CHAP. I. Of the great necessity of SELF-EXAMINATION.

1. WHosoever believes as a Christian his Soul to be immortall, being either entitled to everlasting Joy through Faith and Obedience to the Gospell of Christ, or liable to eternall Woe through Disobedience and Misbelief Joh. 5.28, 29., must be very stupid and sottish, if he do not frequently examine himself Psal. 4.4. 2 Cor. 13.5. Gal. 6.4., whether he may reasonably conclude [...]he is in the state of Grace and Salva­tion; or of Sin, and of Death the wages whereof Rom. 6.23..

2. That every man should know himself, is such a fundamentall prin­ciple of true wisedom, that wise men of old affirmed [Nosce teipsum] to be a command immediately derived to the sons of men by a voice from Hea ven, as being absolutely necessary to the right guidance of all the actions of humane life upon earth.

3. The reasonable Soul, were it not debauched by the sensuall appetite, and distracted by the hurry of exorbi­tant desires, could not but often re­member her self, examine and call to mind the Authour and End of her Being, the immortality and dignity of her na­ture, what is her errand into this world, and how she shall subsist in the world to come, what is her chiefest Good, and wherein her perfection and felicity con­sists: which cannot be to eat, and drink, and sleep, purchase lands, build houses, satisfy the lusts of the flesh, swell with pride of life—. She would consider that she is stampt after the Image of God, and her Happiness consists in the knowledge, love and enjoyment of the Divine Majesty, and in the imitation and representation (according to her modell) of the Per­fections of the Godhead.

But, alas! vain man being in honour, hath no understanding, considers not the honour of his being after the I­mage of his Maker; but receives his Divine immortall Soul in vain, whilst he follows the sway of his sensuall ir­rationall appetite, and is compared to the beasts that perish Psal. 49.12..

4. And well it were for all such in­considerate and imprudent persons, if their Souls were as perishing and mor­tall as those which animate the beasts of the field. But [...]o their eternall sor­row 'tis far otherwise: for there is an account to be given by every man of his immortal Soul, and of the Image of God stamped thereupon: viz. how this blessed Image hath been either defaced, or kept undefiled; how it hath been obscured, or how shined; how deformed, or how beautified through all the actions of each man's life. For God will bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evill Eccles. 12.14. Rom. 2.16. and 14.10 2 Cor. 5.10..

5. Upon every man's Examina­tion, both in his particular, and in the generall Judgment, depends his everlasting well-being, or undoing for ever: each man's condition then shall [Page 4]be unchangeable, whether it be of glo­ry, or misery. They that have done good shall go into everlasting life, and they that have done evill into everlasting fire Matth. 25.46..

6. Since this great Triall then shall be upon life and death eternall, 'twil be wisely done to try beforehand. Such is the advice of the wise Siraci­des; Before judgment examine thy self, and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Ecclus. 18.20..

To examine, accuse, judge and condemn thy self in this life, may, through the merits of Christ, acquit thee in the life to come. So saith the Apostle; If we would judge our selves, we should not be judged 1 Cor. 11.31..

7. Now then (sinfull man) delay not to pass judgment upon thy self: remember that the Great Judge him­self hath said it, I will reprove thee, and set before thee the things that thou hast done Psal. 50.21.. Be wise then, and pre­vent this sad and dismall reproof, by setting in order before thy self all the Sins of thy life. And to this Triall of thy self these following particulars do necessarily concur.

(1.) A Tribunall must be erected; and this is not to be without thee, [Page 5]but within thee, even in thine own heart 1 Joh. 3.20, 21..

(2.) The Judge to sit upon this Seat of judicature must be thy Reason guided by the Law of the most High; wherein beware of a misunderstan­ding and wresting of the letter of the Law, to pass any unjust and partiall sentence upon thy self, for that may undoe thee for ever 2 Pet. 3.16..

(3.) The Witnesses to be produc'd against thee are, the Conscience bearing witness, and the thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another: and thus shall it be also in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus Rom. 2.15, 16..

(4.) The Executioners that stand ready to seize the Criminall are, Fear and terrour, and an horrible dread over­whelming the Soul Phil. 2.12. Psal. 55.5.. These do ever attend

(5.) Self-condemnation, which is an unfeigned and sad acknowledg­ment to have incurred the dismall Sentence of condemnation to death eternall. To prevent which,

(6.) Execution must be done, and the bloud of the guilty Soul must be shed.

'Tis not to be believ'd or hoped, [Page 6]that a black diseased Soul should reco­ver its health, and beauty after the I­mage of God, except she bleed plenti­fully; bleed in the tears of Compun­ction and godly sorrow; bleed in the Confession of her Sins, with an ab­horrence of them, for the filthiness, guilt and danger contracted by them, so as for the future to renounce and abjure them for ever.

8. Thus to examine, judge and condemn thy self, is the same Christi­an duty which is called Repentance, without the practice whereof our Lord positively affirms that we are all un­done for ever, saying, Except ye re­pent, ye shall all likewise perish Luk. 13.3, 5.. And he saith the same words again, at the same time, and in the same Text re­corded; 1. to enforce the great ne­cessity of Repentance, against all car­nall, careless, self-conceited and se­duced persons: 2. to manifest his great goodness, who would not have any to perish, but that all should come to Re­pentance 2 Pet. 3.9..

9. Sinners we are all, less or more Jam: 3 2.: but God in great mercy has ordained and commanded Repentance as the great antidote against the poison of Sin, and preservative from death Matth. 3 7, 8.. [Page 7]And that Repentance which is thus salutary consists of 2 generall parts: 1. to confess with sorrow our sins past; 2. for ever to abjure and forsake them. And to such a true Penitent onely is mercy promised Prov. 28.13. Joh. 8.11. 1 Joh. 1.9..

10. To both these generall heads of true Repentance, a full knowlege and deep sense of all hainous sins, even punctually and particularly, is abso­lutely necessary. For no man can con­fess his Sins who knows them not; nor forsake them, who is not fee­lingly sensible of the guilt and dan­ger contracted by them Psal. 51.3. Isa. 59.12..

Self-examination is therefore com­manded as a previous duty necessarily conducing to a true Conversion Psal. 4.4. Lam. 3.40., or (which is the same) to a true Repen­tance, both in respect of all its inte­gral parts, and also of the fruits meet for Repentance, which are no other but the Good works of a new Obedience Col. 1.10..

11. The just man falleth seven times Prov. 24.16.: and upon consideration of his seven times daily failings, he hath seven times daily confessions Psal. 119.164., to the praise of God [...]es. 7.19.; with frequent la­ments in the night also Psal. 6.6 and 77.6.. At least twice aday, morning and evening, he takes a view of his miscarriages the [Page 8]by-past day and night, confessing and bewailing his frequent backslidings, and in all holy humility imploring with tears of godly sorrow the pardon of his daily offences, with firm reso­lution of more care and caution, more zeal of innocence and purity both in heart and life, for the time to come.

12. 'Tis a great imprudence, even madness, in the hearts of men, to put off from day to day this Self-examina­tion, or reckoning with our selves. Since 'tis difficult to account strictly for the misdemeanours of one day, how much more hard then to set straight and even the accounts of a long sinfull life? whereas he who daily accounts with himself and his offended God for his daily transgressions, shall have but one day's sins to account for upon his dying day Luk. 12.42, 43..

13. We reade of Moyses, that his le­prous hand was made whole and re­covered its native whiteness by thru­sting it into his bosome Exod. 4.7.. And thus is the Soul cleansed from the leprosy of Sin, by thrusting the hand, which is the instrument of action, into the bosom of thine own Conscience, to enter, and strictly to search into the inner man; to ransack all the cor­ners [Page 9]of the deceitfull heart; to exa­mine what affections lurk there, and what excursions they have thence made into any extravagant and sinfull actions; that they may be thence ejec­ted and abandoned.

This is the way both to keep the heart pure, and the hands clean: hence comes both the knowledge of thy self, and the fear of God: hence comes Sense of sin, holy Compunction, godly Sorrow, Humiliation, and true Re­pentance in all its branches and wor­thy fruits. Hence the Soul becomes inflamed with the ardent heats of holy Devotion, and fervent Prayers for pardon and peace, mercy and grace, Sanctification and Redemption. Hence arise in the heart holy Resolves of new Obedience, with holy breathings af­ter God and his Salvation. There­fore is this Duty of Self-examination called the Magazine or Store-house of all Christian Vertue.

14. And because to receive worthi­ly the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ is the chiefest of all Christian performances, and requires the prac­tice of all Christian Vertues; therefore after an especial manner is Self-exami­nation commanded as a necessary Pre­parative [Page 10]to that Sacramentall Feast; which from the doctrine of S. Paul we are taught in the Principles of our Religion, where in the last Question of the Catechism it is demanded, What is required of them that come to the Lord's Supper? and 'tis answered, To examine themselves, whether they tru­ly repent them of their former sins—.

CHAP. II. The Rule of Self-examination by the Vow in Baptism.

1. SInce Self-examination is a Duty of so great, so high, so generall concernment as hath appeared; it will be necessary that it be sincerely and throughly performed, not slightly, par­tially and deceitfully; not by any false rules and erring opinions, but by such a Rule as will not deceive us, when we shall come to our great Examina­tion and Triall at the Last day.

2. There be too many who do flat­ter and deceive themselves by a bare and naked Faith in Christ, by virtue whereof they conceit themselves to be [Page 11]justified, and of the number of God's elect, and assured of Salvation. But these are groundless presumptions, ex­cept thy Faith do purify thy heart Act. 15.9.from all inordinate affections; and cleanse thy hands from all sinfull actions 2 Cor. 7.1. Jam. 4.8.; and be also fruitfull in all good works Jam. 2.26..

3. The Rule according to which we shall be tried, when we shall all stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ, is not that of Faith alone, un­der that notion whereby 'tis too fre­quently misunderstood; but that of an universall Obedience to the Gospell of Christ 2 Thess. 1.8., whereof Christian Charity is the Compendium and completion Matt. 25.35, 36, &c..

4. The summe of Evangelicall Obe­dience is exprest in that Vow which every true Christian hath made when he was baptized or Christened. And by this, as S. Gregory observes Greg. Hom. 19., eve­ry man may try the truth of his Faith in Christ. For as no man can be said to be faithfull, who keeps not his pro­mise: so neither can any Christian be said to have any true Faith towards God, if he performs not the promise he hath made unto him; especially considering that hereupon righteous­ness and everlasting happiness doth de­pend. For,

5. This Baptismall Vow is the con­dition upon which we are admitted into the Covenant of Grace, and made members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the Kingdome of Heaven. And therefore they who perform not this condition, but slight, neglect, or neg­ligently observe the same, do unco­venant themselves, and return again to their naturall state of Sin and Mise­ry; viz. become children of wrath, ene­mies of God, and heirs of eternall dam­nation Heb. 10.23, 26, 27, 28, 29..

6. The holy Christian Religion we all profess, is no other but God's Will and Testament, wherein a goodly in­heritance is promis'd and bequeath'd; but not to be obtained, as S. Augustine observes Aug. Ser. de Tem. 167., except, as in all other Te­staments, we observe the will of the Testatour: nor is there any thing more clearly exprest in the revealed will of God, then this, That the benefits of the Covenant of Grace belong onely to them who keep the condition there­in required Deut. 7.9, 10. Psal. 25.10 and 89 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. and 103.17, 18 and 132.11, 12. Jer. 11.3, 4, 5. Heb. 2.2, 3..

7. Every wilfull sin is a breach of this Covenant, and contracts there­with the sin of perjury, and incurs the forfeiture of all the precious benefits of the members of Christ, children of [Page 13]God, and heirs of Heaven; so that no man can reasonably conclude him­self within the Covenant of Grace, untill the leaven of wickedness, which is a breach of its Condition, be strictly searched out and expurged 1 Cor. 5.7, 8..

According therefore to this Cove­nant, which we have every one, right­ly Christned, made with God, it con­cerns every man to examine himself, who hath any care of his Soul.

8. This Condition consists of three general Heads, call'd in Holy Writ by the three names of, 1. Repentance, 2. Faith, 3. Obedience, containing there­under the whole Duty of a Christian man.

9. Repentance consists not onely in confession, with sorrow for sin past; but in performance for the future of that grand Evangelical duty where­by we forsake sin, renounce all fellow­ship with the unfruitful works of dark­nessEph. 5.11., deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.12.: the which, with several more expressions of the same nature, are the very same in sense with the first part of our Baptismal Vow, viz. to forsake the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinfull lusts of the flesh, which is fre­quently [Page 14]remembred to be one of the two main ends of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us Luke 10.17, 18, 19. Col. 1.13. Tit. 2.12. Heb. 2.14, 15..

10. This being therefore the prepa­ration of the Gospel of peace Eph. 6.15. Matt. 3.2., and the foundation of Religion Heb. 6.1., is the first general rule of Self-examination.

CHAP. III. The Rule of Self-examination by the CREED; or, by the Second part of the Vow in Baptism, To believe all the Ar­ticles of the Christian Faith.

HE that believes (viz. all the fun­damental Articles of the Chri­stian Faith) shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16. John 12.48..

Here then examine,

1. If you have learned being young, what are these Articles or Points of Christian Faith whereinto you were Baptized or Christned: and if you can now give a ready account of your Faith; and this both in the very words of your Creed, and also in the full sense and true meaning of each Article thereof James 2.18. 1 [...]et. 3.15..

2. Do you stedfastly believe the in­fallible truth of each Article, though perhaps you understand it not in its full extent? Are you zealously affected with them all, resolved to die in this Faith, and, if occasion be, to die for [Page 20]it, [...] Tim. 6.2. [...] Tim. 4.7. resisting even unto bloud whatever may oppose or infringe the same; earnestly contending for that faith which was once given to [or by] the Saints, the holy Apostles of our Lord Jude 3.?

3. Dost thou not onely believe with the heart, but also frequently confess this faith with the mouth? for as with the heart man believeth unto righteous­ness, so with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.10.,

4. Have neither the senseless neglect of some, nor the profane scoffs of others, made thee also neglect, or be ashamed to confess thy Faith in pu­blick? And if so, thy Faith is not sin­cere: for he that truly believeth in God, will not be ashamed Rom. 10.11. openly to profess it; remembring that there is a dismal shame and confusion of face threatned to him that is ashamed of Christ and his words Mark 8.38., which are summ'd up in the Creed.

5. Hast thou lived in the practice of this Faith, framing both the affec­tions of thy heart and the actions of thy life according to what each Arti­cle doth imply and implicitely com­mand? For thus the just man lives by his Faith Hab. 2.4. Rom. 1.17..

6. Have you not been mistaken in [Page 21]the nature of a true Christian Faith, making it to be a presumption upon the Promises of the Gospel abstract from obedience to the Precepts there­of? And hath not thy Faith been ra­ther notional in the Brain, then prac­ticall in the heart and life? been more in talk and dispute, and verbal profession, then in love and good works Gal. 5.6. Jam. 2.17, and holy conversation? For the Kingdome of God is not in word, but in power 1 Cor. 4.20. of holy actions.

CHAP. IV. The Rule of Self-examination by the DECALOGƲE; or, by the Third part of the Vow in Baptism, To keep God's holy Will and Commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of thy life.

TO obey God's Commands is properly to serve him Eccles. 12 13.; which is frequently affirmed to be the plain road-way to Heaven Matt. 19.17. Rev. 14.12..

And 'twere a high presumption, Aug. de Sanct. as S. Augustine observes, to hope to ob­tain what God has promised, except we carefully observe what he has com­manded.

These Commandments are the same which God spake in the 20. Chap. of Exodus Matt. 19.18, 19. Mark 10.19., the rule of Righteousness being the same under the Law and under the Gospell; onely in the one 'tis more plainly and fully understood then in the other.

Here then a more large and parti­cular Examination of thy self is requi­red; viz. by all the Duties comman­ded and Sins forbidden in the Precepts of the Morall Law.

CHAP. V. The Examination of Religi­ous actions.

SUch is the infelicity of our humane condition upon earth, that we fre­quently trespass against the Majesty of Heaven, not onely by doing what God hath by his holy Laws forbidden, but also by the irregular performance of those holy acts of Religion which he hath commanded. Gen. 4.4, 5.

And herein a more strict scrutiny is required, a more narrow search into all the secret recesses and corners, win­dings and turnings of the corrupt heart: because the sins of such ac­tions as be outwardly holy do com­monly lie more closely hidden from our apprehension and view, then those which have no appearance of holiness in them. Where,

1. Examine your intention in e­very good work, what is your chief end and aim therein. Matt. 6.22, 23. For the light of the body is the eye: 'tis the inten­tion, the internall eye of the Soul, which renders every work, either of [Page 65]light or of darkness, sinfull or holy.

Consider then, whether in Alms­giving, Fasting, Praying, Preaching, or any other Religious duty, you in­tend either, 1. the glory of God, ra­ther then your own glory and esteem; the praise of God more then the praise of men: or, 2. the good of your Soul, and the interest of Heaven, rather then any worldly ends or interests. 3. Whe­ther you perform such or such an holy action out of a true love to God, and obedience to his commands; or ra­ther to please your self, in following your own imaginations, inclinations and humours: 4. whether to satisfy your own conscience, rather then to prevent the discourses or censures of others; 5. to benefit others, rather then to please your own fancy. And lastly, whether you have an eye to the recompence of reward in the other world, without reflexion upon any secular advantage in this life.

'Tis too common with men, to mistake their own wills for the Will of God, their own Fancies for Divine Illumination, the love of themselves for the Love of God, and the revela­tions of flesh and bloud for the Dic­tates of God's holy Spirit.

‘The mind of man (saith S. Grego­ry) doth often bely it self, and con­ceits, both in a good work to love what truly it loves not, and also in an evill work to hate what throughly it hates not: nor can such secret col­lusions of the deceitfull heart of man be throughly sifted and found out, until the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed in that great day of a gene­rall examination and triall. 1 Cor. 4.5.’

2. As the end of every Religious action is to be examined, whereby the equity or iniquity, sincerity or hy­pocrisy is discerned; so the care and caution, fervour and devotion of the heart in its performance, is to be considered: Jer. 48.10. for Cursed is he that do­eth the work of the Lord negligently. When the heathen Priests offered Sa­crifices to their false gods, in the midst of their idolatrous Ceremonies an Herald cried unto them, Age quod agis, Be intent upon what you are about. And 'tis surely unreasonable to imagine, that the all-seeing spiri­tual God, or the God of the spirits of all flesh, should be pleased with any worship, or act of Religion, where the heart is not wholly intent there­upon, and devoted thereunto.

3. After any holy action perfor­med in publick, examine your own thoughts, whether they reflect not upon your own dextrous wit, wise­dom, elocution, zeal, or holiness, for any of which you may expect to be praised and extolled by men. And though your heart be so up­right, as not to seek and hunt after popular applause; yet if you be affec­ted and delighted with the praise of men, 'tis not without some tincture of vain-glory.

4. Have you not been so secure, and conceited of your Religious per­formances, as to lay your self the more open to after-temptations? For the more fervent and frequent you be in holy actions, the more earnest and forcible will be your tempta­tions. And these also shall the more easily prevail against you, the more se­cure you think your self of the Divine grace and favour upon such or such Religious Duties conscienciously per­formed.

CHAP. VI. The Examination of Repen­tance.

HAving by all these particulars ex­amined your self to find out your sins, it will be necessary to try your Repentance also; that the great Anti­dote against the poison of sin be not de­fective nor counterfeit. And the first particular herein to be examined, is the duty of Examination it self.

1. Psal. 26.2. Have you daily considered your daily offences, duly weighed them, and emptied them out of your heart by a full and particular Confession of them in the presence of God?

2. Have you so deeply considered your sins in the stain and danger thereof, as to beget in your heart true compunction, 2 Cor. 7.10. and that godly sorrow for sin which worketh repen­tance unto Salvation not to be repented of?

3. Luk. 11.24. Joh. 5.14. 2 Pet. 2.20, 21, 22. Hath not your Repentance been too often an hypocritical mocking of God, by returning again to your sins repented; breaking your promises of [Page 69]amendment in time of sickness, dan­ger, and the like?

4. Matt. 3.8. Hos. 14.1, 2. Dan. 4.27. Have you brought forth fruits meet for Repentance? Such are, 1. more frequent and hearty Devotions for your sins of ungodliness; 2. Alms­givings for your sins of unrighteous­ness; 3. Joel 2.12. Matt. 3.10. & 7.16, 17. Fasting for your sins of In­temperance. If the tree of Repen­tance bring not forth such fruits, 'tis neither lively, nor likely to be ac­cepted.

CHAP. VII. Considerations with Directions in the Confession of Sin.

1. HAving discovered the black stains and pollutions of Sin your Soul hath contracted, in the strict Examination of your heart and life by the foregoing particulars, with what other your own judgment and conscience may suggest unto you: your next work must be, to empty them all out of your Soul, to cast them out with an abhorrence; which [Page 70]is to be done by a particular and pun­ctuall Confession of them all unto Al­mighty God in prayer. Num. 5.6, 7.

Without such a sincere and through Confession of Sin, Lev. 16.21. & 26.40. Prov. 28.13. 1 Joh. 1.9. the Pardon there­of is not promised; and therefore not likely to be obtained by a bare and naked Faith in Christ, who very pro­bably wil not pardon and forgive men their trespasses, but upon his terms prescribed.

2. 'Tis not to be imagined, that God therefore commands the Confes­sion of Sins, as if he were ignorant or unmindfull of any of our evill do­ings; Psal. 90.8. for he hath set even our most se­cret sins in the light of his countenance. But hereby, first, in all humility we acknowledge our undeservings of the least of God's mercies: which, se­condly, Jos. 7.19. Quando homo dete­git, Deus tegit; cùm homo celat, Deus nu­dat; cùm homo agno­scit, Deus ignoscit. Aug. in Psal. does magnify the glory of his grace, and the greatness of his glory: thirdly, we discover our soars to our Physician, and our wants of mercy to the Father of mercies, our great needs of pardon to the fountain of good­ness: fourthly, we declare our great obligations for pardon granted and mercy obtained: fifthly, our hearts are excited, and our affections infla­med with the greater love of our dear [Page 71]Lord, who died to merit so great a mercy: sixthly, the Confession of sin doth imprint in our hearts the deeper sense, with an abhorrence of them: and lastly, being cordially done, 'tis an evident sign that we have abjur'd and forsaken them.

3. But the outward confession of the mouth, without the inward com­punction of the heart, is but the shell of Repentance without the kernell, a carkass without a Soul to quicken it. King David, 1 King. 15.5. Isal. 6.6. for his onely Sin in the matter of Ʋriah, every night washed his bed, and (in the day-time also) he watered his couch with his tears. Mary Magdalen also with her peni­tent tears washed the blessed feet of our Lord: Luk. 7.38. and such must be a floud of tears, and not a few drops onely. S. Peter, for one single sin, Luk. 22.62. wept bit­terly: and 'tis recorded of him, that he never heard the cock crow through the course of his life, but by a showr of tears he declared the sorrow of his heart for his offence. And some of the Fathers have styled Repentance the Baptism of tears, Clem. A­lex. apud Euseb. as not to be ex­actly performed with dry eyes, in an outward verbal Confession of Sin.

'Tis confessed, that for sins of dai­ly [Page 72]infirmity, small peccadillo's, and frequent failings through ignorance, inadvertency, — the daily con­fession of sins, — saying devout­ly, (as S. Augustine) Forgive us our trespasses as we—, will be suffici­ent, Quàm magnè de­liquimus, tam gran­diter defle­amus — Poenitentia crimine mi­nor non sit. Cypr. Serm. de Laps. through the merits of Christ, to obtain pardon of them: But such sins as be of an higher and deeper stain, sins of wilfulness and presumption, of perverseness and obstinacy of mind, and even lesser, when multiplied and continued, require a deeper sense and sorrow. For 'tis most just and equi­table, that true and sincere Repen­tance be commensurate to the hai­nousness of the Crimes repented.

4. Psal. 51.17. 1 Pet. 2.5. That your Confession may flow from a broken heart, which will render the same a Sacrifice acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ, these follow­ing Considerations and farther Direc­tions may be usefull.

Remember how deeply you stand obliged to keep God's holy will and Commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of your life. This was promised in your name when you were Christened; and if you have any sense or conscience of the Religi­on you profess, you have frequently re­newed [Page 73]this your Baptismall Vow. And surely, to live in obedience to God's Commandments you are deeply obli­ged, 1. in general, in that he is the great Lord of all the world, to whom all things in Heaven and Earth do bow and obey: 2. more particularly, he is the God of thy life, health, strength, wealth, from whom thou hast received thy whole self, Body, Soul, Spirit, with all thou dost enjoy in this life, or canst hope or desire to make thee happy, either in this world, or in the world to come.

5. That to offend a God so great, so good, so glorious, so gracious, and frequently to transgress his most holy Laws, contracts a guilt of such infi­nite weight and demerit, as will un­doubtedly, without an infinite mercy, sink thy Soul to the bottom of Hell.

6. Consider for what foolish, pet­ty, trifling things you have offended God: perhaps for a little filthy lucre, or some dirty delight, or to please a rebellious appetite, or to satisfy a mischievous, vindictive, malicious humour, or for the venomous breath of popular applause, or the aicry thing of a fansied esteem and the praise of men,— wherein the service of every [Page 74]such unprofitable and brutish lust is preferred before the service you owe to the great Majesty of Heaven, which consists in obedience to his Command­ments.

7. Remember and ponder with your self, as the folly, so the filthiness of your Sins, how odious they render you both before God and Man.

First, as for God; he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity Hab. 1.13.. The Sinner with his Sins are equally hate­full unto him Job 4.8, 9. Prov. 13.5.. So that your Sins do not onely, 1. rob you of his grace and favour, and, 2. render all your Praiers and all your other acts of Re­ligion abomination unto him Isa. 1.12, 13, 14.; but also, 3. move him to raze your name out of the Book of life Exod. 32.33., and, 4. to deliver you up to have your portion with the Devil and his Angels in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20.15. Psal. 11.6..

Secondly, as for Man; even wic­ked men themselves will abhor and re­vile you for your Sins; but much, very much more hatefull do they ren­der you to all good men, Prov. 29.27. Psal. 97.10. who truly love God, and hate all that is evill. And questionless, you would be asha­med to look any men in the face, whe­ther [Page 75]good or bad men, did they but know all that by you which you know by your self, and which God know­eth better then your self.

8. Call to mind some of the most aggravating Circumstances: how such or such a Sin was committed against the light of your mind, wittingly and knowingly; against the checks of your Conscience, stubbornly and wilfully; against the admonitions of God's Ho­ly Word, and the dictates of his Ho­ly Spirit, presumptuously and contuma­ciously; against your Covenant with God in Baptism, and frequently re­newed in your Praiers, profanely and perjuriously; against your profession as a Christian to make conscience of your ways, scandalously and offensively.

And this guilt of Scandall is much aggravated, if you be a Master of a family, a Pastour of people, a Parent of children, a Magistrate, Minister, — In every of which respects your Sin is doubled, by the encouragement of others to the like offence by your example.

9. In calling your Sins to remem­brance, 'twill be necessary also to call to mind several other Circumstances of many Sins; as the Time when, [Page 76]the Place where, the Persons with whom, the Manner how such or such a Sin was committed: viz. how bold, how impudent, how shameless, how peremptory, how furious and unbri­dled you were in the prosecution of such or such exorbitant desires, such unruly lusts, such irrationall passions. Whether also 'twas the first or second time onely you transgressed in the like kind; or whether you have not ra­ther been more frequently guilty, and so through custom and continuance your heart is hardened, and your Re­pentance for the same but hypocriti­call and feigned, if any at all.

10. The most of these Considera­tions are of so high concernment, that if you will truly turn unto the Lord from all the errours of your ways, your mind must dwell upon them, especially upon such as do most sting your Conscience, and affect your heart, 1 Sam. 7.6. 2 Cor. 7.10. Jam. 4.9, 10. till the pride thereof be hum­bled, and its stubbornness subdued, and your Soul melt into holy com­punction, and your eyes run over with the tears of godly sorrow.

11. And because your Soul cannot be truly humbled within you, except your Body be humbled also, and God [Page 77]requires both Soul and Body in every act of his service; 1 Cor. 6.20. 'twill be requisite therefore that you prostrate your self upon the earth in the confession of your Sins. 2 Sam. 12.16. So holy David lay upon the earth, when he fasted and praied for the remission of his sins. When the people of God made confession of their sins publickly in the Temple, they did it groveling on the ground, with their faces in the dust: and to this day the Jews doe the same in their Synagogues, falling flat upon the earth when they confess their sins, and the sins of their forefathers.

Wherein that which should yet have a greater influence upon too stub­born hearts and stifned joynts, is, the example of our dearest Saviour; who, when he praied, Matt. 26.38, 39. Lak. 22.44. groaning under the burthen of our sins, fell upon his face, and praied, and swet drops of bloud, and praied more earnestly saying the same words: 1 Pet. 2.21. herein leaving us an ex­ample, that we should follow his steps; not so much to mind variety of ex­pressions and multitude of words in our praiers and confessions, as to be throughly humbled both in body and Soul under the mighty hand of God, 1 Pet. 5.6. that he may vouchsafe to raise us up out [Page 78]of the mire and clay of all our sinfull pollutions.

12. This humiliation of your selves both in Body and Soul for your Sins cannot be perfectly, sincerely and throughly transacted, except your Prayers be joyned with Fasting. That great day of expiation, commanded by God for the putting away of Sin, was a Fasting-day: and for this corporall mortification, Lev. 16.29, 30. Isa. 58 3, 5. Joel. 2.12. Matt. 17.21. Luk. 2.37. as well as for the spi­ritual compunction, 'twas called a day wherein to afflict the Soul.

The many admonitions and exam­ples of Fasting, both in the Old and New Testament, and its frequent con­junction with Praier, may sufficiently convince us of the necessity of this Du­ty, when we implore the pardon of our Sins; as also of other acts of Mortification for the taming and sub­duing of the flesh, 1 Cor. 9.27. Gal. 5.17. which hath so shamefully rebelled against the spirit, as in the through Confession of Sins is acknowledged.

13. That you may be both hum­bled for your Sins, and yet not despair of mercy and forgiveness, meditate upon the bitter Sorrows and Sufferings of our Blessed Redeemer.

Behold him with the eye of Faith [Page 79]and devout Meditation expanded on the Cross, as on a Tormenting-rack: see him naked, and racked, and woun­ded, and bleeding for thy Sins: no part of his Body untormented, no power of his Soul unsacrific'd, no drop of his Bloud unshed for thine of­fences. His tender Skin and delicate Flesh was torn, and rent, and razed, by cruell lashes with forked whips; his Head crowned with thorns, the curse of the earth; his Sinews crackt, his Veins burst, his Joynts disparted, and all his Bones started aside: whilst in the midst of these torments he offe­red up his Soul a Sacrifice for thy Sins.

And 'tis this precious Bloud thus shed and applied to thy heart, if any thing, will mollify its hardness, and melt thee into tears of Compunction for thy Sins, the cause of thy Saviour's Sufferings; into tears of Compassion with thy Redeemer in his Passion for thee; into tears of Devotion, in the dedication of thy whole self unto the service of his Majesty, who gave him­self wholly to redeem and save thee.

And because Meditations upon this subject are of all others most effectuall to excite Compunction, and Devotion [Page 80]in the heart, and to obtain mercy; I have therefore annexed some short Meditations on the severall Mysteries of our Redemption, and our Saviour's Passion, wherein every one may en­large himself, as his Devotion shall suggest.

14. In the Confession of your Sins, as in every of your set solemn con­stant Praiers unto God, 'twill be ve­ry imprudent, and too presumptuous, to trust to your own extempore ex­pressions, and boldly say onely what at present comes into your mind: for this is to be as one of them that tempt the Lord. Ecclus. 18.23. Eccles. 5.1, 2. And by such rash inconsi­derate addresses you offer to the All­wise God the sacrifice of fools.

There's no Malefactour that peti­tions his Judge for the pardon of his crime, but will pen his Petition, and study to doe it in such words as are pertinent, and not superfluous, that he offend not by any tedious prolix or unnecessary expressions. And we cannot surely be less considerate and carefull, when we petition the Great Judge of the world for the pardon of our Sins, which would otherwise sink our Souls to eternall honour.

For the right performance there­fore [Page 81]of a Duty of so high concern­ment, Dan. 9.4, &c. Hos. 14.2, 3. Baruc. 1.15, &c. Luke 15.18, 21. we have many Forms of Con­fession upon record in the Book of God, and other books of practicall Devotion both ancient and modern. But because such generalls reach not punctually to the particulars of Self-examination proposed, I have hereunto added, for the greater ease of the Reader, a Form of Confession, where­unto every man may adde or dimi­nish, as his Conscience tells him he is guilty or not guilty, also as he finds himself more or less guilty: remem­bring to enlarge upon every general head of Confession, the enumeration of all such particular Sins as relate thereunto.

And because there be few devout orthodox good Christians but are affected with what is ancient and primitive, more then with the modes of new and modern Devotion; I have therefore added one Form of Confession out of the Bibliotheca Pa­trum, for its antiquity, and the gene­rall extent thereof.

15. After the Confession of your Sins, the most effectuall Praiers you can use for the Pardon of them are, next to the Lord's Praier, the Peniten­tiall [Page 82]Psalmes; the praying whereof with understanding and devotion, is truly and indeed to pray by the Holy Spirit of God: Eph. 5.18, 19. for such are undenia­bly the dictates of God's Holy Spirit. I have therefore added the said Psalms, with the Lord's Praier, para­phrased, that in the devout use there­of you may pray by the Spirit, 1 Cor. 14.15.and pray with understanding also.

CHAP. VIII. A Form of Confession of Sin fit­ted to the Rules of Self-exami­nation, whereunto every one may adde or substract, as he finds himself guilty or not guilty.

BUT I am unworthy, O Lord, to take thy Holy Name in my mouth, ashamed to lift up mine eyes [Page 83]to Heaven; for I have sinned against Heaven and before thee, in that I have daily broken my Vow and Pro­mise made unto the God of Heaven. Sins against the Baptismal Vow in general. To re­nounce the Devil and all his works; I am unworthy to be called thy Son, having obeyed the suggestions and done the works of the Devil; and I do therefore justly deserve, as a child of the Devil, to have my por­tion with him and his Angels: for, with those Apostate spirits, I have not kept to my first estate of Rege­neration in Baptism, but have trans­gressed all the particulars of that Covenant which I made with my God therein.

I have suffered my foolish heart to be deceived with the Pomps and Vanities of this transitory life; The Pomps and Vani­ties of this wicked World; and have been more enamour'd with the empty, gaudy, flattering felicities of this present World, then with those never-fading joys and unspeakable glories of the World to come.

The Pride of life hath ensnared me more to affect the praise of men then the praise of God; and the Lust [Page 84]of the eyes hath bewitched me, to prefer the love and service of Mam­mon before the love and fear and service of my Maker.

I have more readily obeyed the sin­ful lusts of the flesh, And all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh. then the godly motions of the Spirit: and carnal Concupiscence hath reigned in my heart, and prevailed in the actions of my life, against the dictates both of right Reason and holy Religion.

I have not been so careful as I ought, To believe all the Ar­ticles of the Chri­stian Faith. rightly and fully to under­stand all the Articles of the holy Christian Faith, whereinto I was Bap­tized, and made Christian: and my Faith in those Fundamentals of the Religion I profess has been weak and wavering, clouded by ignorance, depraved by errour, and distracted by many various Opinions, and doubts of the Truth.

I have not fram'd the affections of my heart, and the actions of my life, [Page 85]according to what each Article of my Christian Faith doth imply, and im­plicitly command: but I have profa­ned, nay even denied, that Faith by the sinful works of my hands, which I have professed with my mouth.

I have too often neglected, and been sometimes ashamed to make confession of my Faith, when called hereunto by the Minister in the Con­gregation: and most justly therefore may my Blessed Saviour be ashamed of me at the last great Day. But he is merciful, and I a miserable sinner.

I have not studied fully to know what the Will of my God is, To keep God's holy Will and Command­ments. and to understand aright those Divine Com­mandments I am obliged to observe: neither have I obeyed thy Will and kept thy Commandments, according to the knowledge I have had thereof.

CHAP. IX. An ancient Form of Confession extant Biblioth. Patrum tom. 8. p. 409.

I Confess unto thee, O Lord, the Father of Heaven and earth, and to thee, O sweet and benign Jesu, with the Holy and Blessed Spirit, be­fore all thy holy Angels and Saints, before thy Altar, and thy Priest stan­ding there;

I was conceived and born in Sin: and since my Baptism, (wherein I was washed from Sin originall,) I have been conversant in actual Sins all the days of my life, untill this very hour.

I confess I have sinned in Pride and Vain-glory, in the vanity of my Ap­parell, in the lifting up of mine eyes, [Page 117]and the swelling of my heart: and Pride hath stained all my actions.

I have been in Envy, Hatred, Ma­lice, and immoderate Anger; in Ig­norance and Negligence, in Slothful­ness and Sullenness; in the greedy Co­vetousness both of worldly wealth, and of the praise of men.

I have sinned in the Greediness of the belly, even to Gluttony and Drun­kenness, and Sodomiticall Luxury; in wanton kisses, unchast embraces, in Fornication and Adultery, and every kind of shamefull Uncleanness.

I have sinned in Theft and Cou­zenage, in Rapine and Sacrilege, in Lying and idle tales, in Swearing and forswearing; in the loss, sickness, dis­grace and death of others, which I have too often desired, and wherewith I have been too well pleased.

I have sinned in the defects of Faith, Hope, and Charity; in the unworthy participation of the Body and Bloud of Christ; in the neglect of Hospitality and Alms-giving, frequently denying to relieve, and often exasperating the poor by opprobrious language. I have transgrest the precepts of thy Gospell, injoyning me to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, —

I have been unjust in detaining the Dues of thy Church, and in the dis­pensation of Ecclesiasticall goods; in the contracts of Usury, bargaining and sale, over-reaching, lying, with­holding what has been more or less righteous and just.

I have not attended upon thy pu­blick and solemn Worship upon Sun­days and Holidays devoted thereunto: I have not behaved my self upon such days soberly, righteously and godly: I have approached and come into thy House without that reverence and godly fear which becometh that Sa­cred place; and there I have demea­ned my self unseemly, sitting, standing, leaning, lolling, and staring about, when the respective parts of thy Sa­cred Service required more humble and devout gestures and behaviour. I have entertained vain, idle, wan­dering thoughts, and intermingled unprofitable, wanton, worldly talk in the time of thy solemn Worship.

I have unhallowed many holy things, many holy actions, by using the same as common and unclean and with unclean hands, and an impure conscience.

I have not joyned with a right un­derstanding [Page 119]and devotion in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs, pu­blick Praiers, and other the sacred acts of Religious Worship: too often spea­king with my lips cursorily and custo­marily, whilst my heart hath been ro­ving by evill imaginations and false suspicions; judging rashly of what is sacred and holy, when transcending my shallow capacity.

I have sinned by perverse reasonings against the Truth, because either above my understanding, or not agreeable with my will; by consenting, and not reproving the sinfull; by not in­structing the ignorant, not reducing the erroneous, not admonishing, not exhorting such as have gone astray, to entertain more sound and sober counsells.

I have not reverenced my Superi­ours, I have both defamed and diso­beyed my Governours Ecclesiasticall and Civil; neither have I repayed to my friends and benefactours such gratefull acknowledgments and due obsequiousness as becometh.

I have entertained in my heart ma­ny loose and unchast thoughts and fil­thy lusts; and have looked upon the carnal copulation and intermixture of [Page 120]beasts with an unclean delectation of mind.

I have been guilty of much superflu­ous and opprobrious language, of lying and slandering, of falsehoods and flat­teries, of railing and reviling, of scur­rilous and vain jangling, of profane and irreligious speaking, and custo­mary swearing, of taking unlawfull oaths, of much filthy communication, and of all the evills of an untamed tongue, the instrument of a corrupt heart.

I have even renounced the Cove­nant of my God, by not renouncing the Devil and all his works: I have too often yielded to his suggestions to disobey the will of God, and to transgress his Commandments, in the breach of my Duty both towards God and Man.

And thus I have sinned both in my thoughts and desires, in my words and actions, by seeing, hearing, ta­sting, touching, smelling; even all my Senses have been as so many win­dows to let in Sin to my Soul, and Death by Sin.

And not onely thus, but in all kinds of Vice, whereunto humane frailty is liable, or in whatever any [Page 121]dissolute and debauched person doth or can offend, have I offended the Great Lord of Heaven and earth. And I acknowledge my self above all the men in the world to be the grea­test of Sinners.

Have mercy upon me, Almighty and most mercifull Father: for thy Son, my Lord Jesus Christ, his sake, pardon and deliver me from all mine offences, confirm and strengthen me in all goodness, and bring me to ever­lasting life, through Jesus Christ. —

[...] [Page 124]the world to come, through Jesus Christ—

III. O mercifull Lord, to whom chiefly it appertaineth to forgive sins, and by whom alone the Souls of true Peni­tents are absolved from all their offen­ces, wash me, O wash my unclean Soul in the fountain of thine inexhau­stible mercy, through faith in the bloud of my dear Redeemer Jesus Christ—

IV. Look down from Heaven, O Lord, with the eye of pity and compassion upon thy humble servant, confessing his wickedness, and being sorry for his sins, imploring withall thy pardon, and trusting alone in thy mercics, through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ—

V. Be propitious, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee, be propitious to the prai­ers and supplications of thy humble servants; and grant that the remission of our sins being obtained, we may evermore rejoyce in thy heavenly be­nediction, through Jesus Christ—

CHAP. X. The Lord's Praier paraphrased.

OƲR Father,] 1. The Pre­face. as we have a Being with all things, by Crea­tion and Providence; 2. as we are rea­sonable creatures, with Men and An­gels, by Representation and Likeness; 3. as we are Christians, by Adoption and Grace.

Which art in Heaven,] by thy Ma­jesty and great Glory; in earth, by thy Mercy and good Providence; and in all things both in Heaven and earth, by thy essential Presence.

Thou, O Lord, art more ready to [Page 126]hear then we are to pray, and art wont to give more then we desire or deserve, as being our Father; and though daily provok'd by our sins, yet still our Father: and thou art able to doe exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask or think, as being in Heaven. And to Heaven vouch­safe to raise up our immortal Souls: Let them not cleave to the dust of worldly vanities, since we have a Fa­ther in Heaven.

Hallowed be thy Name.] Petition. 1 O that all the Nations whom thou hast made would come and worship thee, and glorifie thy Name, which is great, wonderful and holy: but more especi­ally, may thy ever-blessed Name be magnified by me and by all people who have thy Name call'd upon us; in all our thoughts, words and deeds, manifesting that reverence and godly fear, that divine love and filial obedi­ence we owe unto thee, Our Father which art in Heaven.

Thy Kingdom come.] Petit. 2 Maiest thou rule and reign in all the affections of our hearts, and over all the actions of our lives; swaying thy Sceptre of Righteousness by thy Holy Word and [Page 127]Spirit, to the destruction of the King­dom of Sin and Satan: And may we all live in obedience of thy most holy Laws, and continue such loyal and faithful subjects of thy Kingdom of Grace in this life, that we may become Saints in thy Kingdome of Glory in the life to come.

Thy will will be done in earth as it is in heaven.] May all we, Petit. 3 whose im­mortal Souls do dwell in earthly Ta­bernacles, as readily, zealously, con­stantly obey thy will, and as chearfully submit to thy good pleasure, as do thy blessed Angels and Saints in their bliss­ful mansions of Heaven above.

Give us this day our daily bread.] Petit. 4 Even all things necessary both for our Souls and bodies; both the bread of Heaven and earthly bread. And grant that what we do enjoy upon earth, may be rightly ours, not to any other belonging; and neither acquired by in­justice, nor uncharitably detained by us: and our daily bread, according to our daily necessities administred to us, who daily wait upon thee, O Lord, who givest unto all their me [...]t in due season.

And that our daily abuse of thy gifts may not rob us of them, Petit. 5 [For­give [Page 128]us our trespasses:] even all our transgressions of thy most holy Laws pardon, good Lord, whose nature and property it is alway to have mercy and to forgive. But this we presume not to ask but upon thine own terms:

As we forgive those that trespass a­gainst us.] The trespasses of others, and our sufferings from them, are but few and trifling, in respect of our sins and trespasses against thee; for they be many and hainous: but as sin hath abounded in us, so doth grace and mercy abound also with thee; but we are men of hard, corrupt, uncircum­cised hearts. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, and forgive us, both our sins against thee, and our uncharitableness unto our neighbours: soften our hard hearts, to be kindly affectioned one towards another; forbearing and for­giving one another, as we hope and humbly beg to be forgiven by thee through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lead us not into temptation:] Petit. 6 Suf­fer us not any more to fall into fins and trespasses against thee. When we are led away with our lusts, and tem­pted, O leave us not then to our selves, who are weak and frail, and too prone to all that is evil: but assist [Page 129]and enable us by thy Divine grace to overcome all the affaults of our ghost­ly enemies, and to continue thy faith­ful servants and souldiers to our lives ends.

Deliver us from evil.] Petit. 7 From the evil of sin, by thy grace; and from the evil of punishment, by thy mercy: and from the authour of all evils, the Devil: From the temporal evils and miseries of this life, and from the evils of a sad eter­nity in the life to come; from thy wrath, and from everlasting damna­tion,

For thine is the Kingdom,] Conclusion. Thou rulest and reignest over all: and thy Dominion is absolute and indepen­dent, the power whereof cannot be broken, nor its glory eclipsed, like the frail and fading Kingdoms of this world: But thine is [the Power and the Glory, for ever and ever.] Thy Dominion is an everlasting Domini­on, such as shall not pass away; and thy Kingdom such as cannot be de­stroyed, but shall stand fast in power, and eminent in glory, for ever.

O give us hearts yielding a willing obedience to the Laws of thy King­dom, full of reverence and awful fear of thy Power, studious to advance thy Glory upon earth; that we may in the end arrive at thy Kingdom in Heaven, where thou livest and reignest, Bles­sed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One God, world without end. A­men.

CHAP. XI. The Seven Penitentiall Psalms paraphrased.

THE Psalms of David being by all Christians, of what perswa­sion soever, acknowledged to be the immediate dictates of God's Holy Spirit; it must necessarily be acknow­ledged also, that he who understan­dingly and devoutly prays in the very words of the Psalms, prays by the Holy and true Spirit of God. The truth whereof, which by many blind Zelots is too much slighted and neg­lected, we have both confirmed, and the practice commanded, Eph. 5.18, 19. Be ye filled with the Spirit, Spea­king to your selves (or among your selves, which is done by answering each other) in Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs; i. e. such as are the dictates of the Holy Spirit; compa­red with Col. 3.16.

Thus prayed our Lord upon the Cross in the very words of the Psal­mist, Psal. 22.1. and 31.5. And so hath [Page 132]ever prayed the Church of Christ, Psalmus totius Ec­clesiae vox— Aug. Pro­log in Ps. Chrys. de Poen. Hom. 6. Ambr. de Virg. l. 5. in all the Ages thereof. Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs are, and e­ver were, the constant, regular, stan­ding parts of God's Worship, both under the Law and under the Gospel: And he must needs be a desperate Fa­natick, who will not acknowledge the words of God's own Spirit to be more wise, pithy, pertinent, and ef­fectually prevailing with God in our Prayers, then any words of man's de­vising, how seemingly-zealous and ta­king soever. 'Tis a strange, but not a true Spirit of holy Prayer, then, those persons pretend unto, who slight the devout use of the Psalms, which are the treasury of all sound Devotion, and trust to their own extempore or studied expressions in Prayer, prefer­ring the dictates of their own Spirit before those of the Spirit of God him­self.

The Penitential Psalms are so cal­led, because commended by the Church of Christ, and by the constant practice of orthodox devout Christians, to the Religious use of all true Penitents in their Prayers; to be used upon all days of Humiliation and Fasting, and in the time of sickness or any disness. [Page 133]So prayed S. Aug. upon his Death­bed; he wept and bewailed his sins in the devout use of the Penitential Psalms. And those are also the most effectual Prayers we can use in the pra­ctice of Repentance, by way of prepa­ration to the holy Communion.

CHAP. XII. Meditations and Prayers to be partakers of the Merits of what our Blessed Redeemer hath done and suffered for us.

O Most Holy and ever-Blessed Je­sus, 1 The Incar­nation of the Son of God. who vouchsafedst, for the redemption of mankind, to be made Man, by the blessed merits of thy my­sterious Incarnation grant me to be­come [Page 175]one Spirit with thee, who be­camest one flesh with me.

Thou, Blessed Lord, 2 Nativity. wert miracu­lously born of a pure immaculate Vir­gin, by the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing her: grant me, by the same power of the most High, to pos­sess a pure virgin Soul, in a pure and chast body, and to be fruitful in all good works.

Holy Jesus, 3 Circumci­sion. who vouchsafedst to be circumcised the eighth day, and made obedient to the Law for man, grant unto me, I humbly beg, the true cir­cumcision of the Spirit, that my heart and all my members may be mortified from all carnal and worldly lusts, and whatever hinders my regular obedi­ence to thy most holy Laws.

By the merits and mysteries of thy Baptism in the river Jordan, 4 Baptism. wash me throughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sins, whereby I have unhallowed those sacred and sa­ving waters of my Baptism, and per­juriously broken my Vow and Promise made therein.

Holy Jesus, 5 Fasting. who didst fast forty days and forty nights, forgive me the ma­nifold acts of Gluttony and Drunken­ness, Riot and Excess, whereof I have [Page 176]been guilty: and by the virtue and power of thy miraculous Fast, grant me the mastery over my rebellious ap­petite, to live soberly, that I may also live righteously and godly in this pre­sent world.

Holy Jesus, 6 Tempta­tion. who being fasting wast tempted of the Devil, and overcamest him, grant me, by the influences of thy Blessed Spirit, so devoutly to intend the holy duties of Fasting and Prayer, that by the power of thy victory over the Devil, I may have strength and power to triumph over the Devil, the world and the flesh, and to continue thy faithful servant and souldier to my life's end.

Holy Jesus, 7 Doctrine and Ex­ample. who being inaugurated in thy Prophetical office by Baptism, and confirmed by the vanquishment of the Devil, wentest about preaching the Gospel, doing good, healing all man­ner of sickness and all manner of disea­ses amongst the people, being by thy doctrine and example the Way and the Truth that leads unto Life; grant me to believe aright all thy Revelations, to obey all thy Commands, to walk in thy steps, and so to follow thee the Light of the world, that I walk not in dark­ness, but may have the light of life.

Holy Jesus, 8 He is con­spir'd a­gainst, and betrayed. who didst condescend to have thy precious life conspired a­gainst by the Jews, and to be betrayed and sold by one of thine own Disciples for a vile price, deliver me from the conspiracies of all mine enemies, ghost­ly and bodily; and specially from the treachery and corruption of mine own deceitful heart, and from the rebellion of my flesh, which for vile things and of no value daily betray my Soul into the hands and under the power and bondage of Sin and Satan, the great enemies of my life in Grace and Glory.

Holy Jesus, 9 His Agonie in the Gar­den. who didst begin thy last and bitter passion in a Garden, where thy innocent Soul was sorrowful even unto death, sanctifie, I beseech thee, all my natural infirmities and passions, comfort me in all my troubles and disquietudes of mind, and make me sensible with godly sorrow of that hea­vy wrath and curse for Sin, which thou sufferedst, and I deserved.

Holy Jesus, 10 Bloudy swear. who didst prostrate thy self upon the cold earth, sweating drops of bloud under the pressure of our sins, and out of a sad apprehension of thy ensuing sufferings, offering up strong [...]ies with tears unto him that is able to save; O that my heart might inward­ly [Page 178]bleed tears of compassion and of compunction, and vent it self by such fervent and effectuall prayers, with tears of devotion, as to be heard in Heaven, and healed of all my sinfull infirmities.

Holy Jesus, 11 Submission to the will of God. who with all sweetness of patience and submission didst give up thy self wholly to the will of thy Heavenly Father, endue me with the same spirit of lowliness and meckness, patience and contentedness in all con­ditions, submitting to the good will of my God, both in prosperity and ad­versity, health and sickness, life and death.

Holy Jesus, 12 Apprehen­sion. who didst yield thy self to be apprehended, when thou mightest escape, and to be bound as a Malefac­tour, being clearer then an Angel of light; O let not my Soul be feised by any infernal Fiends to eternal horrour in the other world: But out of the sangs and clutches of all the spirits and powers of darkness, good Lord, deliver me: from the bonds and chains of my sins, and from that dismall sen­tence, [Take him, and bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter dark­ness,] good Lord, deliver me.

Holy Jesus, who being felsed by [Page 179]rude hands, 13 Arraign­ment and Condem­nation. wast led as an innocent Lamb to the slaughter, hooted at, rated, reviled, reproached, falsely accused, and unjustly condemned by unjust Judges here upon earth, being thy self the most just Judge of Heaven and earth; O be not a severe and angry Judge when I shall stand before thy Tribunal, but vouchsafe to be then my Mediatour, and answer for me, who am not able to answer thee one of a thousand, if thou shouldest be strict to mark what I have done amiss: But in thee have I put my trust; thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God.

From all the accusations of the De­vil and his Angels, from the accusa­tions of all men and of all women, with whom I have been guilty, or who have been conscious of my many sinful pol­lutions, and from the accusations of my own Conscience in the day of Judg­ment, good Lord, deliver me.

Blessed be that infinite mercy and humility of thine, Holy Jesus, 14 He is spit­ted upon. where­by thou sufferedst thy face, faiter then the children of men, to be polluted by filthy ignominious spittings. O turn thy face away from my sins, whereby I have polluted my Soul, and profaned thy holy Name, which is called upon me. Turn not thy face away from [Page 180]me, but turn thy face away from my sins, who for my sins didst not turn thy face from shame and spitting.

Holy Jesus, 15 Buffeted. who didst expose thy blessed cheeks to the rude cuffs and buffets of hard injurious fists, grant that though I may feel, yet not be fell'd and overthrown by the buffets of Sa­tan.

Holy Jesus, 16 Forsaken of his friends and followers. who wast content to be forsaken of all thy friends and dea­rest Disciples, and to be left alone in the hands of cruel men, who like ra­vening wolves thirsted after a draught of thy dearest bloud; O leave me not destitute of thy assisting presence, when assaulted by my ghostly Adversaries; though I have deserved to be for ever desolate and forsaken, for my mani­fold treacherous backslidings from thee.

Blessed be that infinite goodness and meekness of thine, 17 Denied by Peter. who looking back upon S. Peter, when he denied and forswore thee, didst by that gra­cious chiding look call him back, both to himself and to thee, by tree Repentance. O look thus upon all back­sliders from thee, for their correction and sincere conversion; and look upon me also, and be merciful unto me, as [Page 181]thou usest to doe unto those that love thy name.

And now behold, (O my Soul,) 18 Scourged. with the eye of devout meditation, such a portion of thy Saviour's suffe­rings as is the wonder and astonish­ment both of Heaven and earth. See with what profound humility and pa­tience the great Lord of all the world condescends to be whipped by a mer­ciless crue of souldiers: see with what a sweet silence this innocent Lamb yields to have his fleece torn off, his body stript naked, and strictly bound to a whipping-post: see him all alone, naked and helpless, where there was no eye to pity him, no heart to have compassion on him; whilst those mer­ciless Caitiffs with their sharp and for­ked whips rip up and tear his delicate skin and tender flesh, so that his bles­sed back and breasts, by the violence of their cruel lathes, doubled and re­doubled, are all gore bloud, which from the gastly wounds stream'd down his innocent sides.

Now when I think hereupon I pour out my heart by my self, even to wee­ping and wonder: wondering, that the eternal Son of God, the glory of An­gels and beauty of men, should suffer [Page 182]such a cruel and shameful punishment; and weep, that my sins should both de­serve and cause such sufferings; and weeping wonder, that the Son of God should suffer what I deserved.

But since thou disdainedst not, O merciful Lord, to be wounded for my transgressions, and bruised for mine iniquities; O let thy chastisement pro­cure my peace with offended Heaven, and grant that by thy stripes my soul may be healed.

Holy Jesus, 19 Crowned with thorns. whose venerable head was crowned with Thorns, the curse of the earth, and those thorns beaten into thy Temples with a Reed and with much rage; pardon, Lord, all those sins which by the instrumental mediation of all the senses of my head I have committed: break not the brui­sed reed, my broken heart, with the sad pressure of thy heavy wrath: let thy thorns, the fruits of the curse which we contracted and thou sustai­nedst, deliver me from the curse due for my sins, and stop the jaws of death, that the pit shut not her mouth upon me.

Thou art the King of glory, 20Renoun­cing the Pomps and Vanities of this world.O Christ; yet wast content with a Cross for thy Throne, with a wreath of Thorns for thy Crown, with a Reed for thy Regal [Page 183]Sceptre, with Gall and Vinegar for thy Cates, and for thy Robes of Ma­jesty onely a little Linen to cover thy nakedness. O that I were so wise as, from thy example, to despise all the gilded glories, empty consolations, nicknam'd pleasures and profits of this present life: chusing, with Moses, ra­ther to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, having an eye to the recom­pence of reward.

Blessed Jesus, 21 Bearing his Cross. who with an invin­cible patience wentest forth bearing thy Cross, till it sunk thy tender vir­ginal body to the earth; O let me not sink under thy Cross, nor shrink from it, but chearfully take up my Cross, whatever it be, and carefully undergo all the sacred acts and offices of true Repentance, which is the Cross of Sin­ners, and follow thee my immortal Sa­vior, who didst suffer for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow thy steps.

Holy Jesus, 22 Crucified. who wast lifted up upon the Cross to draw all men unto thee, and didst hang on a cursed Tree, to abolish the Curse contracted by ea­ting the fruit of the forbidden Tree, and wast numbred with the transgres­sours, crucified amongst thieves; O [Page 184]draw my hard and stony heart unto thee: deliver me from the curse, by my sins contracted; and rank me not among the cursed Goats on thy left hand, but amongst thy blessed Sheep on thy right hand, in the great Day of Judgment.

O most Holy crucified Jesus, 23 All the parts of his body tor­mented. all the parts and members of whose Body were expanded on the Cross, as on a tormenting rack; thy blessed Arms and Legs were with such violence dif­tended, that the Joints were dispar­ted, the Veins burst, the Sinews crackt, the Skin rent, the Flesh torn, and all the Bones started aside: And in this height of distension thy innocent Hands and Feet were nailed for the sinful works of our hands, nailed where the nerves, those conveyances of sense, are the thickest, to the unspeakable tor­ment of thine innocent body.

The sorrows and sufferings of thy Soul were far greater, 24 The suffe­rings of his Soul. being like mel­ting wax, molten in the fiery furnace of God's wrath for the sins of the world; till the fulness of thy sufferings being accomplished, thou commendedst thy spirit into the hands of God.

All this Sorrow and Suffering, Grief and Torment of thine, I believe verily, was for me and for my sins; there be­ing [Page 185]nothing in thee, the spotless Son of a spotless Virgin, to grieve, or sor­row, or suffer for.

O sweetest Saviour, save and deliver me from all my sins, whether of know­ledge or ignorance, of wilfulness or ne­gligence, of omission or commission; of thought, desire, word or deed, confessed or not confessed before thee: wash them all away in thy precious bloud shed for me; nail them to thy Cross, which were the cause of thy Crucifixion; hide them in thy wounds, who wast wounded for my transgressions: and write those wounds of thine in my heart, not with ink, but with the bloud which was shed forme; that in and by those characters of bloud I may reade and learn to die unto sin, and live onely unto thee, who diedst for me; cleaving stedfast­ly unto thee, whose whole self wast so fast nailed to the Cross for me.

By thy Cross and Passion, both in Soul and Body, cleanse me from all fil­thiness both of flesh and spirit; crucifie this corruptible flesh of mine, with all the inordinate affections and unruly lusts thereof: that being conformed to thy Death, I may be partaker of thy Resurrection; that suffering with thee here, I may reign with thee hereafter, where thou livest—

CHAP. I. Of the two general Christian Du­ties required in order to the Ho­ly Communion of the Body and Bloud of CHRIST.

1. THE Blessed Eucharist, or Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is of all the My­steries of godliness the most compre­hensive, and applicatory to the Soul's eternall Happiness. 'Tis amongst all Christian Duties of highest dignity, and greatest concern. 'Tis both the Food and the Medicine, the Life and the Health, the Strength and Defence, the Peace, Joy and Delight of the tru­ly [Page 192]Religious Soul. 'Tis the most ef­fectual means of the nearest Union and Communion with Christ in this life attainable. 'Tis expresly so called, the Communion of the Body of Christ, and the Communion of the Bloud of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16.: which Doctrine we are taught as one of the Principles of our Religion; The Body and Bloud of Christ is verily and indeed taken and received of the faith­full in the Lord's Supper Church Catech..

2. In the right and reverent Admi­nistration, with the devout and wor­thy Participation of this Sacramental Body of Christ we are incorporated in­to his holy Mystical Body. So saith our Lord himself; He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud, dwelleth in me, and I in him Joh. 6.56.. And such is also the Doctrine of the Church of Christ: If with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive the Holy Sacrament, we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his bloud; we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we be one with Christ, and Christ with us; we obtain remission of our Sins, and all other the Benfits of his Passion Comm. office..

3. Hence then it follows, that who­ever owns the name of a Christian and understands aright what it is to be [Page 193]truly so, and not in vain so called, must acknowledge these two general Duties to be incumbent upon him: 1. Not to neglect any opportunity of Re­ceiving this Blessed Sacrament; 2. To use all possible means with his utmost endeavours to receive the same wor­thily.

I. As to the First, whoso slights or neglects to come, being invited, to the Holy Communion, either,

1. He rightly understands not the Holy Religion he professeth: or,

2. His Religion is no other but a bare Profession; something that per­haps employs his Tongue, and strikes upon his Ears, to hear and talk about it; but never entred the deep of his Heart, truly to believe and practise it Matt. 15.8..

There be too many such persons, (God wot) that talk much of Reli­gion, yea, many that talk loudly of Communion with Christ, and are see­mingly zealous in the external perfor­mance of several Christian Duties, e­specially in the frequency of long and loud Praiers: but if the many wild extravagancies of such performances did not lay them open, yet their gene­ral neglect of this Sacrament, which is the life and quintessence of all Chri­stian [Page 194]offices, and the infallible witness of true Christianity, discovers the hy­pocrisy of such seeming Zelots; that, with the old Pharisees, they draw nigh unto God with their mouth, and honour him with their lips; but their heart is not whole with him, neither are they stedfast in his covenant Isa. 29.13. Psal. 78.36, 37.. Which is far­ther evident in that,

3. Such persons make no conscience of Sin, which is the transgression of the Law of Christ. He commands saying, Take, eat— Drink ye all of this— Doe this in remembrance of me— Shew forth the Lord's death till he come— Come unto me all ye that are weary— Ho, every one that thirsteth, come— Matt. 26.27, 28. Luk. 22.19. 1 Cor. 11.24, 25, 26. Matt. 11.28. Isa. 55.1.. Not to come to that Blessed Sacrament, being invi­ted, is to disobey all these, and several more positive commands of God: which being also frequently read, heard, preached, and pressed upon the consciences of men by their conscien­cious Ministers, and yet still slighted and disobeyed, will undoubtedly in­cur (if not prevented by a timely true Repentance and Amendment) that sad and dismall sentence at the last Day, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire Matt. 25.41..

4. Disobedience to these commands of our Lord in the neglect of this Bles­sed Sacrament, doth declare every such person so neglecting, whatever his ex­cuses may be, 1. in generall, that he is more in love with his Sins then with his Saviour, with the errours of his ways then with the Truth that is in Jesus Eph. 4.21.: or, 2. more particularly, that he prefers either his sloth and negli­gence, or his enmity and malicious­ness, or his temporall concerns and covetousness, or, in a word, some se­cular or sensual lust, before the purifi­cation of his Soul in the Bloud of Christ, and its nourishment to life eter­nall.

5. He disobeys the commands, slights the orders, contemns the disci­pline of Christ's Church, makes no conscience of conforming to the prac­tice of, and of holding communion with, all sound and orthodox Mem­bers of Christ: but rather implies, nay, openly declares, that he is none of Christ's number, but separate and divided from Christ's mysticall Body, which is the Church Col. 1.24.; and, conse­quently, not quickened with his Spi­rit: for these two are inseparable; one Body, the Church; and one Spi­rit [Page 196] Eph. 4.4., viz. of truth and holiness, which quickeneth this one Body, and this alone.

The guilt of any which particulars is so inconsistent with the state of true Christianity, that there is no person who reads and seriously considers them, can reasonably call himself a Member of Christ, or acceptably call upon God as such, and yet still conti­nue his neglect of this Blessed Sacra­ment.

6. And this amongst others is one of the greatest causes of so great a decay of Piety, of so much dulness and dead­ness of heart in all Religious perfor­mances, of so much averseness from the publick Worship of God in his House of prayer, and of so much irre­verence and profaneness therein. 'Tis the cause of so many spiritual diseases in the Souls of men, of so much weak­ness against Temptations, of so much wavering in opinion, of so many Er­rours, Schisms, Factions— even because the Souls of all such are not fed, nourished, strengthned and refre­shed, quickned and confirmed with the precious Body and Bloud of Christ: the which, being rightly and reverent­ly received, illuminates the Under­standing, [Page 197]purifies the Will, cleanses the Heart, rectifies the Affections, and renders the whole Man apt and active to every good work of the Lord.

II. The Second general Duty in order to this Holy Sacrament is, To use all possible means and endeavours to receive the same worthily.

There will need no other Reasons to enforce this Duty then the terrour of those known words of the Apostle, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to him­self. And this Unworthiness consists in not discerning the Lord's Body, as it im­mediately follows 1 Cor. 11.29..

Here then every man that hath any care of his Soul will desire to know what it is, not to discern the Lord's Body, which makes a man liable to Damnation, by being an unworthy Communicant at the Lord's Table.

To understand this fully and clear­ly, we must use the light of a distin­ction. For there is a threefold Body of Christ abstracted from that of his personal subsistence as Man of a rea­sonable Soul and humane Flesh sub­sisting: viz. 1. Mystical, 2. Doctri­nal, 3. Sacramental. And not to [Page 198]discern the Lord's Body in any of these three meanings thereof, makes unworthie Receivers.

1. The Mystical Body of Christ is his Church Eph. 1.22, 23. Col. 1.24.. And he discerns not this Body of Christ, who rightly be­lieves not the Holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints.

'Tis one of the names whereby this Holy Sacrament is called, The Holy Communion; excluding thence as un­worthy all that are not within the Pale and Communion of Christ's Church, both Unbelievers and Misbelievers, Hereticks and Schismaticks; all dis­obedient, factious, contentious spi­rits, with all sorts of Separatists from the Church of Christ, whether in Faith or Charity, Doctrine or Worship. For all worthy Communicants, being ma­ny, are one Body in Christ, and every one Members one of another Rom. 12.5. 1 Cor. 12.12, 13..

2. The Doctrinal Body of Christ is the Doctrine of Christianity, or the Body of Faith, wherein all found or­thodox Christians do agree, and are united as Members of the foresaid Mystical Body of Christ, the Church: which is therefore called the common Faith Tit. 1.4.: and 'tis that Faith which was once given to, or rather by, the [Page 199]Saints Jude v. 3., the holy Apostles of our Lord.

He discerns not this Body of the Lord, who understands not the Prin­ciples of his Religion, which are sum­med up in the Vow or Covenant which every person rightly Christned hath made with God in his Baptism: the positive parts whereof (besides the negative) are, 1. the Apostles Creed, 2. the Ten Commandments; with what is implied therein, and depends thereupon, viz. 3. the Lord's Praier, and, 4. the Doctrine of the Sacra­ments. Not to know these general Heads of Religion, which be plainly and fully delivered in the Church-Ca­techism; or, having learned them by heart when Children, not frequently to remember and consider them when come to age, so as to understand and hold them fast as the Essentials of Christianity; is the second general kind of Unworthiness of the Lord's Supper, from whence all ignorant and careless, foolish and sottish persons are excluded Jer. 24.7. Heb. 8.11., with all such as hold not fast the first Principles of the Oracles of God Heb. 5.12..

3. The Sacramental Body of Christ is, the consecrated Elements of Bread [Page 200]and Wine in the Sacrament. This is expresly affirmed by our Lord, saying, This is my Body, This is my Bloud. Who then dare say, (as the Fathers frequently observe,) This is not his Body, but a Figure of his Body one­ly?

He discerns not this Body of our Lord, 1. who sees not with the eye of Faith Christ really present under the Species of Bread and Wine, though he conceive not the manner thereof: who doth not with all gratefull ac­knowledgment and divine love, and with the greatest humility and devo­tion, adore the infinite wisedom, pow­er, mercy, goodness and condescension of this Presence of our Lord; not curiously questioning, much less prag­matically defining the way and man­ner of his Presence, as being deeply mysterious and inconceivable.

Those old Verses expressing the Faith of the wifest of our first Refor­mers may satisfy every modest, hum­ble and sober-minded good Christian in his great Mystery of godliness.

2. He discerns not this Sacramen­tal Body of the Lord, who knows not in some measure the nature, ends, uses and benefits of this Sacrament, with what is required of them that come thereunto: All which being plainly, fully, and yet very briefly, taught in our Church-Catechism, to be there­fore ignorant of these things, which every Child is bound to learn and say, is another Species of an unworthy Communicant.

3. He discerns not this Sacramental Body of the Lord, who prepares not himself to receive the same with all reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28.; with hands washed in innocency Psal. 26.6.; and into a pure and clean heart Isa. 1.16. Psal. 24.4.; into a Soul cleansed from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1., and perfumed (as was our Lord's crucified Body) with the sweet odours of Humility and Com­punction, of Love and Devotion, of Obedience and Charity.

And hereunto all the parts and kinds of true Repentance do necessari­ly concur: for there can be no clean­ness of hands, no purity of heart, if the naturally stiff and proud heart be not first humbled, and its stifness bro­ken with godly sorrow for sin, and its [Page 202]filthiness washed off with the devout tears of true Penitence through Faith in the bloud of Christ.

And he that receives Christ's Holy Body and Bloud into his Soul, not first emptied of all his Sins by holy Faith and all the sacred offices of true Repentance, doth with Judas betray his Master into the hands of his ene­mies, even those very enemies which crucified him: for those were our Sins. And therefore 'tis said of such unwor­thy Receivers, that they are guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ.

To avoid such a horrid Sin, 1 Cor. 11.27. and Damnation following the same, v. 29. betwixt both Verses 'tis commanded v. 28. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat—

Self-examination, as 'tis in the for­mer Leaves prescribed to be practised, is the first and the greatest Duty, and requires the most of spiritual labour, care and industry, of all that is requi­red to the worthy Receiving of the Holy Communion. And this because 'tis not onely necessary in it self; but necessarily, conducing to the sincere performance of all the other Religious Duties commanded: Our Repentance in all its parts, our Humiliation and [Page 203]godly Sorrow for sin, our holy Pur­poses and Resolves of amendment, our Faith, our Hope, our Charity must be examined, that they be sincere, and without hypocrisy. And therefore it is that this Duty is commanded by the Apostle, as if it were alone suffi­cient, when sincerely performed, to make us acceptable Guests at the Lord's Table; saying, Let a man ex­amine himself, and so let him eat—

And indeed this so great, so necessa­ry a Duty, is as greatly extolled, and withall pretended unto, by most men, especially such as talk much of their Religion, but practise little. 'Tis generally the pretence and the plea of such who cry up Self-examination, to cry down the Sacerdotal power and function, to withdraw themselves from under the guidance and examination of their respective Pastours, whose In­structions being not received, or ob­served, but so far forth as to every man seemeth good in his own eyes, is the great reason why this grand Duty is so generally neglected, or neg­ligently performed. The which is manifest,

1. From the numerous company of those who make no conscience of [Page 204]coming to the Holy Communion when invited. 'Tis not possible that men, otherwise prudent as to their worldly concerns, should yet be so sottish, so retchless, so stupidly careless of their eternal health and happiness, did they ever seriously examine and consider the state and condition of their Souls. But whilst they know not themselves in their spiritual wants, weakness and wickedness, how can they have any desire, much lesse a delight, to come to the fountain of mercy, truth and holiness Wisedom 2 21, 22. Matt. 5.6.? 'Tis the reason,

2. Why many persons, having re­ceived the Sacrament, but feeling no virtue, no efficacy, no power of grace, no consolation flowing from these ce­lestral Mysteries of Salvation, have therefore afterwards slighted and neg­lected the same. For whilst their ignorances and errours, whether in o­pinion or practice, for want of due Examination, appeared not unto them; that Sun of Righteousness shi­ned not into their hearts, who appears not but through the windows and the openings of broken hearts and display­ed consciences Wised. 5.6.. And besides, such is the corrupt nature of all finfulness and vice, that if the leaven thereof be [Page 205]not narrowly searched out, and aban­doned, it will sour the Bread of life, and make it without any tast of sweet­ness to the Soul 1 Cor. 5.7, 8.. 'Tis the reason,

3. Why many persons have by the receiving of that Blessed Sacrament been more hardened in their sins, and in the errours of their ways. For er­rours in judgment, and offences in conversation, which are the soars and diseases of the Soul, being not sear­ched to the bottom, and salved by Repentance and the acknowledgement of the Truth 2 Tim. 2.25., do change the spiritual food and nourishment of the Soul into the poison thereof, whereby what was ordained unto life, is found unto death Rom. 7.10..

CHAP. II. Meditations and Praiers prepara­tory to the Holy Communion the Week before.

THE truly sincere good Christian, whose Faith is not in Fancy, or Opinion, or Presumption, or consi­sting [Page 206]in word and tongue alone, but in deed and in truth, who desires truly to serve God, and to honour and obey him with his whole heart, and through his whole life; every such qualified Christian will, as soon as he hath no­tice given by his Pastour of the Sacra­ment of the Lord's Supper to be ad­ministred, seriously apply himself to the great work of fitting, preparing and ordering his Soul for the joyfull and devout entertainment of his Bles­sed Redeemer thereinto.

In order to such a Blessed work, 'twill be very usefull and advantage­ous, the whole Week foregoing, to adde to your daily Praiers and Medi­tations these (or the like) following Collects, with the Psalms ensuing.

I. Almighty God, our heavenly Fa­ther, who of thy tender mercy didst give thine onely Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our Redemption, and hast commanded us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious Death untill his co­miong again; Hear me, O mercifull Fa­ther, I most humbly beseech thee, and grant that I may with that right Un­derstanding [...] true Faith, sincere Re­pentance, [Page 207]deep Humility, and fervent Charity, receive the Sacrament of my dear Saviour's Death, accoridng to his institution and command; that I may be made partaker of all the be­nefits of his Passion, to the justifica­tion, sanctification, and eternal Sal­vation of my Soul, through the same Jesus Christ—

II. I will not presume to approach thine Altar, O Lord, trusting in mine own Righteousness, but in thy manifold and great Mercies. I am not worthy to gather up the crums that fall from thy Table; for I am an unclean crea­ture, to whom the Childrens bread be­longs not, having too often returned to my old Sins, as the dog to his vo­mit. But whither, Blessed Lord, whither should a defiled Soul go to be cleansed, but unto that Fountain which is opened in the house of Israel for sin and for uncleanness? In this inexhaustible Fountain of Divine grace my sinfull Soul longs to be washed, and through the effusion of the preci­ous Bloud of my Redeemer to be pu­rified; and my whole self for the fu­ture to be sincerely devoted to serve thee in holiness and righteousness be­fore [Page 208]thee all the days of my life. A­men.

III. Assist me, Blessed Lord, in the Tri­all and impartial Examination of my heart, and of all the actions of my life; in the full Confession of all my Sins, with the tears of true Penitence and godly Sorrow for them; in my Prai­ers for mercy and pardon of them, and for grace to be sanctified against them. O hear in Heaven, and be mercifull unto me; forgive me my Sins, and heal my Soul, through the merits and mediation of my dearest Saviour Jesus Christ— Amen.

A short preparatory Meditation to the Sacrament out of S. Am­brose.

O with what great contrition of heart, with what a floud of tears, with what reverence, fear and trem­bling, with what purity of mind, and chastity of body, is that Divine cele­stial. Mystery to be celebrated, where thy Flesh, O Lord, is truly received, and thy Bloud is truly drunk; where things most high and low, Divine [Page 209]and humane, are mysteriously inter­mingled; where the Angels of Hea­ven are invisibly present, beholding and assisting in the celebration; and where thou, O Lord, art inconceiva­bly present, both as the Priest and the Sacrifice! O who can worthily either administer or receive such grand, tre­mend, celestial Mysteries, except Thou, the Omnipotent God, make him wor­thy of thy Grace? Even so come, Lord Jesus.

CHAP. III. Meditations and Praiers for the Friday; especially before the Communion.

1. AMongst all the days of the Week, Friday is the most sea­sonable and fittest for the performance of those Religious Duties, the which, though never out of season, are yet [Page 214]then most practical, when comman­ded as necessary Preparatives for the worthy receiving of the Sacrament; viz. the grand Duty of Self-examina­tion, of Confession of sins, with Con­trition, Humiliation, and Fasting; as also for Meditations and Praiers upon the Passion of our Lord, since it was upon this day of the week he was cru­cified and died for our Sins.

2. 'Tis upon this account, that our Church enjoyns this day to be observed through the whole year as a day of Fasting and Abstinence; and it was ever observed as such, since our Lord died upon the Friday, through all the Ages of the Church, untill these last and worst of days, wherein the evil spirit of contradiction against the Re­ligious practices of Christ's Church doth so rage, as, amongst many others, to cry down all Times and Days de­voted to the Service of God, except what they call the Sabbath-day: the which under the Gospel is neither properly so called, nor rightly obser­ved by such as truly understand not the IV. Commandment, but misin­terpret the sound meaning of the Spi­rit by the killing Letter of the Law.

3. All orthodox and understan­ding [Page 215]good Christians, in stead of a Jew­ish Sabbath, observe as festival and holy the Christian Sunday, because the Sun of Righteousness arose upon that day from death to life, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel: in which respect 'tis fre­quently in Holy Scripture called the Lord's day.

4. And there is the like reason for the observance of Friday, as fasting in commemoration of Christ's Passion, as there is for Sunday, as festival in commemoration of his Resurrection. Nor is this obscurely, but plainly e­nough commanded by our Lord him­self; But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them: and then shall they fast in those days Luk. 5.35.. These words are both, 1. a positive command to all the Disciples of Christ, they shall fast; and also, 2. the days whereon they shall fast are prescribed, in those days whereon the Bridegroom was taken away from them, which are the Fridays of the year, whereon our Lord, the Bridegroom and Head of his Church, was taken off by a bitter death upon the Cross. It is therefore but meet and just, that all true Members of this Head should [Page 216]fast, and pray, and be humbled for their Sins on that day especially, whereon the Son of God so sadly suffered and sorrowed for the Sins of the world.

CHAP. IV. Saint Augustine's Recommenda­tion of the Passion of Christ un­to God the Father.

BEhold, Holy Father, thy Blessed Son suffering for me great and grievous things. Regard, most glo­rious King, who it was that suffered, and remember in mercy for whom he suffered. Is not this He, (my Lord,) even that Innocent one, whom, to re­deem a Servant, thou offeredst up be­ing a Son? Is not this He, even that Authour and Giver of Life, who was led as an innocent Lamb to the slaughter, and became obedient unto thee even unto death, and feared not to undergo the most bitter of all deaths? Is not this He, whom thou (the dispenser of all Salvation) didst beget from all eternity, but in fulness of time wouldst have him partaker of my infirmity? This is truly thy Dei­ty, who hath put on my mortality, who was lifted up on the Cross, and in my flesh suffered that sad punish­ment [Page 225]of a cursed death. Look back (O Lord my God,) with the eyes of thy Majesty upon this unspeakable work of mercy. Behold thy sweet Son in all the parts of his Body ex­tended and rackt. See his innocent Hands flowing with his precious bloud; and pardon in great mercy the iniquities which my wicked hands have committed. Consider his naked Side pierced with a cruel spear; and renew me in the sacred Font, which I believe to have issued thence. Be­hold those immaculate Feet, which never stood in the way of sinners, but alway walked in the Law of the Lord, cruelly bored and transfixed with nails: remove far from me the way of iniquity, and make me to chuse the way of truth, to hate and decline the ways of the ungodly, and to walk in the paths of thy Commandments. O hold thou up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.

I beseech thee, O King of Saints, by him who is the chief of Saints, my Blessed Redeemer, make me to run the way of thy Commandments; that I may be united unto him, who abhor­red not to be cloathed with my flesh. Behold, most merciful Creatour, [Page 226]the Humanity of thy beloved Son, and have mercy upon the infirmity of thy frail creature. His naked Breast is white and wan, his pierced Side red and bloudy, his distorted Bowels wither, his splendid Eyes do lan­guish, his majestick Countenance is pale, his procerous Arms are stiff and cold, his marble Thighs hang down, whilst his precious Bloud like water bedews his Feet.

Behold the punishment of God made Man, and relax the misery of created man: consider the sufferings of the Redeemer, and forgive the sins of the redeemed. This is He, my Lord, whom thou hast stricken for the sins of thy people; although he be thy beloved Son, in whom thou art well pleased. This is He, who knew no sin, neither was any guile found in his mouth; and yet he was numbred a­mongst the Transgressours, and bore the sins of many.

CHAP. V. Saint Ambrose's Commemoration of our Saviour's Passion.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the Creatour and Redeemer of all mankind, we give thee thanks, unworthy though they be, yet desire they may be devout and accep­table to thee, who for us miserable sin­ners camest down from Heaven, and tookest flesh of the blessed Virgin Mary: of her thou vouchsafedst to be born; to be wrapt in swadling-cloaths, and laid in a manger; to suck the breasts; to be circumcised in thy tender flesh; to be manifested to the Wise men, and adored by them; to be presented in the Tem­ple; to be carried into Egypt; to return into thy countrey; to be subject to thy parents; to be baptized by John; to be afflicted with a forty days fast; and thrice to be tempted of the Devil; to be wearied with journeys, and mace­rated by hunger and thirst and wat­chings, to be tired with preaching; to weep for compassion; to be rejected of the Jews, and frequently abused by them.

Thy Passion approaching, thou vouchsafedst to be heavy and excee­ding sorrowful; to pray, not onely with bended knees, but thrice to fall upon thy face, to be in a bitter Agony, and to sweat drops of bloud; to be betrayed by Judas with a deceitful kiss; to be apprehended by the Jews, and bound as a thief; to be left deso­late and alone, for all thy Disciples forsook thee and fled.

To be led to Annas the High-priest first, and there to be buffeted; to be sent by him bound to Caiaphas, and there to be many ways derided; to be brought before the council of the Jews, and there to be falsely accused and condemned; to have thy face pol­luted with spittings, to be provok'd by manifold repro [...]ches, to be scor­ned, and blasphemed, and again smit­ten on the face and buffeted; to be de­livered bound unto Pilate, and before him vehemently accused unto death, and by him to be sent unto Herod, and there to be calumniated, and set at nought by him and his men of war; to be arrayed in white, and sent back unto Pilate; by his command to be bound to a pillar, and cruelly scour­ged unto bloud; to be by him con­demned, [Page 229]and delivered up to the soul­diers to be crucified: by whom thou wast mockt with a purple garment, and pierced with a Crown of thorns, derided with a Reed in stead of a Re­gal sceptre, and with bowing of knees named in contempt, The King of the Jews; again the third time bespat­ter'd with spittle, and buffeted, and beaten with a Reed on thy head; la­den with the weight of thy Cross, and led away to the place of thy Passion; there again stript naked of thy gar­ments, and profered to drink Gall mingled with Myrrh.

At last thou wast extended on the Cross, thy hands and feet transfixed with nails, crucified amongst thieves, numbred amongst transgressours, blas­phemed both by them that stood by and by them that passed by; and in the extremity of thy sufferings criedst out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Thy head bowed down, thou didst give up the ghost; and thy Side was pierced by a Souldier, whence issued both water and bloud. Taken down from the Cross, and bu­ried by Joseph, the third day thou didst rise again, and appear to thy di­sciples. The fortieth day thou ascen­dedst [Page 230]into Heaven; and sitting on the right hand of God the Father, thou didst send down the promise of the Holy Ghost upon thy blessed Apostles and Disciples; and shalt come again to Judgment, to render to all men ac­cording to their works done in the body, whether they be good, or whe­ther they be evil.

O Blessed Lord Jesus, by all these thy most sacred Sufferings, by thy bitter death and most precious bloud shed for us, and by all things foretold of thee and fulfill'd by thee, vouch­safe in great mercy to deliver me, a sordid sinner, with all my friends and enemies, parents, brothers, sisters, all that are poor and desolate, tempted and afflicted, bound and imprison'd, with all Christian people. From all our tribulations and distresses, from the snares of the Devil, from the bonds and chains of our Sins, and from all evils both of Soul and body, good Lord, deliver, save and defend us.

All our imaginations and actions vouchsafe so to dispose and order, that they may be acceptable unto thee: fill us with thy grace, and with holy peace, and with all vertue; and grant us herein to persevere even unto death; [Page 231]that making a good end of this present life, thou mayst bring us to eternal life in thy celestial Kingdom, where thou livest and reignest—

CHAP. VI. Saint Gregorie's Praiers upon the Passion of Christ.

I. I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus, hanging upon the Cross, and bea­ring on thy venerable head a Crown of Thorns: and I humbly beg, by thy Cross, to be delivered from the de­stroying Angel.

II. I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus Christ, expanded on the Cross, with five great wounds in thy nailed hands and feet, and pierced side: and I humbly beg, that thy dire and gast­ly wounds may be a healing remedy to my sin-sick Soul.

III. I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus, panting under the sad weight of the sins of the world: and I humbly beg, by that unconceivable bitterness of sorrow thy innocent Soul suffered in that moment when it left the body, have mercy upon my Soul in the me­mert of her departure hence.

IV. I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus, laid in the Sepulchre, and anointed with Myrrh and Aloes: and I humbly beg that thy death may be the life of my Soul.

V. O Save, Holy Jesus, the good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his Sheep, save and preserve the righteous, call home the wicked, ju­stifie the penitent, have mercy upon all true believers, and upon me a misera­ble sinner. Amen.

CHAP. VII. The Form of Praier used by our Lord upon the Cross, viz. the XXII. Psalm paraphrased.

Verse 1. MY God, my God,] So prayed my dear Redee­mer hanging upon the Cross; the ge­mination of his words expressing both the great Devotion and also the bitter Anguish of his Soul; [look upon me;] imploring divine commiseration and assistence in the sufferings of his hu­mane nature. [why hast thou forsaken me?] That's the height of sorrow and suffering, to be therein forsaken: as if the personall union of his divine and humane nature were dissolved. [and art so far from my health,] not affor­ding the least mitigation of my tor­menting pains, or consolation therein, [and from the words of my complaint? or, the voice of my roaring? for with strong crying and tears I offer up my prayers and supplications Heb. 5.7..

2. O my God,] I will never cease to call thee so, though now thine in­dignation [Page 234]for the sins of the world lieth heavy upon me, so that though [I cry in the day-time,] in the which I suffer the torments of crucifixion, [yet thou hearest not:] so as to deliver me from them: [and in the night-sea­son also] when I was in a bitter ago­ny, sweating drops of bloud under the pressure of the Sins of men, and thy wrath for them, in both seasons and sad sufferings [I take no rest.] no ease of my Soul's sorrows, no cessa­tion of my bodily torments.

3. And thou continuest holy,] just and faithfull in all thy promises of mercy to the miserable: or, [thou dwellest in thy holy one,] in this holy and innocent body of mine, though nailed to the cross. So we reade, God was in Christ reconciling the world 2 Cor. 5.19.. [O thou worship of Israel.] who hast so often delivered thy people, and been made both the subject matter of their prayers and praises, and onely object of their divine adoration and wor­ship.

4. Our fathers] after the flesh, the Patriarchs and Prophets of old, [hoped in thee:] and when they did so, when sincerely and without hypocrisie [they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver [Page 235]them.] as from the Egyptian bondage and Babylonian captivity, and from all their enemies on every side: figuring thereby the great deliverance and re­demption of mankind by my present Sufferings for their Sins.

5. They called upon thee,] as the onely anchour of their hope amidst the raging waves of worldly tribulations, [and were holpen:] either supported in their distresses, or delivered from them: [they put their trust in thee, and were not confounded.] or frustrated in their expectation of a sure and seasonable succour and defence.

6. But as for me,] who now call upon thee in distress, [I am a worm,] framed of the dunghill nature of Adam by the supernaturall operation of the Holy Ghost upon my Virgin-Mother, without any carnall lust or copula­tion; as the worm hath its being out of the dung of the earth, without a­ny mutuall coition, by the sole heat of the Sun; [and no man:] not made man after the same manner with o­thers: and as a worm that is trodden on and despised, so am I [a very scorn of men,] who have spitten on me, revi­led, reproached, derided, whipped, buffeted, and in all respects used me [Page 236]as [the outcast of the people.] who have judged me more unfit to live then Barabbas, a thief, a rebell, and a mur­therer.

7. All they that see me, laugh me to scorn; they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads,] So we reade, And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, saying, He saved others, himself he cannot save Matt. 27.39, 42.: [say­ing,] in derision,

8. He trusted in God, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, if he will have him.] So saith the sad story of our Saviour's suffering Matt. 27.43.. Thus have they rewarded me evill for good, and hatred for my good will. But though I be thus evill intreated by sin­full men, yet thou, Lord,

9. Thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb:] 'Twas by thee a­lone, (for none but a supernaturall Divine power could effect it,) that I was both made man, and born of a woman: [thou wast my hope when I hanged yet upon my mother's breasts.] my refuge, my support in my infancy as Man; who art my Father from all eternity as God.

10. I have been left unto thee ever since I was born:] my Humane nature [Page 237]being united unto the Person of the Son of God from the first moment of my conception: [thou art my God even from my mother's womb.] when I was conceived without any other father but thy power sanctifying the Virgin­womb of my mother; and have ever since lived, and am now ready to die, in obedience to thy most holy will.

11. O goe not from me,] by with­drawing thy Divine assistence, [for trouble is hard at hand:] the invete­rate malice of my persecuting enemies and my tormenting pains bespeak my near-approaching death: [and there is none to help me.] in that bitter ago­nie, besides thee, O Lord: for vain is the help of man; and the nearest of my friends and followers have also now forsaken me and fled: in whose room

12. Many oxen are come about me:] people who have cast off the yoke of Obedience to God's most holy Laws, being luxuriant in their opinions, and licencious in their conversation: by such I was apprehended, hurried a­way, hooted at and reviled, falsly ac­cused, and cried down by their loud clamours against me: [fat bulls of Basan] the High-priests, rich and fat [Page 238]men of the world, swoln with their pomp and wealth, armed with power like unto horned bulls, [close me in on every side.] By their counsels and con­spiracies, votes and suffrages, they have so enfettered me, that there was no way left to escape their rage and malice.

13. They gape upon me with their mouths;] some falsely accusing, some ironically deriding, some maliciously reproaching, some unjustly censuring and condemning me; and all crying out, Crucify him, crucify him; [as it were a ramping and a roaring lion.] greedily and fiercely yelling over his prey: so eagerly do they thirst after the bloud of my Soul, and that now is in their power; for

14. I am poured out like water;] so is my Bloud poured out of all my veins, flowing from my nailed Hands and Feet, pierced Side, and from my Head crowned with thorns, which eat into my temples. And may this precious bloud, like water, wash off the pollutions of my Soul, soften the hardness, moisten the driness, and make fertil the barren ground of my Heart, to be capable of the great benefits my dear Redeemer purchased with his [Page 239]Bloud. [all my bones are out of joint:] through the violent distension of my Members on the Cross: and yet far greater are the sufferings of my Soul, for [my heart also in the midst of my body is even like melting wax.] even molten in the fiery furnace of God's wrath for the Sins of the world, whose indignation like fire consumes and eats up all consolation within me.

15. My strength is dried up like a potsheard,] That radicall humour which supplies the strength of the bo­dy is exhausted through the effusion of my Bloud, and dislocation of my bo­dily Members, [and my tongue cleaveth to my gums:] through the drought, pain and weakness of my tortured Bo­dy: [and thou shalt bring me into the dust of death.] By my Death and Bu­riall in the dust of the earth my Suffe­rings will be compleated. And this cannot be avoided,

16. For many dogs] persons who bark and devour, not out of consci­ence or love of the Truth, but out of custom and malice: such [are come a­bout me:] they encompass me, to rend and tear in pieces both my good name, liberty, and life it self: [the councill of the wicked layeth siege against me.] [Page 240]So we reade, The chief priests and el­ders took counsell against Jesus; to put him to death Matt. 27.1.: and this both shame­full and painfull; for

17. They pierced my hands and my feet;] Through the palms of my Hands and the plants of my Feet, pla­ces fullest of nerves, and most capable of sense, have they nailed me to the Cross; but first with the greatest vio­lence, and to the utmost extent, my Arms and Legs were expanded, so that [I may tell all my bones:] for they start through my flesh, through the violent distension thereof; and this to the great astonishment of all that behold my torments: for [they stand staring and looking upon me.] The tormenting punishment renders me so misshapen, distorted, and deformed, as makes all the spectatours gaze and wonder. But 'tis more with bodily then spiri­tuall eyes: They see not, neither do they understand me aright, though I thus suffer for their sins.

18. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.] So did the Souldiers with the garment of our Lord's naturall Body; and so do Hereticks and Schismaticks with his mysticall Body the Church.

19. But be not thou far from me, O Lord:] so as to leave me altogether destitute of consolation in my present distresses; nor yet to leave me buried in the grave to see corruption with o­ther men, and not to rise again till [...] generall Resurrection: [thou art [...] succour;] 'Tis thy promise of suc­cour I rely upon; [haste thee to help me.] finishing my Sufferings by Death, and the Redemption of the world by my Resurrection from death to life.

20. Deliver my soul from the sword.] from that death which by the sword and violence of wicked men is inflic­ted: [and my darling, or dear and onely one,] Such was the Soul of Christ, dear, because innocent and free from Sin; and the onely one, that is, absolutely so: such is the Church of Christ, dear unto him, without spot; and onely one, as united in its Mem­bers. [from the power of the dog.] from such who without reason bark and devour: (August.) or, from the power of Hell, which greedily de­vours like a dog all that descend into it. (Lyra.)

21. Save me from the lion's mouth;] out of the jaws of the Devill, which are open ever to swallow up all de­parting [Page 242]Souls into death eternall. But by thy assistence I shall overcome the tyrant, and swallow up Death in vic­tory. [thou hast heard me also] an­swered my prayers by thy deliverance of me [from amongst the horns of the unicorns.] such as lifted up the horn of pride and fierceness against me, and extolled themselves (August.) as if there were none like them.

22. I will declare thy name] thy might and thy Majesty, thy greatness and thy goodness, in my Passion and Resurrection especially manifested [unto my brethren:] to my Apostle and Disciples, and they to others. F [...] the word was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them the [...] heard himHeb. 2.2, 3.. [in the midst of the con­gregation will I praise thee.] publickly and in the Temple of the Lord, where every man speaks of his honour.

23. O praise the Lord, ye that fear him:] Ye that have any respect to th [...] worship of the Lord, lift up you voice in the congregation, and both [Page 243]with Priest and people praise the Lord: [magnify him, all ye of the seed of Ja­cob, and fear him, all ye of the seed of Israel.] even all whom he hath cho­sen to be his people, whether Jews or Gentiles. So they are distinguished, Ye men of Israel, and ye that fear the Lord, i. e. from amongst the Gen­tiles Act. 13.16.. To both, even to all you it appertains to praise the Lord, for the Redemption of the world by his Son Jesus Christ; who although he was despicable in the eyes of men, yet is far otherwise in the eyes of the Lord: for

24. He hath not despised nor abhor­red the low estate of the poor;] Though born in a poor condition; lived a poor life; more poor yet in his death, being stripped naked of all, even to a little linen to cover his nakedness; de­stitute of what the poorest enjoy, a bu­riall-place, for he was buried in a stran­ger's sepul chre: yet not despised, but highly exalted, having a Name given above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow— Nor hath He ever despised his brethren, the Members of his body, who con­form to his poverty, by being poor in spirit, humble and meek— [he [Page 244]hath not hid his face from him:] either through neglect or scorn, as too usu­ally men doe to the poor: [but when he called unto him, he heard him.] as not presuming in himself, but depen­ding upon God.

25. My praise is of thee, or in thee, For God the Son is praised in the Father, and the Father in the Son, [in the great congregation:] both of the Church mili­tant here below, and triumphant above. And that thy praise may be perfected in and by me, [my vows will I perform] The vows of our Blessed Lord were, to offer up his Soul a Sacrifice for Sin, and to give his holy Body and Bloud to be the food of devout Souls in the Blessed Eucharist: and this to be pu­blickly performed, even [in the sight of them that fear him.] And onely for such is that Blessed Feast prepared: not for the proud, stubborn, and disobe­dient; but for

26. The poor] The humble and penitent Souls, and such as have ab­jured the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked world; such [shall eat and be satisfied:] because they hungred and thirsted after righteousness: [they that seek after the Lord] in all humility and devotion [shall praise him;] be­cause [Page 245]he is found of them that seek him, and sheweth himself to such as distrust him not; [your heart shall live for ever.] The life of your heart is the joy thereof, which is both begot and maintained unto perpetuity by the Bread of life. He that eateth this bread shall live for ever Jeh. 6.51..

27. All the ends of the world] The inhabitants of the utmost corners of the earth [shall remember themselves,] in the remembrance and adoration of their Creatour and Redeemer, [and be turned unto the Lord:] from the service of the creature to the worship of God, over all Blessed for ever. Such, so great and unspeakable, is the efficacy of our Saviour's Passion, as that there­by the sacred beams of Grace and Truth are displayed over all the world: insomuch that [all the kin­dreds of the nations] of what tribe, family, nation, sect or condition soe­ver, [shall worship before him.] fall down before his footstool, and adore him as the great Redeemer of the world, and Prince of the holy Catho­lick Church.

28. For the Kingdom is the Lord's:] Or, Dominion over all the people of the earth is given to the Lord Christ [Page 246]who hath a Name written on his ve­sture and on his thigh, King of kings, and Lord of lordsRev. 19.16.: [and he is the Go­vernour among the people.] even all true Christian people, among whom and over whom he sways his Scepter of righteousness by his Holy Word and by his Holy Spirit.

29. All such as be fat upon earth] spiritually fat, or grown in Grace and Holiness; temporally fat, abounding in wealth and power, the Princes and Potentates of the earth, saith the Chal­dee Paraphr. [have eaten and worship­ped.] adoring the Lord for that he feeds them with his Divine Gifts and Graces.

30. All they who goe down into the dust] whose bodies are buried in the grave [shall kneel before him:] prostrate themselves unto him, who vouchsafed to give himself, both Soul and Body, a Ransom for their Sins: for being all dead in Sin, [no man hath quickened his own soul.] That was and is effec­ted onely by the meritorious Death of the Lord of Life. And such as are quickened, even

31. My seed] whose Life in grace is the fruit and issue of my Death: of which seed it is said, When thou shalt [Page 247]make his Soul an offering for Sin, he shall see his seed Isa. 53.10., even the fruits of his Passion, devout Believers, who [shall serve him:] or, keep his holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the same all the days of their life: [they shall be counted unto the Lord for a generation.] being regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism; whereby they are made Members of Christ, Children of God, and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.

32. They shall come,] being admit­ted into the glorious Communion of his blessed Saints, [and the Heavens] both above and below, both the Church Triumphant and Militant, [shall declare his righteousness] His Mercies promised, and performed in the Redemption of the world, shall be proclaimed to all succeeding genera­tions, [to a people that shall be born,] new born in and through all the Ages of the Church, [whom the Lord hath made.] his own peculiar people, whose mouths are filled with his praise for ever, saying,

In the Greek Liturgy the people pray in the words of the Thief upon the Cross,

The Priest answers,

CHAP. VIII. Meditations and Praiers prepara­tory to the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday-night or Sunday­morning before.

CHAP. IX. Meditations upon your going to Church, with some short Direc­tions for your demeanour in the House and in the Service of God.

UPON your going to Church three things will be necessary for you to consider: 1. the condition of the Place whither you are going; 2. the great End of your going thither; and, 3. how there you are to demean your self. All this you would consi­der, if you were going to the Palace of an earthly Prince, who is but a mor­tall man, like your self: and you sure­ly have much more reason to consider these particulars now that you are go­ing unto the Courts of the Lord's House.

First then, as to the House whither you are going, 'tis indeed, as to its Fabrick, but like other houses, made of wood and stone: [even as the Lord's Day is but like other days as to the air and light of Heaven:] But [Page 259]the relative Holiness of this House, and its eminency above other houses, will appear by the Names whereby it is called both in the Book and by the People of God.

Under the Law it was called the Tabernacle of the congregation, i. e. the place of God's meeting with his peo­ple; the Temple of the Lord, where he presents himself to the view of his people sitting betwixt the Cherubims as on his Throne of state. 'Tis also cal­led the Sanctuary of the Lord; the House of God; the Habitation of his Holiness; and the place where his Ho­nour dwelleth. All which Names do explain each other, and need no in­terpretation.

Under the Gospell 'tis called [...], the Church of God; [...], the Lord's House; [...], the King's Palace; and Oratorium, the house of Praier. Any of which Names (much more all of them together considered) will oblige any man who hath any sense of Religion, to obey that com­mand of God himself, which is not merely ceremonial and typical, but moral and perpetual, Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary: I am the Lord Lev. 19.30..

Secondly, as to the great End of your going to Church, it is, to present your self before the Lord, and there to adore the great Majesty of Heaven, from whom you have your life and breath and all things.

It is not to serve your self, by hea­ring this or tother fine-gifted Minister tickling your itching ears, by his ta­king discourses agreeable to your fan­cy: but to serve the Lord is your errand to his House, viz. there to joyn with the Minister and the Congregation in publick Praiers and Praises of God, in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs, in Confessions, Thanksgivings and Benedictions, as wherein chiefly the service of God consists.

Behold, now praise the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord; ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord, even in the Courts of the house of our God. Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary, and praise the Lord Psal. 134.1, 2..

As for me, I will worship towards thy holy Temple, and praise thy name— Psal. 138.2..

Thirdly, as to your Carriage and Demeanour in the House of God, you are commanded, Keep thy foot when thou goest unto the house of God Eccles. 5.1.: en­joyning thee, 1. to beware of all light, [Page 261]unseemly, indecent and irreverent car­riage, and to shew Humility and De­votion in all the Gestures of thy Out­ward man: bowing down thy self, and kneeling before the Lord thy Maker Psal. 95.6.; before him who made both thy Body and Soul, and joyned them together, that they might be joyned in his Ser­vice. So worshipped the people of God; the whole congregation bow­ed themselves with their faces to the ground 2 Chron. 7.3.. And so all good people resolve to doe: We will goe into his tabernacle, and fall low on our knees before his footstool Psal. 132.7..

2. The foot of the Inward man must also, and chiefly, be kept upright in the House of God. Thy Affections are the feet or motions of thy Soul: these must be kept free from all secular Cares, pure from all sensuall Lusts, clean from all wanton, wicked Incli­nations, yea from all Thoughts of any worldly concerns. For ye cannot serve God and Mammon Matt. 6.24..

In the High-priest's forehead was engraven in a plate of gold, Holiness to the Lord Exod. 28.36.: and every ordinary Priest was commanded to wash before he entred into the Sanctuary Exod. 30.19, 20.: inti­mating that exact Purity and Holiness [Page 262]which is required of all, both Priests and people, when we approach the pre­sence of the Lord in his holy Temple. So saith the holy man of God, Holi­ness becometh thy house, O Lord, for ever Psal. 93.5.: and he resolves accordingly; I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I goe to thine Altar Psal. 26.6..

Be not slothfull and negligent, a­verse and careless, backward and tar­dy in coming to the Church: for ma­ny and mischievous are the Conse­quents of coming late. For, 1. you rob your self of the opportunity of your private Praiers for a Blessing upon the publick. 2. You lose the benefit of the publick Confession and Absolu­tion, which are of high esteem and value to all who are wisely Religious. And, 3. to deprive your self wittingly and willingly of any part of God's publick Worship, is both a sin and a loss of so great an account, as cannot easily be exprest, or will be ordinarily believed.

Against such sinfull sloth and neg­lect, endeavour to have imprinted in your heart the love of God's House, and of his Service there performed. Say with the man after God's own heart,

Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine ho­nour dwelleth Psal. 26.8..

I was glad when they said unto me, We will goe unto the house of the Lord Psal. 122.1..

Our feet stand in thy gates, O Jeru­salem Verse 2..

1. When you come to the Church-door,

Consider, that you are now upon entrance into the Presence-chamber of the Great King of the world, whose Throne of glory is in Heaven above, but his Throne of grace in his Temple here below. Say then within your self,

Surely the Lord is in this place—

How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the House of God: this is the Gate of heaven Gen. [...] 16, 17..

O how amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of hosts!

My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh rejoyce in the living God.

Yea the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest, where she may lay her young, even thine Altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Blessed are they who dwell in thy House: they will be always praising thee Psal. 84.1, 2, 3, 4..

And most happy were I, could I both esteem it, and make it my greatest joy, and constant labour of love, to praise the Lord in his Temple.

2. When you are entred, and View the Baptisterion or Font,

Give hearty thanks unto God for your Christendom; that by holy Bap­tism he hath called you to the state of Grace and Salvation through Jesus Christ: and humbly beseech God to give you his grace to continue in the same to your life's end, by the religi­ous observance of that Vow which was so solemnly taken in your name, the which you must now perform, that you forfeit not the great privileges, rewards and honours, of being a Member of Christ, a Child of God, and an Heir of the Kingdom of Hea­ven.

3. When you view the Pulpit,

Remember how many good Lessons you have received thence; the which not being carefully practised will rise up in judgment against you in the [Page 265]great Day of your Triall. Resolve therefore for the future to be a Doer of the Word, and not a Hearer onely, deceiving your own self.

4. When you look up towards the Altar, say,

What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done un­to me?

I will receive the Cup of salvation, [offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving for my Redemption,] and call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the sight of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house; even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord Psal. 116.12, 13, 14, 18, 19..

5. When you come to your Seat, knee­ling down, pray,

I. Praier. Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the praiers of thy humble ser­vants: and grant that what we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually through Jesus Christ—

II. Prayer. O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts: and more especially be assistent to us in all the holy actions of this day through Jesus Christ—

III. Prayer. And since by reason of our Sins we are unworthy to offer up any Sacrifice to so pure a Majesty, grant, mercifull Lord, both to me, and to all thy faith­full people, pardon and peace: that being cleansed from all our Sins, we may serve thee with a quiet mind through Jesus Christ—

CHAP. X. Meditations and Praiers at the Blessed Sacrament.

When you goe up to communicate.

COme unto me, all ye that are wea­ry and heavy laden, and I will re­fresh you Matt. 11.28..

Thus calleth my Saviour upon Sin­ners: whereunto my heart answereth, I come, Blessed Jesus; in all humility, and deeply sensible of my Sins, I now come unto thee, to be eased of the burthen of them, and to be refreshed with the sense of thy Mercy, and the truth of thy Salvation.

My heart hath talked of thee, [and [Page 271]of thy gracious command,] Seek ye my face: Thy face, Lord, do I now seek.

O hide not thou thy face from me Psal. 27.8, 9., under the clouds of my Sins; neither let the thick clouds of my transgres­sions hinder the light of thy counte­nance from shining upon thy servant.

When you kneel down before the Altar.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive blessing, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created Rev. 4.11..

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wise­dom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing Rev. 5.12. Out of S. Chrysost. Liturgy..

But I am unworthy his praise should come within my polluted lips; and much more unworthy, his preci­ous Body and Bloud should be re­ceived into my Soul and unclean mouth.

But since he disdained not to be born in a Stable, and to be laid in a Manger amongst Beasts Luk. 2.7.; since he vouchsafed to enter into the house of a Leper Matt. 26.6., and of a Publican Luk. 5.29., and to admit the kisses of an unclean Sin­ner [Page 272](such as I am) washing his de­licate Feet with her penitent Tears Luk. 7.38.; O vouchsafe, most benign Jesus, to receive me also: reject me not, though a Sinner, yet thy Servant; though unclean, yet penitent, and now hum­bling my self under thy most mighty hand. That it may please thee to re­mit, to release, to pardon all my Sins, whether of knowledge or ignorance, whether by thought, word or deed, committed: that with a pure and clean Soul I may receive thy most precious Body and Bloud.

CHAP. XI. Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving after the Holy Communion.