self, I mean, I want leisure to be a Christian; and I am not willing to take pains to be saved.

2. Another plausible pretence for ab­senting my self, is, I am unworthy; and he who eats and drinks 1 Cor. 11.29.unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself. And whose fault is it, that I have not made my self worthy? God hath been wanting in nothing that is required on his part; my unworthiness therefore is both my sin, and also my punishment. Besides, humility is a necessary preparation to this Sacrament, and an absolute Renunciation of our selves, and our own Righteousness, that we may depend solely on Christ, is one of the indispensible qualifications re­quisite to fit us for the Paschal Feast: For [Page 24]the Centurion, who said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, did, notwithstanding, accept of our Saviour's Offer, and reapt the benefit of his miraculous Assistances, and was honour'd with his Testimony, that in all Israel the Son of God found not so great faith as his: And St. Epist. 118. Austin tells me, That if my sins be such as do not de­serve Excommunication from the Church (i. e. if they be only sins of ignorance and infirmity), I ought not to excommu­nicate my self, but I ought to receive, if I may, every day. Nor is it inconsi­derable, that tho my Graces be weak when I approach this Altar, there God gives me his holy Spirit, if my sins hinder it not, to enable me with great­er power and vigor to do his will. And as it is very dangerous to communicate unworthily, so to refuse to come, is e­qually dangerous: For not Hom. 24. in 1 Cor. 10.to communicate in this ho­ly Supper, is as dangerous as the Pestilence, or death it self, says St. Chrysostome; to despise it is Sacriledg, and a scorn of the Bread and Waters of Life, and a depriving my self [Page 25]of the means to make me a true and perfect Christian: For it is an excellent Maxim in Religion, He who is not fit to receive to day, will be less fit to morrow; and he who is not fit to communicate every day, will be fit to communicate no day, and in a small time will throw off all fear of God. For if the end of the instituti­on be to renew our Covenant made with our Saviour, of taking him for our Ma­ster (which is the true Notion of Religi­on) then the withdrawing our selves from this Sacrament can be accounted no­thing else but a Virtual slighting of Chri­stianity, and renouncing our Obedience to our Saviour. For do I not put an Af­front upon God, when I say, the Table of the Lord is contemptible? For not com­municating (says a devout person) is the next sin to apostatizing: for it is an actual disowning our communion with our Head and his Members, and a cutting off of our selves from the body of Christ. And if unworthiness may hinder me from re­ceiving the Eucharist; am I not as unwor­thy to pray, or to hear, as to communi­cate? And does not this plea tend to su­percede all duty? May I not hear to my prejudice, and pray to my ruin? May [Page 26]not the word that I have heard, rise in Judgment against me, and my prayer be turned into sin? And is it not as ex­presly required of me, to do as my Luke 22.19. 1 Cor. 11.24. Redeemer did, in remembrance of his Passion, as it is to frequent any other of his Ordinances? But what if God should make that my fate which is now my choice, and deprive me by his Judgments of the liberty of enjoying those Ordinances which I now contemn? Wouldst not thou, O my soul, look on it as an astonishing Judgment, and such a Decree, as thou wouldest give part of thy blood to reverse? And must I be my own Executioner? And have I not enemies enough in the World, and Hell, that I must be my own most imbitter'd Adver­sary?

3. Another hinderance is, that the preparation required is very difficult, and that it is no easie thing to be a Christian. But this also is an unreasonable suggestion: For tho the severities of Mortification and Self-denial, appear in a formidable dress; yet in themselves they are true satisfacti­ons: For nothing can equal the Joy of that soul that is rescued from eternal hor­rors. [Page 27]And I should rejoice to be pull'd out of a Dungeon, where else I must in­evitably perish, tho it were by the hair; and to be saved, tho so as by fire. Men are possest before-hand with needless fears, and take characters of the ways of god­liness from the sensual and debauch'd; as if we should put a deaf man to give an ac­count of harmony. But to those who have enter'd seriously upon the profession of ho­liness, and made themselves proselites to Wisdom, her ways appear to be ways of plea­santness, and all her paths are peace. Be­sides, the sinner draws himself a Scheme of Vertue that is not correspondent to the dictates of Reason, or Holy Scriptures: For Vertue is a Borderer upon our Natu­ral Habits; and our evil inclinations may be made subservient to piety; either, 1. by correcting the Excesses of Nature, and altering the degree of our Passions; So Grace turns Choler into a well-regulated Zeal, Melancholly into inclinations to Devotion, Abstinence and Mortification: it makes the Flegmatick cautious and fear­ful to offend his God, and ready to be a penitent whenever he hath offended: and it makes the Sanguine apt to rejoice in God, and in the light of his countenance; [Page 28]to be easie to forgive, and willing to be reconciled; it warms the cold and care­less into a religious and devout temper; it abates the eagerness of Covetousness, till it become frugality; and easily changes the prodigal into a man of a liberal and generous mind. 2. Our evil Passions are without difficulty devoted to God, by altering the Object of our pursuits. For would the Voluptuous person pursue after Eternity, as he hath done after the grati­fications of his sensual Appetites; would the Miser transfer his love from his un­righteous Mammon, to the living and true God; and were the revengeful thoughts of the angry man no longer fixt upon his offending brother, but employed against his own Vices, how smooth would the path of Vertue appear, and how free from Thorns and Incum­brances?

4. Another Excuse is, I am deterr'd from approaching to this Feast of fat things, because I am not in Charity. But what should hinder, why I should not love all Mankind? Did not my blessed Saviour pray for his enemies at his Death? And is not the Sacrament a commemo­ration of that his Death? Now as I can­not [Page 29]call that man a Mariner that never learnt his Compass, nor that man a Soul­dier that never fought; how much less can I call my self a Christian, who never conform to my Master's pattern? What man, but one of an impudent forehead, and most obdurate heart, can dare to pray his heavenly Lord to forgive him ten thousand Talents, who will not for­give his fellow-servant an hundred pence? And perhaps at last, I think many actions uncharitable which are not so Vid. Injunct. 21. of Qu. Eliz.. For I do not believe, that if my Neighbour causelesly quar­rels with me the day before I am to com­municate, or I am without design engaged in the heat of talk, which is not sinful, or a man forces me to go to Law with him, to recover my just right; that these things shall deprive me of the benefits of the Sacrament: For these things are my Affli­ctions, and I suffer them patiently, and still am in Charity. As I do not think, that if I am bidden to a Feast sometime before, or have allowed my self any in­nocent Recreation, that this shall unfit me for the Christian Passeover. But withal I must say, that were it put to [Page 30]my choice, I would rather omit those Civilities, and deny my self those Plea­sures at that time, than lose my spiritual Advantages: And I would avoid all oc­casions of being angry, or doing any thing that might but give suspicion that I were not thorowly reconciled to all the world, rather than at such a critical time to make my self an Offender: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And when I pray, as I always do when I communicate, I am enjoin'd to lift up pure hands without wrath or doubt­ing. No worldly care therefore, nor the entertainment of friends, nor a small fit of sickness, that does not confine me to my bed, or chamber, shall ever hinder my approaches to God's Altar, nor every little quarrel, which against my will I am engaged in, when I am ready to make satisfaction, if I have given Of­fence, and to forgive, if I have taken any. For shall I rob my self of Gods be ssing, because another man is froward, stubborn, and un­tractable? The case therefore of Pallad. vit. Chrysost. p. 126, 127, 128. St. Chrysostome did de­serve pity, who being just ready to ce­lebrate [Page 31]these Venerable Mysteries, was so unnessarily, and unseasonably, and uncharitably angred by Eusebius, Bi­shop of Valentinople, that he was forc'd to desist from the Office, and to desire Pansophius, Bishop of Pisida, to conse­crate for him; being perswaded, that that occasional anger was an invalidating of his preparation. And in truth, the Conc. Carth. 4. Can. 93. Church was so much an enemy to all quarrels, that it forbad the admittance of the Oblations of those who were not in perfect Charity, either at the Altar, or into the Church-Trea­sury.

5. But if I sin after so solemn a Re­newal of my Vows in this Sacrament, will it not increase my guilt? So among the Ancients some deferr'd their Baptism till the time of their death, that they might not be impeacht of defiling the White Robes which they then put on. And does not this Argument equally hin­der the performance of all other Offices of Christianity? May I not as well defer to repent, since a relapse into evil habits, after such an ab-renunciation of them, is an heavy aggravation of my Crime? [Page 32]And is not this to do as it is reported of the Circassians, who follow their Thievery till they are Sixty, and then spend the remainder of their days in Prayers, de­voting their Youth and Strength to the Devil, and their Vices; their Old Age, Impotence, and Diseases to God and Re­pentance? But what if death should seize me while I thus defer making up my accounts with my Master? What if a dull Lethargy (which perhaps is but the effect and punishment of my irregulari­ties) should seize my brain, and stifle the spirits, and disable me from thinking? So that by reason thereof I am dead while I live. What if a Fever should captivate my Reason, and put me into a Frenzy, so as I can only name God in my Oaths and Curses; will not this hinder all commerce with God, or my own Soul? And how deplorable must my estate then be? For Heaven was never design'd a Bedlam, a Receptacle for the Distra­cted and Vicious. How can I promise my self to repent, or communicate to morrow, who put off hearkening to my Saviour to day, since all his injunctions relate to the present time? And if that that must save me, be a work of Grace, [Page 33]of time, and perseverance, what folly is it to neglect it? And will not the slighting these passionate and earnest invitations of my God, be a great increase of my guilt?

6. But does not Satan sometimes tempt me to think it unlawful to com­municate with sinners, or, as it is worded, with a mixt company? And am not I my self the greatest sinner? And who can come there who is not so? And does not our Church, as well as all other the Reformed, debar all gross and notorious transgressors from the Sacra­ment? Can I call this any thing but Cunning in my ghostly Enemy, who first tempts me to mean thoughts of my self, and would keep me from God's Table, because my self am unworthy; and now tempts me to pride, and contempt of my Christian brother? I am sure Charity thinks no evil, and obliges us in honour to prefer others to our selves. Besides, why do I pray, or hear with sinners, if I must not communicate with them? And how do I know but he who of­fended deeply yesterday, is as deep a penitent to day? And how dare I to judg anothers servant? It is not in the [Page 34]diseases of the soul as of those of the bo­dy? Nothing makes the spiritual Plague infectious but my consent: A man may, if he will, live chast in a school of de­bauchery, and keep himself temperate in the house of an Epicure. If my bro­ther comes unworthily, he eats and drinks damnation to himself, and not to me. And I am sure I have employment enough to examine my self, to keep me from being busied about other mens mat­ters.

Lastly: But is not the posture of re­ceiving, apt to give scandal, and to be mistaken for an act of worship perform'd not to God, but to the Elements? I am sure Humility is a necessary Atten­dant on the worthy Communicant; a Vertue which is peculiarly Christian, which the Philosophers do not so much as name in their Catalogues. I know also, that when I communicate, the Priest prays, that the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ may preserve my body and soul unto eternal life; and with him I pray when I say Amen: and the posture of prayer is kneeling; and therefore I fall down, and worship before the Lord our Maker. Perhaps our Saviour gave the [Page 35]blessed Eucharist to his Apostles in ano­ther posture (for we are not sure, because the Scripture is silent); and so also did he give it only to men (when there were many Female Disciples), and in an upper room, and after a Feast (as it was also in St. Paul's time celebrated after the Love-Feast, or Agape). But hath not the Church as much power as the Syna­gogue? And did not the Jewish Church alter the posture of the Passeover, which was at first to be eaten standing with the shoes on, to a Table posture, which also our Saviour seems to have observed? For can we think, that our Saviour's practice binds more than God's express command? Or does it bind more in one circumstance than in others? Besides, I am convinc'd, that the practice of the Ancients, and the commands of my superiors, should much sway me in doubtful cases. But they tell me, Aug. in Ps. 98. Chrys. To. 3. p. 778. [...]. Id. to 5. p. 518. &c. That it is a sin not to adore when I receive. And when I so adore, I no more wor­ship the Altar, or the Ele­ments, that I bow before, than when I kneel in the Pew, I worship the Desk, or the Book that lies on it. Nor [Page 36]hath the one been more abused to Idola­try than the other: For the Heathen do worship Wood and stone, as much as the Papists the Host. And is not this adorati­on a part of that honour which is fixt on Christ, the Institutor of this Sacrament; who also is the thing signified under those Visible Figures? for he hath sworn by himself, that every knee shall bow to him, which honour he purchas'd by his blood: For because he humbled himself to the death of the Cross, therefore God hath given him a Name above all Names; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And is not this Sacrament a Representation of that Passion? Nor was it ever heard, that Superstition could abolish the duty of a Text. And if when I kneel, I give coun­tenance to the Papists, who in this case err by attributing such honour to the Son of God, which he allows not of; I am sure in sitting at this Table I countenance the Socinians, and other Anti-Trinitarians, who debase our Saviour, and degrade him from his Godhead: for which Reason Altare Da­mascen. p. 752. in Four se­veral Synods in Poland, the Protestants, both Lutherans and Calvinists, agreed to abolish that Cu­stom. [Page 37]To conclude, the famous Hunia­des is as great in Story for his Humility as for his Victories; and as much celebrated, that he would not, tho on his Death-bed, receive the blessed Sacrament but on his knees, as for the many Overthrows that he gave the Mahometans. Since therefore these, and the like Excuses, are but En­gines to entrap and betray me: And since the same Authority that forbids me to kill, or to steal, bids me do this in re­membrance of my Saviour; I do from henceforth resolve to communicate upon every Occasion, as I love my life and my salvation.

CHAP. III. Of the danger of unworthy Re­ceiving.

BUT do not thou imagine, O my de­ceitful heart, that there is nothing required of thee, but only to approach this holy place, and taste of the Dainties it affords: They never relish well but to the Palat that is seasoned. This Bread turns to a Stone, and the Wine into Gall and Wormwood to the sinner, whose soul is vitiated. Our Saviour does not vouch­safe to eat this Christian Passeover but with his Disciples, with the penitent and the devout. He is the Carkass, and here the Eagles are expected; but Dogs are prohibited; Revel. 22.15. without are dogs, and all that work iniquity. And whatever wretch should dare break through these Fences, [Page 39]and commit a Rape on this blessed Sa­crament, he will be deceived of the be­nefit expected; for this spiritual food to him hath no extraordinary relish, nor does it differ from that which ministers to his Lust and his Wantonness: and he runs the greatest hazard of eternal dam­nation. He had better have swallowed the deadliest Poison. I dare not therefore magnifie constant Communion, so as to depretiate the Vertues that must qualifie the Communicant, and make him wor­thy. It is an insufferable affront to Reli­gion, and an intrusion not to be pardoned, when the crafty Usurer shall come from his yesterdays grinding the face of the poor, to eat to day the Body of his Sa­viour; the Shop-keeper from his little arts and methods of fraud, the Glutton from his cramm'd dishes, the Intemperate from his last nights debauch, and the lustful from the arms and embraces of his Mi­strisses, to force themselves a way to Gods House and Table; that man unavoidably 1 Cor. 11.27, 29. eats and drinks damnation to himself, and is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And tho perhaps the word in the Original, which our Translators ren­der [Page 40] Damnation, be sometimes taken in a softer sense, and only signifies Temporal Judgments: And it be a Quaere, whether he who thinks himself unworthy, be for that Reason unfit (because the most hum­ble is the best prepared); or whether eve­ry actual unworthiness makes a man lia­ble to so severe a sentence: Yet doubtless, every prophane and impenitent Wretch is in the high-road to Ruin: And hardly can salvation it self save such a man, Heb. 6.6, &c. who after he hath been inlightned from above, and tasted of the good gift of God, falls away: For he hath anew crucified to himself the Lord of life. I therefore, as a private person, charge thee, O my soul, look to thy self, and examine severely thy state. Thy happiness and eternal wel­fare depend on thy due preparation. And as God's servant in the Function of the Priesthood, I charge the Drunkard and Adulterer (and I do it in the Name of our adorable Saviour), I charge the Co­vetous and the Extortioner, the Proud and the Revengeful, the Prophane Man and the Hyp [...]crite, the practical Infidel and Debauchee, not to presume to tread this holy ground; Fire will break from [Page 41]this Altar, and consume them. Here is an angry Cherub, with his Flaming Sword, turning every way to secure the Tree of Life, that it may not be tasted of by the wicked and profligate; but I also charge the same Atheistical and vicious liver, to alter his evil habits, to wash his soul clean in the waters of true penitence, and then let him visit the Temple. It is equally damnable, not to come at all, and to come unprepared.

CHAP. IV. Of Examination in general.

THere is an indispensible necessity of Examination preparative to worthy receiving. For tho Charity inclines me to judg Favourably of others, yet I dare not flatter my self. And if severity be at any time lawful, it is in the Offices of Repentance. I ought to suspect my best actions, and censure my very devotions: I ought to fly the very appearances of evil, as I dread the shadows of the Grave, and to tremble at a temptation when first in View: For nothing can be so terrible as the state of a [...]. Repro­bate. For if the Sacrifice must be without blemish (if it must not only not want any Essen­tial, [Page 43]or Integral part, not an Ear, or an Eye, but also must not so much as have a Scab, or an Ulcer; the blood must not be tainted, nor the Lungs scirrous), how much more ought the Priest to be perfect; throughly furnisht unto every good work? It is the Apostle's advice, 1 Cor. 11.28. Let every man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup: [...], which is a word of a very large and comprehensive signi­fication: I ought to ex­amine my self, as [...]. h. e. [...]. Vid. S. Chrysost. Hom. 20. in Ep. ad Rom. to. 3. p. 174. the Ancient Priests did their Sacrifices: For both the Jews and Gentiles, when an Oblation was brought to the Temple, did not only inspect its Out-side, but cut it down by the back, and search'd and examin'd the Entrails, according to the Rules of Art (for every man was not thought fit for this Employment: It was the Priest's Province). For in truth, when I ap­proach this Table, I offer my self to God a reasonable, lively, and holy Sa­crifice: And therefore ought to inspect my thoughts and actions. For if I do [Page 44]not, God sees me; since Heb. 4.13. Vid. Theophil. in Loc. p. 909. all things are naked, and open, and expos'd as a Sacrifice, when 'tis cut down by the back, to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Or rather, I ought to examine my self, as Goldsmiths and Bankers do their Metals, by the Touchstone, or the fire: in allusion to which Custom, Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. Orig. to. 19. in Johan Epi­phan. Haer. 44. Pal­lad. Vit. Chrysost. p. 37. Hieron. Ca­ssian. Cyril. Alex­andr. &c. the Fa­thers frequently quote an excellent Saying of our blessed Saviour's; which is not in our Bi­bles; [...]; advising his Disciples to be expert Bankers, to discern between good Metal, and that which only makes a show. The word also implies an Examen, or Trial, like that which Harpocration. Lexic. v. [...]. Suid. in [...]. Aristo­tel. in Politic. [...]. Officers, both Military and Civil, past through at Sparta, by the order of Lycurgus, and in other Govern­ments in Greece, who in the publick place of Judicature, were either approved, or exploded: After [Page 45]which pattern the Primitive Sages made all their Ordinations in publick: In the face of the Church were the Catechumens examined: Their penances were publick, and so were their Confessions, that what­ever was done there, might have the Ap­probation of the whole Community. A like scrutiny to which I should make into my own Conscience, whether I am wor­thy of this eminent dignity of eating at my Master's Table. This scrutiny I am to make as a Priest, as an Officer in the Church of God; and I am also to make it as a private Christian, whether I am fit for this Communion of Saints, because Harpocrat. Lex. v. [...]. pri­vate persons also, who had no share in the Go­vernment, were subject to this Examen; their Lives also being inspe­cted, whether they in their lower Stations, demean'd themselves as they ought. But the word hath still a further significancy; For at Athens, when a young man took upon him the management of his own Estate, and was set free from the go­vernment of his Guardians, he was [Page 46]called, Id. ibid. [...]. Vid. Valesii not. p. 22. [...] or [...]: for then he wrote Man, and took the charge of him­self. And am I not ob­liged also in this sense of the word. Did not my Sponsors pro­mise for me in my Baptism? And am I not arrived now to that Age that frees me from their Tuition? And can I give a better instance, that I have attained to years of discretion, than my wise and serious choice of God for my Lord, and of the ways of holiness for my delight? For true examination and discretion, consists Theophyl. in Rom. 2.18. p. 28. [...]. in knowing what to do, and what to leave undone; which I can never do as I ought, unless I examine my past sins, my present vertues, and my re­solutions for the future. For if when I ad­dress to a Prince for his Pardon, I depre­cate my former Offences, profess my Loy­alty, and promise, that nothing shall ever alter my affections, and my duty; much more am I obliged to do so, when I appear before my God

CHAP. V. Of the Examen of my sins past.

WHen the Apostle bids me examine the state of my soul, with respect to the transgressions which I have com­mitted; he means two things: 1. That as to my gross and more notorious Offen­ces, I should call them to remembrance. For there is no man who needs to dispute with himself, whether Adultery and Mur­ther, Theft and Covetousness, Anger and Self-love, Disobedience and Rebellion, Sa­criledg and Blasphemy, are sins. Every man is naturally convinc'd, that such [Page 48]actions are breaches of the Laws of God; And therefore in such cases there is no need of Trial, as to the fact, whe­ther it be a fault or not. In this case the pe­nitent is only to reflect on his enormities, and to remember them with all their ag­gravating circumstances, in order to Re­formation and Amendment. 2. As to my lesser transgressions, my Negligences, the forgetfulness of my Vows, and the defects of holy Performances, I am to experiment, whether I might not have been more diligent, and more devout, and whether my sins of infirmity be not rather owing to my sloth, than the frail­ty of my Nature, or the weakness of my Graces? I am also to examine, whether many of my Reputed Vertues be not Vi­ces; whether I have not consulted my own interest, or secular applause, more than the honour of God? how dull and cold I have been in my devotion, how re­miss in the Offices of Charity, and how slightly I have set about the duties of Re­pentance? Is not my Religion rather the Creature of my Fancy than my Reason? And am I not a Christian only, because I was born within the Pale of the Church? Have I only avoided the greater trans­gression, [Page 49]and hugg'd some secret darling lust, as Sampson did the Philistine Damsel, in my bosom? Am I not proud of my Performances, and swol'n with un un­becoming Tympany of Vain-glory? Have I not, to prevent a smaller sin, committed a greater? As some men a­void an unconcernedness for Religion, by falling into fits of a furious Zeal, imita­ting that Physician, who to cure a Pati­ent of the Hiccup, affrighted him into Fits of Convulsion. These, and many other such Enquiries, are to be made, if I intend to be a true Penitent.

CHAP. VI. Of the Examination of my Vertues.

MY Vertues also, and Resolves, are to be brought to the Touchstone; and I must experiment, whether my Re­pentance be real and sincere; whether my Sorrow hath been deep and true, my Confession hearty, my Resolutions strong, and my Amendment practical; and whether I intend to continue in these holy purposes. How often have I alrea­dy relaps'd? And are not my present En­gagements and Vows, rather the product of custom and of shame, than hatred of my Vices? And am I this day as fearful of offending, and as tender of my duty, as the first day that I vowed, or as I was when I last communicated? Do I re­member how dear my former Offences cost me, and how d [...]fficult my Repent­ance was? How many sighs how many disturbances of a distracted Conscience it gave occasion to? And have I courage [Page 51]enough to resist a temptation for the fu­ture; to put a knife to my throat when I am at a Feast, and to wear Sackcloath in the Palace of Princes? Can I be grave in light company, and reserv'd among the vain, and virtuous in a debauch'd So­ciety, and chaste among the effeminate? Are these my Resolutions constant? do they dwell in my mind? Or am I holy only by occasion, and outward accidents, and extraordinary events? Am I as hum­ble and devout in my prosperity, as in the day of affliction? Do I pray as often on the days of my pleasure, as on a fa­sting-day? And am I as just, as charita­ble, and temperate, when I follow my worldly business, as when I communicate? Have I remembred 2 Cor. 13.5. the Apostle of the Gentiles, to examine my self, whether I am in the Faith; or else I am a Repro­bate? Is my Faith such as works by Love, and publickly declares it self by an intire Obedience to the Laws of Christ, and is fit to give me a right to communicate? For the Catechumens, who were not baptized, had Faith; and so had those who were in a state of Pe­nance; and yet their Faith was not [Page 52]thought sufficient to intitle them to the Priviledges of God's Table: For Faith is not so much an affiance in God, as a giving credit to his Revealed Will, as it is a body of Laws adapted to the pro­moting of God's Honour, and our Sal­vation: Therefore when I say, I believe, I mean, I resolve to live according to those injunctions; that I take Jesus for my Sa­viour, and expect to share in the benefits of his Death and Resurrection, no further than I obey his will.

I must also further examine; Am I in perfect Charity? Is my hope firm, and my love to Jesus unalterable? Do I as earnestly long for this spiritual food, as I do for my daily sustenance? And could I be content rather to want the Necessaries of life, than to be deprived of the Bread of God? And do I bear in mind the doom of those who slighted the divine Invitati­ons, and would not come; and of him who intruded, not having the Wedding-garment? These, and many other such Questions, are necessary to make this du­ty of Self-examination advantageous: For nothing less than the strictest scruti­ny, can make a worthy Communicant. It was therefore an excellent Observation [Page 53]of the Ancients, That the preparation for the Holy Eucharist, should be as strict and compleat, as our preparation for our dissolu­tion; and that I should no more dare to appear before God's Table with any known sin unmortified, than I should dare to appear before his Tribunal with it. For when I approach this tremendous place. I am not concern'd about matters of curiosity, and of light value; but a­bout the most momentous affairs of Reli­gion, about my Souls health, and eternity. I do not therefore puzzle my self with little questions; nor do I dispute, what are the exact dimensions of the Kingdom of darkness, where it is, and what different Climates are in it; but the question is, whether Heaven and Hell be real, or ima­ginary places? Whether the Judicature of Conscience signifie any thing in this world, or the Tribunal of Christ in that which is to come? Can I dwell with ever­lasting burnings, and a consuming fire, where the torments are infinite in their height, and infinite in their duration? Is not depending on a death-bed-Repent­ance, a deceiving of our selves? And if so, what shall I do now, that when I go hence I may die in God's favour? What [Page 54]shall I do to be saved? This is a terrible Interrogatory, a question of weight and moment: For as no man is fit to die, but he who loves God above all things, and is in perfect charity with all Mankind; who is unconcerned with the affairs of the world, and hath learnt, and practised an intire Resignation of himself into the hands of his Creator; whose accounts are adjusted, whose life hath been one act of intercourse with Heaven, and whose in­terests in eternity are secured; so neither is any man fit to approach the holy Table without the like preparation.

CHAP. VII. Of the Examination of my Know­ledg.

'TIS not to be denied, that some know­ledg is requisite to fit me for this Heavenly Communion, that I may be able 1 Cor. 11.29. to discern the Lords Body. But this know­ledg rather consists in the un­derstanding of the Offices of Holiness, than in the comprehension of the depth of this, and other sacred Mysteries. I am very sure, that at the first Institution the Apostles were very meanly furnisht with such Learning: The very Founda­tion of the Sacrament (the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour) was a Rid­dle to them. Nor did they then under­stand either the method of working out our Redemption, or of the establishing of the Kingdom of the Messias in the world: And yet because they were humble and devout, sincere and obedient, our great [Page 56]Master gave them admission to his Table. And so was it also in the Primitive Church: For the Bishops of old allowed every one, as soon as he was baptized, to come to the Holy Eucharist, altho they carefully a­voided any discourses about this Sacra­ment, before those who had never been partakers of it: And when their Subject led them that way, they spoke in Figures and Metaphorical Expressions, and ap­pealed to the understanding of those who had communicated: For they were well perswaded, that it was a Mystery. Now Mysteries are not to be pryed into, but admired; not to be commonly talkt of, nor curiously disputed about, but to be lookt on with Veneration and Respect, to be studied and reverenc'd. They knew it was no slight and perfunctory employ­ment to communicate with the Holy Je­sus; but they withal knew, that a little measure of Knowledg, and a great de­gree of Humility, Piety and Charity, would intitle to the Priviledges of God's Altar. Now all that they instructed the Candidates of these Mysteries in, was only the duties of Morality, Justice and Honesty, Peaceableness and Compassion, Chastity and Temperance, together with [Page 57]an ardent love to God (only now and then they could not forbear reprehending an Heretick): And these were the Subjects of all the Sermons of those days. And there was nothing expresly required from the person who came to the Font, but a so­lemn profession of the Articles of the Creed. And upon this profession the Ca­techumen was baptized; and after his Bap­tism, immediately admitted to the Lord's Supper. When therefore I know and understand, that our blessed Saviour, by his precious Death, sealed a Covenant with God in the behalf of Mankind; and that I have solemnly in my Baptism, rati­fied my part of that agreement, resolving no further to depend on his Merits, than I obey his Laws: When I understand, that I must be truly penitent for my for­mer Offences, and ought to live better for the future: when I believe all Gods promises of Mercy and Salvation made to me in Christ Jesus, and am convinc'd, that I ought to be thankful for that Mer­cy to God, and charitable to all Man­kind; then, I suppose, I have knowledg enough to intitle me to this Ordinance: For if my search after knowledg, should engage me in the Labyrinths of the [Page 58]Schools, and I must not receive till I am able to demonstrate, how Christ were pre­sent there, and to comprehend all the Ar­guments that are brought for, and against Transubstantiation; I might perhaps be al­ways seeking, but I should never come to the knowledg of the truth; And if I hap­pen'd to understand what I enquired after, should probably be never the bet­ter.

For what advance hath that man made in Christianity, that hath spent his days in the little questions of the School men; how one body can be hid under the accidents of another body Suarez. to. 3. disp. 51.? how the whole body can be so present, as that what was cut off in his circumcision, should not be wanting. Or whether a Rat, when he nibbles a Conse­crated Host, doth communicate, and truly eat the substantial Body and Blood of Christ? with many other such Impertinencies, to give them the softest Name. Whereas one day spent in the due consideration, how I shall receive worthily, and how I shall live more piously, gives me more useful knowledg than an Age of controversal studies. That God is present in the Sa­crament, I have infallible Authority to [Page 59]assure me. Thy Word, O my Saviour, is sufficient to command my belief; but the mystery is enough to stifle my curio­sity: And to seek to know more than thou art willing to reveal, were to dero­gate from the Reverence due to thy Ora­cles and Authority. For how can I pre­tend to describe so transcendent an Insti­tution, which the Angels themselves stoop to look into? This Sacrament was or­dain'd for better purposes, than to puzzle and confound: It was design'd to streng­then and confirm; to bind us to remem­ber God and our selves; to remember his love, and our Returns of gratitude: For the deepest speculations seldom make a man more wise, or more holy; but the knowledg of Jesus Christ, and him cruci­fied, I am sure, is the true method to endear me to God. The business of a good man is not to amuse, but to prepare himself to communicate with his Saviour. The understanding of a Religious soul is vastly different from that of a great Scho­lar; and the Wisdom that comes down from above, consists not in Word, but in Power. I am resolved therefore, not to meddle with the quarrels of the different parties of Christendom: While they dis­pute, [Page 60]I will pray; while they sacrifice their Charity to the maintenance of their Faith, I will pursue after peace and holi­ness: And by that means, I doubt not but I shall be fit to communicate here, and to see God in Heaven.

CHAP. VIII. Of the Study of the Holy Scrip­tures.

IF the most useful wisdom be that which is practical, instead of busying my self with Books of Controversie, I will be a diligent Reader of the Holy Scrip­tures; For they are the Oracles of God, able to make me wise to salvation, and perfect unto every good work. In those O­racles there is nothing trifling and imper­tinent, [Page 62]nothing doubtful or obscure of the things which belong to my eternal welfare: Dionys. A­reop. Eccl. hie­rar. c. 3. "For the whole Book of Holy Scriptures (saith the Eloquent Father) doth set before us either the creation and disposal of all things by the divine Power, or the Polity and Government both of Church and State, under the Law, or the distribution and possession of the inheritance which God had given to his peculiar people; or an account of the wisdom of their sacred Judges, their holy Kings, and devout Priests; or the undaunted courage and bravery of their Patriarchs, under all sorts of Affliction; or excellent holy Precepts, how to govern our Actions; or the Songs of heavenly Love, and the Idea's of Divinity imprinted on the Mind; or the prophecies of future things, or the Atchievements of the Son of God in our Humane Nature; or the Acts and holy Discourses of the Apo­stles, deliver'd to them from God, and done in imitation of him; or the my­stical and abstruse Visions of his belo­ved and inspired Disciple. In these shall be my delight, and in these will I spend [Page 63]my time: These Oracles alone can charm my Passions, and allay my Griefs.

And what a dishonour is it to us, Olearii I [...]i­ner. that the Turks in their Schools, should teach their children no­thing but to read and write, and remem­ber the sentences of the Alcoran (which is their Scripture); and that the poor Abudac. c. 22. p. 29. Coptite Christi­ans, tho under severe and cruel bondage to their Ma­hometan enemies, should take care to in­struct their Youth in the Doctrine of the Book of God, obliging them to learn the Psalter, and the Epistles of St. Paul, with­out book, while we think that study un­worthy of our selves, or our posterity? "We plead, it's true, as St. Caesarius of Arles, says, the difficulty of learning the Rules of Faith and Holy Life without book, especially if we cannot read: But if the most ignorant and un­learned, can find out a way to remem­ber a prophane or lewd Song or Story, will their ignorance excuse them, if they have not learnt the Precepts of the Gospel? Men have wit and memory e­nough, [Page 64]to attain, without reading, to that which the Devil teaches them for their destruction: But when they are to receive from the mouth of their blessed Saviour, the Laws that will make them eternally happy, then they plead ignorance. But whatever others do, or my self have heretofore practis'd, I profess for the future, that I will love thy Law: And do thou think upon me, O Lord, according to thy word, wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust. Thou hast given me thy Holy Scriptures, that through them I might have hope in all capa­cities, and in all distresses of mind, body, or estate: For tho I read there, that Luci­fer sinn'd himself beyond the hopes of Redemption, and that there is a sin against the Holy Ghost, that cannot be pardon'd, and a sin unto death that is not to be pray'd for; yet the state of sinful men is declared to be different from that of the fallen Angels: And what these particular Transgressions are, and wherein they consist, is not plainly revealed in those O­racles, that no man might despair of mercy; but withal, that every man might beware of the smallest sin, as if it were of the greatest magnitude, the deepest dye, [Page 65]and most dismal consequences. From this Book also I learn, That at what time soever a sinner repents, and doth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive: For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect, since it is God who justifies? and who is he that condemns, since Christ hath died, and is risen again, and sit­teth at the right hand of God, to make inter­cession for us? Lord, be merciful to my former sin; for my neglect hath been great; and keep me stedfast to my duty for the remainder of my life, that tho I cannot see my God, yet I may every day hear him, and converse with him in his word; and being inlightned thereby, may learn to depart from evil.

CHAP. IX. Of Christian Love.

WHen I have thus adorn'd my soul with saving knowledg; my next employment is strictly to exa­mine my practise, and what degrees of divine love I have attained to: now I bet­ter feel what that love is in my heart, than I can describe it with my tongue: For when I am in the Palace of divine Love, I am in St Paul's Third Heaven, where, tho the Apostle, without doubt, saw ravishing sights, and such as were worth dying for; and heard admirable discourses, such as the King of Glory en­tertains his favorite Angels with; yet he assures us, he heard and saw [...]. 2 Cor. 12.4. what could not be uttered or described: But as it is said of Heaven, tho [Page 67]it does not appear what we shall be, yet we have a glorious character of that City given us in Holy Writ; so it may be said of Christian Love; Great things are spo­ken of it, and such as render it venerable in the eyes of all wise and discerning per­sons: For, 1. It is a complication Aug. de C. D. l. 15. c. 22. Nihil aliud vir­tus est, quàm or do a­moris. Id. de C. D. l. 14. c. 7. Amor inhi­ans habere, quod a­matur, cupiditas est, idem habens, eó (que) fruens, laetitia est, &c. of all Vertues: "When it longs for what it af­fects, it is desire; and when it enjoys it, it is gladness; when it flies what it abomi­nates, it is fear; and when it falls into the hands of its enemies, it is sadness, says St. Austin; and 1 Cor. 13. a greater than St. Austin hath told me, That Love is the most comprehensive Vertue: For Charity suffers long, and then it is meekness; it is kind, and then it is cour­tesie; it envies not, and so it is peaceable­ness; it vaunteth not it self, and so it is modesty; it is not puft up, and so it is humility; it doth not behave it self un­seemly, and then it is called decency; seeketh not her own, and then it is pub­lick-spiritedness; [Page 68] is not easily provok'd, and then it is patience; thinketh no evil, and so it is simplicity and innocence; rejoiceth in the truth, and so it is verity and spiritual gladness; beareth all things, and so it is Chri­stian fortitude; believeth all things, and so it is faith; hopeth all things, and so it is assurance; endureth all things, and then it is magnanimity; and it never fails, and so it is perseverance; it purifies more than the flames of Martyrdom, and is a better Alms than the world, dispos'd of to charitable uses, it enlightens more than all reading, and all contemplation; and it makes a man a Christian, while Knowledg and Miracles only make him a Prodigy. In a word, it is all Philosophy, and all Religion; and he alone truly knows how to live, who knows how to love: Nay, it is Heaven upon Earth, says the devout Poet: For,

Nay, it is God himself: 1 John 4.8. For he that loves not, knows not God, for God is Love. 'Who is able to describe the [Page 69]beauties of Holy Love, says St. Clement Ep ad Corinth. p. 63, 64.? The height to which it carries us is unsearchable: it unites us to God, and it covers a mul­titude of sins; it is the bond of Uni­on, and the bane of Schism and Di­visions; and without it nothing can please God: It was nothing but Love that brought down Jesus from Heaven, to shed his Blood for us; and nothing but Love that can carry us thither, whence he came down on Earth.

2. Love is the only Original of all our satisfactions in this Life; it sweetens all sufferings, and makes difficulties easie; for it subdues whatever opposes it. True Love is a flame enkindled in the mind by our holy Saviour, which preys upon, and destroys all secular and carnal affe­ctions: its eye is fixt on Heaven, and its wings spread toward that bright Palace; and thither it endeavours with unwearied speed to fly, because that is the only Re­gion of Rest: For I may be secure in the love of the world, but I can never be safe but in the love of Jesus. This divine Ver­tue is always content; when it is in trou­ble it is not distrest; when under the [Page 70]greatest perplexities, it is far from despair; when it is persecuted, it is never forsaken of its God, or its hopes; and when it is wounded, it cannot be slain; for it always carries about with it the marks of a dying Redeemer, and desires to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified, that it may die to the world.

3. According to what a man loves, so is his denomination in this world, and so shall his judgment be in another. We call a man Covetous from his love of mo­ney, and Voluptuous from his love of Pleasure, and Envious from his love of Revenge; and so also we call a man a Christian from his love to God and his Neighbour; For on those two hang all the law and the prophets. And in the proceed­ings of the last day, a man shall be exa­mined, not what he hath known, nor what he hath believed; not what he hath hop'd, nor what he hath talkt of, but what he hath loved; and accordingly the love of the World shall damn the sinner, while the love of Heaven makes the Saint happy. Now this love can never be com­pleat, unless it reflect upon God, my Neighbours and mine Enemies, and be particularly conversant with the Offices of Religion.

CHAP. X. Of the Love of God.

I Tremble when I read that sentence, 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Je­sus, let him be Anathema Maranatha. And yet it is but just, that the Punishment should be proportion'd to the Offence; and that that man should be hated by his Maker, who hath no affection for his Savi­our, in whom there is nothing wanting that may endear him to our Respects and our Love.

1. There is in him the greatest Perfe­ction, and the most admirable Excellen­cies. Can I with patience behold the Miser condemn himself to the Mines for the sake of his Mammon, and a bigotted Devoto use wonderful Abstinences, and submit to great austerities only to serve his desires of Applause? Can I every day see how the lovers of Pleasure and Revenge, wilfully make themselves dismal specta­cles of Ruin and Desolation, and be all the while unconcern'd, and take no de­light to please my adorable Redeemer, and save my own soul? Wis. 13.3, &c. If men being delighted with the beauties of the Heavenly Host, took them to be Gods; let them know how much better the Lord of them is: For the first Author of Beauty hath created them; and by the beauty and greatness of the Crea­tures, proportionably is the Maker of them seen. But it is too sadly found true, that the love of the world grows to a prodigi­ous stature of a sudden, while the love of God and Holiness is pincht in its Infancy, and starv'd in its Swath-bands: It is a Plant which seldom meets with a fit Soil; and when it grows up, can never be brought to maturity, without the con­stant [Page 73]beams of the Sun of Righteousness, a plentiful portion of the dew of Heaven, and a great care to preserve and cherish it.

2. I ought to love my Saviour, be­cause I have the greatest Obligations to him: For his love to me brought him from Heaven to Earth, from a Throne to a Cross, and thence into Hell, for my Re­demption. Greater love than this hath no man shown, than that he should lay down his life for his friend, said the compassio­nate Jesus. And is there no higher de­gree, no nobler instance of love, O my infallible Master? Yes, certainly, thine was, when thou wert content to die for thine Enemies: Many waters could not quench it, and it was stronger than death. Now if the love of an undone world con­quer'd God's Anger, made him suspend his Justice, and degrade his Son; should not the love of God much rather engage me to conquer my Lusts? Could I die, O my best Friend, a thousand times over for thee, yet should I not love thee ac­cording to thy deservings. But this is our great folly, and the cause of all our mi­series; we are set on fire under the Pole, and we freeze under the Aequinoctial; the [Page 74]world makes us passionate Lovers, while the Son of God cannot.

3. To love God is the most natural and easie of all Recompences. Shouldest thou, Lord, now require from me the burthensom Attendances, and the expen­sive Sacrifices that were injoin'd under the Old Law, I could have no Reason to complain; but to love thee sincerely is the cheapest of Returns: For when my bodily weakness or infirmities, will not suffer me to fast, or watch, or wear sack­cloath, and my poverty hinders my gi­ving Alms, yet I am never so poor, ne­ver so weak, but I can love; and tho per­haps I cannot hear every day, nor pray every hour, nor communicate every week, yet nothing hinders but that I may love my God every moment; and that will bring me to Eternity.

4. The Love of God is the Fountain of acceptable Obedience; and proporti­onable to my Love to God is my Zeal and my Devotion, my Resolution and my Piety; and when once these Ardors cool, every thing that is good languishes and decays. To be affrighted, threatned and compell'd to serve my Master, is a disho­nour to my Christian performances, and [Page 75]fullies all their Beauties: but it is a Sacri­fice that God is well-pleased with, when the Offering is brought freely, and offer­ed chearfully, and sent up in flames to Heaven, being offered on the Altar of Love: For Jesus is the Author of salvati­on to those only who so love him; and the Grace of God is only with them who love his Son in sincerity.

5. A due Reflection upon this Sacra­ment, is a great encouragement to love him who instituted it; for by it we are made one Body, of which our blessed Saviour is the Head: And therefore a­mong other Rites that intimated this Uni­on, it was the ancient use (nor is it yet prohibited in our Church, but left to dis­cretion) to mingle Water with the Wine in the holy Chalice, to testifie the Mysti­cal Union that is betwixt Christ and his Church: For as Water and Wine mix and incorporate, so are the faithful Commu­nicants made the same body with the Son of God: For in the Opinion of Cypr. Epist. 63. Euseb. E­mis. Hom. 5. de Pasch. &c. the Ancients, the Wine is the Figure of our Re­deemer's Blood, and the Water of the many Nations purchas'd by it.

Besides all which, it is further consider­able, that of worldly things a man may love what he shall never enjoy; or if he happen to enjoy it, he may afterward lose it; or the very fruition may cloy and nauseate, which was expected to please and satisfie: But no man ever yet fell in love with Jesus, and lost his aim; no man ever yet converst with him, but he experimented the pleasure of such amia­ble society, and could be content to dwell with him for ever: And so shall the good man: For what shall separate him from the love of Christ? Tribulations, Afflicti­ons, and Death it self cannot; and what then can?

When therefore I say, I love God, I vow and endeavour to keep his Command­ments. Dare I call my self the Disciple of an humble Jesus, and be a slave to my Pride? the servant of a chast and tempe­rate Saviour, and wallow in the puddles of Lust and Luxury? Dare I give the Reins to my Anger, and profess my self a follower of the pattern of Meekness? How can I call my self a Christian, who deserve not the title of a Man? that am as gluttonous as a Wolf, as intemperate as a Swine, and as lustful as a Goat? The [Page 77]death of my Saviour was design'd to re­deem me from the power and practice, as well as from the punishments of Vice: For the Son of God was manifested to de­stroy the works of the Devil. And how can I say, I love him, if my heart be not with him?

CHAP. XI. Of the Remembrance of my Blessed Saviour.

NOW one solemn act of my love to God, and one great duty of the Gospel, is to remember my best friend, my Saviour. And it is a particular ad­vantage of the Christian Religion, that as all holy signs in general, are given for the confirmation of the divine promises, so the most sacred Offices of the Gospel, are proper and genuine Representations of the Death and Resurrection of that Saviour, who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith, and Institutor of our Religion. Thus in the Sacrament of Baptism, the Ancients in those warm Countries, dipt all who came to that Ordinance (except those who were baptized on their death-beds) Rom. 6.4. bu­rying the Proselyte with his Saviour in Baptism. They used also to dip them three several times under water, [Page 79]to exhibit a Memorial of our Saviour's being three days buried; and the Myste­ry, unless in case of Necessity, was at first celebrated but once in the year, the Catechumens being baptized Tertul. de Bapt. cap. 19. at Easter only, which was the day of our Saviour's Re­surrection.

But more especially was the Eucharist designed evidently to set before our eyes Je­sus Christ crucified among us, by bringing to our remembrance the shame and suffer­ings of a dying Saviour, our merciful God applying himself to the most ductile and easie of all our Faculties: For our Understandings require much teaching; and we must proceed from lower me­thods, till we come to be capable of de­monstration. And what man is there a­mong the wisest of Adam's sons, that can expound the Riddles of Providence, or the Mysteries of the written Law of God? The Will follows the guidance of the Un­derstanding; and yet when it is so dire­cted, it is a blind, bold, and daring fa­culty, and for the most part stubbornly neglects to do its duty: But the Memory needs nothing but sensible Objects to in­form it, and is the strongest and most re­tentive [Page 80]of all our Faculties, and such as few men want. And in truth, every act of Obedience is but a remembrance of my duty, and every Transgression an act of forgetfulness: For as often as I sin, I cease to mind a dying Sa­viour; Psal. 9.17. and the wicked, who shall be turn'd into Hell, are the same with the people that forget God.

The Sacrament therefore of the Eu­charist is a Commemoration of Jesus, and his Passion, without which all his other performances could not save us: For all the Rhetorick, Eloquence, and demon­stration of his Sermons, all his divine and beneficial Miracles, together with the unblamable and unspotted Holiness of his Life and Conversation, could never have been sufficient to have redeem'd us without his Crucifixion: 'Twas his death only that was the Original of our life and salvation. What need then hath my dull and unaffected soul of such encourage­ments to give my Saviour a place in my thoughts? The very performance of the duty is its own Recompence, and pro­perly agrees to those Notions of Vertue, that all Mankind bring with them into [Page 81]the world, it being natural to every one to be thankful, and to re­member his Benefactors. Athen. Deip­nos. l. 5. c. 1. The Heathens had their Annual Festivals, to com­memorate their wise men and Philoso­phers, to call to mind their wise sayings, and their prudent, just and vertuous car­riage: The Jews also had their set-times wherein they honoured the Memories of their Prophets, and good men; as the Christian Church appointed Anniversa­ries, which they called the Birth-days of their Martyrs, it being a solemn act of Justice to have the Righteous in everlasting Remembrance. And if the Church were so careful to commemorate the Atchieve­ments of her Members, is it credible, that she should forget the miraculous per­formances of her Head? In nothing was her care so conspicuous, as in constituting a Memorial of the Prince of the Martyrs, and giving the day of our Saviour's Passi­on, a place in the Church-Kalendar in the times of the Apostles, if we may believe Antiquity: For the Remembrance of Jesus ought at all times to be sweet as honey in all mouths, and as musick at a banquet of wine.

For what can be so rude and disingenu­ous, as to slight so obliging a friend, so great and so good a person, especially when he hath left me such illustrious testi­monies of his love, which put me in mind of his humiliation for my sins? For if the Picture, or the Garment of an absent Friend puts me in mind of the person whose they were, and inclines me to grateful Reflections on my Benefactor; how much more should I be obliged, when such lively Representations of a Sa­viour executed, bleeding and dying for me, are exhibited to me, as the Sacra­ment affords me? A Sermon may give me a passionate character of my crucified Redeemer, but nothing can represent his Passion so to the life as the Holy Eucha­rist: that is the most affecting preaching: For in that ministration his sufferings are acted over again in the View of his Disci­ples. Hence the Primitive Christians ce­lebrated the Holy Communion at first e­very day, and afterwards every Sunday and Holy day throughout the year, a­dapting all their additional Circumstances and Ceremonies to this end and purpose, that they might represent the Passion. Hence was it that they built their Churches [Page 83]commonly in the form of a Cross; and for this cause they cover'd the Bed in 16. S. Matth. Damas. P. Epist. Altar with a white linnen cloath, not so much to denote the purity of the Mysteries, or the inno­cence of the Communicants, as our Sa­viour's being wrap'd in fine linnen at his Funeral. On the Chrys. To. 6. p. 360. Altar also they plac'd the Cross, and that without supersti­tion, that they might di­rect their eyes and minds toward Heaven; where the crucified Jesus sits on his Fa­ther's Right Hand. They enjoined their Communicants when they pray'd, Tertul. de O­rat. cap. 11. to stretch out their hands in the form of a Cross; and when they received the consecrated Elements Concil. Trull. Can. 101., they put themselves into the same posture: The elevation of the Elements, when taken into the hands of the Priest, emblems the lifting up of Christ upon his Cross; the breaking of the Bread implies not only that he died, but that he was slain, that he died a violent death; and when the Wine is poured out, nothing [Page 84]can more pertinently and plainly re­present the shedding of his sacred Blood.

In the Liturgy of p. 984, 985. Edit. Savil. St. Chrysostome, which is now used in the Greek Church, the Priest is expresly in­join'd to make upon the Bread which is to be consecrated, the sign of the Cross, with the Holy Launce (for so they call the Knife which is then used, alluding to the weapon with which our Saviour's side was pierc'd), and to say three times, In re­membrance of our Lord, our God and Savi­our Jesus Christ; after which he is to strike the Launce four times into the ex­tremities of the Cross, and to say, when he strikes it into the right side, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; when into the left side, As a lamb without blemish is dumb before the shearer, so he opened not his mouth. Then he is to strike it into the top of the Cross, saying, In his humiliation his judgment was taken from him; then into the bottom, saying, And who shall de­clare his Generation? After which the Priest elevates the Bread, saying, For his life was taken away from the Earth now and for evermore. Amen. And then lays [Page 85]it in the Patin, saying, The lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, is sacrificed for the sins and salvation of the world: During every one of which seve­ral actions, the Deacon says, We beseech thee to hear us, O Lord. And when the Wine and Water is poured into the Cha­lice, the Deacon says, And one of the sol­diers pienc'd his side with a launce, and there issued out water and blood, which mixture they always make, the better to represent that part of the Passion. And the whole Church hath thought fit to consecrate Red Wine, that the colour might mind us of our Saviour's Blood; as the Jews in the Passeover used the same coloured Wine in remembrance of the Blood of their predecessors, which was spilt in Aegypt.

The Greeks consecrate no Bread but what is mark'd as above-said, and stampt with these Letters, IC XC NK. i. e. Jesus Christ overcomes, which was the Motto of the Cross shown to Constantine the Great. And in the Gethick Church in Spain, as the Mosarabick Missal mentions, they divided the Holy Bread into Nine parts, to which they affixt the Names of Incarnation, Nativity, Circumcision, Trans­figuration, [Page 86]Passion, Death, Resurrection, Glory, and Kingdom; under which Names they comprehended our Saviour's whole History; intimating unto all who were spectators of their proceedings, that the design and intention of the Sacrament was only to imprint on their minds the Memorial of our Saviour, and his per­formances for our salvation. Thus the whole Church thought themselves obliged to do in remembrance of their dearest Master and Patron, who, had he been corporeally present under the Accidents, had had no need to have bidden us to re­member him: for we only remember things and persons that are absent.

And is there any Reason that I should be so often put in mind of that which a­lone can make me happy? Thou hast bid me, O my God, that as often as this Sa­crament is celebrated (and what a Re­proof is this of my seldom coming to that Ordinance?) that I should call to mind thy Death. Lord, how can I for­get thee? I should sooner forget to eat, or to sleep. How violent and acute were thy pains, and yet how couragiously en­dured? Did not my iniquities cause thy sufferings? and are not all the benefits [Page 87]purchas'd thereby, transferr'd and made over to me? And can I forget such a Friend? What therefore shall I do to fit my self to receive the advantages of thy Passion sealed and conveyed to me in this Sacrament? I will deface all the Records of Vanity and Folly, of sin and iniquity, that have found a place in my memory, and there will I treasure up the History of my dearest Jesus his Undertakings, of his Sufferings and his Victories, and thence will I transcribe the Copies of Obedience into my life and conversation, till I am perfectly conform'd to his Image.

CHAP. XII. Of Love to my Neighbour.

NExt to my love to my Maker, ought my love to my Neighbur to take place, whose welfare is to be as dear to me as my own, and to whom I must do good, as much as lies in me, as I hope to see the Face of God: for I must love my Neighbour as my self; and every one is my Neighbour who wants my assistance. This love therefore engages me to submit to my superiors, to walk in peace, to prefer others before my self, to instruct the ignorant, to soften the passionate, to reprehend the vicious, to reclaim the pro­fligate, to counsel the unadvised, to speak peace to distrest Consciences, to visit the Prisons, and to administer to them who are appointed to die; to relieve the op­prest, to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry. For these were the employ­ments of our charitable Master, who was our great Almoner, and who hath com­manded [Page 89]us, if need be, 1 John 3.16 that we also should lay down our lives for the bre­thren. And this Doctrine was so well understood by Johannes Elecmosynarius, that when he met with a modest necessi­tous person, to whom he had been for­merly charitable, but at last found him inclinable to refuse his Alms, he plainly told him, That he had not yet arrived to that height of Christian Love to which he was obliged: for the Laws of our Reli­gion oblige me to die for thee.

And by so doing, I make a noble change; I barter a few transitory trifles for eternity; I give a small pittance of my wealth, and with it I purchase the prayers of the poor and indigent, who generally pray heartiest, and are heard soonest; and I gain Heaven by it: For it Acts 20.35.is much more bles­sed to give than to receive. Nor will a narrow and necessitous Fortune make an excuse: For tho a man cannot build an Hospital, or redeem a number of Captives, yet he may deal his bread to the hungry, and cover the naked with a Garment: Or if this be above his Circum­stances and Estate, yet he can give good [Page 90]advice, and a good example; and he can pray for all mankind to that God who gives liberally, and without grudg­ing; and this is a noble peice of Cha­rity.

CHAP. XIII. Of Ʋnity.

MY Love to my Neighbour is disco­vered, 1. by my union and peace­ableness: 2. By my Alms. 1. By my Union: for this is one great end of the Sacrament, to unite all Christians in the bond of peace: For 1 Cor. 10.17. we are one body, says, St. Paul, because we are par­takers of one bread; and therefore the primitive Christians had their publick Love-Feasts joyn'd as an Appendix to the Holy Sacrament, in which persons of all Sexes, Characters and Degrees, did promiscuously partake of Gods blessings, and made the meeting properly an Eucha­rist (and some old Glos MS. [...]. Glossaries say, that the Lord's Supper, in S. Paul, is this Love-Feast); and to testifie the sincerity of their Love, they gave the Holy Kiss each to [Page 92]other, before they approacht the Holy Table, which they called the sign of Reconciliation, Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 5. and the Act. Pass. Per­pet. & Faelicit. p. 35.solemnities of peace; (and some learned men affirm, that they gave it also a second time, just before their departure out of Churh; and then they called it, Tert. de Orat. cap. 14. the seal, or close of their Devotion, tho Legat. pro. Christ. p 41. Athena­goras expresly affirms, that it was forbidden by the Canons of the Church, that any per­son should give this Kiss a second time) as the Act. Mart. ubi supr. Martyrs also saluted one another before their deaths, as a token that they went out of the world in perfect Charity, and in the Communion of the Church of God; And to this time, on Easter-day, and a fort-night after, the Olear. Itin. l. 2. p. 53. Moscovites, wherever they meet, use this cu­stom. Nor may any person, of what condition, sex, or quali­ty soever, dare to refuse this Kiss. And [Page 93]in the Sandy's Trav. l. 1. p. 62. Greek Church now, tho it be an in­sufferable wrong to kiss a Greek woman at any other time, yet between the Feasts of the Resurrection and Ascension, it is al­lowed, when they greet one another with these words, Christ is risen.

For it is this Sacrament that does unite us in our holy brotherhood, by Vertue of which we are impowered to acknow­ledg one Father, which is God; to be made partakers of one and the same spi­rit of Holiness, and to be set free from the powers of darkness, and admitted in­to the only true light: For every man who is a believer, is a brother, and no one else; for Vid. Chrys. Hom. 25. in Ep. ad Hebr. the terms are reciprocally used by the Apostle, it being also anciently given to those who were called The Faithful Just. M. Apol. 2., as they were distinguisht from the persons under ca­techizing or penance; And therefore in those best days, as no man durst travel to any Foreign Church, in expectation of admission into their Communion, or re­ceiving [Page 94]their Assistance and Relief, with­out Letters Testimonial from the Church which he left; so they who were so re­commended, were acknowledged as Good, Catholick and Orthodox Christi­ans, by their admission to the participa­tion of the Lords Supper. And among the Clergy it was an ancient custom to send pieces of the consecrated bread of the Eucharist Iren. apud Eu­seb. l. 5. cap. 24. from one Bishop to another, as a Symbol, and Mark of Communion, till the Council of Can. 14. Laodicea, out of reverence to the Sacrament, forbad it, the Prelates after­wards, instead of the consecrated bread, sending some parcels of the bread de­stin'd to, and prepared for the Holy Sa­crament.

Now this mutual participation of Sa­craments, and other Offices of Religion, is not unfitly thought by some men to be meant by that Article of the Apostle's Creed, The Communion of Saints, the Ho­ly Catholick Church being so denomi­nate from those sacred Rites which are in common to all Christians, whereby they are not only united to God their Saviour, [Page 95]but have fellowship one with another: And to this purpose the ancient Church thought fit in the beginning of the Com­munion-service, when none were present but those who were compleat Christians, and in intire Communion with the Church in all Ordinances, to recite out of the Diptychs (which were never read but at the Altar) not only the Names of the famous Princes and Bishops who were alive, as a testimony that they held com­munion with them, but also of all the Saints departed, of the Mother of God, the Apostles, Martys, Confessors, and o­thers, that they might give a publick te­stimony to the world, that they lived in the profession of the same Orthodoxy for which some of those Saints were martyr­ed, and in which they all died; magnify­ing the Name of Christ for his goodness to his Church, in calling it out of dark­ness into marvellous light, and making them children of God: And whosoever was left out of those Tables, was by that Omission excommunicate, as is famously known in the case of St. Chrysostom. Since therefore all these holy usages are so ma­ny lessons of Peace and Union, I will a­void all Schism as carefully as I shun the [Page 96]paths of death and I will conscientiously keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; I will honour my superiors, and obey their Laws; I will reverence my Holy Mother the Church, and value her Communion, and will study to be quiet, and to do my own business.

CHAP. XIV. Of Alms.

IT is also another end of this Sacrament, to engage all who receive it, to pity the poor, the Alms of the Communicants being usually called Vid. Hebr. 13.15. the Sacrifice, because rendred by way of Ob­lation to God, and given to the poor, as [Page 98]his Bedesmen. And canst thou, O my soul, imagine, that thou dost duly ob­serve the Lord's day, and reverence his Sacrament, when thou comest to Church without thy Oblation? Nay, such an ho­nour was it in the Primitive Church to give Alms, that all men were not thought worthy the honour of being admitted to the Offertory, tho permitted to enjoy the other priviledges of Re­ligion: Constit. Apost. l. 4. c. 5, &c. For neither the unjust Publican, nor the Usurer, nor the Ex­ecutioner, nor any promoter of debau­chery and looseness, were allowed this liberty: For they seriously discountenan­ced all Fraud and Vice, and accounted that man a Reprobate who endowed a Church with the spoils of the poor: They would not admit of that Shop-keeper to the Communion, who put upon the ig­norance of a Customer, and made him pay more for what he bought than the thing was really worth; nor would they allow that man to give his Estate to pious uses, who had gotten it by Extortion, and robbing the Fatherless.

And how should this present Age blush, when we consider this; especially when we remember, that where no Law bound but that of Natural Conscience, some Heathens were ashamed to commit such Iniquity? Thus Vit. Isidor. apud Phot. cod. 242. p. 555. Her­meas of Alexandria, when an ignorant per­son offer'd to sell him a book for less than the va­lue, corrected the illiterate man's mi­stake, told him the book was more worth, and gave him the full price for it. And thus Knolles Turk. Hist. S. Selim. p. 561. the great Selim, the first of that Name, when in the A­gonies of death his be­loved Bassa Pyrrhus ad­vised him to erect an Hospital with the money which had by his Order been un­justly taken from the Persian Merchants; smartly replied, 'Wouldest thou, O my Pyrrhus, that I should bestow the Goods of other men, wrongfully taken from them, upon works of Charity and De­votion, for my own Praise and Vain­glory? No, see they be again restored to the right Owners, and then I may die in peace. Where are the Christians [Page 100]who think themselves thus obliged? And how few are there of us, who do not fall short of these Examples of Heathens and Mahometans?

And in truth, Justice is a duty so sa­cred, that my Alms are Robbery with­out it, the best actions which are founded in injuries, being such sacrifices as were offered in Tophet, where Murther was the Oblation. And to this day it is a Bava Metz. 59.1. Maxim a­mong the Jews (tho the greatest Usurers in the world), that when the Sanctuary was de­stroyed, all the gates of prayer were shut up, except the gate of fraudulent usages; that is, that tho God may be deaf to all other prayers, yet his ears are always open to the cry of those who have been injured, defrauded and rob'd. My Alms there­fore ought to be of Goods justly gotten, and of them must I make my distribution with all chearfulness, and as often as God gives me any opportunity: Nay, it is my duty to seek for occasions of beneficence, and to Rom. 12.13.be given to Hospitality; that is, to be earnest and unwea­ried in the pursuit of all opportunities of [Page 101]being charitable: Which command was so intirely complied with in the Apostles time, that Acts 4.34. every be­liever sold his Estate, and made one common stock for themselves and their poorer bre­thren, the Apostles being the distributers of that stock to every man as he had need. And tho some men affirm, that this custom lasted but a little while, be­cause in St. Paul's time 1 Cor. 16.2. the men of Corinth were obliged to lay a­side, every Lord's-day, what they devo­ted to charitable uses; yet this Argument does not prove what it is intended to de­monstrate: For probably they gave their praedial visible Estate to the Church, and yet might reserve something out of what they got by their Trades, their Professi­on, or Labour, to be given weekly to the indigent. And when at last that me­thod was antiquated, Tert. Apol. cap. 39. every Christian was obliged once a month, or oftner, as he was willing, to give somewhat to the Church-Treasury: And this money was imployed to feed the poor, to bury the dead, to maintain Or­phans, [Page 102]and to put them into a capacity to get their own living; to make provi­sion for the decrepit by Age or Sickness, to cherish the Shipwrack'd, and to re­lieve those who were condemn'd to the Mines, or banish'd, or cast into prison for the sake of God and Religion. So uni­versal was their Charity, and so li­beral their Inclinations in those good days.

How then can any man satisfie himself that he is prepared to come to this Sacra­ment, who is negligent of this duty? Do not the Mysteries exhibit to me the great­est Instances of my Saviour's Charity and Compassion? And can I be his Disciple, unless I imitate his Vertues? St. Gregory the Great was so scrupulous, that when News was brought him, that a man was found dead within his Territory, he sus­pecting that he died of want, and that the not timely relieving every indigent person, did cast an Aspersion on his Go­vernment, he for that Reason abstained for some time from the Holy Communi­on. And tho I am not willing to cherish such unnecessary scruples, yet that man does very rashly thrust himself upon God, who neglects any opportunity of doing [Page 103]good when it is offered to him: For who can expect that his Saviour should give him the dainties of his Table, who denies his crumbs to his necessitous brother? Nay, the Ancients, rather than suffer the poor to want, thought it no Sacriledg to sell the Church plate for their Relief: And St. Caesarius, when he died, made no o­ther Will but this, I bequeath all that I am worth to the use of the poor; and St. Pau­linus, Bishop of Nola, sold himself into captivity, to redeem the son of a distrest Widow. There is no way but this to make Freinds of the Mammon of Unrigh­teousness; nor is there any likelier me­thod to restore us to God's Love and Fa­vour. Mercy ard Truth are the Image of God: And Chrysost. To. 4. Hom. 13. in 1 Tim. p. 302. tho the Heathens define a man to be a Rational Creature, and capable of Knowledg, the Scrip­ture defines him otherwise, when it tells us, that the merciful person is only a man, and that there is nothing so venera­ble in Nature as the Almoner.

CHAP. XV. Of Love to my Enemies.

BUT it is not enough for me to love the brethren, and to do good to the Houshold of Faith; I must also love my Enemies, and do good to them who intend my Ruin: For if ye only love them who love you, what re­ward have ye?Matth. 5.44, &c.do not even the Publicans the same? [Page 105]And if you salute the brethren only, what do you more than others? do not even the Publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, be ye merciful, as your Father in heaven is merci­ful; for be makes his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Our blessed Saviour therefore says to me, and to all his Disci­ples, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the chil­dren of your Father which is in heaven. This is the perfection of Vertue; this the glory of our Christian profession; and herein do the Laws of our blessed Master out do all other Schemes of Morality: Vid. Tert. ad Scapul. Athenag. Legat. &c. Nor could either Jew or Gentile ap­proach to so sublime a de­gree of compassion, which is truly Evangelical, and a Lesson only learnt in the School of Christ. And therefore the Confessor at Alexandria, whom Cassianus mentions, answered like himself, when his Heathen Adversaries pur­sued him with all sort of Contumely and Reproaches, and at last disdainfully ask'd him, What Miracle did your Master Christ [Page 106]ever do? When he made this Return, It is no mean Miracle that he hath wrought in me, that I can tamely hear your Reproaches, and not be concern'd at the Injury; that I can suffer you to revile me, and can at the same time bless and speak well of you.

At this Sacrament I commemorate the Death of my Redeemer, who died for his Enemies, and offer'd his Merits to those who crucified him, as well as to those who oblig'd him. And this is that particular Accomplishment of the Divinity, that is proposed to our imitation: For whereas an attempt to be like God in Power and Majesty, degraded Lucifer, and his con­federate Angels; and Resolves to attain to the degree of wisdom which the Crea­tor possesses, banish'd Adam, and undid his posterity; the transcribing the copy of the divine goodness and compassion, will re-instate the world into a better Paradise, and give men the place which the Fallen Spirits deserted. Nay, many times an act of mercy proves successful beyond expectation, and delivers an Adversary not only from temporal wants, but from eternal horrors: And I may make a Con­vert of that Enemy whom I pity and re­lieve. [Page 107]And if to know the art of true Charity be a greater priviledg than to be crown'd with the Majesty of Kings, then to convert a soul is a nobler Alms than to give a Million of money to the stock of the poor.

And it is very remarkable, that our Saviour hath not only made this duty of forgiving Injuries Mat. 6.12, 14, 15. a ne­cessary and indispensible qualification, to fit me for the receiving of God's pardon; but seems to imply, that upon one act of Obstinacy, one Refusal to o­bey this Injunction, my former sins, that have already been forgiven me, shall be brought again to remembrance, and be the cause of my condemnation: For when in the Mat. 18.27, 34. Parable, ten thousand Talents were remitted to the dis­abled Servant by his Lord, and the Obligation cancell'd; yet when the same Servant dealt unmercifully with his Fellow servant, his Lord delivered him to the Tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him: And so shall our Heavenly. Father do to us, if we from our hearts forgive not every one his bro­ther their trespasses.

And for this Reason, I cannot but think it a commendable custom in the Greek Church, in which, during the celebration of this Office, not only the Deacon; who assists, begs pardon of the consecra­ting Priest, as St. Chrysostome's Liturgy injoins Smyth's Acc. of the Greek Church. p. 143., but the Priest who consecrates, takes care to reconcile himself before he approaches the Altar; and the as­sisting Priests also bow toward the peo­ple, as an instance of their begging forgiveness, if they have offended any one there present: After which every Lay Communicant immediately before he receives, says aloud, Christians, for­give; to which the Congregation an­swers, God shall forgive you. And in the Primitive Church the Deacon was bound to say aloud, Let no man who is not in perfect Charity, dare to approach this Table. And the better to demon­strate the Churches Resolutions in this case, as Easter was the most solemn time of giving the Eucharist, so in the foregoing week, on Maundy Thursday, the Penitents were solemnly admitted to Communion: For whereas on that [Page 109]day the blessed Sacrament was always administred, because that was the day on which it was insti­tuted; Innocent. Ep. 1. ad Decent. cap. 7. Ambr. li. 5. Ep. 33. so on that day also were the Church­censures remitted, be­cause on that day our Holy Saviour delivered himself into the hands of the Jews for our Redemption; the Conc. Carthag. 4. Can. 80, 82. Penitents being brought up to the Al­tar before which they kneeled, and being re­conciled by the Imposition of the Priests hands, were afterward communicated. All which were Instances of the Church's Charity, and an excellent Rule how we ought also to demean our selves toward our Enemies.

I therefore think my self bound to pray as heartily for my most malicious enemies, as for my own salvation And I cannot but remark the folly of the Ro­manists, who, tho they say all the rest of their prayers on Good-Friday, kneeling, do alter that posture when they pray for the Jews (as they also omit saying the Amen), and that for these poor [Page 110]Reasons Durand. Ration. lib. 6 cap. 77.: 1. because the Jews mock'd our Saviour with bowing the Knee, and saying, Hail King. 2. Pecause all their prayers can­not alter the Divine Decrees, nor shorten the time, their conversion not being to commence till the fulness of the Gentiles be brought in. But the Arguments are vain and frivolous, and the usage sa­vours of a narrow and a contracted soul: For to ingross salvation to my self or party, is Christian Judaism; it is impropriating the Messiah, and depri­ving all others of the capacity of being happy.

So that if I consider my Relation to the rest of the world, either as a Man, or a Christian, I cannot but account my Adversaries (whether they be so to my person or principles) in the number of my Friends, and such as do me good: For by envious exclaiming against my Irregularities, they engage me to more circumspection and greater care in performing my duty to my God, the world and my self. And they give me occasion to manifest my Patience, my Humility, and Self-denial, with many [Page 111]other Vertues. And were the Ma­lice of my Enemies never so causeless and inveterate, and the Injuries done me, never so great, yet they have not crucified me; But so did my Saviour's Enemies deal with him, while he forgave them, and interceded for them.

And hath not that my Saviour Matth. 5.24. injoin'd me, rather to leave his ser­vice undone, than that my duty to my Neighbour; rather to leave my Gift at the Altar unoffer'd, than to make the Ob­lation without being in perfect charity (for Tert. de Orat. c. 10. Optat. lib. 6. Chrysost. in loc &c. the Fathers generally understand that passage of the Holy Sacrament:) Chrysost. To. 6. p. 622. "If I cannot forgive, ten days fasting will not fit me for this Altar; For where Envy and Malice dwell, neither the Fast nor the Festival do any good. Where Envy abides; thence the Spirit of God is banisht: And what hopes can that man have of salvation, who is destitute of the Holy Ghost? There is nothing there­fore that can excuse me from the pra­ctice [Page 112]of this so amiable a Vertue, which intitles me to a conquest of my Passions, and makes me Master of my self. Re­venge is not my Province; God will re­pay. And tho it may make me for a while uneasie not to pursue it, yet I am sure it is much more uneasie to be damn'd, and to be confin'd to eternal tor­ments.

CHAP. XVI. Of Love to the Holy Sacrament.

WHen I love any man sincerely, e­very thing that hath a Relation to my Friend, is dear to me, and of a particular value. I look upon a Ring gi­ven me by a living Friend, as a Remem­brancer of the Donor, and his Affection; but if it be given to me at his death, and that death a Martyrdom, and the Ring be dipt in the sacred blood ( Act. Passion. ss. Perpet. & Faelic. p. 34. which was sometimes practis'd by the Martyrs), it upon that very account becomes venerable in my eyes; and I reflect on it with a deep re­spect intermixt with love: and such is the blessed Sacrament to me. When Je­sus was crucified, his Passion, for the time, was very terrible; the Earth shook, the Rocks rent, and the Sun was Eclips'd; but such things easily die in our memories, unless reqresented by something visible, by some outward sign.

The sight of Calvary must needs en­gage a modern Traveller to remember a bleeding Saviour who died there sixteen hundred years agon. And as the marks of our Redeemer's Foot steps, when he ascended, which made their impression in the ground, and con­tinued visible Paulin. Ep 11. ad Severum. till the Fifth Century, could not but presently recall into the thoughts of but a transient consider­er, the History of the Triumphs of Je­sus, which were the Reward of his suffer­ings (and such sights, without doubt, wrought wonderfully in the primitive Martyrs, when the Blood of a dying Re­deemer was yet warm, and those Me­morials not defac'd, who lookt upon the places with Respect, and there built Churches to perpetuate the Memory of the Mercy.) It is true, afterwards those places administred to superstition; and I am sorry to say, so did the Sa­crament too; and to Idolatry also, tho it owes its Original to divine Institu­tion.

When therefore I contemplate these symbols, I not only remember my Ma­ster, as he hath obliged me, till his [Page 116]second coming, but I also put an Esti­mate on his Institution; I account it an Honour to be admitted to his Ta­ble, and I long for frequent opportu­nities of going thither; and nothing can satisfie me but such an Entertain­ment: For the highest degree of Holi­ness is most acceptable; And I am no Christian, if I love not my God with all my heart. And nothing less than a vigorous passion, and the desires of a necessitous person, deserve to be called love to the Eucharist. Nor dare I de­sire it, to gratifie any by-end, but to save my soul: For if I long for it only out of wantonness, the Bread may feed my body, but it will never supply the wants of my soul; the Wine may cheer my spirits, but never refresh my mind. Nothing less than transports can express the sense of the devout person on such an occasion: 'Lord, how sad was I when I came last from thy Ho­ly Temple? And had I not great Reason to be so, considering, that I left thy service to be involv'd again in the world? How tedious hath been the time since I last communicated with my Jesus? And when shall I [Page 117]come again, and appear before him, that I may meet my Saviour in his Mysteries, and converse with him with delight, and true satisfa­ctions? Psal. 42.12. Like as the hart pants after the wa­ter-brooks, so longs my soul for thee, O God: My soul is athirst for God; yea, even for the living God: When shall I come and appear before the presence of God? My Saviour, when he first or­dained this Sacrament, exprest himself with Earnestness and Ve­hemence: Luke 22.15. With desire have I desired to eat this passeover; that is, according to the ex­pressions of the Synagogue Greek; I have heartily desired, I have passionately long­ed to do it: and yet he had no need of Sacraments to strengthen or confirm him. And should there not be in me the same mind, and the same mea­sure of Love that was in my Re­deemer?

Wise men tell us, that three things incite the will, and create love; Excel­lency, Difficulty and Absence: and all these meet here: 1. This is the most sublime Mystery of our Religion, and [Page 118]the most excellent; And therefore the Fathers give it the most Honourable Ti­tles, and call it the Mystery, and the Sacrament of Sacraments, &c. Nor can any enjoyment make me more happy, but being admitted to the Marriage­supper of the Lamb in Heaven: For neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor can the heart of man conceive the pre­sent Favors which God in this life bestows on them that love him.

2. It is no easie slight thing to be a Worthy Communicant. The deepest Sorrow, the heartiest Resolutions, the most unalterable Vows, and the strictest Obedience, are qualifications indispensi­bly necessary to worthy communicating. The Table of God is not lightly to be talkt of, much less presumptuously to be addrest to: And therefore the Fa­thers, when they mentioned the Holy Eucharist, because their Congregation was mixt, only hinted at things, and sub­join'd, [...] Chrys. Pas­sim. Those who have been partakers of that Ta­ble, know what we mean. And others are not fit for such sublime Notions. [Page 119]And for this Reason Sec. 46. de Verb. Dom. St. Austin preaching on that Text, My flesh is meat in­deed, and my blood is drink indeed, purposely avoids a plain Explana­tion of the words: And that he might tempt that part of his Auditory which had never received, to a love to that Sa­crament, he uses this way of Reasoning, 'If thou, who art a Catechumen, art willing to be instructed in this Mystery, now is the Feast of Easter, enter thy name among those who are to be bapti­zed at the Festival, and then thou shalt be inform'd. If the time do not invite thee, let curiosity incline thee. And for this Reason the Table whereon the consecrated Mysteries were plac'd, was concealed [...]. with Curtains from the view of the peo­ple, during the first Ser­vice and Sermon, till the Communion-Office began.

3. The day that I long for, is to come, and the substance represented under these symbols, is in Hnaven: For they shall contain the Son of Man till the time of the consummation of all things. But till I see him in his Glory, this is the most [Page 120]proper and most advantageous way of en­joying him. I know not how long it shall be ere I die, and go to the lover of my soul; and therefore I will converse with him in his Ordinances: nor know I but I may die to morrow; and therefore I will, if I can, communicate to day. For how can I live without him either in Person or Representation, who is the light of my eyes, the joy of my heart, and should be dearer to me than my Life and Be­ing.

It is a strange whimsey, I acknowledg, in De Hierarchia. p. 611. Ed. Rotomag. Father Celot, the Jesuite, "That the multitude of Masses bring so much glory to God, and so much profit to souls, that there could not be too many, if not only according to Moses's wish, all the Lord's people were Priests; but al­so if all men and women, if it were possible, and all inanimate bodies, and even brute beasts, were turn'd Priests, to celebrate the Mass. (And yet eve­ry Priest in the Romish Church is bound to say Mass every day). Nevertheless I must say, it were well to be wisht, that both by Priest and People this Sacrament [Page 121]were addrest to with greater frequency and more Reverence; and that all the parts of the Creation were imployed in praising their Creator. For can I be hap­py too osten, or too much? I will there­fore love every thing that bears the divine Image stampt upon it, and nothing shall occasion my thinking the Table of the Lord contemptible.

CHAP. XVII. Of Resignation and Self-denial.

NOR must this love which I prosess to my God and his Ordinances be faint and weak, but it ought to be strong enough to conquer all that opposes it: For can I say, I love God, if I deny him pre­ference in my esteem to all things else? For if I love Father or Mother, or any other Relation, or my own Ease, or Life it self beyond my Saviour, I am not wor­thy to be called his Disciple, and am un­fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. 'Tis a Maxim in the School of Jesus, Mat. 16.24. [...]. Theo­phil. in loc. If any man will come after him, let him deny himself; and that not by way of Ceremo­ny or Complement, with the Elder Bro­ther in the Gospel, who said, I go, sir, but went not; but with the greatest sin­cerity, and the most intense zeal. For to be a Christian is to be a Follower of the [Page 123]Son of God, who paid so exact a defe­rence to his Father, that tho his own and his Father's will were the same, yet he protests, that he came into the world John 6.38. not to do his own will, but the will of him who sent him; and that when no­thing else could do it, when Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings were insignificant, then was it Recorded of him, that he came to do the will of God. And what greater Instance could be given of this his Piety, than that act of intire Resignation in the Garden? 'For, as Chillingw. Serm. 5. p. 71.an acute man observes, he, in the manner of expres­sing this act of his Humi­lity in the Three Evangelists, super­cedes all scruple, and clears all evasion: for in St. Luke 22.42. it is, Not my will, but thine be done: In which words he re­signs the faculty of his will, the whole power of it into his Father's hands. In St. Mark 14.36. it is not what I will, but what thou wilt; wherein he resigns the act and exercise of his will. But in St. Matth. 26.39. it is, Not as I will, but as thou wilt; wherein he submits his will not only as to the act and power of [Page 124]it, to do what God shall command him, but is willing to do it God's way, and after what manner God shall please. Nor can any man conceive a degree of Obedience beyond this. This was his Glory. Nor did it lessen his Excellencies or his Happiness: For notwithstanding this his Humiliation, he was always glo­rious, and always blest; as the Angels, when they leave the Throne of God, and come down on Earth, carry their Heaven with them, or rather find a new one in their Obedience.

And ought not I to learn of this our great High Priest, not to remove moun­tains, or to curb the winds; not to feed five thousand by Miracle, or to raise the dead, but to be humble and meek, to deny my self, and to depend on God? How should this Love of Christ constrain me? For can there be any room for pride or covetousness, for lust or ambition, for wantonness or intemperance, when I have given my self intirely to my Savi­our? Since Gal. 5.24.they who are Christ's, have cruci­fied the flesh, with the lusts thereof, and must resolve to love nothing but their Saviour, to hate no­thing [Page 125]but disobedience, to dread his power only, and to grieve at nothing but his displeasure. To such persons all things else are insignificant, and cannot cheer the heart, unless he vouchsafe his Favours, and the light of his counte­nance.

And tho perhaps my portion may be severe, and my province difficult, yet I cannot expect to be better treated, when my Master's Cup was so imbitter'd. It could not be expected, that our Redeemer should love his Disciples better than his Father loved him, who was his only be­gotten and beloved Son. But when God loved thee most ardently, O my Saviour, he inured thee to labours and sufferings, to great conflicts and strug­lings. And thus he Heb. 2.10. con­secrated thee to be our High Priest, and gave thee perfection by thy adversities. For such a sacrifice became us; and his sufferings were a great testi­mony of his Innocence: For not only the Blood of the Oblation was first let out at the foot of the Altar, to emblem the mortification of our passions before we approach our Maker; but it was also ob­servable, that every beast was not thought [Page 126]fit to make a Sacrifice: Sheep and Doves, Creatures famous for their harmlesness and their purity, for their innocence and their tenderness, were destin'd to the Al­tar, while Dogs and Swine, and other creatures that delight in Rapine or Pollu­tion, were banisht from God's House. And can I expect to communicate with my Jesus in his Kingdom, who refuse to share with him in his sufferings? How unreasonable is it to expect, how impossi­ble to be conform'd to his Ascention and Triumphs, without a conformity to his Indignities and Passion, to his Agonies and Crucifixion? For that Text, If any man will come after me, let him deny him­self, is a Prophecy as well as a Precept; and so must be fulfill'd in the Church as long as it hath a being; and every good man must do what St. Francis and others are only feign'd to do; he must bear about in his body the marks of the Lord Je­sus.

Nay, it is one of the conditions on our part of the Covenant which we make with God in the Sacrament, To be ready, if need be, to die with, and for that Savi­our of ours, who hath given us his own most precious Body and Blood, to re­present [Page 127]his dying for our sins. For if the love of St. Thomas was so great to Laza­rus, that he was content John 11.16. to die with him, how much more should I be ready to lay all my concerns at the feet of my Redeemer? For of him Ap. Theophyl. in loc. p 721. Origen under­stands St. Thomas to speak. How acceptable therefore would Martyrdom be to me for such a friend? And how prescrable to the Ease and Honours, the Pomps and Voluptuousness of this sensual and giddy world? Poor St. Romanus, when he was Repriev'd from Execution, exprest him­self with much grief Theodorit. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 17., Romanus is not worthy the Honour of Martyr­dom. And when the holy Basil. Orat. in S. Gord. Gordius was to be beheaded, he was troubled at nothing but that he had but one life to lose for his dearest Redeemer, and would have been contented to have shed his blood for his Saviour, as often as he had shed his tears for his sins, had God given him Powers adaequate to his Will and Resolutions: [Page 128]For what can check the Sallies of a Sera­phick Passion, or daunt that man who lives above the world? And what should hinder, but that I also should exert as great Courage, and as much Resolution, and love my blessed Master as much and as heartily as they? I am sure my Obli­gations are a great; and therefore my Gratitude should be as eminent and illu­strious.

CHAP. XVIII. Of Humiliation before the Recep­tion.

AMong the many duties preparative to Worthy Receiving, Fasting, hu­miliation, and intense devotion, are not of the least use and advantage, tho the world is so much a slave to sloth and ease, and hates any thing that is laborious and painful, most men being like Cicer Tuscul 2. Dionysius of Hera­clea, who finding the pains of the Gout too strong for his prin­ciple of Apathy, deserted the Stoicks, and turn'd Epicurean; an undeniable e­vidence, how much more we are guided by our Senses than our Reason. But notwithstanding all our prejudices, these methods of severity are very requisite to compleat our preparations for the Lord's Table.

The Fathers generally observe, that Adam undid himself, and was the cause of our Ruin, by transgressing the Rules of Abstinence, which his Maker had pre­scribed him in Paradise: That when the Old World indulg'd to the gratifying their extravagant Appetites, then their destruction was at the door (they were drown'd first in their full Bowls, and then in the Deluge): And that Job's children, while they were in the height of their mirth and feasting, were upon the brink of their graves; with many other such Instances. And therefore the Christian Church, in imitation of the Jews, who fasted twice in the week, kept also their solemn Meetings on every Wednesday and Friday, on which they pray'd heartily, and heard the Word of God gladly, and at Three in the Afternoon, first received the holy Sacrament, and then went to their ordinary meals. On these days they humbled their souls, and sent up strong cries to God for the pardon of their sins, and the diverting of the divine Judgments from themselves, and all the world. But as if those days of Mortifi­cation would not be sufficient, they ap­pointed the Lent-Fast, to be in an especi­al [Page 131]manner a time of preparation to the blessed Eucharist: At that time they inu­red themselves to all sorts of hardship; they abstained Constit. Apost l. 5. c 17 Chrys. To. 5 p. 581, &c. from their Baths; they drunk nothing but wa­ter, and did eat no thing but Bread and Herbs (not changing dull and heavy Flesh for Fish and Wine, the Dainties of the Old Epicures, as the Romanists do Nay, the present Greeks, during Lent, will not so much as mention the word Butter Cheese, Flesh, Fish, withour the following Parenthe­sis, [...]: that is, with reverence to the holy Lent be it spo­ken Grelot's Voyage. p. 143.): they frequently watcht all night, and when they slept, lay on the bare ground: And lest people, tho­row the weakness that cannot but succeed such severities, might fall asleep in the Church, they had a­mong the Eastern Christians Typic. Sabae. cap. 5. p. 9. [...]. an Officer to awaken all drowsie persons, and to bid them be intent on the duties of the season. Then also they made their frequent Con­fessions, heard Sermons every day, and [Page 132]practis'd all the Rules of Self-denial, and took care, not only that their Diet should be mean, but their Tertul. de Penit. c. 9. & de Jejun. Habit coarse: Their Penitents were cover­ed with rough sack­cloath, and sprinkled with ashes, till their faces were lean and dis-figured with their abstinences: For he who pamper'd himself while the Church fasted, was look'd on as an Atheist, or an Epicure (says Tertullian); 'That his Belly was his God, his Lungs his Church, his Paunch his Altar, and the Cook his Priest; That the steams of his cramm'd Dishes past with him for the blessed Spi­rit, and his poynant Sauces were look'd on by him as the influences of the Holy Ghost, and his Belchings as Prophecy; that all his Charity was warm'd in the pot wherein his Dinner was boyled, his Faith kept alive in the Kitchen, and his Hope preserv'd from starving by his divers Dishes.

They were not to be perswaded that a small degree of penitence would attone for a great Crime, and take off the Ec­clesiastical Censures. Those who were reconciled were not admitted to the Holy [Page 133]Communion, till they had addrest to the i [...] spiritual Guide, and had his benediction and the Prayers of the Church. But many Criminals were never admitted to the priviledges of the Altar till the day of their death: and some were left whol­ly to the mercy of God (especially if the man had relaps'd Ambrose de Paenit. l. 2. c. 10.: For as they never baptiz'd a­ny man twice, so they never admitted any man twice to publick Penance: For should they have done so, the Compassion of the Church would have brought her Laws into contempt. And tho the Church hath since thought fit to give Transgressors bet­ter hopes, by an easier Remission of her Censures, to let the Novatians know, (who thought the ancient Discipline indispensi­ble, and for that Reason denied the first Paragraph of the Eighth Chapter of St. John's Gospel to be Canonical, because it afforded an Example of such Lenity in the Remission of gross sins) that she had such a power; yet it were to be wish'd, that the ancient Discipline could be retrieved to curb the Extravagancies of a loose, sensual, and Atheistical Age, whereby no­torious, vile, and profligate sinners were [Page 134]bound to Ten, Twenty, or Thirty years Penance, and sometimes longer, pro­portionate to their Crimes, and the hei­nous Circumstances that attended them. This would repair the Ruins of Religion, and restore the lost Reputation of despised Christianity.

In those best days their holiest men inu­red themselves to the greatest strictnesses. And what extraordinary performances must we think were then required to fit a gross Offender for the Holy Communi­on? For they had learnt, that such seve­rities are the proper method to subdue the body, and deliver the soul from the drudgeries and impositions of its sensual Appetites; That to fatten the body is but to make the Prison of the soul the strong­er; that the mind is then best enlightned, when it is free from the burthen of meat, and the cares of the world; and that the longer a man fasts while he prays, the fatter and more acceptable will be the sacrifice of his Devotion; and that when Acts 10. Cornelius did so, then came the Vision that brought salvation to his house: But above all, they remembred our Holy [Page 135]Redeemer's Mark 2.19, 20. Injunction; and that this was the time in which the Bridegroom was taken away from the earth; and that therefore the children of the bride-chamber ought to fast. Nor will every slight degree of sorrow serve to ex­press the Resentments of such a loss, and the sins that caused it: For when I look on him whom my Transgressions have pierc'd, I ought to mourn as one mourns for his only son; and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.

And is it not a shame to the Christians of this Age, not to follow such an excel­lent pattern? But why do I call my self and others to the imitation of the Ver­tues of the Disciples of Christ? Simon Coriar. Ep. 12. inter Epist. So­crat. & Socratic. p. 28. The very Heathens will make us blush at the Day of Judgment, who advise their Friends to inure themselves to Hun­ger and Thirst, because those things do wonderfully advance a man in the study and practice of the Laws of Wisdom.

But here I must observe, That every Abstinence is not a Fast: For I may be kept from meat either by poverty or bu­siness, by the Rigor of my Enemies, by the Violence of a Disease, or the injuncti­on of my Physician: But that which makes a Fast in the Ecclesiastical sense of the word is, when it answers the ends of Religion, and the performance is directed to the good of my soul. Nor does every Fast which is voluntarily undertook for the ends aforesaid, presently commence an acceptable Sacrifice to God, unless it be attended with all other virtuous per­formances. The Patriarch of Constanti­nople, called John the Faster, lost the Reward of his abstaining from all sorts of Delicacies, while he could not abstain from Pride and Vain-glory, but disturb'd the world with his pretences to the Title of Universal Bishop. Nor did the men Socrat. Eccle. Hist. l. 7 c. 15. of Alexan­andria fast to any purpose, but to smite with the fist of wickedness, when during this solemnity, they murder'd the most excellent Philo­sopher Hypatia. This is truly Supersti­tion, to seek to bribe God with little Ob­servances, and to trample on his more [Page 137]obliging Precepts. So the Pharisees dread­ed being defiled, should they but enter into a Court of Judicature during the Paschal Solemnity, but were nothing af­frighted at the contriving and compassing the Death of the Innocent Jesus.

When therefore I oblige my self to fast, I propose to my self the pattern of one of those venerable Sages who had gotten an absolute conquest over their Lusts, and had so kept under their bodies, and brought them into subjection, that they were no longer apt to rebel against the Precepts of Reason and Religion And to my Abstinences I joyn my Tears, re­membring that excellent advice of Apud Leon. Allat. de Symeon. p. 23. Symeon Sty­lita, Never to communi­cate but with the deepest compunction and heartiest sorrow for my sins, till I have moistened the holy bread with my tears. And when I weep, I will pray with the greatest ardors of love, and the strongest bent of my mind, but with the least outward motion imagi­nable, lest that should seem to savour of the Theatre, and not of the House of God.

It was the mistake of the Old Philostrat vit. Apollonii Tyan. Gymnosophists, That the higher they leapt in their sacred dances, where­in they praised their Deities, they came so much the nearer to Heaven, and ren­dred themselves and their actions thereby the more acceptable to their Gods. Nor do I think, that Ignatius Loyola, and other of the Romish Saints, were ever the more in God's favour, because they are said to be lifted up above the ground in their prayers, as if Angels carried them so much the nearer to the Throne of Grace. This also is a priviledg the Heathens have pretended to, and perhaps with as much Right as our Modern Vo­taries: For Eunap. vit. Jamblich. Init. Jamblichus is reported, when he pray'd, to have been rai­sed up Ten Cubits above the ground, and his Face and Garments to have been chang'd into a bright Gold-colour; but when the Devotions were done, he re­turn'd to his former colour and station. Nay, greater things than these may be done, and yet a man be no Favourite to the Almighty. But if I pray fervently and devoutly; if my heart breathe out [Page 139]its complaints, and longs to be delivered from the burthen of its sins; if my soul hunger after Righteousness, and be a­thirst for the living God, longing to come into his presence and to partake of his gracious dispensations; then, tho my tongue be silent, and my lips stand still, I may safely presume, that I shall have profit when I pray unto him. And by this means shall my soul mount upward, when to my fasting and tears I joyn my supplications and my alms: For they are the wings of the mind. Nor will I doubt, when I am so prepared, but my God will hear me, and accept of me, and send me away with a bles­sing.

CHAP. XIX. Of Joy and Resolution after the Re­ception.

IF it be just and reasonable, that our Thanksgivings should be proportion'd to the Excellency of our Enjoyments, and our gratitude be adequate to the be­neficence of our Patron; how eminent and exceeding should my joy be, when I have been honoured with the society of my God, endowed with the purchase of my Saviour's Blood, and admitted to the [Page 141]Communion of Angels, and the Privi­ledges of the Saints? If Luke 1.41. the Baptist, when the unborn Infant, Jesus, came to his Father's House, leapt in his Mothers womb, and gave such early Te­stimonies of his Veneration to the Messi­ah (as the Legend tells us, That Vid. Card. Bona de Divin. Psal­mod. cap. 18. Sect. 3. p. 893. St. Benedict, before he was born, sung distinctly with his Sister Scholastica, to the praise and glory of God), how much more so­lemn should my Exultations be, who have been admitted to entertain an adult Savi­our, and to be a sharer in his Triumphs? So true, and so hearty should my joy be, as that which a new Convert experiments, who hath been lately rescued from a state of folly and fear, and admitted into the number of the Sons of God. Or rather it should match the mirth of Nuptials: For in this Sacrament is my Soul married to my Holy Redeemer: Nay, my inward satisfactions should express themselves, as a victorious Army glories in its Conquests; every noise should be a shout, and every sentence a part of a triumphant song: For my dearest Saviour, by his Death, [Page 142]conquer'd his Enemies, and by the Sym­bols of that Death, enables me, his meanest and weakest Servant, to rout the scattered Forces of the Kingdom of Darkness.

Such a demeanor agrees to the practise of the Jews, who injoyed but a shadow of this blessed Sacrament: It agrees to our blessed Master's actions at the Cele­bration, to the Nature of the Ordinance, and to the Customs of the Primitive Chri­stians. The Jews (whose Passeover was only a commemoration of their deliver­ance out of Aegypt, while our Paschal Lamb hath set us free from spiritual and eternal Thraldom) never did eat the Lamb but they sung the great Hallel, which begun with the 113th, and ended with the 118th Psalm. And because to have but such ablessing in view is an happi­ness, they begun and ended the Ceremo­ny with the expressions of their thankfulness: Buxtorf. Hist. Sacr. Caenae. for they sung the 113th and 114th Psalms, before they did eat the Passeover, and the other four Psalms after they had fed upon that Sacrifice. And accordingly did our Savi­our: For we have the strongest probabi­lity, [Page 143]that he, who did in other Ceremo­nies comply with the injunctions of the Synagogue, would not in this particular be singular; and therefore are apt to believe, Mat. 14 26. that the Hymn which he sung before he went out to the Mount of O­lives, was the great Hallel: But if it were not the same, it was, doubtless, some Laud to the Almighty, as for all his Benefits, so particularly for his Sacra­ments. And this is highly worth consi­deration, that when Jesus sung this Hymn, it was the Eve to his cruel and unparallel'd Tragedy, that the Man of Sorrows, who all his life long did eat the bread of affli­ction, and quench his thirst with his tears, having the Cross in view, sung an Hymn. 'Twas a dismal and affrighting Evening; But God gives the good man songs in the night, while the sinner is astonish'd with the Terrors of a disturb'd Consci­ence.

And as this Joy agrees to the Custom of the Synagogue, and our Master's pra­ctice, so it properly corresponds with the intention of the Institution: For tho Thanksgiving be but a part of the Office, yet because the denomination is given [Page 144]from that which is most eminent, the whole Service is called, the Eucharist by the 1 Cor. 10.16. Apo­stle, because, Cabasil. Expos. Liturg. cap. 52. "when we communicate, we have greater cause to rejoice than to supplicate: For when we are made partakers of these Mysteries, we have received many more favours than we want: For of the things that we want, some we cannot yet attain unto, as the incorruptibility of our bodies, and our translation to Heaven: Some we have forfeited by our frequent Re­lapses, as the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, our Health and our Riches. So that were we as pious as we ought, there would be even in this world no need of supplications: all our Offerings would be Eucharists and Praises. But our sloth and our negligence are the causes of our needs. Do we beg Remission of our sins? Was not that given us in Baptism? And how came we, but by our own fault, to need it again? Do we want Heaven? Does not the Scrip­ture tell us, the Kingdom of Heaven is within us? And were we not made Sons of God in the Laver of Regenera­tion? [Page 145]And if Sons, then Heirs; Why then do we so pray? Because we have forfeited that Estate, and deserve to be disinherited, and to be made of Sons; Servants: And do we want Temporal Blessings? We should first seek the Kingdom of God, and all these Things would be added.

When we are fit to communicate with God, our Wants are inconsiderable, and our greatest Employment in the duties of Religion, is to celebrate his Condescention, to admire his Goodness and Patience, and to adore his Majesty; and therefore the Hymn, which the Ancients sung at the Ce­lebration of these Mysteries, was by some called Dionys. Ar. Ec­cl. Hier. c. 3. [...]. the holy Eucha­rist, because it compre­hended in it self the com­memoration of those ho­ly Gifts that descend from God, and seemed to include all the particulars of that Office; nor did the Primitive Constit. Ap. li. 5. c. 13. Just. M. a­pol. 2. &c. Church ever receive this Blessed Sacra­ment, but they had their Psalms, and Forms of Thanksgiving; for if eve­ry worldly Blessing deserved its Remem­brance [Page 146]and an acknowledgment; how much more were they bound to praise God for spiritual Blessings in heavenly pla­ces? and to this day the Olear. Itiner. li. 5. p. 279. Armenian Church think they cannot communi­cate aright, unless they have not only vo­cal, but Instrumental Musick; and they plead for the usage, that while our Blessed Saviour prayed in the Mountain, the An­gels came down, and entertain'd him with such sort of Musick; and tho this be an ungrounded Tradition, yet Antiquity was agreed, that the Angels were present at the Celebration of this Sacrifice; and that when the Gr. Nyss. To. 1. p. 957. Church sung, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, the Seraphim sung with them, and that they attended on these Representations of our Saviour, as they did upon his Person.

For it was also an Hippolyt. in Ps. 42. apud Theodorit. dia­log, 2. Euseb. Epist. ad Constant. Imp. in act. Conc. Nic. 2. act. 6. Col. 493. Jul. Fir­mic. p. 48. Ambros. de his. qui initiant. c. 7. &c. undisputed tradition among them, That when the great Con­queror of Death and Hell was ascending to His Father's Right Hand, the Holy An­gels [Page 147]which attended him on Earth, follow­ed him with Songs of Praise and Triumph, and spake to their Brethren the Angels in Heaven, in the Words of the inspired Psal­mist, (Ps. 24.7. &c. according to the Translation of the Septuagint then in use) Lift up your gates, O ye Princes, and be ye life up ye everlasting Doors, and the King of Glo­ry shall come in: To which the Heavenly Angels, sollicitous to enquire who it was that came with so much Authority to demand the opening of the Gates of that Palace, because no man to that day had ever entered into the Holy of Holies; an­swered, Who is this King of Glory? To whom the return was presently made, It is the Lord strong and mighty, even the Lord mighty in Battel; and after that, all the Heavenly Host joined Consort, and did sing with one Voice, Lift up your heads, O ye Princes, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in: And if those bright Spirits were so trans­ported at the sight of the victorious Jesus, should not my Soul be much more enga­ged to break out into Exclamations and Rejoicings, and to imitate the Harmony of the admiring Angels?

And for this Reason when the Church at Easter had remembred the Resurrection of Christ, and strengthned themselves with the Sacrament, that they might be able to walk in his steps, every day be­tween that Festival and VVhitsuntide was a day of rejoicing, every day of the fifty was a Sunday, say Tert. de coron. c. 3. Ambr. in Luc. li. 8. c. 17. Marx. Taurin. Homil. 61. the Fathers; nor did they on any of those days so much as stoop to kneel at their Prayers; nor do we in our Church ever fast the Eves of the Feasts that then happen Except before. As­cention day.; only in this interval we humble our selves in the Rogation Week, which was introduc't upon extraordinary occasion and necessity; or rather, as I think, was transferred to this season from some other time of the Year: And so sen­sible was the Church of the infinite Beni­ficence of God, that in the fourth and fifth Centuries several Monasteries were erected, societies of devout Persons, whom they called [...], men who never slept, because some or other of the Fraternity was always in the House of God singing his Praises, and celebrating his Bounty.

But why should I want the Encourage­ments to adore my Redeemer, which An­gels and Saints afford me? The Heathens guided only by the Dictates of Nature, entertained every little secular Blessing with joyful Acknow­ledgments; Jul. Firmic. p. 38. [...]. they never saw a Candle brought into the Room, but they saluted the Light, and bid it welcome; but at Gods Altar I am blest with the light that lightens every man that comes into the world. And when the men of Id. p. 6, 7. [...]. Aegypt found their Mock-Deities, they excliamed; We have found him, let us rejoice together: And am not I much more obli­ged to do so, when I have found the Messiah to whom Moses and the prophets bear witness. when I have found the way of Salvation, & the means to attain to the favour of God?

To this end the Book of Psalms should be alway in my hands, and the Jubilees of it in my mouth; for nothing like that Book fits a man for the giving or receiving these Mysteries Dion. Areop. Eccl. Hier. c. 3. p. 288.: 'In the Psalms we praise God for all his Works, and we praise all good men for their holy [Page 150]Speeches, and excellent Actions, they quiet our Affections, and subdue our un­ruly minds, as Davids Harp did drive the evil Spirit out of Saul. And they call to our Remembrance that Saviour of ours, who is almost in every one of them descri­bed to the World. With these Songs of Praise did those devout men deceive the tediousness of a Journey, and of worldly Business; the Husbandman sung the Hal­lelujahs while he followed his Plough, and the Shopkeeper while he managed his Trade; and with them they begun and ender their Meals; they were the Com­panions of their Employments, the enter­tainment of their leisure Hours, and the solace of their Cares.

And are not these things written for Examples? Nothing therefore shall hinder but that I will treat my Saviour with Cheerfulness, and a glad Heart, who treats me with a Feast above the desert of Angels; Angels cannot make him more happy than he is; they can only sing his Praises; and to their Hallelujahs will I joyn mine: nor shall my joy make it self visible only in my Anthems, but it shall be more illu­strious in my Conversation; for this Blessing which I receive is a Sacrament, 'tis an Oath [Page 151]that obliges me, as it did my Forefathers in the Faith, Vid. Plin. lib. 10. Ep. 97. the Pri­mitive Christians, to a Holy Life, to Justice and Temperance, and the practice of e­very other Virtue; it binds me to avoid Theft and Adultery, and every other Crime, as I am willing to avoid Damna­tion. I do resolve therefore, as I live by the Mercies of God, so I will live to his Glory; and nothing shall make me weary of loving and serving him, but I will as far as I can, imitate the Adorations and O­bedience of the Seraphim, till they carry me to Heaven, where I shall bow down to, and exult in my Saviour for ever.

CHAP. XX. Of the Priest who consecrates.

BUT above all men, I hope my Brethren of the Clergy will not take it amiss that I have inserted this Chapter; I did not design it to instruct them, they are the Angels of God; but to direct and guide my self in the dis­charge of the Priest­ly Office. Gods Minister, who consecrates, ought to be careful that he be duly quali­fied in the purity of his intention, and the Ho­liness of his conversa­tion, in self-examina­tion and self-denial, in Humility and true joy; for Jesus who institu­ted the Mysteries, was a holy and innocent High-priest, and separate from sinners: And tho it be no wonder that Judas may com­municate, yet it is monster when Judas consecrates; to see dogs and swine, and other unclean beasts wallow and delight [Page 153]in filth and pollution, is common and ordi­nary; but to see Ermins defiled, is prodi­gy. To behold one of the Sons of Belial making haste to be damned, is an usual, tho deplorable sight; but to see an Angel fall into the condemnation of Satan, to behold one of the Sons of God turn A­postate, and to make a League with the Powers of Darkness, is a reversing of the methods of Nature and Providence, and a defiance to the constitutions of Holy Re­ligion.

Shall I take the immaculate Body of my Saviour into a polluted Mouth, and think to consecrate his Blood with profane Lips? Ought I not to wash my hands in innocency, before I compass the Altar of God? before I receive Jesus for my self, and give him in to the hands of others? It was given in charge to the Priests of the Old Law, Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy; Nor can that Commandment be antiqua­ted under the Gospel: Nay, the Mosaical Constitutions required, that the Priest should not only be free from any inward Pollution, but also that he should have no Levit. 21.18, &c. outward Blemish, not so much as a flat Nose, nor a broken [Page 154]Hand or Foot; not a crook back, or the Scurf, no nor so much as a Blemish in his Eye; nay, so careful were they of the Priest, who sacrificed, that they not only surveyed the shape and make of his limbs, but as De sacrific. Init. Philo observes, they also curiously made inspection into his Skill, whether he were able to discern a Sacrifice, and every part of it, from the Head to the Foot, Tert. Apol. c. 30. p. 223. cur praecordia victimarum potius, quam ipsorum sacri­ficantium exami­nantur? that nothing tainted or de­fective might be offer'd for an Oblation to God; and is there not the same skill and dili­gence required from an Evangelical Priest, who must advise others, and above all things should not neglect his own soul?

For if a Physician of the body gives no encouragement to his Patient to depend on his skill, unless himself be of a vigorous constitution, and a healthy look (since all his Discourse of keeping others alive for ever, will appear but empty talk, and vain boast, if his own livid Countenance and decayed Limbs are a contradiction to his confidence) how much more ought those who take on them the Cure of Souls, to [Page 155]mind the conforming of their Conversati­ons to the Preceps, which they give to others, lest while they make their boast of the Law, through breach of the Law they dishonour God: For how necessarily sad and affrighting must be the reflections of that man, who reads the threatnings of Heaven to others against those sins which his own Conscience testifies himself hath been guilty of?

'Tis an exemplary story, if it be true, that Epiphanius relates of Origen, Haeres. 64. p. 228. that after his fall returning to Jerusalem, he was de­fired to preach, which Office he addressing himself to, occasionally lights upon that passage of the Ps. 50.16, 17. Psal­mist, Unto the ungodly saith God, why dost thou preach my Law, and take my covenant into thy mouth, whereas thou hatest to be reformed, and hast cast my words behind thee? Which passage as soon as he had read, he could not but call to mind his former Apostacy, whereupon he sate down, and wept, and the whole Con­gregation wept with him, and that was all the Sermon they had for that day.

Who, O my Soul, dares speak evil of that Priest, who spends all his Time and Strength in the service of that God whom he acknowledges? and who will not re­verence that Clergy-man, who busies him­self in visiting the sick, in instructing the ignorant, in reclaiming the profligate, in comforting the disconsolate, in diligent Preaching and Catechizing, and in a re­verent Administration of the Sacraments? There is a natural Veneration and Respect that all men pay to that which is truly Religious; but when he who instructs o­thers, never preaches to himself, this casts an odium on Christianity, that is not easily defac't; for a wicked Priest at the Altar is worse than Judas; for when Judas kist, and then betrayed our Blessed Saviour, tho the action was as he intended it, abomina­ble, yet as God applied it, it became the Instrument of the World's Happiness; but when the vicious Priest approaches God's Table, and puts the Body of Jesus into his own Lips, and the hands of his people, he prophanes the tremendous Sacrament, he affronts the Majesty of God, he does no good to himself or others, but much harm; he eats and drinks Damnation to [Page 157]himself, and gives a very evil Example to his Neighbours; and what Power can bring any good out of so much Wicked­ness?

And yet to sin like Judas, is to be a vile and notorious Transgressor; and the case of that Traytor is an affrighting Example; our Holy Redeemer had given him his Bo­dy and Blood, tho he knew he would be­tray him, that he might attempt all methods to reclaim him, to soften his hard Heart by Kindness and Con­descention, and to secure him from the Temptations of Satan by arming him with the power of God, and the Grace that is conveyed with those Mysteries; but Ju­das was the first Instance, that the Holy Sacrament, which the Son of God insti­tuted for the Consolation and Welfare of his Servants, may become the occasion of Condemnation to those who receive it un­worthily, and that the Devil may enter into that Man's mind, whose Body hath received the Lord Jesus: and how impu­dently wicked doth such a Wretch grow of a sudden? for when our Master had declared, that one of his Family would be that Traytor, who should deliver him [Page 158]into the Hand of the High-priest Luk. 22.21.: When the rest of the Innocent Apostles were struck dumb with Astonish­ment, Judas took the hardiness to ask him the Question: Thus he who is not bet­ter'd by the means of Grace, insensibly grows worse, and hardly can a Miracle save such a resolute sinner: And what dismal Lamentations, what complication of Woes are sufficient to mourn the state of such a Priest? for Vid Hieron. Ep. ad Heliodor. to. 1. p. 4. m. who shall make at­tonement for him, whose Office it is to intercede for others? 'The Soul of a Priest, says Lib. 6. de Sacer­dot. p. 44, 46, &c. St. Chry­sostome, should be bright, and more un­tainted than the Rays of the Sun, lest the Spirit of God be forc't to desert him, and that he may be able to say, Now it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me; for like that great Light, that rules the day, he should enlighten the World, and warm it with the Ardors of Divine Love; for when the Priest stands at the Altar, the Angels attend him, and all the Heavenly Powers [Page 159]mix their Voices with his, and all the Space round the Altar, is filled with the Blessed Spirits who honour him that is there represented, and incircle his Body, as Guards do a Prince. Nay, so great is the Honour that is done to a good Priest, when he administers in Holy Things, that he stands in Gods stead; for as God offer'd up his only Begotten Son for the Redemption of the World: So doth the Priest at the Altar make a Commemorati­on of that one perfect and intire Sacri­fice and Oblation of our Holy Saviour for the sins of Mankind; and was it ever known, that any man durst play the Devil in the likeness of God? To meet Satan in the Habit of an Angel is not unusual, but to see an Angel of God (as Priests are cal­led, and truly are) to be a real Fiend, is a­bominable. When therefore thou consi­derest this, dost not thou tremble, O my Soul, when thou consecratest this Tremen­dous Sacrament? And oughtest thou not to practice the deepest Reverence, and to demean thy self humbly and decently, be­cause of the Angels who attend thee, and because of God whom thou representest? Great is the Honour which God gives his Priests, and great is their Charge; and [Page 160]who is sufficient for these Things?

CHAP. XXI. The Methods of the ancient Church at the Celebration of the Holy Commu­nion.

THe Writings of the Fathers, together with the Old Rituals and Litur­gies, do at large give an Account both of the deep Respect that was paid to the Sacrament, and of the Zeal, Reve­rence and Devotion of those who received it, together with the several Rites and Ceremonies that beautified and complea­ted the performance. It cannot be denied but that in several Churches there were circumstantial differences in the Perfor­mance of this Duty; but withal it cannot be denied, that in the main there was an exact agreement.

As soon as the Bishop or Priest who Preacht, had ended his Sermon, all persons Dionys. Areop. Eccl. Hier. c. 3. who were not Bapti­zed, or were possest by [Page 163]Evil Spirits, or were in the state of Pen­nance, were dismist; the Deacons or Sub-Deacons keeping the Doors, that no unqualified person might presume to stay any longer in the Church, or to see the so­lemnity of the Celebration, who was not worthy to Communicate. After which the Deacons brought the materials of the Holy Sacrament, which they had be­fore received from the Hands of the Faithful, Vid. Mendoz. in Can. 22. Concil. Illiberit. and had layed up in the Church Treasury (a place like our Vestry) and delivered them to the Bishop (if present, if not to the Priest) who lay­ing them on the Table, tendred them to God with this short Prayer: Lord, we offer thy own out of what thou hast bountiful­ly given us.

Then the Deacon (or as in some Churches, the Sub-Deacon) brought Water to the Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 5. & Liturg. Bishop, and his Presbyters, in which they were obli­ged to wash, because the Psalmist says, I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine Altar, O Lord; for washing was an Emblem of the Purifying both of [Page 164]the Body and Mind, the Enseb. l. 10 c. 4. Chrys. to. 6. p. 619. &c. people having washt at the Church­door, before they be­gun their prayers, it being accounted very indecent to appear before God, unless they could lift up clean hands without wrath or doubting.

The Bishop and his Clergy had their seats round the Altar, which stood in the middle of the Quire; nor was any person permitted to be there besides the Clergy, (except the Graecian Emperor in the Churches of the East) for even the Monks themseves in those days had no place a­mong the Clergy, but stood just without the Cancelli, or Rails, the Episcopal Throne (for so it was stiled) was placed just above the Holy Table, his Presbyters seats being on each side of it, the Deacons standing by Chrys. to. 4. p. 271. & passim. all cloathed in white Garments, some being concern'd in the Ministration of the Sacra­ment (which they were injoined to do Const. Ap. li. 2. c. 57. with fear and reverence) others to quiet the [Page 165]people, and Ap. Const. l. 8. c. 12. one to keep the Children in due order, for they al­so were admitted to this Sacrament; and in some Churches two of the Deacons shaded the Chalice with a Skreen, that no flyes or other such insects might fall into the Consecrated Wine.

Now the Churches among the Ancients were so ordered, that as there was a par­tition between the Body of the Church and the Quire, so there was also a Veil or Curtain, which shaded the Altar, and kept it from the sight of those who had no right to the Mysteries; which Curtain, when it was drawn, the People in a solemn manner (looking upon the Holy Table as a Type of Heaven, and the Priests attend­ing as the Angels of God descending to Mi­nister to Men) did give God hearty thanks Liturg. S. Jacobi. that there was an entrance given them into the Holy of Holies, Cyril. Cat. myst. 4. Ambr. de his qui initiantur. c. 8.and that he had prepared a Table in their sight before the face of them; for they believ­ed Chris. to. 5. p. 565. that this was tipi­fied by the rending of [Page 166]the Veil at our blessed Saviour's passion, that the people might look into the Holy of Holies, and see their Crucified Redeem­er: now upon the Altar (besides the Lin­nen, and the Vessels ne­cessary for the Conse­cration, of which Tet. de pudirit. c. 7. and c. 10. the Chalices had the Im­press of the good Shep­herd bringing back the lost Sheep on his Shoulders) there was nothing set, besides a Tert. apol. 1.39. and Chrys. to 6. p. 631. Cross, and Lights (and both of them very an­ciently) to express, that whatever was there done, was a representation of that Sacrifice which our Blessed Saviour made of himself on the Cross for our sins, and of that first Supper which he instituted, and that it was a Feast of Joy to the Chri­stian World.

After these preparative Actions, the people were Dion. Areop. ubi sup. Const. Ap. 2.57. Basil. Liturg. &c. bid 'To rise up together, and to stand decently and with trembling; and turning toward the East, to pray to that God who as­cended into the Heaven of Heavens, and fitteth in the Eastern part of it, [Page 167]toward which place stood Paradise, whence the first man by the cunning of Satan was banisht. And when the Con­gregation had put themselves into this posture, the Deacon who attended the Bishop, said aloud, Const. ap l. 8. c. 11. Let not any man who is at enmity with his brother, let not any man who is only hypocritically reconciled, approach this table. To which also he subjoined, Let us attend; after which the Bishop salu­ted his people with the peace of God be with you; to which they answered, and with thy Spirit; (tho To. 3. p. 647. St. Chrysostome places the dou­ble salutation as it was called, after the Kiss of Peace) and im­mediately the Dion. Areop. ub. sup. Cyril. Cat. mystag. 5. Const. Ap. 2.57. Dea­con aloud bad the peo­ple give each other the Holy Kiss, or the Kiss of Charity, which Action was managed with the greatest care and modesty ima­ginable; for Conc. Laodic. Can. 19. first the Bishop gave the Kiss to his Presbyters, and the Presbyters to the inferior Clergy, and af­terward among the La [...]ty the men kist the men, but the women their own Sex only, (for they had their different apartments, [Page 168]and particular Officers appointed to each apartment, the Ostiarii. Door­keepers at the entrance of that which belong'd to the men, and the Deaconesses to that belonging to the Women) and this they were advised to do with this sober cau­tion Const. Ap. ub. supr., that no one should salute his brother deceitfully and treacherously, as Judas kist our Lord when he betrayed him. In the Liturgy of St. Basil, the people are bid to salute one another, that they might unitedly confess the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the consubstantial and inseparable Tri­nity; and then they repeated the Creed; and in that of St. Mark there is a prayer to be said at the performance of this Cere­mony; wherein 'They desire God to look down on his Church, and to bestow on them his Love, and his Assistances, and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, that with a pure Heart, and a good Conscience, they may salute one another with the Holy Kiss, not in Hypocrisie, but in puri­ty and innocence, in one Spirit, in the bond of peace, and of Love, that they might become one Body and one Spirit in one Faith, and one hope of their cal­ling, that at last they might all be parta­kers of the Divine and infinite Love o-Christ Jesus.

Then in Cyril. ub. supr. the Church of Jerusalem, the Priest did bid the people lift up their hearts, and they answered, We lift them up unto the Lord; the Priest rejoined, Let us give thanks unto the Lord: The people answered, It is meet and right so to do; af­ter which the Church calling upon the whole Creation to praise God, did sing the Angelical Hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabbath: Which Hymn was usher'd in with this Preface: Liturg. S. Jacobi. 'Let all Flesh keep silence, and stand with fear and trembling; and put off all worldly and sensual Thoughts, for the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Christ our God is coming forth to be slain, and given for Meat to all his Faithful Servants; the Quires of Angels go before him, and with them, Principalities, and Powers, the Cherubim with many Eyes, and the Seraphim with six Wings, shading their Faces, and singing the Hymn, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Then followed the Prayer of Consecration, and with that the Prayer for all states of Men, and for the peace of the World, together with the recital of the Diptychs, which was [Page 170]always closed with the Lord's Prayer.

But in other Churches it was other­wise Constit. li. 2. c. 57. & li. 8. c. 11, 12.: First the ge­neral Prayer for the whole state of mankind for Peace and Prosperity, and all other Blessings, was said; at the end of which, the Names of all the Eminent Persons who either had dyed in the Communion of the Church, or yet lived in it, were recited out of the Ecclesiastical Tables, or Dyp­tichs, and then the people were bid to lift up their hearts unto God, &c. Where­upon the Bishop making the sign of the Cross, blest the People, saying, Preserve, O Lord, thy people and bless thine inheritance, which thou hast purchas'd by the blood of thy Christ, and hast called to be a royal priesthood and an holy nation. And then the Bishop standing at the Altar, proceeded to the Prayer of Consecration, which was agree­able to our Saviour's Form at the Instituti­on; at Dion. areop. ub. supr. Basil. de spir. S. cap. 27. which time the Elements, which were before cover'd with a fine Linnen Cloath in Imitation of Christ's being so wrapt, when he was lay'd in his Sepulchre, were uncover'd, [Page 171]that the people might see the Bread broken, and the Wine poured out.

After the Prayer of Consecration, the Cyril. ub supr. Priest first heartily said Amen: And after him Just. in Apol. 2. Dion. Alex. a­pud Euseb. li. 7. c. 9. &c. the people praying that so it might be; and pro­testing that they belie­ved, that that Sacrament was the true Body and Blood of Christ: but in the Liturgy of St. James, when the Words of the Institution were recited, the Deacon first said Amen; and then ac­knowledged, That they did believe and con­fess, that as often as they did eat that flesh and drink that blood, they did show forth the Lords Death: To which the people answer­ed, We do show forth thy death, O Lord, and we do acknowledg thy Resurrection. This being done, the Deacon bid the people attend to the holy oblation in peace and quiet­ness, and to bow their heads to their Saviour Jesus in honour to his name and institution. Then it was said, Holy things to holy persons: To which the people answered, There is one holy, one Lord, one Jesus Christ, blessed for ever, in the glory of God the Father. Then the people were exhorted to the reception of the holy Mysteries, the Priest singing [Page 172]with heavenly Melody the words of the Psalmist, Cyril. ubi sup. Psal. 34.8. O taste, and see that the Lord is gracious; to which the Congregati­on in some Liturg. S. Jacobi. Churches, answered, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

When the Consecratlon was done, (which probably, if there were many Bishops or Priests present, they all joined in) the person consecra­ting said, Liturg. S. Marc. As the Hart de­sireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God: And then himself received, (in which Action it is observable, by St. Chrysostome's Liturgy he was obliged to drink three times of the Chalice, bowing all the while in honour of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) and afterward he gave it to the Clergy, if any were present; (the Bishop giving it to the Priests, the Priests to the Deacons, and the Deacons to the people) after the Const. Apost. ji. 8. c. 13. Clergy, the Monks received, (for they gave them the preference, because they look't on them as a sort of Ecclesiastical persons, [Page 173]not purely Laymen, tho not in Orders) and after the Monks, the Deaconesses. Vir­gins and Widows, then the Children, then the rest of the Laity in their several Or­ders; that is, as I conjecture, first the Men, afterward the Women; Conc. Tolet. 4. c. 17. the Priests and Deacons communicating at the Al­tar, the Inferior Clergy in the Quire, and the people at the Rails without; tho I am well perswaded, that in the first Ages, the Laity also came up to the Altar, to which they were invited to draw near in the Fear of God, and with Faith and Charity; and when they ap­proacht, they were commanded by the Deacon to stand decently, and reverently, in the fear of God, and with contrition of heart, and to receive modestly and piously, behaving themselves as those who approacht the presence of a King. And accordingly they received in a posture of deep Reverence and Ado­ration (for no man durst to receive, but he adored) and while the Mysteries were distributing, the Congre­gation Const. Apost. ubi sup. Liturg. S. Jacobi, & S. Chrysost, &c. sung the 33d Psalm, or as we reckon it, the 34th, I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise [Page 174]shall be continually in my mouth; but in St. Austins time at August. Re­tractat. lib, 2. cap. 11. Carthage they used to sing the Psalms of David, not on­ly during the distribution of the Sacrament, but also before the Oblation; I suppose, he means only those which were suitable to the occasion and mystery.

In Just. M. Apo. log. 2. Palestine, and in many other places, the Bi­shop, or Priest, brake the bread, and gave it into the hands of the Deacons, and they gave it to the People, as they also distributed the Cup. At Tertul. de Co­ron. cap. 3. Carthage, and else where, especially in Africa, the people receiv­ed both the Elements from the hands of the Bishop, while at Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. Alexandria the people were allowed themselves to take the consecrated Bread from the Patin (tho I think, this was a peculiar custom of that Church, and lasted but a little while; but generally he who consecrated, gave the Bread, and the Deacon the Cup. 'In the Cyril. Cat. myst. 5. Church of Jeru­salem, when the Commu­nicants [Page 175] received the bread, they took care not to spread their hands abroad, or to widen their fingers, but placing their hands in the form of a Cross, they sup­ported the Right Hand with the Left, and in the hollow of the Hand received the Body of Christ. This Vid. Chrys. to. 5. p. 519. holy bread they first put to their Eyes, and then did eat it, being ex­treamly careful, that no part of it should fall to the ground; thus they received the bread; and when the cup was to be received, the Cyr. ubi supr. Const. Ap. li. 8. c. 3. Prosper. in Sentent. Commu­nicant was forbid to stretch out his Hand, and only advised to bow himself, and being in the posture of Worship and Adoration, the Wine was poured into his Mouth, and before he swallowed it, he was obliged to moisten his Fingers in it, and then to touch his Eyes, his forehead, and the rest of the Organs of his senses, thereby sanctifying them, and securing them from the assaults of Satan.

He who Ministred the blessed Sacrament Chrys. l. 3 de Sacerd. Aug. Ep. 259., car­ried it in his right hand, [Page 176]and when he gave the Bread, he said Ap. Const. l. 8. c. 13., The Body of Christ, or Liturg. S. Marc. the Holy Body; and the Com­municant said, Amen. And when he gave the Cup, he said, The Blood of Christ, the Cup of Life, or the precious Blood of our Lord God, and Saviour, and then also the Communicant answered, Vid. Aug. contr. Faust. Ma­nich. lib. 12. cap 10. Amen. But afterward the form Liturg. Greg. Dialog. was enlarged (as I conjecture by Grego­ry the Great) The Priest saying; The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thee unto Eeernal Life, Amen; To which the Communicant replyed, I will receive the heavenly Bread, and will call upon the Name of the Lord; and when the Priest delivered the Cup, he used this Form, The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thee unto Eternal Life, Amen; and the Communicant rejoin'd, I will receive the Cup of Salvation.

After the Distribution was ended Const. Ap. ub. Supr., the Deacon spoke to the Congregati­on in these words, Let us [Page 177]who have received the precious Body and Blood of Christ, give him our Thanks and Praises; to which end, he did bid them put themselves into an erect posture, and to stand upright, that both Soul and Body might be intent on the Office, that in the Prayer, which compleated the Sacrifice, they might praise God heartily, and with a good courage for the Honour and Pri­viledg of partaking of those Mysteries, and then they were dismist. The remain­der of the Consecrated Elements was Just. M. A­polog. 2., some of it, sent to those who were absent, especially to the Confessors in Prison; who were every day in expectation of Death; the rest, the faithful, who had communicated, carri­ed home with them, and Naz. Or. 11. & Or. 19. that in both kinds, and Tert. ad Ʋxor. l. 2. they commonly did eat of this Bread before their ordinary meals; especial­ly, at their entertainments of Friends; and Bishops usually sent pieces of it, one to another, as a token of mutual Com­munion. In after times, in some Churches, the Communicants did eat what was left, in some they buried, in others they burnt the [Page 178]remainders; and in other places they gave them to the School-boys, and other Children, who had not communicated. What was left of the Oblations unconse­crated, found the Ancients the materials of their Love-seasts (tho the Apostolical L. 8. c. 31. Constitu­tions give it to the Clergy) afterward the Bread was given to the Catechumens, or Penitents, who were speedily to be reconciled; or it was sent instead of the Sacramental Present a­bovementioned, by one Bishop to ano­ther.

These were the Ancient Methods; and may our good God give this present Age his Grace, and fill our Hearts with a holy Fear of his Majesty, and a due Reverence and respect to all his Ordinances, that the Examples of the devout Christians of the Primitive Ages may incline us to an Imi­tation of their Piety, Humility, and other Virtues, till we come to the general Assem­bly of the first-born in Heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

CHAP. XXII. Of the honour done to the Sacrament, by the Ancients.

THE Holy Eucharist being the highest Office of Religion, and the greatest Priviledg of Christians on Earth; the Church hath thought fit on all occasions to testifie, what a Reverence ought to be paid it, and what honour is justly due to it. And therefore took all care to sence, and secure it from any attempts that might lessen its esteem, or profane its u­sages; of which I shall mention the most materal.

For 1. None was permitted to be pre­sent at the Celebration, but those who had right to receive the Mysteries; for tho the Governours of the Church pro­hibited no Persons to be present at the Sermon Conc. Carth. 4. c. 84., were they Infidels, Jews, or Hereticks; yet as soon as [Page 180]the Sermon was done Const: Ap. lib. 1. cap. 5, 6., the Deacon made a Pro­clamation, Let no Infidel tarry here; and lest that warning should not secure the Mysteries from being pro­stituted, the faithful Peo­ple were bid to [...], Chrys. adv. Jud. examine, and take Cognisance one of another, and to look distinctly, that there were no Stranger among them; the Church having pray'd for them already, That God would convert them to the Truth. When they were dismist, and Silence made Id. hom. 2. in 2 Ep. ad Co­rinth., the Peo­ple were bid to stand de­cently, and to pray for the Catechumens, (who were all the while Kneeling, or Prostrate) that God would bring them to Baptism Const. App. ub. Sup.; the People in the mean while praying silently to them­selves, and saying, Lord have mercy; after which the Deacon bad the Catechumens arise, and pray for themselves, That God would give them an Angel of peace, and that they might be made perfect Christians; upon [Page 181]which they were dismist, and went out; then the Persons, who were under the power of Satan, were dismist with the Prayer for the Daemoni­ac's; and after all Conc. Lao­dic. c. 18., the Penitents, with Impositi­on of Hands; after which time no one durst stay in the Church, up­on pain of Excommunication, but he who intended to Communicate (only they permitted [...], Albasp. li. 2. Obs. 25. Allat. de Narthece vet. Eccles. ss. 24. &c. one sort of Penitents, whose time of Penance was just expired, to be present at the Prayers, and to join in the Hymns, tho they forbid them to receive the Sa­crament.) And that no instance of their care might be wanting, there was a pub­lick cry made, See that there be no Cate­chumens among you, lock to the Doors; and to this end Const. Ap h 8. c. 11., the Subdea­cons were engaged to stand at the Doors, to let out those who had no right to the Altar, and then to keep them shut, that no one might come in, or go out, till all the So­lemnity was over; and lest this also might not be sufficient, the Deacons were [Page 182]obliged Dion. Ar. Eccl. Hier. c. 5. Chrys. to. 1. p. 688, &c. to take a view of those who approach'd toward the Altar, that no unworthy person might partake of the Mysteries; that is, no notorious offender, whose crime deserv'd Excommunication. They also never discours'd of this Sacrament before those who had never received it; or if they did, it was only in a Mystical manner; the sacred Elements were also kept covered, that no profane Person might look on them, and that they might by that method in­hance the desires of the unbaptiz'd to fit themselves! by Baptism, to taste and see how good the Lord is to his servants; and if it happen'd, Albasp. l. 2. obs. 2. that any Catechumen came but oc­casionally to a sight of the Mysteries, they pre­sently baptized him, and then gave him the Mysteries which he had seen; and be­cause they understood the fourth Petition of our Lord's Prayer of this holy and su­persubstantial bread, they therefore never used that Prayer in their Liturgies, till the Communion-service, nor did they ever teach it the Catechumens, till the Week in which they were to be baptized.

2. So venerable was this Sacrament in the eyes of the Ancients, Conc. Elibe­rit. c. 28. Const. Ap. li. 4. c. 8. Conc. Carth. 4. c. 39. that every man was not allowed to bring his gift to God's Altar, the Church looking on the debarring men from this Priviledg, as a great punishment, and accounting the Oblation of a profane person, as Deut. 23.18. the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, which were not to be brought into the house of God, for any vow. Now that this might be regularly done, it was the custom for all persons be­fore the beginning of the Service, to bring their offerings into the Church-Treasury, together with their Names, as I conjecture, and according to their Virtues or Deme­rits, their Sacrifices were either accepted or rejected; and so couragious were the Clergy in this case, that they sometimes refused the Oblations of the Emperor him­self; for when Greg. Naz. O­rat. 20. in land. Basil. Valens the great Patron of the Arians made his Offering at Caesarea, on the solemn Festival of Christmas at the Holy Table, as the custom was, no one of St. Basils Clergy would receive it [Page 184]at his hands; tho we are told, Nieet. Com. in Naz. that the Present was no less than Vessels of Silver.

3. That part of the Church where this Sacrament was celebrated, was had in great veneration; for Conc. Laod. c. 19. Trullan. c. 69. no man was allowed a place in the Chancel, but the Clergy; who in the great­er Churches of those days were very numerous, so that it was requi­site they should have room allowed them, the better to discharge their ministry with­out-disturbance; only in the Churches of the East, the Emperor had the priviledg of a Seat in the Quire, because he was an Ecclesiastical person, or as Constantine the Great called himself a Bishop in Temporals, by reason of his Jurisdiction over those who attend at God's Altar.

The surniture also of this part of the Church, after the persecutions were over, was very rich and august, for the zeal of new converts is generally very fervent; Ch [...]ys. to. 2. p. 22⅔ & to. 3. p. 778. Conc. Chal­ced. act. 10. many Silver and Gold Vessels, and some set with precious Stones were gi­ven for the use of this Sa­crament [Page 185](and when so given, were always kept neat and clean) and it was common with the devout Pallad. histor. Lausiac. c. 119. women, to give their silk Garments to make Altar-cloaths; and sometimes the Table it self was of Silver, nay, the very floor was beautified, and the Walls and Pillars, and the Lights hung by silver chains; and to alienate or prostitute any such things as had been given to God, was lookt on as a great sin; nay, Can Ap. 73. Chrys. hom. 11. oper. imperf. in Matth. to put them to any common use, was sa­criledg.

They also not only gave the most honourable Names to the Sacra­ment it self (as the Greeks now call the pieces of consecrated bread [...], Pearls) but they spoke awfully of all that belong'd to it. Hence we read, not only of a holy Lance, or Knife, of the holy Patin, and Chalice, but Synes in Ca­tastas. p. 303. of the most holy Basins, out of which the Priests washt before they begun the Office; and of the most honourable pavement of the House of God; but the Table or Altar was called the Holy of Holies, the royal and [Page 186]divine table, the tremendous Altar, the Se­pulchre of Christ, and the Tabernacle of his glory, &c. For these and many the like pas­sages frequently occur in the Writings of the Ancients; and if a Malefactor fled to this Table it generally proved a Sanctua­ry to him, and rescued him from punish­ment.

At this Table were all the Prayers of the Church offered up to God, to signifie to the world, that they did not expect to be either heard or forgiven, but upon the account of the sufferings and merits of Christ, who was sacrificed for the Offences of the World, and is on that Table represented as slain, to redeem mankind; for if the Merits of Christ are conveyed in this Sa­crament, what are all our prayers available without his Merits? And because the Priest is Gods substitute in this Sacrifice, and gives the Seal of Christs Merits to the worthy Communicant, the devout Laity, tho of the greatest Quality, when they met a Bishop or Priest, Vit. Fulgent. c. 29. bow­ed their Heads to him for his Blessing, Nyss. to. 2. p. 1022. Chrys. to. 5. p. 539. Cabasil. c. 53. and kist his hand that used to hold and distribute the Body and Blood of Christ: E­very [Page 187]person also who approacht this Table, washt, and put on their best Apparel, on purpose to testify the purity of their minds, the joy of their hear [...]s, and their respect to the holy Sacrament.

4. The Ancients lookt on the celebrati­on of this Sacrament, as what did compleat all other sacred Offices; and therefore in those best of times they received every day, because they thought they could not serve God as they ought, without perform­ing that necessary duty; for they believ'd, that because our Blessed Saviour having bid his Church do so in remembrance of him, had yet fixt no time when it should do so, that therefore he intended it for that rea­son, as a part of the Religions Worship which ought to be perform'd as often as Christians meet to serve God; for the re­membrance of a dying Saviour and his last desires made a strong impression upon their minds: And therefore this Office was ad­ded to all the other Offices of Religion; for they never Baptiz'd any person, but they immediately gave him this other Sa­crament also; and when any were Maried, this Ordinance consummated the Union; when they ordain'd a Clerk, they carried him up to God's Table, and caused him [Page 188]to eat of his Masters Bread; they gave it to dying persons, when they visited the sick; and they gave it to them who were alive, when a Funeral happened.

5. They approacht this Table with the deepest Reverence, and an awful Dread; they came to Church fasting, thinking it a Presumption to eat any thing before they had tasted of the Dainties their Sa­viour had provided for them; they re­ceived the Sacred Elements in their right hands, and with a Solemn care, looking on them as a pledg of Gods Love, and an assurance of Salvation Cyril. Catech. mystag. 5., and they would as willing­ly have lost a Limb, as let a crum of it fall to the ground. But above all, they took care to receive in a posture of Adoration, of Reverence and Humility; it is true, we do not read that they received Kneeling; for on Sunday, and all the time between Easter and Whitsuntide (and probably on other Festivals, for the same reason) the Laws of the Church prohibited Kneeling, so much as at their Prayers, because they were times of rejoycing; they stood then, as those who were risen with Christ, and who were in expectance of the joys of [Page 189]Heaven; and they remembred, that this was a Eucharist, a solemn Thanksgiving (and for that reason they always ended their Fasts before they Communicated) and an erect posture best fits these ends. And yet notwithstanding Aug. in Ps. 98. Ch [...]ys. To. 3. p. 778. [...]. To. 5. p. 518. [...]. He also men­tions the [...] & [...] of the Communicants. Theodorit. dial. 2. [...]. all this they adored, when ever they received they stoopt, and bow'd with Reverence and Godly fear, and sometimes fell down and then re­ceived; and this is plain, not only from the passages in the Fathers, cited in the Margin, but also from the known Story of the Fe­male Macedonian Here­tick, who receiving the Body of our Sa­viour from the hands of St. Chrysostom, is Sozom. l. 8. c. 5. [...]. said to stoop down, as if she would pray.

6. They anciently carryed home some of the Consecrated Ele­ments with them, Tert. ad Ux. l. 2. which they did eat before their common Meals, Sanctifying their Meat and Drink thereby; nay, every common [Page 190]meal was to them a sort of Communion; Vid. Jo. Fron­tonis Familia Christiana. p. 8, 9, 10. for they never durst eat till they had prayed to God for a Blessing; and at their Tables they refused to admit any ex­communicate person, or any Heretick, much more the prophane and profligate, nay, not so much as a Catechumen, unless upon extraordinary occasion. The Bread and Wine, when so blest, was lookt on as holy; and they were troubled, if casually either of them fell to the ground; and as they began their meals with the Sacra­mental Elements, so they mutually re­conciled themselves to each other before they sat down, and said the Lord's Prayer (in which the Petitions, Give us this Day our dayly Bread, and forgive us our Trespasses, were very proper to the usage) after which they gave the kiss of Charity, and sign'd themselves with the sign of the Cross, and then begun their meal: and in most Families some one was deputed to read the holy Scriptures, the hard places of which the Master of the House interpreted: and when they had done, they thank'd God for all his Blessings in some holy Hymn, and the Master of the Family gave [Page 191]the remainders to the poor: for he acted the part of a Priest in his own House; and thus they turn'd the House into a Church, the Table into an Altar, and the Feast into a Sacrifice; and if at any time a Stranger came among them (as they durst not shut their doors against any such) they gave him the preference (especially if a Priest) to begin and end the prayers.

7. And so much respect did the devouter Christians pay to this Sa­crament, Naz. orat. 10. & or. 19. that they would not spit on the pavement of the holy place, while they were at Church, nor turn their backs on the Altar when they lest it. As now among the Aethiopians, no Man spits the whole day after he hath received this Sacrament. And in the Church of Constantinople, by the advice, and exam­ple Phot. Cod. 59. of St. Chrysostom, they swallowed a little Cake, or Wafer, to prevent spitting, or vomiting after the reception.

But that which made them tremble when they approach'd the Holy place, was an opi­nion S. Maxim. mystag. Eccles. c. 24. which they enter­tain'd, [Page 192]That the Angels being present, did Write down the names of all the wor­thy Communicants, whose behaviour they inspected, and whose names they brought into remembrance before God; for they were fully convinc'd, Ambr. de Sa­cram. li. 1. c. 2. Aug. Ser. 3. in Ps. 33 &c. that the Angels stood round the Altar, and assisted at the Sacrifice. "For at that time, says St. To. 7. p. 892. Chrysostom, the Angels fall down be­fore the Lord, and the Archangels pray, they lay hold on the occasion, and the Sacrifice that is on God's Altar gives them assistance; for as men pluck the branches of Olives, and tender them to Princes, thereby putting them in mind of that mercifulness and compassion that becomes them: So do the Angels, instead of Branches of Olives, holding up the Lords Body, befeech God for all mankind, as if they said, We implore thee for those whom thou didst love so dearly, as to give thy Lise for them; and we pour out our Prayers for them for whom thou wert pleased to shed thy Blood; and we supplicate for those for whose welfare thou didst sacrifice thy Body. They also believed, that as long [Page 193]as they did Communicate, they did enjoy the company of those blessed Spirits; and that when they were kept from the Lord's Table, they were under the power of Sa­tan; for Excommunication was a terrible sentence to them, and the worst of pun­ishments; so great an affliction did they ac­count that, which is now our choice; be­ing fully perswaded, that he who was shut out of the Church here, without a deep Repentance, and Absolution, must neces­sarily be kept out of the Kingdom of Hea­ven. And, ‘May God of his great Mercy and Goodness give his Holy Spirit to all that are called Christians, that they may put a just value on the Priviledges of the Church of God; that they may Honour, Reverence, and Fre­quent the Holy Sacrament, which is the Com­munion of Saints; and may dread the being justy deprived of those advantages; that we may neither excommunicate our selves from thy Table, nor deserve the censures of the Church to drive us from it, but that thy fear may be upon us all the days of our Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.’

CHAP. XXIII. Of the abuse of the Sacrament to evil ends.

IT is an Observation confirm'd by sad Experience, That the best of things, or persons, when they degenerate, prove the worst of their kind; and it is also as sadly confirm'd, That the best of enjoy­ments, when employed to bad ends and purposes, prove the causes of the greatest mischiefs; and this is demonstrated, as by many other instances, so by the abuse of the Divine Institution of the Holy and most Advantageous Sacrament of the Eu­charist, to serve the designs of sensual, am­bitious, and covetous men; very great alterations having been made, both in the Doctrine, and Rites of that Sacrament, from the Primitive Institution, and Origi­nal Practise. Of this Nature, I must con­fess, there are some things that seem to me not so fairly defensible in the Centuries that preceded the Establishment of Po­pery, [Page 195]such as Aug. op. im­perf. adv. Julian l. 3. c. 164. the mak­ing Plaisters of the Eucha­rist to Cure Blindness, or other Diseases; Id. de C. D. l. 22. c. 8. the Celebrating of this Sa­crament in a private house to expel the Evil Spirits that haunted it, Nicet. Paphl. Vit. Ignat. Theop. an. 20. Heracl. the dipping Pens in the Consecrated Wine, when they either Seal­ed Covenants, or con­demn'd a notorious He­retick, Ambr. in ob. Satyr. Fratr. the tying it about the neck as an Amulet, in the time; of Imminent danger; Hesyc. in Levit. l. 2. c. 8. the burning, or burying the remainders of the Consecrated Ele­ments, or Evagr. l. 4. c. 35. giving them to School-boys, and such like persons, who were not present at the Consecration; with other such usages; but I remember, that those were the days of Miracles, and Extraordinary men might make use of uncommon methods; and that it becomes not me to uncover the Nakedness of the Fathers, especially because at this distance of time few men are capable of understanding the reasons [Page 196]why they did many things at which we now wonder. And it were to be wisht, the same Apology were so made for the succeeding Ages, wherein strange Opini­ons, and as Novel Customs had their Ori­ginal; for then the reverence due to the mysteries, degenerated into Superstiti­on and Idolatry, and the Mysteries them­selves were many times applyed to unbe­coming usages, and on trifling occasi­ons.

For men would not be content to believe that God was really present in the Sacra­ment, but they were resolved to study a way how to make him so by a Method that baffles sense, and contradicts reason; and to this purpose men begun not to be satisfied with the common Bread, in which the Eucharist was Anciently Celebrated; the bread that was usually eaten at ordi­nary meals, was thought unfit for this sa­cred use, and therefore unleavened bread and wasers were introduc'd, and this per­haps was the practise of the eighth Century, and in two or three Hundered Years after the notion of Transubstantiation began to be owned, but in such an Age, which Baronius and other Historians say, was the shame of the Papacy, when there was [Page 197]neither Learning nor Vertue at Rome, but the greatest ignorance, and the greatest debauchery imaginable; and with this Doctrine the half communion was intro­duc'd, the people being Sacrilegiously rob'd of the Cup for sear they should in Receiving, spill the Blood of Christ; after which the Schoolmen first amus'd them­selves, and then their neighbors, with im­pertinent inquiries relating to these My­steries, which made neither themselves, nor others wiser, or better; and what number of Miracles were then coyned to uphold the new Doctrines, that when rea­son would not perswade men to believe, they might be convinc'd by wonder, and extraordinary apparitions! People being told, that the Bread by the Prayers Jo. Diac. vit. Greg. l. 2. c. 41. of St. Gre­gory the Great, was turn'd into a piece of Flesh, in view of all the peo­ple; that our Paschas. c. 14. de Corp. Dom. Saviour fre­quently appear'd on the Altar, in the shape of a beautiful Boy; Vid. Pinelli meditat. 4. p. 126. ad p. 146. That St. Antony of Padua's Mule worshipt the Host; and that Bees in their Hive built a Chappel to an Host, which was by the owner put there [Page 198]to increase his stock. And thus by degrees it grew to be a God, till at last it had a Festival appointed, called Corpus Christi day, on which it is solemnly prayed to, as at other times it is bow'd down to, and Adored.

And as the Ark of the Govenant was carried before the Camp of the Israelites, so the Hey. l. Hist. of Reform. p. 70. Cornish Rebels in Edw. 6 time carried the Consecrated Host under a Canopy with Crosses, Ban­ners, and other such solemn appendages before them, in hopes thereby to get a certain Victory; and as the Kings of Persia had their Immortal Fire carried before them, to is this Sacrament carried before the Pope on solemn days; and as Anciently men swore by the Name of God, so they now swear by the Sacrament: and did not Pope Hildebrand confult this Sacrament as as an Oracle to know what success he should have against the Emperor of Ger­many; and when it did not answer ex­pectation, threw it into the Fire? if we may believe Cardinal Benno: and if he be doubted, there are other ^‡ Instances out of [Page 199]more Authentiek, and uncontroverted Au­thors to prove the usage: and how often hath the Pix been brought out to quench Fires? As was lately done at V. Daille de obj. Cult. Relig. li. 1. c 10 p. 138 & Con Sa­ligunst. c 6. Avenion by the Popes own Legal Governor of that City, when the flames begun to rage in the Re­collects Convent.

And yet many of the practises of some men of that Communion are no way re­concilable to the notion of the Divinity of the Eucharist: for not to mention Alan. de. Sacri­fic. c. 32. that if but a Hen be sick in the Neigh­borhoud, you may have a Mass said for its recovery, it was usually buried with the Corpses of Bishops, whom they Inter'd in their Episcopal Robes with a Patin, and Chalice by them, and the Consecrated Bread on their breast; and this, says the old Bals in Can. 83. Trullan. Canonist was done to affright the Devil from Hannting their Tombs: and it was also given as an Bals. in Can. 61. Trull Conc. Wormat. c. 10. &c. Ordeal to discern, whether a person were guilty of a crime that could not be proved, espe­cially [Page 200]to Clergy-men, to purge themselves from notorious crimes. It was also some­times left as a pawn, or pledg, and so St. Lewis of France pawn'd an Host for the pledg of his Ransome to the Sultan of Aegypt, as did also Uladislaus King of Hungary to the Turkish Emperor Amurath, when they made an Agreement. But be­yond all this, men were not only content­ed to receive this Sacrament as an Oath of secrecy to conceal Treason, Parricide, Murther, and such like crimes; but some were so hardy as to attempt the dam­nable villany of poysoning their God to murther the Lords Anoin­ted; so the Naucler. Ge­ner. 42. p. 991. Emperor Henry the 7th was dis­patcht; and so also Pope Malmesb. l. 3. c. 39. Victor 3d was sent to his Grave; and we are told Lambard's Peramb. of Kent. p. 66., that William Arch-Bishop of York being dis­content that he could not get the Preeminence of the See of Canterbury, mingled Poyson with the Wine of the Chalice, and so murther'd himself. But I should tire my self, and others, should I multiply quota­tions; for either these are proofs enough, [Page 201]or a greater number of witnesses will not serve turn. And,

May the Blessed Jesus, the Governor of his Church, purge it from all dross, from all unwarrantable opinions, and superstitious practises, that all his Family may Worship, Serve, Honour, and Humbly Obey him, as we ought to do, till the number of the Elect be Consummated, when the Sons of God shall be admitted to sing Eternal Praises to his Ma­jesty in Heaven. Amen, Amen.