The Worthy Communicant. Which things the Angels desire to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet 1.12. The Worthy COMMUNICANT: OR, A Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings consequent to the Worthy Receiving of the LORDS SUPPER; And of all the Duties required in order to a Worthy Preparation. TOGETHER With the Cases of Conscience occurring in the Duty of him that Ministers, and of him that Communicates. To which are added, Devotions fitted to every part of the Ministration. BY JEREMY TAYLOR, D. D. and Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. LONDON, Printed by T. R. for J. Martin, J. Allestry, and T. Dicas, and are to be sold by Thomas Basset at his Shop in St. Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet. 1667. To the Most ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCESS Her Highness Royal MARY Princess of Great Britain, Dowager of Orange, etc. MADAM, ALthough none of the Subjects of these Nations can, in propriety of speaking, be a stranger to the Royal Family, from whom every single person receives the daily emanations of many Blessings; yet besides this, there is much in your Royal Highness by which your Princely Person is related to all amongst us that are or would be excellent. For where Virtue is in her exaltation, to that excellent Person all that are or would be thought virtuous do address themselves, either to be directed or encouraged, for example or for patronage, for the similitude of affection or likeness of design; and therefore, Madam, although it is too great a confidence in me, something a stranger, to make this Address to so highborn and great a Princess; yet when I considered that you are the Sister of my King, and the Servant of my God, I know there was nothing to be expected but serenity and sweetness, gentleness and goodness, Royal favours and Princely graces; and therefore in such fruitful showers I have no cause to fear that my fleece shall be dry, when all that is round about it shall be made irriguous with your Princely influence. I shall therefore humbly hope that your Royal Highness will first give me pardon, and then accept this humble oblation from him who is equally your servant for your great Relations, and for your great Excellencies: For I remember with what pleasure I have heard it told, that your Highness' Court hath been in all these late days of sorrow a Sanctuary to the afflicted, a Chapel for the Religion, a Refectory to them that were in need, and the great Defensative of all men and all things that are excellent; and therefore it is but duty, that by all the acknowledgements of Religion that honour should be paid to your Royal Highness, which so eminent virtues perpetually have deserved. But because you have long dwelled in the more secret recesses of Religion, and that for a long time your Devotion hath been eminent, your obedience to the strictest rules of Religion hath been humble and diligent, even up to a great example, and that the service of God hath been your great Care and greatest Employment, your Name hath been dear and highly honourable amongst the Sons and Daughters of the Church of England; and we no more envy to Hungary the great Name of St. Elizabeth, to Scotland the glorious memory of St. Margaret, to France the triumph of the piety of St. Genovese, nor St. Katherine to Italy, since in your Royal Person we have so great an example of our own, one of the Family of Saints, a Daughter to such a glorious Saint and Martyr, a Sister to such a King, in the arms of whose Justice and Wisdom we lie down in safety, having now nothing to employ us, but in holiness and comfort to serve God, and in peace and mutual charity to enjoy the blessings of the Government under so great, so good a King. But Royal Madam, I have yet some more personal ground for the confidence of this Address; and because I have received the great honour of your reading and using of divers of my Books, I was readily invited to hope that your Royal Highness would not reject it, if one of them desired upon a special title to kiss your Princely hand, and to pay thanks for the gracious reception of others of the same Cognation. The stile of it is fit for Closets, plain and useful; the matter is of the greatest concernment, a rule for the usage of the greatest solennity of Religion: For as the Eucharist is by the venerable Fathers of the Church called the Queen of Mysteries; so the worthy Communicating in this, is the most Princely Conjugation of Graces in the whole Rosary of Christian Religion; and therefore the more proportioned and fitted for the handling of so Princely a Person, whom the beauty of the Body, and the greatness of Birth, and excellency of Religion, do equally contend to represent excellent and illustrious in the eyes of all the world. Madam, it is necessary that you be all that to which these excellent graces and dispositions do design you: and to this glorious end, this Manual may if you please add some moments; the effecting of which is all my design, except only that it is intended, and I humbly pray that it may be looked upon as a testimony of that greatest Honour which is paid you by the hearts and voices of all the Religious of this Church, and particularly of MADAM, Your Highness most humble and most devoted Servant, Jeremy Dunensis. The Contents of this Book. THe Introduction, Page 1 CHAP. I. OF the nature, excellencies, uses, and intention of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper. p. 10 Section 1. Of the several apprehensions of men concerning it. Ibid. Sect. 2. What it is which we receive in the holy Sacrament. p. 17 Sect. 3. That in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper there are represented and exhibited many great blessings upon the special account of that sacred ministry, proved in General. p. 33. Sect. 4. The blessings and graces of the holy Sacrament enumerated and proved particularly. p. 46 Sect. 5. Practical conclusions from the preceding discourses. p. 64 Sect. 6. Devotions preparatory to this mystery. p. 77 CHAP. II. OF our general preparation to the worthy reception of the blessed Sacrament, and the participation of the Mysteries. p. 82 Section 1. Of Examination of ourselves in order to the holy Communion. p. 83 Sect. 2. Of the Examination of our desires. p. 89 Sect. 3. Of our examination concerning remanent affections to sin. p. 100 Sect. 4. Of examination of ourselves in the matter of our Prayers in order to a holy Communion. p. 114 Sect. 5. Of preparatory examination of ourselves in some other instances. p. 122 Sect. 6. Devotions to be used upon the days of our Examination; relative to that duty. p. 133 CHAP. III. OF Faith, as it is a necessary disposition to the blessed Sacrament. p. 142 Sect. 1. Of Catechumen or unbaptized persons. p. 143 Sect. 2. Of Communicating Infants. p. 147 Sect. 3. Whether Innocents', Fools, and Mad men may be admitted to the holy Communion. p. 156 Sect. 4. Of actual faith as it is a necessary disposition to the Sacrament. p. 159 Sect. 5. Of the proper and specific work of Faith in the reception of the holy Communion. p. 172 Sect. 6. Meditations and devotions relative to this preparatory grace: to be used in the days of preparation; or at any time of spiritual Communion. p. 190 CHAP. IV. OF Charity, preparatory to the blessed Sacrament. p. 197 Sect. 1. Ibid. Sect. 2. Of doing good to our neighbours. p. 201 Sect. 3. Of speaking good of our neighbours. p. 204 Sect. 4. Forgiveness of injuries a necessary part of preparation to the holy Sacrament. p. 208. Sect. 5. Devotions relative to this grace of charity; to be used by way of exercise and preparation to the Divine Mysteries; in any time or part of our life: but especially before and at the Communion. p. 252 CHAP. V. OF repentance preparatory to the blessed Sacrament. p. 258 Sect. 1. Ibid. Sect. 2. The necessity of repentance in order to the holy Sacrament. p. 261 Sect. 3. What actions of repentance are specially required in our preparations to the holy Sacrament. p. 267 Sect. 4. How far we must have proceeded in our general repentance and emendation of our lives before we Communicate. p 289 Sect. 5. What significations of repentance are to be accepted by the Church in admission of penitents to the Communion. p. 329 Sect. 6. Whether may every Minister of the Church and Curate of Souls reject impenitent persons, or any criminals from the holy Sacrament, until themselves be satisfied of their repentance and amends. p. 334 Sect. 7. Penitential Soliloquies, Ejaculations, Exercises, and preparatory Prayers to be used in all the days of preparation to the holy Sacrament. p. 347 CHAP. VI OF our actual and ornamental preparation to the reception of the blessed Sacrament. p. 355 Sect. 1. Ibid. Sect. 2. Rules for examination of our Consciences against the day of our Communion. p. 359 Sect. 3. Of an actual supply to be made of such actions and degrees of good as are wanting; against a Communion-day. p. 366 Sect. 4 Devotions to be used upon the morning of the Communion. p. 373 CHAP. VII. OF our comportment in and after our Receiving the blessed Sacrament. p. 378 Sect. 1. Of the circumstances and manner of Reception of the Divine Mysteries. Ibid. Sect. 2. Acts of virtues and graces relative to the mystery, to be used before or at the celebration of the Divine Sacrament. p. 381 Sect. 3. An advice concerning him who only Communicates spiritually. p. 390 THE INTRODUCTION. WHen St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mother had for a time lost their most holy Son, they sought him in the villages and the highways, in the retinues of their kindred, and the Caravans of the Galilean Pilgrims; but there they found him not: At last, almost despairing, faint and sick with travel and fear, with desires and tedious expectations, they came into the Temple to pray to God for conduct and success; knowing and believing assuredly, that if they could find God, they should not long miss to find the Holy Jesus; and their faith deceived them not: For they sought God, and found him that was God and man in the midst and circle of the Doctors. But being surprised with trouble and wonder, they began a little to expostulate with the Divine Child, why he would be absent so long, and leave them (as it must needs be when he is absent from us) in sorrow and uncertain thoughts. This question brought forth an answer which will be for ever useful to all that shall inquire after this Holy Child: For as they complained of his absence, so he reproved their ignorance; How is it that you have so fond looked for me, as if I were used to wander in unknown paths without skill, and without a guide? why did ye inquire after me in highways, and village-fields? ye never knew me wander, or lose my way, or abide but where I ought; why therefore did ye not come hither to look for me? Did ye not know that I ought to be in * So the Syriac Interpreter renders the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the places of my Father; In iis quae patris mei sunt: So the Arabic Version. In negotiis patris mei, in my Father's business. So Castellio, Piscator, and our English Bibles. But the second reddition is more agreeable with the words of the Greek, and the first is more consonant to the use of that phrase in the N. T. So Joh. 19.27. St. John received the Mother of our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, recepit eam in domum suam: so Beza and our English Translation: he took her to his own house. And thus St. Chrysostom uses the same phrase, Serm. 52. in Genes. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Whither do you drive the just man? do you not know that wherever he sets his foot, he is within his father's house, or territory? my father's house? that is, there where God is worshipped, where he loves to dwell, where he communicates his blessing and holy influences, there and there only we are sure to meet our dearest Lord. For this reason, the place of our address to God and holy conversation with him, he is pleased to call his house, that with confidence we may expect to meet him there when we go to worship: and when the Solemnities of Religion were confined to the Tabernacle, he therefore made it to be like a house of use and dwelling, that in that figure he might tell us where his delight and his abode would be; and therefore God furnished the Tabernacle with the Utensils of a Prophet's room at least, a Table and a Candlestick; and the Table must have dishes and spoons, bowls and covers belonging to it; the Candlesticks must have Lamps, and the Lamps must be continually burning. And besides this, the house of God must have in it a continual fire, the fire must not go out by night nor day; and to this the Prophet alludes; God] hath his fire in Zion, Isa. 31.9. and his hearth or furnace in Jerusalem: And after all, there must be meat in his house too. And as this was done by the Sacrifices of old, so by the Lord's Supper in the New Testament; So that now it is easy to understand the place and the reason of Christ's abode; even in his Father's house, there where his Father dwells, and loves to meet his servants, there we are sure to find the Lord. For as God descended and came into the Tabernacle invested with a cloud; so Christ comes to meet us clothed with a Mystery; O Tarpeie Pater, qui Templa secundam Incolis à coelo sedem— he hath a house below as well as above; here is his dwelling, and here are his Provisions; here is his fire, and here his meat; hither God sends his Son, and here his Son manifests himself: the Church and the holy Table of the Lord, the Assemblies of Saints, and the Devotions of his people, the Word and the Sacrament, the Oblation of Bread and Wine, and the offering of ourselves, the Consecration and the Communion, are the things of God, and of Jesus Christ; and he that is employed in these, is there where God loves to be, and where Christ is to be found; in the Employments in which God delights, in the Ministries of his own choice, in the work of the Gospel, and the methods of Grace, in the oeconomy of Heaven, and the dispensations of eternal happiness. And now that we may know where to find him, we must be sure to look after him; he hath told us where he would be, behind what pillar, and under what cloud, and covered with what vail, and conveyed by what ministry, and present in what Sacrament; and we must not look for him in the highways of ambition and pride, of wealth or sensual pleasures; these things are not found in the house of his Father, neither may they come near his dwelling. But if we seek for Christ, we shall find him in the methods of Virtue, and the paths of God's Commandments; in the houses of Prayer, and the offices of Religion; in the persons of the poor, and the retirements of an afflicted soul: we shall find him in holy reading and pious meditation, in our penitential sorrows, and in the time of trouble, in Pulpits and upon Altars, in the Word and in the Sacraments: If we come hither as we ought, we are sure to find our Beloved, him whom our soul longeth after. Sure enough Christ is here; but he is not here in every manner, and therefore is not to be found by every inquirer, nor touched by every hand, nor received by all comers, nor entertained by every guest. He that means to take the air, must not use his fingers, but his mouth; and he that receives Christ must have a proper, that is, a spiritual instrument, a purified heart, consecrated lips, and a hallowed mouth, a tongue that speaks no evil, and a hand that ministers to no injustice, and to no uncleanness: For a disproportionate intrument is an undecency, and makes the effect impossible both in nature and morality. Can a man bind a thought with chains, or carry imaginations in the palm of his hand? Can the beauty of the Peacock's train, or the Ostrich plume, be delicious to the palate and the throat? Does the hand intermeddle with the joys of the heart, or darkness that hides the naked, make him warm? Does the Body live as does the Spirit, or can the Body of Christ be like to common food? Indeed the Sun shines upon the good and bad; and the Vines give Wine to the drunkard, as well as to the sober man: Pirates have fair winds and a calm Sea, at the same time when the just and peaceful Merchant man hath them. But although the things of this world are common to good and bad, yet Sacraments and spiritual joys, the food of the soul and the blessing of Christ, are the peculiar right of Saints: and the Rites of our Religion are to be handled by the measures of Religion, and the things of God by the rules of the Spirit; and the Sacraments are Mysteries, and to be handled by Mystic persons, and to be received by Saints; and therefore whoever will partake of God's secrets, must first look into his own; he must pair off whatsoever is amiss, and not without holiness approach to the Holiest of all Holies, nor eat of this Sacrifice with a defiled head, nor come to this feast without a nuptial garment, nor take this remedy without a just preparative. For though in the first motions of our spiritual life, Christ comes alone and offers his Grace, and enlivens us by his Spirit, and makes us begin to live, because he is good, not because we are; yet this great mysterious Feast, and magazine of Grace and glorious mercies, is for those only that are worthy; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. for such only who by their cooperation with the Grace of God, are fellow-workers with God in the laboratories of salvation. The Wrestler that Clemens of Alexandria tells us of, addressing himself to his contention, and espying the Statue of Jupiter Pisaeus, prayed aloud; If all things, O Jupiter, are rightly prepared on my part, if I have done all that I could do, then do me justice, and give me the Victory: And this is a breviate of our case. He that runneth in races, saith the Apostle, he that contends for mastery, is temperate in all things, and this at least must he be that comes to find Christ in these Mysteries; he must be prepared by the rules and method of the Sanctuary; there is very much to be done on his part, there is an heap of duties, there is a state of excellency, there are preparations solemn and less solemn, ordinary and extraordinary, which must be premised before we can receive the mysterious blessings, which are here not only consigned, but collated and promoted, confirmed and perfected. The holy Communion, or Supper of the Lord, is the most sacred, mysterious and useful conjugation of secret and holy things and duties in the Religion. It is not easy to be understood, it is not lightly to be received: It is not much opened in the writings of the New Testament, but still left in its mysterious Nature: It is too much untwisted and nicely handled by the writings of the Doctors, and by them made more mysterious; and like a Doctrine of Philosophy, made intricate by explications, and difficult by the aperture and dissolution of distinctions. So we sometimes espy a bright cloud form into an irregular figure; when it is observed by unskilful and fantastic travellers, looks like a Centaur to some, and as a Castle to others: some tell that they saw an Army with Banners, and it signifies War; but another wiser than his fellow says, it looks for all the world like a flock of Sheep, and foretells Plenty; and all the while it is nothing but a shining cloud, by its own mobility and the activity of a wind cast into a contingent and inartificial shape: So it is in this great Mystery of our Religion, in which some espy strange things which God intended not, and others see not what God hath plainly told: some call that part of it a Mystery which inone, and others think all of it nothing but a mere ceremony and a sign: some say it signifies, and some say it effects, some say it is a Sacrifice, and others call it a Sacrament; some Schools of learning make it the Instrument of Grace in the hand of God; others say that it is God himself in that Instrument of Grace: some call it venerable, and others say as the vain men in the Prophet, that the Table of the Lord is contemptible: some come to it with their sins on their head, and others with their sins in their mouth: some come to be cured, some to be quickened, some to be nourished, and others to be made alive: some out of fear and reverence take it but seldom, others out of devotion take it frequently; some receive it as a means to procure great graces and blessings, others as an Eucharist, and an office of thanksgiving for what they have received: some call it an act of obedience merely, others account it an excellent devotion, and the exercising of the virtue of Religion; some take it to strengthen their Faith, others to beget it, and yet many affirm that it does neither, but supposes Faith beforehand as a disposition; Faith in all its degrees, according to the degree of Grace whither the Communicant is arrived: Some affirm the Elements are to be blessed by prayers of the Bishop or other Minister; others say, it is only by the mystical words, the words of institution; and when it is blessed, some believe it to be the natural body of Christ; others, to be nothing of that, but the blessings of Christ, his Word and his Spirit, his Passion in representment, and his Grace in real exhibition: And all these men have something of reason for what they pretend; and yet the words of Scripture from whence they pretend, are not so many as are the several pretensions. My purpose is not to dispute, but to persuade; not to confute any one, but to instruct those that need; not to make a noise, but to excite devotion; not to enter into curious, but material inquiries, and to gather together into an union all those several portions of truth, and differing apprehensions of mysteriousness, and various methods and rules of preparation, and seemingly opposed Doctrines, by which even good men stand at distance, and are afraid of each other: For since all societies of Christians pretend to the greatest esteem of this, above all the Rites or external parts and ministries of Religion, it cannot be otherwise, but that they will all speak honourable things of it, and suppose holy things to be in it, and great blessings one way or other to come by it; and it is contemptible only among the profane and the Atheistical; all the innumerable differences which are in the discourses and consequent practices relating to it, proceed from some common truths, and universal notions, and mysterious or inexplicable words, and tend all to reverential thoughts, and pious treatment of these Rites and holy Offices; and therefore it will not be impossible to find honey or wholesome dews upon all this variety of plants; and the differing opinions, and several understandings of this mystery, which (it may be) no humane understanding can comprehend, will serve to excellent purposes of the Spirit; if, like men of differing interest, they can be reconciled in one Communion, at least the ends and designs of them all can be conjoined in the design and ligatures of the same reverence, and piety, and devotion. My purpose therefore is to discourse of the nature, excellencies, uses, and intention of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper, the blessings and fruits of the Sacrament, all the advantages of a worthy Communion, the public and the private, the personal and the Ecclesiastical, that we may understand what it is, what we go about, and how it is to be treated. I shall account also concerning all the duties of preparation, ordinary and extraordinary, more and less solemn; of the rules and manners of deportment in the receiving; the gesture and the offering, the measures and instances of our duty, our comport and conversation in and after it; together with the cases of conscience that shall occur under these titles respectively, relating to the particular matters. It matters not where we begin; for if I describe the excellencies of this Sacrament, I find it engages us upon matters of duty, and inquiries practical. If I describe our duty, it plainly signifies the greatness and excellency of the Mystery: the very notion is practical, and the practice is information; we cannot discourse of the secret, but by describing our duty; and we cannot draw all the lines of duty, but so much duty must needs open a Cabinet of Mysteries. If we understand what we are about, we cannot choose but be invested with fear and reverence; and if we look in with fear and reverence, it cannot be but we shall understand many secrets. But because the natural order of Theology is by Faith to build up good life, by a rectified Understanding to regulate the Will and the Affections, I shall use no other method, but first discourse of the excellent Mystery, and then of the duty of the Communicant, direct and collateral. CHAP. I. Of the Nature, Excellencies, Uses, and Intention of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper. SECT. I. Of the several apprehensions of men concerning it. WHen our Blessed Lord was to nail the hand writing of Ordinances to his Cross, he was pleased to retain two Ceremonies, Baptism and the Holy Supper; that Christians may first wash, add then eat; first be made clean, and then eat of the Supper of the Lamb: and it cannot be imagined but that this so signal and peculiar retention of two Ceremonies is of great purpose and remarkable virtues. The matter is evident in the instance of Baptism; and as the Mystery is of the foundation of Religion, so the virtue of it is inserted into our Creed, and we all believe one Baptism for the remission of our sins; Heb. 6.1.2. and yet the action is external, the very Mystery is by a Ceremony, the allusion is bodily, the Element is water, the minister a sinful man, and the effect is produced out of the Sacrament in many persons and in many instances, as well as in it; and yet that it is effected also by it and with it, Act. 2.38. in the conjunction with due dispositions of him that is to be baptised, we are plainly taught by Christ's Apostles and the symbols of the Church. But concerning the other Sacrament there are more divisions and thoughts of heart; for it is never expressly joined with a word of promise, and where mention is made of it in the Gospels, it is named only as a duty and a Commandment, and not as a grace, or treasure of holy blessings; we are bidden to do it, but promised nothing for a reward, it is commanded to us, but we are not invited to obedience by consideration of any consequent blessing: and when we do it, so many holy things are required of us, which as they are fit to be done; even when we do not receive the Blessed Sacrament; so they effect salvation to us by virtue of their proper and proportioned promises in the virtue of Christ's death however apprehended and understood. Upon this account some say that we receive nothing in the B. Eucharist; but we commemorate many blessed things which we have received; that it is affirmed in no Scripture that in this mystery we are to call to mind the death of Christ, but because we already have it in our mind, we must also have it in our hearts, and publish it in our confessions and Sacramental representment, and therefore it is not the memory, but the commemoration of Christ's death; that as the anniversary sacrifices in the law were * Heb. 10.3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. a commemoration of sins every year; not a calling them to mind; but a confession of their guilt and of our deserved punishment; so this Sacrament is a representation of Christ's death by such symbolical actions as himself graciously hath appointed: but then, excepting that to do so is an act of obedience, it exercises no other virtue, it is an act of no other grace, it is the instrument of no other good; it is neither virtue nor gain, grace nor profit. And whereas it is said to confirm our faith, this also is said to be unreasonable; for this being our own work, cannot be the means of a Divine grace; not naturally; because it is not of the same kind, and faith is no more the natural effect of this obedience; than chastity can be the product of Christian fortitude; not by Divine appointment; because we find no such order; no promise, no intimation of any such event; and although the thing itself indeed shall have what reward God please to apportion to it as it is obedience; yet of itself it hath no other worthiness; it is not so much as an argument of persuasion; for the pouring forth of wine can no more prove or make faith that Christ's blood was poured forth for us, than the drinking the wine can effect this persuasion in us that we naturally, though under a vail, drink the natural blood of Christ; which the Angels gathered as it ran into golden phials, and Christ multiplied to a miracle like the loaves and fishes in the Gospel. But because nothing that naturally remains the same in all things as it was before, can do any thing that it could not do before; the Bread and wine which have no natural change, can effect none; and therefore we are not to look for an egg where there is nothing but order; and a blessing where there is nothing but an action; and a real effect where there is nothing but an analogy, a Sacrament, a mystical representment, and something fit to signify, and many things past, but nothing that is to come. This is the sense and discourse of some persons that call for an express word, or a manifest reason to the contrary, or else resolve that their belief shall be as unactive as the Scriptures are silent in the effects of this mystery. Only these men will allow the Sacraments to be, marks of Christianity, symbols of mutual Charity, testimonies of a thankful mind to God, allegorical admonitions of Christian mortification, and spiritual alimony, symbols of grace conferred before the Sacrament, and rites instituted to stir up faith by way of object and representation; that is, occasionally and morally, but neither by any Divine or physical, by natural or supernatural power, by the work done, or by the Divine institution. This indeed is something but very much too little. But others go as far on the other hand and affirm that in the Blessed Sacrament we receive the body and blood of Christ; we chew his flesh, we drink his blood; for his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed, and this is the Manna which came down from heaven; our bodies are nourished, our souls united to Christ; and the Sacrament is the infallible instrument of pardon to all persons that do not maliciously hinder it; and it produces all its effects by virtue of the Sacrament itself so appointed; and that the dispositions of the Communicants are only for removing obstacles and impediments, but effect nothing; the sumption of the Mysteries does all in a capable subject; as in infants who do nothing, in penitents who take away what can hinder; for it is nothing but Christ himself; the body that died upon the cross is broken in the hand of him that ministers, and by the teeth of him that communicates; and when God gives us his Son in this Divine and glorious manner, with heaps of miracles to verify heaps of blessings, how shall not he with him give us all things else? They who teach this doctrine call the holy Sacrament; The host, the unbloody sacrifice; the flesh of God, the body of Christ, God himself, the Mass, the Sacrament of the Altar. I cannot say that this is too much; but that these things are not true; and although all that is here said, that is of any material benefit and real blessing is true; yet the blessing is not so conferred, it is not so produced. A third sort of Christians speak indefinitely and gloriously of this Divine mystery; they speak enough, but they cannot tell what; they publish great and glorious effects; but such which they gather by similitude and analogy, such which they desire, but cannot prove; which indeed they feel, but know not whence they do derive them: they are blessings which come in company of the Sacraments, but are not always to be imputed to them; they confound spiritual senses with mystical expressions, and expound mysteries to natural significations: that is, they mean well but do not always understand that part of Christian Philosophy which explicates the secret nature of this Divine Sacrament, and the effect of it is this; that they sometimes put too great confidence in the mystery; and look for impresses which they find not, and are sometimes troubled that their experience does not answer to their Sermons; and meet with scruples instead of comforts, and doubts instead of rest. and anxiety of mind in the place of a serene and peaceful conscience. But these men both in their right and in their wrong enumerate many glories of the holy Sacrament which they usually signify in these excellent appellatives, calling it, the Supper of the Lord; the bread of elect souls, and the wine of Angels, the Lords body, the New Testament and the chalice of benediction, spiritual food, the great Supper, the Divinest and Archisymbolical feast; the banquet of the Church, the celestial dinner, the spiritual, the sacred, the mystical, the formidable, the rational Table, the supersubstantial bread, the bread of God, the bread of life, the Lords mystery, the great mystery of salvation, the Lords Sacrament, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Desiderata. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, h●stia hostiarum, mysterium mysteriorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Dominicum. the Sacrament of piety, the sign of unity, the contesseration of the Christian communion, the Divine grace, the Divine making grace, the holy thing, the desirable, the comunication of Good, the perfection and consummation of a Christian, the holy particles, the gracious symbols, the holy gifts, the Sacrifice of commemoration, the intellectual and mystical good, the hereditary donative of the New Testament, the Sacrament of the Lords body, the Sacrament of the Calais, the Paschal Oblation, the Christian passport, the mystery of perfection, the great Oblation, the Worship of God, the life of Souls, the Sacrament of our price and our Redemption; and some few others much to the same purposes, all which are of great and useful signification; and if the explications and consequent propositions were as justifiable as the title● themselves are sober and useful, they would be apt only for edification, and to minister to the spirit of devotion. That therefore is to be the design of the present Meditations, to represent the true and proper and mysterious nature of this divine nutriment of our souls; to account what are the blessings God reacheth forth to us in the Mysteries, and what returns of duty he expects from all to whom he gives his most holy Son. I shall only here add the names and appellatives which the Scripture gives to these Mysteries, and place it as a part of the foundation of the following doctrines; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.13. 1 Cor. 11.20.8.29. 1 Cor. 10.16. Judas v. 12 Acts 16.2 It is by the Spirit of God called, The bread that is broken, and the cup of blessing, the breaking of bread; the body and blood of the Lord; the communication of his body, and the communication of his blood; the feast of charity or love; the Lords Table, and the Supper of the Lord. Whatsoever is consequent to these titles we can safely own, and our faith may dwell securely, and our devotion like a pure flame, with these may feed, as with the spices and gums upon the Altar of Incense. SECT. II. What it is which we receive in the holy SACRAMENT. IT is strange that Christians should pertinaciously insist upon carnal significations and natural effects in Sacraments and Mysteries, when our blessed Lord hath given us a sufficient light to conduct and secure us from such misapprehensions. [The flesh profiteth nothing: the words which I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life,] that is, the flesh is corruption, and its senses are Ministers of death: and this one word alone was perpetually sufficient for Christ's Disciples. For when upon occasion of the gross understanding of their Master's words by the men of Capernaum, they had been once clearly taught that the meaning of all these words was wholly spiritual; they rested there and inquired no further: insomuch that when Christ at the institution of the Supper affirmed of the bread and wine, that they were his body and his blood, they were not at all offended, as being sufficiently before instructed in the nature of that Mystery. And besides this, they saw enough to tell them that what they eat was not the natural body of their Lord: This was the body which himself did or might eat with his body: one body did eat, and the other was eaten; both of them were his body, but after a divers manner. For the case is briefly this; We have two lives, a natural and a spiritual, and both must have bread for their support and maintenance in proportion to their needs, Duplex vita, duplicem poscit panem. St, Aug. oportuit autem, non solum primitias nostrae naturae in participationem venire melioris, sed omnes quotquot velint homines & secundâ nativitate nasci, & nutriti cibo novo, & huic nativitati accommodato, atque ita praevenire mensuram perfectionis. Damasc. de fide orthod. l. 4. c. 14. Et quoniam spiritualis est Adam, oportuit & nativitatem spiritualem esse, similiter & cibum. Ib. ibid. and to their capacities: and as it would be an intolerable charity to give nothing but spiritual nutriment to a hungry body, and pour diagrams, and wise propositions into an empty stomach; so it would be as useless and impertinent to feed the Soul with wheat, or flesh, unless that were the conveyance of a spiritual delicacy. In the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist the body of Christ, according to the proper signification of a humane body is not at all, but in a sense differing from the proper and natural body, that is, in a sense more agreeing to Sacraments; so St. Hierom expressly. [Of this sacrifice which is wonderfully done in the commemoration of Christ we may eat, in Levit: & habetur de consecrat: dist. 2. secundum se. but of that sacrifice which Christ offered on the altar of the Cross by itself, or in its own nature, no man may eat] For it is his flesh which is under the form of bread, and his blood which is in the form and taste of wine: for the flesh is the Sacrament of flesh, and blood is the Sacrament of blood: for by flesh and blood that is invisible, habet. de consecrat, dist. 2. Epist. ad. Iren. spiritual, intelligible, the visible and tangible body of our Lord Jesus Christ is consigned, full of the grace of all virtues, and of Divine Majesty.] So St Augustine. For therefore ye are not to eat that body which ye see, nor to drink that blood which my crucifiers shall pour out: it is the same, and not the same; the same invisibly, but not the same visibly.] For until the world be finished, the Lord is above, but the truth of the Lord is with us. The body in which he rose again must be in one place, but the truth of it is every where diffused. Ibid. ] For there is one truth of the body in the Mystery, and another truth simply and without Mystery. It is truly Christ's body both in the Sacrament, and out of it; vide eund. in Joha●. tract. 50. but in the Sacrament it is not the natural truth, but the spiritual and the mystical. And therefore it was that our Blessed Saviour, to them who apprehended him to promise his natural body and blood for our meat and drink, spoke of his ascension into heaven, that we might learn to look from heaven to receive the food of our souls, heavenly and spiritual nourishment, said St. Athanasius. In tract. verb. Quicunque dixerit verbum in filium hominis. In Levit. c. 10. hom. 7. For this is the letter which in the New Testament kills him who understands not spiritually what is spoken to him, under the signification of meat and flesh, and blood and drink: So Origen For this bread does not go into the body (for to how many might his body suffice for meat?) but the bread of eternal life supports the substance of our spirit; and therefore it is not touched by the body, nor seen with the eyes, but by faith it is seen and touched: So St. * De Sacram. l. 5. c. 4. & in Luc. l. 6. c. 8. Ambrose. And all this whole mystery hath in it neither carnal sense, nor carnal consequence, saith St. * In Johan. 6. hom. 47. Tract. 26. in Johan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Basil in Ps. 33 Chrysostom.] But to believe in Christ is to eat the bread; and therefore why do you prepare your teeth and stomach? believe him, and you have eaten him] they are the words of S. Austin. For faith is that intellectual mouth, as S. Brasil calls it) which is within the man, by which he takes in nourishment. But what need we to draw this water from the lesser cisterns? we see this truth reflected from the spring itself, the fountains of our blessed Saviour, I am the bread of life, Joh. 6.35. he that cometh unto me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall not thirst; v. 54, 56. and again, He that eats my flesh hath life abiding in him, and I will raise him up at the last day; The plain consequent of which words is this, that therefore this eating and drinking of Christ's flesh and blood, can only be done by the Ministeries of life and of the spirit, which is opposed to nature, and flesh, and death. And when we consider, that he who is not a spiritual and a holy person does not feed upon Christ, who brings life eternal to them that feed on him, it is apparent that our manducation must be spiritual, and therefore so must the food; and consequently, it cannot be natural flesh, however altered in circumstance and visibilities, and impossible or incredible changes. For it is not in this spiritual food as it was in Manna, of which our Fathers did eat and died; but whosoever eats this divine nutriment shall never die. Res ipsa cujus Sacramentum est, omni homini ad vitam, nulli ad exitium quicunque ejus particeps suerit. S. Aug tract 16. in Joh. de resur. car. c. 37. The Sacraments indeed and symbols, the exterior part and ministeries may be taken unto condemnation; but the food itself never. For an unworthy person cannot feed on this food, because here to eat Christ's flesh is to do our duty, and to be established in our title to the possession of the eternal promises. For so Christ disposed the way of salvation, not by flesh, but by the spirit, saith Tertullian; that is, according to his own exposition, Christ is to be desired for life, and to be devoured by hearing, to be chewed by the understanding, and to be digested by faith; and all this is the method and oeconomy of heaven, which whosoever uses and abides in it, hath life abiding in him. He that in this world does any other way look for Christ, shall never find him; and therefore, if men say, Lo here is Christ, or lo there he is in the desert, or he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Cupboards or Pantries where bread or flesh is laid, believe it not: Christ's body is in heaven, and it is not upon earth: the heavens must contain him till the time of restitution of all things, Anon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc mysterium pronunciat [Nestorius] & irreligiose fidelium mentes in sensus adulterinos detrudit ac humanis cogitationibus aggreditur, quae solâ purâ & inexquisitâ fide accipiuntur. S. Cyril lib. ad Euophium anathem. 11. and so long as we are present in the body, we are absent from the Lord. In the mean time we can taste and see that the Lord is gracious, that he is sweet: but Christ is so to be tasted as he is to be seen, and no otherwise; but here we walk by faith and not by sight, and here also we live by faith, and not by mere or only bread, but by that Word which proceedeth out from God; Quod esca est carni, hoc anim●e fides. S. Cypr. de coen● Dom. that as meat is to the body, so is Christ to the soul, the food of the soul, by which the souls of the just do live. He is the bread which came down from heaven, the bread which was born at Bedlam, the house of bread, was given to us to be the food of our souls for ever. The meaning of which mysterious and Sacramental expressions, when they are reduced to easy & intelligible significations, is plainly this; By Christ we live and move and have our spiritual being in the life of grace, and in the hopes of glory. He took our life, that we might partake of his; he gave his life for us, that he might give life to us: He is the Author and finisher of our faith, the beginning and perfection of our spiritual life. Every good thought we think, we have it from him; every good word we speak, we speak it by his spirit [for no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the holy Ghost:] and all our prayers are by the aids and communications of the spirit of Christ, who helpeth our infirmities, and by unutterable groans, and unexpressible representment of most passionate desires, maketh intercession for us. In fine, all the principles and parts, all the actions and progressions of our spiritual life, are derivations from the Son of God, by whom we are born and nourished up to life Eternal. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Arabas & Hebraeos significat panem & corpus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Chrysost 2. Christ being the food of our souls, he is pleased to signify this food to us by such symbols and similitudes as his present state could furnish us withal. He had nothing about him but flesh and blood, which are like to meat and drink; and therefore what he calls himself, saying, I am the bread of life, he afterwards calls his flesh and his blood, saying, My flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed; that is, that you may perceive me to be indeed the food of your souls, see, here is meat and drink for you, my flesh and my blood; so to represent himself in a way that was nearest to our capacity, and in a more intelligible manner; not further from a Mystery, but nearer to our manner of understanding; and yet so involved in figure, that it is never to be drawn nearer than a Mystery, till it comes to experience, and spiritual relish and perception. But because we are not in darkness, but within the fringes and circles of a bright cloud, let us search as far into it as we are guided by the light of God, and where we are forbidden by the thicker part of the cloud, step back and worship. 3. For we have yet one further degree of charity and manifestation of this Mystery. The flesh of Christ is his word; the blood of Christ is his spirit; and by believing in his word, and being assisted and conducted by his spirit, we are nourished up to life; and so Christ is our food, so he becomes life unto our souls. Thus St. Pedag. 1. lib. de resur. car. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Euseb. l. 3. Eccles. Theol. M. S Prov. 9.5. Moreh. Nevouch. l. 1. c. 30. Clemens of Alexandria, and Pedag. 1. lib. de resur. car. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Euseb. l. 3. Eccles. Theol. M. S Prov. 9.5. Moreh. Nevouch. l. 1. c. 30. Tertullian affirm the Church in their days to have understood this Mystery, saying, The word of God is called flesh and blood: For so the eternal wisdom of the Father calls to every simple soul that wanteth understanding, come eat of the bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled: and that we may know what is this bread and wine, he adds, forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding. Our life is wisdom, our food is understanding. The Rabbins have an observation, that when ever mention is made in the Book of the Proverbs of eating and drinking, there is meant nothing but wisdom and the Law: and when the Doctors using the words of Scripture, say, Come and eat flesh in which there is much fatness, they would be understood to say, Come and hear wisdom, and learn the fear of God, in which there is great nourishment and advantage to your souls. Thus Wisdom is called Water, and Understanding Bread, Ecclus. 15.3. by the son of Sirach [with the bread of understanding shall she feed him, and give him the water of wisdom to drink.] It is by the Prophet Isaiah called water and wine; Isa. 55.1, 2. and the desires of righteousness are called hunger and thirst by our blessed Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount: Mat. 5.6. And in pursuance of this mysterious truth, we find that God in his anger threatens a famine of hearing the words of the Lord: Amos. 8.11. when we want God's word, we die with hunger, we want that bread on which our souls do feed. It was an excellent Commentary which the Jewish Doctors make upon those words of the Prophet [with joy shall ye draw waters from the wells of salvation] that is, Isa. 12.3. from the choicest or wisest of the just men, à selectis justorum; à capitibus & primariis coetus. saith Rabbi Jonathan; from the chief Ministers of Religion, the Heads of the people, and the Rulers of the Congregation; because they preach the Word of God, they open the wells of salvation, from the fountains of our Saviour giving drink and refreshment to all the people. Thus the Prophet Jeremy expresses his spiritual joy, and the sense of this Mystery; Jer. 15.16. Thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by thy Name, O Lord God of Hosts: the same with that of our Blessed Saviour; My words are spirit, and they are life, they give life and comfort, they refresh our souls, and feed them up to immortality. As the body or flesh of Christ is his Word, so the blood of Christ is his Spirit in real effect and signification. For as the body without blood is a dead and liveless trunk, so is the Word of God without the Spirit a dead and ineffective Letter: and this Mystery we are taught in that incomparable Epistle to the Hebrews: For by the blood of Christ we are sanctified; and yet that which sanctifies us is the spirit of grace, and both these are one: For so saith the Apostle, Heb. 9.14. the blood of Christ was offered up for us, for the purification of our consciences from dead works; but this offering was made through the eternal spirit; and therefore he is equally guilty and does the same impiety, he who does d●sp●te to the spirit of Grace, 10.29. and he who accounts the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing; for by this spirit and by this blood we are sanctified, 13.20. by this spirit, and by the blood of the everlasting Cov●nant, Jesus Christ does perfect us in every good work; so that these are the same Ministry of salvation, and but one and the same Oeconomy of God. Thus St. Peter affirms, That by the precious blood of Christ we are redeemed from our vain conversation; and it is every where affirmed, that we are purified and cleansed by the blood of Christ, and yet these are the express effects of his Spirit: for by the spirit we mortify the deeds of the body; and we are justified and sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus by the spirit of our God. By which expressions we are taught to distinguish the natural blood of Christ from the spiritual; the blood that he gave for us, from the blood which he gives to us; that was indeed by the spirit, but was not the same thing; but this is the spirit of grace, and the spirit of wisdom. And therefore, as our Fathers were made to drink into one spirit, when they drank of the water of the rock; so we also partake of the spirit when we drink of Christ's blood, which came from the spiritual rock when it was smitten: for thus according to the Doctrine of St. John, the water a●d the blood and the spirit are one and the same glorious purposes. As it was with our Fathers in the beginning, so it is now with us, and so it ever shall be, world without end: for they fed upon Christ, that is, they believed in Christ, they expected his day, they lived upon his promises, they lived by faith in him: and the same meat and drink is set upon our Tables: and more than all this, as Christ is the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, so he shall be the food of souls in heaven, where they who are accounted worthy shall sit down and be feasted in the eternal Supper of the Lamb: concerning which blessedness our B. Saviour saith, Luke 14.15. Blessed is he that eateth bread in the Kingdom of God; for he hath appointed to his chosen ones to eat and drink, at his table in his Kingdom; plainly teaching us, that by eating and drinking Christ, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sibyl. Erithr. Orac. Luk. 22.30. is meant in this world to live the life of the spirit, and in the other world it is to live the life of glory: here we feed upon duty, and there we feed upon reward: our wine is here mingled with water and with myrrh, there it is mere and unmixed; but still it is called meat and drink, and still is meant grace and glory, the fruits of the spirit and the joy of the spirit; that is, by Christ we here live a spiritual life, and hereafter shall live a life eternal. Thus are sensible things the Sacrament and representation of the spiritual and eternal; Eâ formâ quâ semper carnalia in figuram spiritualium antecedunt. Tertul. de baptis. and spiritual things are the fulfilings * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philo. Allegor. In ratione sacrorum par est & animae & corporis causa, nam plerunque quae non possunt circa animam fieri, fiunt circa corpus. Servius in illud Virgil. [vittasque resolvit] & lib. 4. In sacris quae exhiberi non poterunt, simulabantur & erant pro veris. of the sensible. But the consequent of these things is this; that since Christ always was, is, and shall be the food of the faithful, and is that bread which came down from heaven; since we eat him here, and shall eat him there, our eating both here and there is spiritual; only the word of teaching shall be changed into the word of glorification, and our faith into Charity; and all the way our souls live a new life by Christ, of which, eating and drinking is the Symbol and the Sacrament. And this is not done to make this mystery obscure, but intelligible and easy. For so the pains of hell are expressed by fire, which to our flesh is most painful; and the joys of God by that which brings us greatest pleasure, by meat and drink, and the growth in grace by the natural instruments of nutrition; and the work of the Soul by the ministeries of the body, and the graces of God by the blessings of nature, for these we know, and we know nothing else, and but by phantasms and ideas of what we see and feel we understand nothing at all. Now this is so far from being a diminution of the glorious mystery of our Communion, that the changing all into spirituality is the greatest increase of blessing in the world: And when he gives us his body and his blood, he does not fill our stomaches with good things, for of whatsoever goes in thither, it is affirmed by the Apostle, that God will destroy both it and them, but our hearts are to be replenished, and by receiving his spirit we receive the best thing that God gives; not his liveless body, but his flesh with life in it, that is, his doctrine and his spirit to imprint it, so to beget a living faith and a lively hope that we may live and live for ever. 4. St. John having thus explicated this mystery in general, Joh. Chap. 6. of our eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ; added nothing in particular concerning any Sacraments, these being in particular instances of the general mystery and communion with Christ. But what is the advantage we receive by the Sacraments, besides that which we get by the other and distinct ministeries of faith, I thus account in general. The word and the spirit are the flesh and the blood of Christ; that is the ground of all. Now because there are two great Sermons of the Gospel which are the sum total and abbreviature of the whole word of God, the great messages of the word incarnate, Christ was pleased to invest these two words with two Sacraments, and assist those two Sacraments, as he did the whole word of God, with the presence of his Spirit, that in them we might do more signally and solemnly what was in the ordinary ministrations done plainly and without extraordinary regards. Believe and repent; is the word in Baptism, and and there solemnly consigned; and here it is that by faith we feed on Christ: for faith as it is opposed to works, that is, the new Covenant of faith as it is opposed to the old Covenant of works, is the covenant of repentance; repentance is expressly included in the new covenant, but was not in the old; but by faith in Christ we are admitted to pardon of our sins if we repent and forsake them utterly. Now this is the word of faith; and this is that which is called the flesh or body of Christ, for this is that which the soul feeds on, this is that by which the just do live; and when by the operation of the holy spirit, the waters are reform to a Divine Nature or efficacy, the baptised are made clean, the● are sanctified and presented pure and spotless unto God. This mystery * Ad infantes apud Bedam. St. Austin rightly understood when he affirmed, that we are made partakers of the body and blood of Christ when we are in baptism incorporated into his body; we are baptised in the passion of our Lord, so * Tingimur in passione Domini. Tertul. l. de bapt. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Cyril. vocatbaptismum Catech. 11 Tertullian, to the same sense with that of St. Paul, we are buried with him in baptism into his death; that is, by baptism are conveyed to us all the effects of Christ's death; the flesh and blood of Christ crucified are in baptism reached to us by the hand of God, by his holy spirit, and received by the hand of man, the Ministry of a holy faith. So that it can without difficulty be understood that as in receiving the word and the spirit illuminating us in our first conversion, we do truly feed on the flesh and drink the blood of Christ who is the bread that came down from heaven; so we do it also, and do it much more in baptism, because in this, besides all that was before, there was superadded a rite of God's appointment. The difference is only this; That out of the Sacrament, the spirit operates with the word in the ministry of man; in Baptism the spirit operates with the word in the ministry of God. For here God is the preacher, the Sacrament is God's sign, and by it he ministers life to us by the flesh and blood of his Son, that is, by the death of Christ into which we are baptised. And in the same Divine method the word and the spirit are ministered to us in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. For as in Baptism so here also there is a word proper to the ministry. So often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye declare the Lords death till he come. This indeed is a word of comfort. Christ died for our sins; that is, our repentance which was consigned in baptism shall be to purpose; we shall be washed white and clean in the blood of the sacrificed Lamb. This is verbum visibile; the same word read to the eye and to the ear. Hear the word of God is made our food in a manner so near to our understanding, that our tongues and palates feel the Metaphor and the Sacramental signification; here faith is in triumph and exaltation: but as in all the other ministeries Evangelical, we eat Christ by faith, here we have faith also by eating Christ: Thus eating and drinking is faith; it is faith in mystery, and faith in ceremony; it is faith in act, and faith in habit; it is exercised and it is advanced; and therefore it is certain that here we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ with much eminency and advantage. The sum is this. Christ's body, his flesh, and his blood are therefore called our meat and our drink, because by his incarnation and manifestation in the flesh he became life unto us: So that it is mysterious indeed in the expression, but very proper and intelligible in the event, to say that we eat his flesh and drink his blood, since by these it is that we have and preserve life. But because what Christ begun in his incarnation, he finished in his body on the cross, and all the whole progression of mysteries in his body, was still an operatory of life and spiritual being to us; the Sacrament of the Lords Supper being a commemoration and exhibition of this death which was the consummation of our redemption by his body and blood, does contain in it a visible word, the word in symbol and visibility, and special manifestation. Consonant to which Docrtine, the Fathers by an elegant expression call the blessed Sacrament, [the extension of the Incarnation.] So that here are two things highly to be remarked. 1. That by whatsoever way Christ is taken, out of the Sacrament, by the same he is taken in the Sacrament: and by some ways here, more than there. 2. That the eating and drinking the consecrated symbols is but the body and lesser part of the Sacrament: the life and the spirit, is believing greatly, and doing all the actions of that believing, direct and consequent. So that there are in this, two manducations, and Sacramental, and the Spiritual. That does but declare and exercise this: and of the sacramental manducation as it is alone, as it is a ceremony, as it does only consign or express the internal; it is true to affirm that it is only an act of obedience: but all the blessings and conjugations of joy which come to a worthy Communicant proceed from that spiritual eating of Christ, which as it is done out of the Sacrament very well, so in it and with it, much better. For here being (as in baptism) a double significatory of the spirit, a word, and a sign of his own appointment, it is certain he will join in this Ministration. Here we have bread and drink, flesh and blood, the word and the spirit, Christ in all his effects, and most gracious communications. This is the general account of the nature and purpose of this great mystery. Christians are spiritual men, faith is their mouth, and wisdom is their food, and believing is manducation, and Christ is their life, and truth is the Air they breath, and their bread is the word of God, and God's spirit is their drink, and righteousness is their robe, and Gods laws are their light, and the Apostles are their salt; and Christ is to them all in all: for we must put on Christ, and we must eat Christ, and we must drink Christ: we must have him within us, and we must be in him: he is our vine, and we are his branches; he is a door, and by him we must enter; he is our shepherd, and we his sheep: Deus meus & omnia, he is our God, and he is all things to us: that is, plainly, he is our Redeemer, and he is our Lord: He is our Saviour and our Teacher: by his Word and by his Spirit he brings us to God and to felicities eternal, and that is the sum of all. For greater things than these we can neither receive nor expect: But these things are not consequent to the reception of the natural body of Christ, which is now in heaven; but of his Word and of his Spirit, which are therefore indeed his body and his blood, because by these we feed on him to life eternal. Now these are indeed conveyed to us by the several ministries of the Gospel, but especially in the Sacraments, where the Word is preached and consigned, and the Spirit is the teacher, and the feeder, and makes the Table full, and the Cup to overflow with blessing. SECT. III. That in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper there are represented and exhibited many great blessings upon the special account of that sacred ministry, proved in General. IN explicating the Nature of this Divine mystery in general, as I have manifested the nature and operations and the whole ministry to be spiritual, and that not the natural body and blood of Christ is received by the mouth, but the word and the spirit of Christ, by faith and a spiritual hand, and upon this account have discovered their mistake, who think the secret lies in the outside, and suppose that we tear the natural flesh of Christ with our mouths: So I have by consequent explicated the secret which others indefinitely and by conjecture and zeal do speak of, and know not what to say, but resolve to speak things great enough; it remains now that I consider for the satisfaction of those that speak things too contemptible of these holy mysteries; who say, it is nothing but a commemoration of Christ's death, an act of obedience, a ceremony of memorial, but of no spiritual effect, and of no proper advantage to the soul of the receiver. Against this, besides the preceding discourse convincing their fancy of weakness and derogation, the consideration of the proper excellencies of this mystery in its own separate nature will be very useful. For now we are to consider how his natural body enters into his oeconomy and dispensation. For the understanding of which are to consider that Christ besides his Spiritual body and blood did also give us his natural, and we receive that by the means of this. For this he gave us but once, then, when upon the Cross he was broken for our sins; this body could die but once and it could be but at one place at once, and Heaven was the place appointed for it, and at once all was sufficiently effected by it which was designed in the Counsel of God. ●or by the virtue of that death Christ is become the Author of life unto us and of salvation; he is our Lord and our Lawgiver; but it he received all power in heaven and earth, and by it he reconciled his Father to the world, and in virtue of that he intercedes for us in heaven, and sends his spirit upon earth, and feeds our souls by his word, he instructs us to wisdom and admits us to repentance, and gives us pardon, and by means of his own appointment nourishes us up by holiness to life eternal. This body being carried from us into heaven; cannot be touched or tasted by us on earth; but yet Christ left to us symbols and Sacraments of this natural body; not to be, or to convey that natural body to us, but to do more and better for us; to convey all the blessings and graces procured for us by the breaking of that body, and the effusion of the blood: which blessings being spiritual are therefore called his body spiritually, because procured by that body which died for us; and are therefore called our food, because by them we live a new life in the spirit, and Christ is our bread and our life, because by him after this manner we are nourished up to life eternal. That is plainly thus: Therefore we eat Christ's spiritual body, because he hath given us his natural body to be broken, and his natural blood to be shed, for the remission of our sins and for the obtaining the grace and acceptability of repentance. For by this gift, and by this death, he hath obtained this favour from God, that by faith in him and repentance from dead works, by repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we may be saved. To this sense of the Mystery are those excellent words of the Apostle: Rom. 5.10. Col. 1.20, 21, 22. Tit. 2.14. Heb. 2.9, 14. Heb. 9.15 1 Pet. 1.18. 1 Pet. 2.24. Tertul. l. 3. c. 8. contr. Martion. He bore our sins upon his own body on the Tree, that he might deliver us from the present evil world, and sanctify and purge us from all pollution of flesh and spirit, that he might destroy the works of the devil, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, that he might purchase to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, and that we being dead unto sin▪ might live unto righteousness. Totum Christiani nominis & pondus & fructus, mors Christi. All that we are, or do, or have, is produced and effected by the death of Christ. Now because our life depends upon his death, the ministry of this life must relate ●o the ministry of this death; and we have nothing to glory in but the Cross of Christ: the Word preached is nothing, but Jesus Christ crucified: and the Sacraments are the most eminent way of declaring this word: for by Baptism we are buried into his death, Figura est ergo praecipiens, passioni Domini esse communicandum, & suaviter atque utiliter recondendum in memoria, quo pro nobis caro ejus crucifixa & vulnerata sit. S. August. de doctr. Christ. l. 3. and by the Lord's Supper we are partakers of his death: we communicate with the Lord Jesus as he is crucified; but now, since all belong to this, that Word and that Mystery that is highest and nearest in this relation, is the principal and chief of all the rest; and that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is so, is evident beyond all necessity of inquiry, it being instituted in the vespers of the Passion, it being the Sacrament of the passion, a sensible representation of the breaking Christ's body, of the effusion of Christ's blood; it being by Christ himself entitled to the passion, and the symbols invested with the names of his broken body, and his blood poured forth, and the whole ministry being a great declaration of this death of Christ, and commanded to be continued until his second coming. Certainly by all these it appears, that this Sacrament is the great ministry of life and salvation: here is the publication of the great word of salvation: here is set forth most illustriously the body and blood of Christ, the food of our souls; much more clearly than in Baptism, much more effectually than in simple enunciation, or preaching and declaration by words; for this preaching is to strangers and infants in Christ to produce faith, but this Sacramental enunciation is the declaration and confession of it by men in Christ; a glorying in it, giving praise for it, a declaring it to be done, and owned, and accepted, and prevailing. The consequent of these things is this, That if any Mystery, Rite or Sacrament be effective of any spiritual blessings, than this is much more, Et tu qui accipis panem divinae ejus substantiae in illo participas alimento. S. Ambros. lib. 66. de sacram. Hic umbra, hic imago, illic veritas: umbra in lege, imago in evangelio, veritas in coelestibus. Idem de offic. lib. 4. cap. 48. [si quis verò transire potuerit ab hâc umbrâ, veniat ad imaginem rerum, & videat adventum Christi in carne factum, videat eum pontificem, offerentem quidem & nunc patri hostias, & postmodum oblaturum, & intelligat haec omnia imagines esse spiritualium rerum, & corporalibus officiis coelestia designari. Origen in Psal. 38. Vide eund. hom. 7. in Levit. & Epiphanium in Anchorato. as having the prerogative and illustrious principality above every thing else in its own kind, or of any other-kind in exterior or interior Religion: I name them both, because as in Baptism the water alone does nothing, but the inward cooperation with the outward oblation does save us, yet to Baptism the Scriptures attribute the effect: so it is in this sacred solemnity, the external act is indeed nothing but obedience, and of itself only declares Christ's death in rite and ceremony, yet the worthy communicating of it does indeed make us feed upon Christ, and unites him to the soul, and makes us to become one spirit, according to the words of S. Ambrose, De sacram. l. 6. Ideo in similitudinem quidem accipis sacramentum, sed verae naturae gratiam virtutemque consequeris, [thou receivest the Sacrament as the similitude of Christ's body, but thou shalt receive the grace and the virtue of the true nature.] I shall not enter into so useless a discourse, as to inquire whether the Sacraments confer grace by their own excellency and power with which they are endued from above, because they who affirm they do, require so much duty on our parts as they also do who attribute the effect to our moral disposition: but neither one nor the other say true: for neither the external act, nor the internal grace and morality, does effect our pardon and salvation; but the spirit of God, who blesses the symbols, and assists the duty, makes them holy, and this acceptable. Only they that attribute the efficacy to the Ministration of the Sacrament, chose to magnify the immediate work of man, rather than the immediate work of God, and prefer the external, at least in glorious appellations, before the internal: and they that deny efficacy to the external work, and wholly attribute the blessing and grace to the moral cooperation, make too open a way for despisers to neglect the divine Institution, and to lay aside or lightly esteem the Sacraments of the Church. It is in the Sacraments as it is in the Word preached, in which not the sound, or the letters and syllables, that is, not the material part, but the formal, the sense and the signification, prepare the mind of the hearer to receive the impresses of the holy spirit of God, without which all preaching and all Sacraments are ineffectual: so does the internal and formal part, the signification and sense of the Sacrament, dispose the spirit of the receiver the rather to admit and entertain the grace of the spirit of God there consigned, and there exhibited, and there collated: but neither the outward nor the inward part does effect it, neither the Sacrament nor the moral disposition; only the spirit operates by the Sacrament, and the Communicant receives it by his moral dispositions, by the hand of faith. And what have we to do to inquire into the philosophy of Sacraments? these things do not work by the methods of nature: But here the effect is imputed to this cause, and yet can be produced without this cause, because this cause is but a sign in the hand of God, by which he tells the soul when he is willing to work. Thus Baptism was the instrument and sign in the hands of God to confer the holy Spirit upon believers: but the holy Ghost sometimes comes like lightning, and will not stay the period of usual expectation; for when Cornelius had heard St. Peter preach, he received the holy Ghost: and as sometimes the holy Ghost was given because they had been baptised, now he and his company were to be baptised because they had received the holy Ghost: and it is no good argument to say, The graces of God are given to believers out of the Sacrament, ergo, not by or in the Sacrament; but rather thus, If God's grace overflows sometimes, and goes without his own instruments, much more shall he give it in the use of them: If God gives pardon without the Sacrament, than rather also with the Sacrament: For supposing the Sacraments in their design and institution to be nothing but signs and ceremonies, yet they cannot hinder the work of God: and therefore holiness in the reception of them, will do more than holiness alone: for God does nothing in vain; the Sacraments do something in the hand of God, at least they are Gods proper and accustomed times of grace; they are his seasons and our opportunity: when the Angel stirs the pool, when the Spirit moves upon the waters, than there is a ministry of healing. For consider we the nature of a Sacrament in general, & then pass on to a particular enumeration of the blessings of this, the most excellent. When God appointed the bow in the clouds to be a Sacrament, and the memorial of a promise, he made it our comfort, but his own sign: Gen. 9.15. I will remember my Covenant between me and the earth, and the waters shall be no more a flood to destroy all flesh. This is but a token of the Covenant; and yet at the appearing of it God had thoughts of truth and mercy to mankind; The bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting Covenant between me and every creature. Thus when Elisha threw the wood into the waters of Jordan; 2 Kings 6.6. advers. Judaeos. Sacramentum ligni, the Sacrament of the wood, Tertullian calls it; that chip made the iron swim, not by any natural or any infused power, but that was the Sacrament or sign at which the Divine power then passed on to effect and emanation. When Elisha talked with the King of Israel about the war with Syria, he commanded him to smite upon the ground, 2 Kings 13.18, 19 and he smote thrice and stayed. This was Sacramentum victoriae, the Sacrament of his future victory: For the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, than thou hadst smitten Syria until thou hadst consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. In which it is remarkable, that though it was not that smiting that beat the Syrians, but the ground; yet God would effect the beating of the Syrians by the proportion of that Sacramental smiting. The Sacraments are Gods signs, Acts 22.16. Rom. 6.5. & 8.11. the opportunities of grace and action Be baptised and wash away thy sins, said Ananias to Saul: and therefore it is cal●'d the laver of regeneration and of the renewing of the holy Gh●st; that is, in that Sacrament, and at that corporal ablution, the work of the spirit is done: for although it is not that washing of itself, yet God does so do it at that ablution, which is but the similitude of Christ's death, that is, the Sacrament and symbolical representation of it; that to that very similitude a very glorious effect is imputed, for if we have been planted together in the LIKENESS of his death, Rom. 6.5. we shall be also in the LIKENESS of his Resurrection. For the mystery is this: by immersion in Baptism, and emersion, we are configured to Christ's Burial, and to his Resurrection: that's the outward part; to which if we add the inward, which is there intended, and is expressed by the Apostle in the following words; v. 6. knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin; that's our spiritual death, which answers to our configuration with the death of Christ in Baptism; v. 4. that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life; there's the correspondent of our configuration to the resurrection of Christ: that is if we do that duty of Baptism, we shall receive that grace: God offers us the mercy at that time, when we promise the duty, and do our present portion. 1 Pet. 3.16. This St. Peter calls the stipulation of a good conscience, the postulate and bargain which man then makes with God, who promises us pardon and immortality, resurrection from the dead, and life eternal, if we repent toward God, and have faith in the Lord Jesus, and if we promise we have and will so abide. The same is the case in the other most glorious Sacrament: it is the same thing in nearer representation: only what is begun in Baptism, proceeds on to perfection in the holy Communion. Et institutio paria, & significatio similia, & finis facit aequalia, S. August. apud Bedam in 1 Cor. 10. So Cyril, Hierom. catech. 2. Baptism is the antitype of the passion of Christ; and the Lords Supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that also represents Christ's passion: Baptism is the union of the members of Christ and the admission of them under one head into one body: as the Apostle affirms we are all baptised into one body; 1 Cor. 12.13. 1 Cor. 10.16.17. and so it is in the Communion, the bread which we break, it is the communion of the body of Christ; for we being many, are one body and one bread: in baptism we partake of the death of Christ: and in the Lord's Supper we do the same, in that as Babes, in this as men in Christ; so that what effects are affirmed of one, the same are in greater measure true of the other; they are but several rounds of jacob's ladder reaching up to heaven upon which the Angels ascend and descend; and the Lord sits upon the top. And because the Sacraments Evangelical be of the like kind of mystery with the Sacraments of old; from them we can understand, that even signs of secret graces, do exhibit as well as signify: for besides that there is a natural analogy between the ablution of the body and the purification of the soul, between eating the holy bread and drinking the sacred chalice, and a participation of the body and blood of Christ, it is also in the method of the divine oeconomy; to dispense the grace which himself signifies in a ceremony of his own institution; thus at the Unction of Kings, Priests and of Prophets, the sacred power was bestowed, and as a Canon is invested in his dignity by the tradition of a book, Serm. de coenâ Dui. and an Abbot by his staff, a Bishop by a ring (they are the words of St. Bernard:) so are divisions of graces imparted to the divers Sacraments. And therefore although it ought not to be denied, that when in Scripture and the writings of the holy Doctors of the Church, the collation of grace is attributed to the sign, it is by a metonymy and a Sacramental manner of speaking, yet it is also a synecdoche of the part for the whole; because both the Sacrament and the grace are joined in the lawful and holy use of them, by Sacramental union, or rather by a confederation of the parts of the holy Covenant. Our hearts are purified by faith, and so our consciences are also made clean in the cistern of water. By faith we are saved; Acts 15.9. and yet he hath sav●d us by the laver of regeneration, Ephes. 5.26. Rom. 3.28. Luk. 7.50. Tit. 3.5. Eph. 5.26. and they are both joined together by St. Paul, Christ gave himself for his Church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word: that is, plainly by the Sacrament, according to the famous Commentary of St. Austin, accedat verbum ad elementum & tum fit sacramentum, when the word and the element are joined, than it is a perfect Sacrament, and then it does effect all its purposes and intentions. Thus we find that the grace of God is given by the imposition of hands; 2 Tim. 1.6 lib. 15. de Trinit. cap. 26. and yet as Austin rightly affirms, God alone can give his holy spirit, and the Apostles did not give the holy Ghost to them upon whom they laid their hands, but prayed that God would give it, and he did so at the imposition of their hands. Act. 8.18. Thus God sanctified Aaron, and yet he said to Moses, thou shalt sanctify Aaron: that is, not that Moses did it instead of God, but Moses did it by his ministry, St. Aug. lib. 3. in Levit. pu. 84. and by visible Sacraments and rites of God's appointment, and though we are born of an immortal seed, by the word of the living God, yet St. Paul said to the Corinthians, I have begotten you through the Gospel, and thus it is in the greatest as well as in the least, he that drinks Christ's blood, and eats his body hath life abiding in him, it is true of the sacrament and true of the spiritual manducation and may be indifferently affirmed of either, when the other is not excluded, for as the Sacrament operates only by the virtue of the spirit of God; so the spirit ordinarily works by the instrumentality of the Sacraments. And we may as well say, that faith is not by hearing, as that grace is not by the Sacraments, for as without the spirit, the word is but a dead letter, so with the spirit, the Sacrament is the means of life and grace: And the meditation of St. Chrysostom is very pious and reasonable, If we were wholly incorporeal, God would have given us graces unclothed with signs and Sacraments, but because our spirits are in earthen vessels, God conveys his graces to us by sensible ministrations.] The word of God operates as secretly as the Sacraments, and the Sacraments as powerfully as the word, nay the word is always joined in the worthy administration of the Sacrament, which therefore operates both as word and sign by the ear and by the eyes and by both in the hand of God, and the conduct of the spirit, effect all that God intends, and that a faithful receiver can require and pray for. For justification and sanctification are continued acts: they are like the issues of a Fountain into its receptacles, God is always giving, and we are always receiving, and the signal effects of Gods holy spirit, sometimes give great indications, but most commonly come without observation, and therefore in these things we must not discourse as in the conduct of o●her causes and operations natural: for although in natural effects, we can argue from the cause to the event, yet in spiritual things we are to reckon only from the sign to the event. And the signs of grace we are to place in stead of natural causes, because a Sacrament in the hand of God, is a proclamation of his graces, he than gives us notice that the springs of heaven are opened: and then is the time to draw living waters from the fountains of salvation. When Jonathan shot his arrows beyond the boy, he then by a Sacrament sent salvation unto David; he bade him be gone and fly from his Father's wrath; and although Jonathan did do his business for him by a continual care and observation, yet that symbol brought it unto David; for so are we conducted to the joys of God by the methods and possibilities of men. In conclusion; the sum is this, The Sacraments and symbols if they be considered in their own nature, are just such as they seem, water, and bread, and wine; they retain the names proper to their own natures; but because they are made to be signs of a secret mystery; and water is the symbol of purification of the soul from sin, and bread and wine, of Christ's body and blood; therefore the symbols and Sacraments receive the names of what themselves do sign; * S. Austin. in Levit. q. 57 solet autem res quae significat, ejus rei nomine quam significat, nuncupari. Theodoret. dial. 1. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. they are the body and they are the blood of Christ; they are Metonymically such. But because yet further, they are instruments of grace in the hand of God, and by these his holy spirit changes our hearts and translates us into a Divine nature; therefore the whole work is attributed to them; by a Synecdoche; that is, they do in their manner the work for which God ordained them, and they are placed there for our sakes, and speak God's language in our accent, and they appear in the outside; we receive the benefit of their ministry, and God receives the glory. SECT. IV. The blessings and Graces of the Holy Sacrament enumerated and proved particularly. IN the reception of the blessed Sacrament; there are many blessings which proceed from our own actions, the conjugations of moral duties, the offices of preparation and reception, the reverence and the devotion; of which I shall give account in the following Chapters; here I am to enumerate those graces which are intended to descend upon us from the spirit of God in the use of the Sacrament itself precisely. But first I consider that it must be infinitely certain that great spiritual blessings are consequent to the worthy receiving this Divine Sacrament; because it is not at all received but by a spiritual hand: for it is either to be understood in a carnal sense that Christ's body is there eaten, or in a spiritual sense. If in a carnal, it profits nothing. If in a spiritual he be eaten, let the meaning of that be considered, and it will convince us that innumerable blessings are in the very reception and Communion. Now what the meaning of this spiritual eating is; I have already declared in this chapter, and shall yet more fully explicate in the sequel. * Chap. 3. Sect. 5. In the Sacrament we do not receive Christ carnally; but we receive him spiritually; and that of itself is a conjugation of blessings and spiritual graces. The very understanding what we do, tells us also what we receive. But I descend to particulars. 1. And first I reckon that the Sacrament is intended to increase our faith: for although it is with us in this Holy Sacrament, as it was with Abraham in the Sacrament of circumcision; he had the grace of faith before he was circumcised; and received the Sacrament after he had the purpose and the grace; and we are to believe, before we receive these symbols of Christ death; yet as by loving we love more, and by the acts of patience we increase in the spirit of mortification; so by believing we believe more; and by publication * Ante communicationem corporis Christi & sanguinis, juxta Orientalium partium morem, unanimiter clarâ voce sacratissimum fidei recenseant Symbolum, ut primum populi quam credulitatem teneant, fateantur. Concil. Tolet. 3. c. 2. & St. Ambros. quibus [symbolis] vescentes confessionem fidei suae addebant: respondebant. Amen. Idem etiam sancitum in Concil. Agath. of our confession we are made confident, and by seeing the signs of what we believe, our very senses are incorporated into the article; and he that hath shall have more, and when we concorporate the sign with the signification, we conjoin the word and the spirit, and faith passes on from believing to an imaginary seeing; and from thence to a greater earnestness of believing, and we shall believe more abundantly; this increase of faith not being only a natural and proper production of the exercise of its own acts; but a blessing and an effect of the grace of God in that Sacrament; it being certain, that since the Sacrament being of Divine institution it could not be to no purpose (for in spiritualibus Sacramentis ubi praecipit virtus, Euseb. Emiss. habetur de consecrat dist. 2. servit effectus, where the commandment comes from him that hath all power, the action cannot be destitute of an excellent event) and therefore that the representing of the death of Christ being an act of faith, and commanded by God must needs in the hands of God be more effectual than it is in its own nature; that faith shall then increase not only by the way of nature, but by God's blessing his own instruments, can never be denied but by them that neither have faith nor experience. For this is the proper scene and the very exaltation of faith: the Latin Church for a long time into the very words of consecration of the chalice, hath put words relating to this purpose, [For this is the cup of my blood of the New and Eternal Testament, the mystery of faith, which for you and for many shall be shed for the remission of sins.] And if by faith we eat the flesh of Christ; as it is confessed by all the Schools of Christians, than it is certain, that when so manifestly and solemnly according to the divine appointment we publish this great confession of the death of Christ, we do in all senses of spiritual blessing eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ; and let that be expounded how we list, we are not in this world capable, and we do not need a greater blessing and God may s●y in the words of Isaac to his son Esau, with corn and wine have I sustained [thee] and what is there left that I can do unto thee my son? To eat the flesh and to drink the blood of Christ Sacramentally is an act of faith, and every act of faith joined with the Sacrament does grow by the nature of grace, and the measures of a blessing, and therefore is eating of Christ spiritually, and this reflection of acts like circles of a glorious and eternal fire, passes on in the univocal production of its own parts till it pass from grace to glory. 2. Of the same consideration it is, that all the graces which we do exercise by the nature of the Sacrament requiring them, or by the necessity of the commandment of preparation, do here receive increase upon the account of the same reason; but I instance only in that of Charity, of which this is signally and by an especial remark the Sacrament: and therefore these holy conventions are called by St. Judas, feasts of charity, Judas 12. which were Christian Festivals, in which also they had the Sacrament adjoined; but whether that do effect this persuasion or no, yet the thing itself is dogmatically affirmed in St. Paul's explication of that mystery, * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Corpus sumus de conscientiâ Religionis, & disciplinae unitate, & spei foedere. Coimus ad Deum quasi manu factâ pre●ptionibus ambiamus. Haec vis Deo grata est Tertul. apol. cap. 39 Idem ad vers. haeret. cap. 20. ait Sacramentum esse contesserationem mutuae dilectionis in membris Ecclesiae inter se. we are one body because we partake of one bread; that is, plainly, Christ is our head, and we the members of his body, and are united in this mystical union by the holy Sacrament; not only because it symbolically does teach our duty, and promotes the grace of charity by a real signature, and a sensible Sermon; nor yet only because it calls upon Christians by the public Sermons of the Gospel, and the duties of preparation, and the usual expectations of conscience and Religion; but even by the blessing of God, and the operation of the holy Spirit in the Sacrament, which (as appears plainly by the words of the Apostle) is designed to this very end, to be a reconciler and an atonement in the hand of God, a band of charity, and the instrument of Christian Communion; that we may be one body, because we partake of one bread; that is, we may be mystically united by the Sacramental participation: and therefore it was not without mystery, that the Congregation of all Christ servants, his Church, and this Sacramental bread, are both in Scripture called by the same name: This bread is the body of Christ, and the Church is Christ's body too; for by the communion of this bread all faithful people are confederated into one body, the body of our Lord. Now it is to be observed, that although the expression is tropical * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Isid. Pelusiot. and figurative, that we are made one body, because it is meant in a spiritual sense; yet that spiritual sense means the most real event in the world; we are really joined to one common Divine principle, Jesus Christ our Lord, and from him we do communicate in all the blessings of his grace, and the fruits of his passion, and we shall, if we abide in this union, be all one body of a spiritual Church in heaven, there to reign with Christ for ever. Now unless we think nothing Good but what goes in at our eyes or mouth; if we think there is any thing good beyond what our senses perceive, we must confess this to be a real and eminent benefit; and yet whatever it be, it is therefore effected upon us by this Sacrament, because we eat of one bread. The very repeating the words of St. Paul is a satisfaction in this inquiry; they are plain and easy, and whatever interpretation can be put upon them, it can only vary the manner of effecting the blessing, and the way of the Sacramental efficacy; but it cannot evacuate the blessing, or confute the thing: Only it is to be observed in this, as in all other instances of the like nature, that the grace of God in the Sacrament usually is a blessing upon our endeavours, for spiritual graces and the blessings of sanctification do not grow like grass, but like corn; not whether we do any husbandry or no, but if we cultivate the ground, then by God's blessing the fruits will spring and make the Farmer rich, if we be disposed to receive the Sacrament worthily, we shall receive this fruit also. Which fruit is thus expressed, saying, Serm. 8. ad fratres in erem. Hoc Sacramentum ideo nobis datum est ut corpus Ecclesiae Christi in terris cum capite quod est in coelis coadunetur] Itaque petendo panem nostrum quotidianum perpetuitatem postulamus in Christo, & individuitatem à corpore ejus. Tertul. de orat. Et ideo panem nostrum, i.e. Christum dari nobis quotidie petimus, ut qui in Christo manemus, à sanctificatione ejus & corpore non ●ecedamus St. Cyprian de orat. Domin. [this Sacrament is therefore given unto us that the body of the Church of Christ in the earth may be joined, or united with our head which is in the heavens.] 3. The blessed Sacrament is of great efficacy for the remission of sins; not that it hath any formal efficacy, or any inherent virtue to procure pardon, but that it is the ministry of the death of Christ and the application of his blood, which blood was shed for the remission of sins, and is the great means of impetration, and as the Schools use to speak, is the meritorious cause of it. For there are but two ways of applying the death of Christ: an internal grace and an external ministry. Faith is the inward applicatory, and if there be any outward at all, it must be the Sacraments; and both of them are of remarkable virtue in this particular; for by baptism we are baptised into the death of Christ, and the Lords supper is an appointed enunciation and declaration of Christ's death, and it is a Sacramental participation of it. Now to partake of it Sacramentally, is by Sacrament to receive it, that is, so to apply it to us, as that can be applied: it brings it to our spirit, it propounds it to our faith, it represents it as the matter of Eucharist, it gives it as meat and drink to our souls, and rejoices in it in that very formality in which it does receive it, viz, as broken for, as shed for the remission of our sins. Now than what can any man suppose a Sacrament to be, and what can be meant by sacramental participation? for unless the Sacraments do communicate what they relate to; they are no communion or communication at all; for it is true that our mouth eats the material signs; but at the same time, faith eats too, and therefore must eat, that is, must partake of the thing signified; faith is not maintained by ceremonies: the body receives the body of the mystery; we eat and drink the symbols with our mouths, but faith is not corporeal, but feeds upon the mystery itself; it entertains the grace, and enters into that secret which the spirit of God conveys under the signature. Now since the mystery is perfectly and openly expressed to be the remission of sins; if the soul does the work of the soul, as the body the work of the body, the soul receives remission of sins, as the body does the symbols of it and the Sacrament. But we must be infinitely careful to remember that even the death of Christ brings no pardon to the impenitent persevering sinner; but to him that reputes truly, & so does the Sacrament * Qui scel eratè vivunt in Ecclesiâ, & communicare non desinunt putantes setali communione mundari, discant nihil ad emundationem proficere dicente prophetâ, quid est quod dilectus meus facit in domo meâ scelera multa? nunquid carnes sanctae auferent à te malitias tuas? Jer. 11.15. Isidor. Hispal. de summo bono lib. 1. cap. 24. of Christ's death; this can do no more than that: and therefore let no man come with his guilt about him, and in the heat and in the affections of his sin, and hope to find his pardon by this ministry. He that thinks so will but deceive, will but ruin himself. They are excellent but very severe words, which God spoke to the Jews, and which are a prophetical reproof of all unworthy Communicants in these divine mysteries, What hath my beloved to do in my house seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many? The holy flesh hath passed from thee when thou dost evil, that is, this holy sacrifice, the flesh and blood of thy Lord shall slip from thee without doing thee any good, if thou hast not ceased from doing evil. But the vulgar Latin reads these words much more emphatically to our purpose, Shall the holy flesh take from thee thy wickedness in which thou rejoycest? Deceive not thyself; thou hast no part nor portion in this matter. For the holy Sacrament operates indeed and consigns our pardon, but not alone; but in conjunction with all that Christ requires as conditions of pardon; but when the conditions are present, the Sacrament ministers pardon, as pardon is ministered in this world; that is, by parts, and in order to several purposes, and with power of revocation, by suspending the Divine wrath, by procuring more graces, by obtaining time of repentance; and powers and possibilities of working out our salvation; and by setting forward the method and Oeconomy of our salvation. For in the usual methods of God, pardon of sins is proportionable to our repentance; which because it is all that state of Piety we have in this whole life after our first sin; pardon of sins is all that effect of grace which is consequent to that repentance; and the worthy receiving of the holy Communion, is but one conjugation of holy actions and parts of repentance, but indeed it is the best and the noblest, and such in which man does best cooperate towards pardon, and the grace of God does the most illustriously consign it. But of these particulars I shall give full account when I shall discourse of the preparations of repentance. 4. It is the greatest solemnity of prayer, the most powerful Liturgy and means of impetration in this world. For when Christ was consecrated on the cross and became our High Priest, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. having reconciled us to God by the death of the cross, he became infinitely gracious in the eyes of God, and was admitted to the celestial and eternal Priesthood in heaven; where in the virtue of the cross he intercedes for us, and represents an eternal sacrifice in the heavens on our behalf. That he is a Priest in heaven appears in the large discourses and direct affirmatives of St. Paul; that there is no other sacrifice to be offered, Heb. 7.24. but that on the cross; it is evident, because he hath but once appeared in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and therefore since it is necessary that he hath something to offer so long as he is a Priest, and there is no other sacrifice but that of himself offered upon the cross; Heb. 8.3. it follows that Christ in heaven perpetually offers and represents that sacrifice to his heavenly Father, and in virtue of that obtains all good things for his Church. Now what Christ does in heaven he hath commanded us to do on earth, that is, to represent his death, † Nun semel immolatus est Christus in seipso? & tamen in Sacramento non solum per omnes paschae solennitates, sed omni die populis immolatur. Nec utique mentitur qui interrogatus, eum responderit immolari: si enim Sacramenta quandam similitudinem earum rerum quarum Sacramenta sunt non haberent, omnino Sacramenta non essent St. Aug. Epist. ad Bonifac. 23. Quia corpus assumptum ablaturus erat ab oculis, & illaturus syderibus, necessarium erat ut die coenae Sacramentum nobis corporis & sanguinis consecraretur, ut coleretur jugiter per mysterium quod semel offerebatur in precium, ut quia quotidiana & indefessa currebat pro omnium salute redemptio, perpetua esset redemptionis oblatio, & perennis victima illa viveret in memoria, & semper praesens esset in gratia, vera unica, & perfecta hostia, fide aestimanda non specie, neque exteriori censenda visu sed interiore affectu. Unde coelestis confirmat authoritas, quia caro mea verè est cibus, & sanguis meus verè est potus. Recedat ergo omne infidelitatis ambiguum quoniam qui author est muneris, idem testis est veritatis. Euseb. Emiss. & habetur de consecrat. dist. 2. to commemorate this sacrifice, by humble prayer and thankful record; and by faithful manifestation and joyful Eucharist to lay it before the eyes of our heavenly Father, so ministering in his Priesthood, and doing according to his commandment and his example; the Church being the image of heaven, the Priest the Minister of Christ, the holy Table being a Copy of the celestial altar; and the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World, being always the same; it bleeds no more after the finishing of it on the Cross; but it is wonderfully represented in heaven, and graciously represented here; by Christ's action there, by his commandment here; and the event of it is plainly this, that as Christ in virtue of his sacrifice on the cross intercedes for us with his Father; so does the Minister of Christ's Priesthood here, that the virtue of the eternal sacrifice may be salutary and effectual to all the needs of the Church both for things temporal, and eternal: and therefore it was not without great mystery and clear signification that our blessed Lord was pleased to command the representation of his death and sacrifice on the cross should be made by breaking bread and effusion of wine; to signify to us the nature and sacredness of the Liturgy we are about, and that we minister in the Priesthood of Christ; who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck; that is, we are Ministers in that unchangeable Priesthood imitating in the external Ministry, the prototype Melchisedeck: Of whom it is said, † Non sine mysterio, sine re, vel panis ad aram, Vel vinum fertur cui superaddis aquam. Utraque sub typico ritu, formaque futuri, Melchisedec Domino sacrificasse serunt. Hildebert. Cenoman. Melchisedec Domino panem vinumque litavit, Christus idem faciens, pactum vetus evacuavit. Hugo Card. — Rex ille Salem, qui munere tali, Mystica praemisit summi libamina Christi. Claud. Marian victor. lib. 3. in Genes. he brought forth bread and wine and was the Priest of the most high God; and in the internal imitating the antitype or the substance, Christ himself; who offered up his body and blood for atonement for us, and by the Sacraments of bread and wine, and the prayers of oblation and intercession commands us to officiate in his Priesthood, in the external ministering like Melchisedeck; in the internal after the manner of Christ himself. This is a great and a mysterious truth, which as it is plainly manifested in the Epistle to the Hebrews, so it is understood by the ancient and holy Doctors of the Church. So St. Ambrose. [Now Christ is offered, but he is offered as a man, as if he received his passion; but he offers himself as a Priest, that he may pardon our sins; here in image or representation, there in truth, as an Advocate interceding with his Father for us.] So St. Chrysostom; In Christ once the Sacrifice was offered, which is powerful to our eternal salvation; but what then do we? do not we offer every day? what we daily offer is at the memorial of his death, and the Sacrifice is one, not many; because Christ was once offered: but this Sacrifice is the example or representation of that. And another: Christ is not impiously slain by us, but piously sacrificed; and by this means we declare the Lords death till he come: for here through him we humbly do in earth, which he as a son who is heard according to his reverence, does powerfully for us in heaven, where as an advocate he intercedes with his Father, whose office or work it is; for us to exhibit and interpose his flesh which he took of us and for us, and as it were to press it upon his Father. To the same sense is the meditation of St. Austin: By this he is the Priest and the Oblation, the Sacrament of which he would have the daily Sacrifice of the Church to be; which because it is the body of that head, she learns from him to offer herself to God by him, who offered himself to God for her. And therefore this whole Office is called by St. Basil, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the prayer of oblation, the great Christian Sacrifice and Oblation in which we present our prayers and the needs of ourselves and of our brethren unto God in virtue of the great Sacrifice, Christ upon the Cross, whose memorial we then celebrate in a divine manner, by divine appointment. The effect of this I represent in the words of Lyra: [That which does purge and cleanse our sins must be celestial and spiritual, and that which is such hath a perpetual efficacy, and needs not to be done again; but that which is daily offered in the Church, is a daily commemoration of that one Sacrifice which was offered on the Cross, according to the command of Christ, Do this in commemoration of me.] Now this holy Ministry and Sacrament of this death, being according to Christ's commandment and in our manner a representation of the eternal Sacrifice, an imitation of Christ's intercession in heaven in virtue of that Sacrifice, must be after the pattern in the Mount, it must be as that is, pur â prece, as Tertullia's phrase, is by pure prayer; it is an intercession for the whole Church present and absent in the virtue of that Sacrifice. I need add no more, but leave it to the meditation, to the joy and admiration of all Christian people to think, and to enumerate the blessings of this Sacrament, which is so excellent a representation of Christ's death, by Christ's commandment; and so glorious an imitation of that intercession which Christ makes in heaven for us all; it is all but the representment of his death, in the way of prayer and interpellation; Christ as head, and we as members; he as High Priest, and we servants as his Ministers: and therefore I shall stop here, and leave the rest for wonder and Eucharist: we may pray here with all the solemnity and advantages imaginable; we may with hope and comfort use the words of David, I will take the cup of salvation, Psal. 116. and call upon the name of the Lord: we are here very likely to prevail for all blessings, * Hinc ergo pensemus quale sit hoc sacramentum, quod pro absolutione nostrâ passionem unigeniti filii imitetur. Quis n. fidelium habere dubium posset in ipsâ immolationis horâ ad Sacerdotis vo●●m coelos aperiri, in illo Jesu Christi mysterio angelorum choros ●●lesse: S. Gregor. in homil. Paschali. for this is by way of eminency, glory, and singularity, Calix benedictionis, the cup of blessing which we bless, and by which God will bless us, and for which he is to be blessed for evermore. 5. By the means of this Sacrament our bodies are made capable of the resurrection to life and eternal glory. For when we are externally and symbolically in the Sacrament, and by faith and the spirit of God internally united to Christ, and made partakers of his body and his blood, we are joined and made one with him who did rise again; and when the head is risen, the members shall not see corruption for ever, but rise again after the pattern of our Lord. If by the Sacrament we are really united and made one with Christ, than it shall be to us in our proportion as it was to him; we shall rise again, and we shall enter into glory. But it is certain we are united to Christ by it; we eat his body and drink his blood Sacramentally by our mouths, and therefore really and spiritually by our spirits and by spiritual actions cooperating. * Humana enim caro quae erat peccato mortua, carnin mundae unita, incorporata, unum cum illâ effecta, vivit de spiritu ejus, sicut unum corpus de suo spiritu, St. Aug. Epist. ad Iren. Condescendens Deus nostris fragilitatibus, influit oblatis vim vitae convertens ea in veritatem propriae carnis, ut corpus vitae quasi quoddam semen vivificativum inveniatur in nobis. 8. Cyril. ad Calosyrium. St. Cyril. l. 11. in Johan. c. 26. Christus suo corpore per communionem mysticam benedicens credentibus & secum & inter nos unum corpus efficit. de Trinit. lib. 8. For what good will it do us to partake of his body, if we do not also partake of his spirit? but certain it is, if we do one, we do both; cum naturalis per sacramentum proprietas perfectae sacramentum sit unitatis, as St. Hilaries expression is; the natural propriety, viz the outward elements by the Sacrament, that is, by the institution and blessing of God, become the Sacrament of a perfect unity, which beside all the premises is distinctly affirmed in the words of the Apostle; we which are sanctified, and he which sanctifies are all of one; and again, the bread which we break, is it not the communication of the body of Christ; and the cup which we drink is it not the communication of the blood of Christ? plainly saying, that by this holy ministry we are joined and partake of Christ's body and blood, and then we become spiritually one body, and therefore shall receive in our bodies all the effects of that spiritual union; the chief of which in relation to our bodies, is resurrection from the grave. And this is expressly taught by the Ancient Church. So St. Irenaeus teaches us. As the bread which grows from the earth, Lib. 4. c. 34. St. Clem. Alex. lib. 2. paedag. c. 2. Bibere Jesu sanguinem est participem esse incorruptionis Domini. lib. 5. receiving the calling of God, (that is, blessed by prayer and the word of God) is not now common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two things, an earthly, and an heavenly: so also our bodies receiving the Eucharist, are not now corruptible, but have the hope of resurrection. And again, when the mingled chalice and the made bread receives the word of God viz. is consecrated and blessed, it is made the Eucharist of the body and blood of Christ out of those things by which our body is nourished, and our substance does consist: and how shall any one deny that the flesh is capable of the gift of God, which is eternal life, which is nourished by the body and blood of Christ? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Epist. ad Ephes. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And St. Ignatius calls the blessed Eucharist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; the medicine of immortality, for the drink is his blood who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, incorruptible love and eternal life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so the Fathers of the Nicene Council; the symbols of our resurrection, the meat nourishing to immortality and eternal life, so Cyril of Alexandria; for this is to drink the blood of Jesus, to be partakers of the Lords incorruptibility, said St. Clement. For bread is food, and blood is life; but we drink the blood of Christ, himself commanding us that together with him, we may by him be partakers of eternal life; So St. Cyprian, aut quicunque sit author Sermon. de coenâ Domini. 6. Because this is a ministry of grace by bodily ceremonies, and conveys spiritual blessings by temporal ministrations; there is something also of temporal regard directly provided for our bodies by the holy Sacrament. It sometimes is a means in the hand of God for the restoring and preserving respectively of our bodily health, and secular advantages: I will not insist upon that of St. Gorgonia▪ who being oppressed with a violent headache, threw herself down before the holy Table where the Sacrament was placed, and prayed with passion and pertinacy till she obtained relief and ease in that very place: Nor that of St. Ambrose, who having trod upon a Gentleman's foot afflicted with the gout, in the time of ministration, gave him the holy smbols, and told him it was good for his sickness also, and that he presently found his cure. I myself knew a person of great sanctity, who was afflicted to death's door with a vomiting, and preparing herself to death by her viaticum the holy Sacrament, to which she always bore a great reverence, she was infinitely desirous and yet equally fearful to receive it, lest she should reject that by her infirmity which in her spirit she passionately longed for; but her desire was the greater passion, and prevailed; she received it, and swallowed it, and after great and earnest reluctancy being forced to cast it up, in zeal and with a new passion took it in again, and then retained it, and from that instant speedily recovered, against the hope of her Physician, and the expectation of all her friends. God does miracles every day; and he who with spittle and clay cured the blind man's eyes, may well be supposed to glorify himself by the extraordinary contingences and Sacramental contacts of his own body. But that which is most famous and remarked is, that the Austrian Family do attribute the rise of their House to the present Grandeur, to W●lliam Earl of Hasburgh, and do acknowledge it to be a reward of his piety in the venerable treatment and usage of these Divine mysteries. It were easier to heap together many rare contingences and miraculous effects of the holy Sacrament, than to find faith to believe them nowadays; and therefore for this whole affair I rely upon the words of Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 11.26. affirming that God sent sicknesses and sundry kinds of death to punish the Corinthian irreverent treatment of the Blessed Sacrament; and therefore it is not to be deemed, but that life and health will be the consequent of our holy usages of it: for if by our fault it is a savour of death; it is certain, by the blessing and intention of God it is a favour of life. But of these things in particular we have no promise, and therefore such events as these cannot upon this account of faith and certain expectations be designed by us in our communions. If God please to send any of them, as sometimes he hath done, it is to promote his own glory and our value of the Blessed Sacrament the great ministry of salvation. Haec sumpta & hausta faciunt ut nos in Christo & Christus in nobis sit. lib. 8. de Trinit. habetur de consecrat. dist. 7. The sum of all I represent in these few words of St. Hilary. These holy mysteries being taken, cause that Christ shall be in us, and we in Christ; and if this be more than words; we need no further inquiry into the particulars of blessing consequent to a worthy communion, for if God hath given his Son unto us, how shall not he with him give us all things else? nay all things that we need are effected by this, said St. Clement of Alexandria, one of the most ancient Fathers of the Church of Christ: Eucharistia qui per fidem sunt participes, lib. 2. paed. c. 2. sanctifi●antur & corpore & animâ: They who by faith are partakers of the Eucharist are sanctified both in body and in soul. Fonte renascentes membris & sanguine Christi Vescimur, atque ideo templum Deitatis habemur. Sedul. How great therefore and how illustrious benefits (it is the meditation of St. Eusebius Emissenus) does the power of the Divine blessing produce? you ought not to esteem it strange and impossible; for how earthly and mortal things are converted into the substance of Christ, ask thyself, who art regenerated in Christ: Not long since, thou wast a stranger from life, a pilgrim and wanderer from mercy, and being inwardly dead thou wert banished from the way of life. On a sudden being initiated in the laws of Christ, and renewed by the Mysteries of Salvation, thou didst pass suddenly into the body of the Church not by seeing, but by believing, and from a son of perdition, thou hast obtained to be adopted a son of God by a secret purity: remaining in a visible measure, thou art invisibly made greater than thyself, without any increase of quantity, thou art the same thou wert, and yet very much another person in the progression of Faith, to the outward nothing is added, but the inward is wholly changed, and so a man is made the son of Christ, and Christ is form in the mind of a man. As therefore suddenly without any bodily perception, the former vileness being laid down, on the sudden thou hast put on a new dignity, and this that God hath done, that he hath cured thy wounds, washed off thy stains, wiped away thy spots, is trusted to thy discerning, not thy eyes: so when thou ascendest the reverend altar to be satisfied with spiritual food, by faith regard, honour, admire the holy body of God, touch it with thy mind, take it with the hand of thy heart even with the draught of the whole inward man: SECT. V. Practical conclusions from the preceding Discourses. THe first I represent in the words of St. Augustin, Tract. 17. in Johan. Contenti sint ad venera●ionem figuris defendentibus a vilitate secretam. Macrob. in somn. Scip. l. 1. c. 2. who reduces this whole doctrine to practice in these excellent words [let this whole affair thus far prevail with us that we may eat the flesh, [and drink] the blood of Christ, not only in the Sacrament, which many evil persons do; but let us eat and drink unto the participation of the spirit; that as members we may abide in the Lord's body, that we may be quickened by his spirit; and let us not be scandalised because many do temporally eat and drink with us, who yet in the end shall find eternal torments] that is; let us remember that the exterior ministry is the least part of it; and externally and alone it hath in it nothing excellent, as being destitute of the sanctity that God requires, and the grace that he does promise, and it is common to wicked men and good: but when the signs and the thing signified, when the prayers of the Church and the spirit of God, the word and the meaning, the sacrament and the grace do concur; than it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is a venerable cup, and full of power, St. Chrysost. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and more honourable than all our possessions, it is a holy thing saith Origen and appointed for our sanctification. For Christ in the Sacrament is Christ under a vail: as without the hand of faith we cannot take Christ, so we must be sure to look here with an eye of faith, and whatsoever glorious thing is said of the holy Sacrament; it must be understood of the whole Sacrament, body and spirit, that is, the Sacramental and the spiritual Communion. 2. Let no man be less confident in his holy faith and persuasion concerning the great blessings and glorious effects which God designs to every faithful and obedient soul in the communication of these Divine mysteries, by reason of any difference of judgement which is in the several Schools of Christians concerning the effects and consequent blessings of this Sacrament. For all men speak honourable things of it, except wicked persons, and the scorners of Religion, and though of several persons like the beholders of a dove walking in the sun, as they stand in several aspects and distances, some see red and others purple, and yet some perceive nothing but green, but all allow and love the beauties: so do the several forms of Christians, according as they are instructed by their first teachers, or their own experience conducted by their fancy and proper principles, look upon these glorious mysteries some as virtually containing the reward of obedience, some as solemnities of thanksgiving and records of blessings, some as the objective increasers of faith, others as the Sacramental participations of Christ, others as the acts & instruments of natural union, yet all affirm some great things or other of it, and by their differences confess the immensity and the glory. For thus Manna represented to every man the taste that himself did like, but it had in its own potentiality all those tastes and dispositions eminently, and altogether, those feasters could speak of great and many excellencies, and all confessed it to be enough, and to be the food of Angels: so it is here, it is that to every man's faith, which his faith wisely apprehends; and though there are some who are of little faith, and such receive but a less proportion of nourishment, yet by the very use of this Sacrament the appetite will increase, and the apprehensions grow greater, and the faith will be more confident and instructed; and then we shall see more, and feel more. For this holy nutriment is not only food, but physic too, and although to him who believes great things of his Physician, and of his medicine, it is apt to do the more advantage; yet it will do its main work, even when we understand it not, and nothing can hinder it; but direct infidelity, or some of its foul and deformed ministers. 3. They who receive the blessed Sacrament must not suppose that the blessings of it, are effected as health is by physic, or warmth by the contact and neighbourhood of fire; but as music one way affects the soul, and witty discourses another, and joyful tidings a way differing from both the former, so the operations of the Sacrament are produced by an energy of a nature entirely differing from all things else; But however it is done, the thing that is done is this, no grace is there improved, but what we bring along with us: no increases but what we exercise; we must bring faith along with us, and God will increase our faith, we must come with charity, and we shall go away with more, we must come with truly penitential hearts, and to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly: he shall be a better penitent: when he hath eaten the sacrifice that was slain for our sins, and died in the body, that we might live in the spirit and die no more. For he is the bread from heaven, he is the grain of wheat which falling into the earth, unless it dies it remains alone, but if it dies, it brings forth fruit and brings it forth abundantly. 4. Although the words, the names, and sayings concerning the Blessed Sacrament are mysterious and inexplicable, yet they do, nay, therefore wear sure they signify some great thing, they are in the very expression beyond our understanding, & therefore much more are the things themselves too high for us: but therefore we are taught three things. 1. To walk humbly with our God, that is, in all intercourses with him to acknowledge the infinite distance between his immensity and our nothing; his wisdom and our ignorance; his secrets and our apprehensions; he does more for us than we can understand. It was an excellent saying of Aristotle which Seneca reports of him, Nunquam nos verecundiores esse debere, quam cum de Diis agitur, we ought never to be more bashful and recollect, than when we are to speak any thing of God. Timidè de pot●state Deorum, & pauca dicenda sunt, said Cicero, Denat. Deor. we must speak of his power and glory, timorously and sparingly, with joyfulness and singleness or simplicity of heart, so the first Christians eat their Bread, their Eucharist, so we understand the words of St. Luke. 2. To walk charitably with our disagreeing brother, that this may be indeed a Sacrament of charity, and not to wonder if he be mistaken in his discourses of that which neither he nor you can understand. 3. Though it be hard to be understood: yet we must be careful that with simplicity we admire the secret, and accept the mystery; but at no hand by pride or ignorance, by interest or vanity to wrest this mystery, to ignoble senses, or to evil events, or to dangerous propositions, or to our own damnation. 5. Whatever propositons any man shall entertain in his manner of discoursing of these mysteries; let him be sure to take into his notice and memory, those great appellatives with which the purest ages of the Church, the most ancient Liturgies, and the most eminent Saints of God use to adorn and invest this great mysteriousness. In the Greek Liturgy attributed to St. James; the Sacramental Symbols are called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. sanctified, honourable, precious, celestial, unspeakable, incorruptible, glorious, fearful, formidable, divine; in the use of which Epithets, as we have the warranty and consent of all the Greek Churches since they ever had a Liturgy; so we are taught only to have reverend usages and religious apprehensions of the Divine mysteries, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Lib. 8. contr. Celsum. but if by any appellative we can learn a duty, it is one of the best ways of entering into the secret. To which purpose the ages Primitive and Apostolical did use the word Eucharist: the name and the use we learn from Origen; the Bread which is called the Eucharist, is the Symbol of our thanksgiving towards God. But it is the great and most usual appellative for the holy Supper; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we find in * Epist. ad Smyr. Ignatius, St. Clemens. Justin Martyr, the Syrian Paraphrast, Origen, and ever after amongst the Greeks, a●d afterwards amongst the Latins. By him we understand that then we receive great blessings, since ●he very mystery itself obliges us to great thankfulness. I have instanced in this as an example to the use of the other Epithets and appellatives which from Antiquity I have enumerated. Sect. 1. of this Chap. 6. He that desires to enter furthest into the secrets of this mystery, Ecclus. 21.11. and to understand more than others, can better learn by love * Nam animalis homo, ho● est, qui sequitur cogitationes humanas & animales sive naturales, non est capax eorum, quae sunt supra naturam, & spiritualium, atque ita & spiritualem esum carnis Dominicae non intelligit, cujus qui non sunt participes, non erunt participes aeternae vi●ae. Theophylact in cap. 6. Joh. than by inquiry. He that keepeth the law of the Lord getteth the understanding thereof, saith the wise Bensirach; if he will prepare himself diligently, and carefully observe the dispensations of the Spirit, and receive it humbly, and treat it with great reverence, and dwell in the communion of Saints, and pass through the mystery with great devotion and purest simplicity, and converse wi●h the purities of the Sacrament frequently, ●nd with holy intention, this man shall understand more by his experience, than the greatest Clerk's can by all their subtleties, the commentaries of the Doctors, and the glosses of inquisitive men: Obey and ye shall understand, said the Prophet: and our blessed Saviour assured us, Joh. 8.31, 32. that if we continue in his word, than we shall know the truth; and if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or no. For we have not turned from our iniquities, that we might understand the truth, said Daniel: Ecclus. 25 11. for the love of the Lord (saith the wise man) passeth all things for illumination. 7. Let no man advance the preaching of the word of God, to the disparagement. or to occasion the neglect of the Sacraments. For though it be true, that faith comes by hearing; yet it is not intended that by hearing alone faith is engendered; for the faith of the Apostles came by seeing; and St. Paul's faith did not come by hearing; but by intuition and revelation; and hearing in those words of St. Paul does not signify the manner of ministration; 1 Joh. 1.1. but the whole Oeconomie of the word of God, the whole office of preaching; which is done most usefully to babes and strangers by sermon and homily, but more gloriously and illustriously to men, by Sacraments. But however, be it so or otherwise; yet one ordinance ought not to exclude the other, much less to disparage the other, and least of all to undervalue that which is the most eminent: but rather let every Christian man and woman think; that if the word ministered by the spirit is so mighty, it must be more, when the word and the spirit join with the Sacrament, which is their proper significatorie. He that is zealous for the word of God does well; but let him remember, that the word of God is a goodly ring and leads us into the circles of a blessed eternity; but because the Sacrament is not without the word, they are a jewel encha'sd in gold when they are together. The Ministeries of the Gospel are all of a piece; they, though in several manners, work the same salvation by the conduct of the s●me spirit. 8. Let no man in the reception of the Sacrament, and in his expectation of blessings and events from it, limit his hopes and belief to any one particular, for that will occasion a littleness of faith, and may make it curious, scrupulous and fantastical; rather let us adore the secret of God, and with simple expectations receive it; disposing ourselves to all the effects that may come rather with fear and indefinite apprehensions, than with dogmatical and confident limitations; for this may beget scruples and diminution of value; but that hinders nothing, but advances the reverential treatments and opinion. 9 He that guesses at the excellency and power of the Sacrament, by the events that himself feels; must be sure to look for no other than what are eminently or virtually contained in it; that is, he must not expect that the Sacrament will make him rich; or discover to him stolen goods, or cure the Toothache, or Countercharm Witches, or appease a Tempest if it be thrown into the Sea. These are such events which God hath not made the effects of religion; but are the hopes and expectations of vain and superstitious people. and I remember that Pope Alexander the third in the Council of Lateran wrote to the Bishop of S. Agatha advice how to treat a woman who took the Holy Sacrament into her mouth, and ran with it to kiss her husband, Concil. Later. part 50. cap. 30 hoping by that means to procure her husbands more intense affection. But the story tells that she was chastised by a miracle, and was not cured but by a long and severe repentance. 10. He that watches for the effects and blessings of the Sacrament, must look for them in no other manner, than what is agreeable to the usual dispensation; we must not look for them by measures of nature and usual expectations: not that as soon as we have received the Symbols, we shall have our doubts answered; or be comforted in our spirit as soon as we have given thanks for the holy blood; or be satisfied in the inquiries of faith, as soon as the prayers of consecration and the whole ministry is ended; or prevail in our most passionate desires as soon as we rise from our knees; for we enter into the blessings of the Sacrament by prayer, and the exercise of proper graces; both which being spiritual instruments of virtues, work after the manner of spiritual things; that is, not by any measure we have, but as God please; only that in the last event of things, and when they are necessary, we shall find them there: God's time is best, but we must not judge his manner by our measures, nor measure eternity by time, or the issues of the spirit, by a measuring line. The effects of the Sacrament are to be expected as the effect of prayers: not one prayer or one solemn meeting, but persevering and passionate, fervent and lasting prayers; a continual desire and a daily address is the way of prevailing In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, Eccles. 11.6. for thou knowest not whether sh●ll prosper▪ either this or that, or whether they shall be both alike good. 11. He that looks for the effects and blessings told of to be appendent to the Sacrament, must expect them upon no other terms, but such as are the conditions of a worthy Communion. If thou dost find thy faith as dead after the reception as it was before; it may be it is because thy faith was not only little, but reprovable: or thou didst not pray vehemently, or thou art indisposed by some secret disadvantage: or thou hast not done thy duty: and he shall imprudently accuse that physic for useless and unfit, that is not suffered to work by the incapacity, the ill-diet, the weak stomach, or some evil accident of the patient. 12. Let no man judge of himself or of the blessings and efficacy of the Sacrament itself, or of the prosperity and acceptation of his service in this ministry by any sensible relish, by the gust and deliciousness which he sometimes perceives, and other times does not perceive For these are fine accidents and given to some persons often, to others very seldom, to all irregularly, as God please: and sometimes are the effects of natural and accidental dispositions, and sometimes are illusions. But that no man may fall into inconvenience for want of them: we are to consider that the want of them proceeds from divers causes. 1. It may be the palate of the Soul is indisposed by listlesness or sorrow, anxiety or weariness. 2. It may be we are too much immerged in secular affairs and earthly affections. 3. Or we have been unthankful to God when we have received some of these spiritual pleasures, and he therefore withdraws those pleasant entertainments. 4. Or it may be, we are therefore without relish and gust, because the Sacrament is too great for our weakness, like the bright Sun to a mortal eye; the object is too big for our perceptions, and our little faculties. 5. Sometimes God takes them away lest we be lifted up and made vain. 6. Sometimes for the confirmation and exercise of our faith; that we may live by faith and not by sense. 7. Or it may be that by this dryness of spirit God intends to make us the more fervent and resigned in our direct and solemn devotions, by the perceiving of our wants and weakness, and in the infinite inability, and insufficiency of ourselves. 8. Or else it happens to us irremediably and inevitably, that we may perceive these accidents are not the fruits of our labour, but gifts of God, dispensed wholly by the measures of his own choice. 9 The want of just and severe dispositions to the Holy Sacrament may possibly occasion this uncomfortableness. 10. Or we do not relish the Divine Nutriment now, so as at other times, for want of spiritual mastication, that is, because we have not considered deeply, and meditated wisely and holily. 11. Or there is in us too much self-love and delight in, and adherence to the comforts we find in other objects. 12. Or we are careless of little sins, and give too much way to the daily incursions of the smaller irregularities of our lives. If upon the occasion of the want of these sensible comforts and delightful relishes, we examine the causes of the want, and suspect ourselves in these things, where our own faults may be the causes, and there make amends; or if we submit ourselves in those particulars where the causes may relate to God, we shall do well, and receive profit. But unless our own sin be the cause of it, we are not to make any evil judgement of ourselves by reason of any such defect; much less diminish our great value of the blessings consequent to a worthy communion. 13. But because the pardon of sins is intended to be the great effect of a worthy Communion, and of this men are most solicitous, and for this they pray passionately, and labour earnestly, and almost all their lives, and it may be in the day of their death have uncertain souls; and therefore of this men are most desirous to be satisfied, if they apprehend themselves in danger, that is, if they be convinced of their sin, and be truly penitent; although this effect seems to be least discernible, and to be a secret reserved for the publication and trumpet of the Archangel at the day of Doom; yet in this we can best be satisfied. For because when our sins are unpardoned, we are under the wrath of God to be expressed as he pleases, and in the method of eternal death; now if God intends not to pardon us, he will not bless the means of pardon; if we shall not return to his final pardon, we shall not pass through the intermedial; if he will never give us glory, he will never give us the increase of grace. If therefore we repent of our sins, and pray for pardon: if we confess them and forsake them: if we fear God and love him: if we find that our desires to please him do increase, that we are more watchful against sin, and hate it more: that we are thirsty after righteousness: if we find that we increase in duty, than we may look upon the tradition of the holy Sacramental Symbols as a direct consignation of pardon: not that it is them completed; for it is a work of time, it is as long in doing as repentance is in perfecting, it is the effect of that, depending on its cause in a perpetual operation; but it is then working, and if we go on in duty, God will proceed to finish the methods of his grace, and snatch us from eternal death which we have deserved, and bring us unto glory. And this he is pleased by the Sacramental all the way to consign: God speaks not more articulately in any voice from Heaven than in such real indications of his love and favour. 14. Lastly, since the Sacrament is the great solemnity of prayer, and imitation of Christ's intercession in Heaven; let us here be both charitable and religious in our prayers; interceding for all states of men and women in the Christian Church; and representing to God all the needs of ourselves and of our Relatives. For than we pray with all the advantages of the spirit, when we pray in the faith of Christ crucified, in the love of God and of our neighbour, in the advantages of solemn piety, in the communion of Saints, in the imitation of Christ's intercession, and in the union with Christ himself Spiritual and Sacramental; and to such prayers as these nothing can be added, but that which will certainly come, that is, a blessed hearing and a gracious answer. SECT. III. Devotions preparatory to this Mystery. Ejaculations. I. 1. I Will praise thee with my whole heart; before the Angels will I sing praise unto thee. 2. I will worship towards thy holy Temple, and praise thy Name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth; for thou hast magnified above all thy name, the word of thy praise. 3. In the day when I call upon thee, thou shalt answer: and shalt multiply strength in my soul. 4. How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God: how great is the sum of them! The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy O Lord endureth for ever. 5. I wait for the Lord: my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. 6. My soul doth wait for the Lord more than they that keep the morning watches: that they may observe the time of offering the morning sacrifices. 7. O let my soul hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption: he shall redeem his people from all iniquity. II. 1. Our Lord is gentle and just: our God is merciful. 2. The Lord keepeth the simple: I was humbled, but the Lord looked after my redemption. 3. O my soul, return thou unto thy rest: because the Lord hath restored his good things unto thee. 4. He hath snatched my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling: I will therefore walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 5. I have believed, therefore will I speak: in the assemblies of just men I will greatly praise the Lord. 6. What shall I return unto the Lord: all his retributions are repaid upon me. 7. I will bear the chalice of redemptions in the Kingdom of God: and in the name of the Lord I will call upon my God. III. 1. I will pay my vows unto the Lord: I will then show forth his Sacraments unto all the people. 2. Honourable before the Lord is the death of his holy one: and thereby thou hast broken all my chains. 3. I have sworn, and I will perform it: that I will keep thy righteous judgements. 4. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth: yea I will praise him among the multitude. 5. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor: to save him from them that condemn his soul. 6. His work is honourable and glorious, and his righteousness remaineth for ever: He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. 7. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion: he hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant: he hath showed his people the power of his works, blessed be God. The Prayers to be used in any day or time of preparation to the Holy Sacrament. I. O Thou shepherd of Israel, thou that feedest us like sheep; thou makest us to lie down in pleasant pastures, and leadest us by the still waters running from the clefts of the rock, from the wounds of our Lord, from the fountains of salvation; thou preparest a table for us, and anointest our heads with the unction from above, and our cup runneth over: let the blood of thy wounds, and the water of thy side, wash me clean, that I may with a pure clean soul come to eat of the purest sacrifice, the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world. II. THou givest thyself to be the food of our souls in the wonders of the Sacrament, in the faith of thy Word, in the blessings and graces of thy Spirit: Perform that in thy Servant, which thou hast prepared and effected in thy Son; strengthen my infirmities, heal my sicknesses; give me strength to subdue my passions, to mortify my inordinations, to kill all my sin: increase thy Graces in my soul; enkindle a bright devotion; extinguish all the fires of hell, my lust and my pride, my envy, and all my spiritual wickednesses; pardon all my sins, and fill me with thy Spirit, that by thy Spirit thou mayst dwell in me, and by obedience and love I may dwell in thee, and live in the life of grace till it pas● on to glory and immensity, by the power and the blessings, by the passion and intercession of the Word incarnate; whom I adore, and whom I love, and whom I will serve for ever and ever. III. O Mysterious God, ineffable and glorious Majesty; what is this that thou hast done to the sons of men? thou hast from thy bosom sent thy Son to take upon him our nature; in him thou hast opened the fountains of thy mercy, and hast invited all penitent sinners to come to be pardoned, all the oppressed to be eased, all the sorrowful to be comforted, all the sick to be cured, all the hungry to be filled, and the thirsty to be refreshed with the waters of life, and sustained with the wine of elect souls; admit me, O God, to this great effusion of loving kindness, that I may partake of the Lord Jesus, that by him I may be comforted in all my griefs, satisfied in all my doubts; healed of all the wounds of my soul, and the bruises of my spirit; and being filled with the bread of heaven, and armed with the strength of the Spirit; I may begin, continue, and finish my journey thorough this valley of tears, unto my portion of thy heavenly kingdom, whither our Lord is gone before to prepare a place for every loving and obedient soul. Grant this, O Eternal God, for his sake who died for us, and intercedes for us, and gives himself daily to us, our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus. Amen. CHAP. II. Of our General Preparation to the worthy Reception of the Blessed Sacrament, and the participation of the Mysteries. IN all the Scriptures of the New Testament there are no words of particular duty relating to the Blessed Sacrament, and expressing the manner of our address to the Mysteries, but those few words of St. Paul, Let a man examine himself, 1 Cor. 11.20. and so let him eat. The Apostle expresses one duty, and intimates another. The duty of preparation is expressed: but because this is a relative duty, and is not for itself, but for something beyond, he implies the other to be the great duty to which this preparation does but minister. 1. A man must examine himself. 2. And a man must eat. A man must not eat of these Mysteries till he be examined; for that were dangerous, and may prove fatal: but when a man is examined, he must eat; for else that examinations were to no purpose. SECT. I. Of Examination of ourselves in order to the Holy Communion. THere is no duty in Christianity that is partly solemn and partly moral, that hath in it more solemnity and more morality than this one duty; and in the greatest declension of Religion, still men have fear when they come to receive this holy Sacrament. They that have no Religion will fear when they come to die; and they who have but a little, will fear when they come to communicate. But although men who believe this to be the greatest secret and sacredness of our Religion, do more in their addresses to this than to any thing else, yet many of them that do come, consider that they are only commanded to examine themselves; and that according to the ordinary methods is easily done. It is nothing but ask ourselves a few questions: Do I believe? Do I repent? and am I in charity? To these the answers are ready enough; I do believe that Christ gave his body and blood for me, as for all mankind; and that Christ is mystically present in the Sacrament: I have been taught so all my life, and I have no reason to doubt it. 2. I do also repent according to the measures I am taught: I am sorry I have sinned, I wish I had not done it; and I promise to do so no more: and this I do constantly before every Communion; and before the next comes I have reason enough to renew my vows; I was never so good as my word yet, but now I will. 3. I am also in charity with all the World; and against this good time, I pray to God to forgive them; for I do. This is the usual examination of Consciences; to which we add a fasting day, and on that we may say more prayers than usual; and read some good discourses of the Sacrament; and then we are dressed like the friends of the Bridegroom, and with confidence come to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. But this examination, hath itself need to be examined. Noah laboured a hundred years together in making the Ark that he and a few more might be saved: and can we think in an hour to prepare our souls for the entertainment of him that made all the World? This will very hardly be done. For although our duty of preparation is contained in this one word, of [Try, or Examine] it being after the manner of mysteries, mysteriously and secretly described, yet there is great reason to believe that there is in it very much duty, and therefore we search into the secret of the word, and to what purposes it is used in the New-Testament. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. It signifies to try and search, to enter into the depths and secrets, the varieties and separations and divisibilities of things. The word is taken from the tryers of Gold: which is tried by the touchstone; and in great cases, is tried by the fire. And in this sense St. Paul might relate to the present condition of the Christians, who were often under a fiery trial For the holy Communion being used by the Primitive Christians according to its intention, was indeed a great consolation to the Martyrs and Confessors, as appears often in St. Cyprian: Non edit Israel sine amaris caulibus agnum, Tolle tuam, Christum qui cupis esse, crucem, Quos amat, aerumnis etenim Deus angit, at illis Foetior exhausto palma labore venit. and this blessing and design was mystically represented to the Church in the circumstance of the institution, in being done immediately before the passion: they who were to pass through this fiery trial, Lib. de lapsis. & Epist. 54. Nunc non infirmis sed fortibus pax necessaria est; nec morientibus, sed viventibus communicatio à nobis danda est: ut quos excitamus & hortamur ad praelium, non inermes & nudos relinquamus: sed protectione sanguinis & corporis Christi muniamus: & cum ad hoc fiat Eucharistia, ut possit accipientibus esse tutela, quos tutos esse contra adversarium volumus, munimento Dominicae saturiritatis armemus. aught to examine themselves against this solemnity in order to that last trial, and see whether or no they were vessels of sanctification and honour; for none else were fit to communicate but they also that were fit to die; Christ would give himself to none but to them who are ready to give themselves for him; according to that saying of Christ, * Revel. 3.20, 21. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me etc. That is, those who are tried by the experiments of a great love, and a great patience, that out of love are willing to suffer, and with patience do suffer unto the end; — sit laurea justis Ex pretio quod terror agit, mansuraque virtus Crescit in ad versis, quae testibus usa periclis Ad meritum discrimen habet Arat. Diacon. lib. 2. in acta. these are the guests at my heavenly Table: for labour and affrightment put a price upon the Martyr's Crown, while his virtue grows in danger, and like the water-plants ever grow higher than the Floods. Now the use that we can make of this sense of the word is that we also are to examine what we are likely to be, or what we have been in the day of persecution; how we have passed through the fire? Did we contract the smell of fire, or the pollution of smoke? or are we improved by the purification of the discerning flames? Did we do our duties then, and then learn to do them better? or did we then only like glass, bend in all the flexures and mobilities of the flame, and then mingle with the ashes, incorporating with the interests and foulest pollutions of the world? or were we like Gold, patient of the hammer, and approved by the stone of trial? like Gold in the fire, did we untwist ourselves from all complications and mixtures with impurer dross? certain it is, that by persecution and by money * Ecclus. 81.9. men are in all capacities and relations best examined how they are in their Religion and their Justice. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sometimes God tries his friends as we try one another, by the infelicities of our lives; when we are unhappy in our affliction, if we be not unhappy in our friend too, he is a right good one; and God will esteem of us so, if we can say with David, though thou hast smitten us into the place of Dragons, yet have we not forgotten thee; and my soul is always in my hand, that is, I am always in danger and trouble, and I bear death about me, yet do I not forsake thy Commandments. This indeed is God's way of Examination of us; but that's all one; for we must examine ourselves here in order to our duty, and state of being, as God will examine us hereafter in order to what we have been and done. And there is no greater testimony of our being fit to receive Christ, than when we are ready to die for him. But this is a final trial: we must have some steps of progression before we come thus far. 2. There is a way something less than this; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Lycurgus instituted among the Spartans', that the Princes, the Magistrates, the Soldiers and every Citizen that was capable of dignity should be tried; They examined their lives whether they had lived according to the rate of their employment or pretensions; and those who were so examined were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tried and examined men; and if they were persons quitting themselves like men, they were ascribed into the number of the good Citizens. That is our way, to try whether we be instructed and rightly prepared to this good work, and that is to be examined by a course and order of good works, that was the old and true way of examining. For examination is but a relative duty; and nothing of itself, for no man is the better for being examined if being examined there follows nothing after it. He that is examined, either must be approved, or else in St. Paul's phrase he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reprobate; and to what purpose is it that every man should examine himself, but in case that he find himself unfit, to abstain and forbear to come: for if he comes unworthy he dies for it; and therefore to Examine must signify; let every man examine himself so that he be approved; Rom. 14, 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Phil. 1.4, 10. Gal. 6.4. Ephes. 5.10. and so the word is used by St. Paul, Happy is he that doth not condemn himself in that which be approveth: The word signifies both to examine and to approve that is indeed to examine as wise men should; [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Suidas] it is all one as to judge righteous Judgement after due examination; and that is expressly added by the Apostle, in the same Chapter, after the precept of examination, judge yourselves that you be not judged of the Lord; that is, your examination of yourselves will prevent the horrors of the eternal scrutiny; your condemnation of your sins will prevent God's condemnation of you for them; and then when you examine so as to judge, and so condemn your sins that you approve yourselves to God and your own Consciences, than you have examined rightly. The sense than is this: Let a man examine and prove himself, whether he be fit to come to the holy Communion, and so let him eat: not so if upon examination he be found unfit: but because it is intended he should come, and yet must not come without due and just preparations, let him who comes to the holy Communion, be sure that he worthily prepare himself. These than are the great inquiries: 1. How a man shall so examine himself, as to know whether he be fit or no. 2. What are those necessary dispositions without which a man cannot be worthily prepared. The first will represent the general rules of preparation. The second inquiry will consider the more particular. SECT. II. Of the Examination of our desires. EVery one that comes to the holy Sacrament must have earnest affections and desires towards God and Religion, and particularly toward these Divine mysteries, and therefore he must examine accordingly whether or no he be willing and passionately desirous to do all his duty? His saying that he is so, I do not suppose to be a sufficient satisfaction to a serious inquiry, unless he really feels himself to be so. For we find that all men pretend that they have earnest desires to be saved; and very many espying the beauties of wisdom, the brightness of chastity, the health of temperance, the peace of meek persons, and the reputation an● joy of the charitable; wish that they were such excellent persons. But they consider not, that it is the splendour, not the virtue; the reputation, not the usefulness; the reward, and not the duty that they are in love withal: our desires of holiness are too often like our desires of being cut of the stone, or suffering caustics or cupping-glasses, an unwilling willingness, a hard and a fatal necessity, and therefore something of a consequent choice; since it can be no better, it must be no worse: but this can never make our duty pleasant, we can never be heartily reconciled to the things of God as long as we feel smart and pain in the ministeries of Religion: we suffer Religion, and endure the laws of God, but we love them not. He that comes to God whether he will or no, confesses the greatness of God and the demonstrations of Religion, but sees no amability and comeliness in it; and shall find as little of the reward. It is true that force and fear may bring us in to God; and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and Christ said, compel them to enter, and our natural needs, or our superinduced calamities may force us to run to God, and affright us into Religion as into a Sanctuary: but then if we enter at this door we must examine whether we be taken with the beauties of the interior house: does fear make us look, and does looking make us like? if holy desires, and love be not in the beginning or the progression, we shall do the work of grace pitifully, and our preparations coldly, and our attentions distractedly, and receive the Sacraments without effect. Now concerning our desires, we shall best judge of them by the proper effects and significations of desire. Signs and Indications of the sincerity and heartiness of our desires. Are his affections warm and earnest, inquisitive and longing, interested and concerned in the things of God? I do not say it is necessary that he find those passions and degrees of fierceness, which passionate persons find in sensual objects. But yet it is very fit that we inquire concerning those degrees and excesses of desire; not that he is unfit who finds them not; but that they who have them, can also receive comfort in their inquiry, and become examples to others and invite them forwards by the arguments of amability which they feel. But our passions and desires are so to be inquired of; that we find no rest in our souls concerning this question unless we do indeed set a high value upon these mysteries; and love to partake of them * Ut perdunt propriam mortalia corpora vitam, Si nequeunt escas sumere corporeas: Sic animae nisi deliciis rationis alantur Dum Verbi aeterni pane carent, pereunt. Namquid erit quod dira procul fastidia pellat Cum se ipso refugit mens saturare Deo▪ Prosper Epigr. and desire them reasonably, and without very great cause not to omit the opportunities which the Church gives and requires us to use, and to exceed the lowest measure of the law, for he that only communicates when he is commanded; communicates in obedience but not in love, for though obedience to God is love; yet our Obedience to man is most commonly fear; at least we cannot so well be sure that we are passionate enough, and have love enough to these mysteries, when the law of men, that is, when something without is our measure. For Ecclesiastical laws have necessity most commonly for their limit; and that is the least of all holy measures: less than their determination we cannot go and be innocent: but if we will make judgement concerning our love and our desires, we must frequent these holy mysteries by the measures and suggestion of something that is within, if it be love; it will have no measures but itself, and nothing can give it limits but the circumstances of things themselves and the possibilities of our persons and affairs. 2. Besides this coming upon necessity, our desires are very much to be suspected, if compliance and custom or reputation be the ingredients, and prevail above any better motive that can be observed. As force makes hypocrites, so favour and secular advantages make flatterers in Religion, and when a Prince or a Ruler, a Master of a Family or any one that hath power to oblige, is heartily religious, Religion will quickly be in fashion. Those persons which come upon such inducements are by our blessed Saviour signified by the parable of the corn that fell by the high way, they presently receive it with joy, and it springs quickly if the sun shines, but when persecution comes they hang the head, and slack their pace, and appear seldom, and show that they had no depth of root. These men serve God when Religion is rich and prosperous; they come to Christ for the loaves; but care but little for the mystery. As long as the Religion stays at this port, it is good for nothing, and the very entry itself is suspicious, fear is better than this, but if it pass on to create an effective and material love, it will be well at last. 3. They that are easily diverted from communicating and apt to be excused from the solemnity, these men have just cause to suspect their desires to be too cold to kindle the fires upon this altar, and to consume this sacrifice, they have not love, and come against their will, some men are hindered by every thing; if a stranger come to the house, if they be indisposed with a littlehead ache, if they have affairs of the world, if a neighbour be angry with them, if a merry meeting be appointed the day before; this is a suspicious indifferency and lukewarmness. They that are not desirous to use all opportunities and to take all advantages, and long for all the benefits, want very much of that hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God which is fulfilled in those mysteries, and to which Christ hath promised such ample satisfaction. I do not say that every man is bound to communicate every time that he can have it, and that it is lukewarmness not to desire it so often as it is in our power, but he that refuses it, when it is in his opportunity, when his circumstances are fitted, when by the measures of piety and Religion it is decent and useful to him to do it, (of which I shall afterwards give account) that man is guilty of a criminal indifference, and when he does come, may fear that he hath not spiritual hunger enough for so divine a banquet. 4. They that in their preparation take the least measures that are practised or allowed, and rest there and increase not, have neither value for the Sacrament, nor desires of the blessing, nor expectations of any fruit; and therefore cannot have this holy appetite in due proportion, because they see no sufficient moving cause; and they look for little, and find less, and therefore can never be true desirers: For he that thinks there is no great matter in it, will have no great stomach for it; and he that will do no great matter for it, certainly expects no great excellency in it: and such are all they that take the least measures of preparation, who therefore shall find the least measures of blessing; and in spiritual things that which is called positively the least, is just none at all; he that shall be called least in the kingdom, shall be quite shut out. This is an indifferency both in the cause and in the effect: They feel no great blessings consequent to their reception, and therefore their aff●ctions are cold; and because they are so, they shall for ever be without the blessing. 5. They only can be confident that their desires are right, who feel sharpnesses and zeal in their acts of love. For in spiritual things every abatement is by the mixture of the contrary; and therefore when things are indifferent, we cannot tell which shall be accepted or accounted of; and when there is as much evil as good, the evil is only abated, but the good is destroyed, and is not accepted: and therefore till the victory be clear and evident, we cannot have much comfort; but the strong desire is only certain and comfortable to the spirit. Great desires are a great pain; and the Spouse in the Canticles complains that she is sick of love, and then calls upon Christ to comfort her with flagons of wine. Less desires than the greatest, if they be real and effective of the work, are fit for such persons as are not the greatest in Religion: but in all spiritual progressions we are sure that our desires shall never cease growing, till they be full of God, and are swelled up to immensity; and till they come to some greatness, that they are like hunger and thirst, or like the breasts of a fruitful Nurse, full and in pain till they be eased, we cannot be so confident that things are well with us in this particular. Are we in trouble till we converse with our Lord in all the ways of spiritual intercourse? Do we rejoice when a Communion day comes? And is our joy fixed upon consideration of that holy necessity of doing good works at that time especially, and receiving the aids of Grace, and the helps of the Sacrament liberally? When it is thus, it is well; tha● we can be sure of: All measures of desire which are so little, that we can compare them to no natural similitude of earnestness and appetite, we can only say that they are yet very uncomfortable; and if we come often and pray that we may have lively relish and appetite to the Mysteries, it may be well in time; but as yet we cannot be sure that it is so. There is only in this case one help to our examination and our confidence: He that comes because God commands him, in a direct and certain obedience to the words of Christ, or in a deep sorrow for his sins, coming hither in hopes of remedy; or in a great apprehension of his infirmity, addressing himself hither for support and strength; this man, although he feels no sensual punctures and natural sharpnesses of desire, yet he comes well, and upon a right principle: For St. Austin reckoning what predisposition is necessary by way of preparation to the holy Sacrament, reckons hunger, and the sense of our sins and our infirmities; but if he wants the pleasure of these passionate indications, he must be careful that he be sure in the intellectual and religious choice; for that is the thing which is intended to be signified by all the exterior passions: but when he hath no sign, he must be the more careful he have the thing signified, and then all is right again. But happy is that soul which comes to these springs of salvation as the Hart to the water brooks, panting and thirsty, longing and passionate, weary of sin, and hating vanity, and reaching out the heart and hands to Christ; and this we are taught by the same Mystery represented under other Sacraments; the waters of the spiritual Rock of which our fathers drank in the wilderness; the Rock was Christ, and those waters were his blood in Sacrament: and with the same appetite they drank those Sacramental waters withal, we are to receive these divine Mysteries Evangelical. Now let us by the aids of memory and fancy consider the children of Israel in the wilderness, in a barren and dry land where no water was, marching in dust and fire, not wet with the dew of heaven, wholly without moisture save only what dropped from their own brows: the air was fire, and the vermin was fire; the flying serpents were of the same cognation with the firmament, their sting was a flame, their venom was a fever, and the fever a calenture, and their whole state of abode and travel was a little image of the day of judgement, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat: These men like Salamanders walking in fire, dry with heat, and scorched with thirst, and made yet more thirsty by calling upon God for water; suppose, I say, these thirsty souls hearing Moses to promise that he will smite the Rock, and that a River should break forth from thence; observe how presently they ran to the foot of the springing stone, thrusting forth their heads and tongues to meet the water, impatient of delay, crying out that the water did not move like light, all at once: and then suppose the pleasure of their drink, the unsatiableness of their desire, the immensity of their appetite; they took in as much as they could, and they desired much more. This was their Sacrament of the same Mystery, and this was their manner of receiving it; and this teaches us to come to the same Christ with the same desires: For if that water was a type of our Sacrament, or a Sacrament of the same secret blessing, than that thirst is a signification of our duty, that we come to receive Christ in all the ways of reception with longing appetites, preferring him before all the interests in the world, as birds do corn above jewels, or hungry men meat before long orations. For it is worth observing, that there being in the Old Testament thirteen Types and Umbrages of this holy Sacrament, eleven of them are of meat and drink: such are * the tree of life in the midst of Paradise, * the bread and wine of Melchisedeck, * the fine meal that Sarah kneaded for the Angel's entertainment, * the Manna, * and the roasted paschal Lamb (a) Sint desiderii post eseas pocula magni Praesertim, quia carnes assas sumpsimus agni Assa caro nobis facit ora magis sitibunda, Quam tenerae carnes, qua● mollis decoquit unda. Petrus Blesens. , * the springing Rock, * and the bread of proposition to be eaten by the Priests, * the barley cake in the host of Midian, * Sampsons' Father's oblation upon the rock, * the honeycomb that opened the eyes of Jonathan, * and the bread which the Angel brought to Elijah, in the strength of which he was to live forty days: all this to show, that the Sacrament is the life of the spiritual man, and the food of his soul, the light of his eyes, and the strength of his heart; and not only all this, and very much more of this nature, but to represent our duty also, and the great principle of preparation: Meat is the object and hunger is the address. The wine is the wine of Angels; but if you desire it not, what should you do with it? for the wine that is not to satisfy your need, can do nothing but first minister to vanity, and then to vice; first to wantonness, and then to drunkenness. St. Austin expressing the affections of his Mother Monica to the Blessed Sacrament, says, that her soul was by the ligatures of faith united so firmly to the Sacrifice which is dispensed in the Lord's Supper, that a Lion or a Dragon could not drag her away from thence, and it was said of St. Katherine, In acts Lovaniensibus dicitur de B. Idâ: ex ore & naribus fluere sanguinem solere, qui non sistebatur donec ad Sacram mensam se sisteret ad sedandum vehemens ejus communicandi cum eo quem ardenter amaverat desiderium. cap. 9 In Matth. cap. 26. hom. 83. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrys. hom. 24. in 1. ad Corinth. that she went to the Sacraments as a sucking infant to his mother's breasts: and this similitude St. Chrisostom presses elegantly, [See you not with what pretty earnestness and alacrity infants match their nurse's breast? how they thrust their lips into the flesh (like the sting of a Bee.) Let us approach to this Table with no less desire, and with no less suck the nipple of the holy Calais; yet with greater desire let us suck the grace of the holy Spirit.] And it is reported that our Blessed Lord taught St. Mechtildis, When you are to receive the holy Communion, desire and wish to the praise of my Name to have all desire and all love that ever was kindled in any heart towards me, and so come to me; for so will I inflame, and so will I accept thy love, not as it is, but as thou desirest it should be in thee. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden saith Christ: that is, they that groan under the burden of their sins, and feel the load of their infirmities, and desire pardon and remedy; they that love the instruments of grace as they are channels of Salvation: they that come to the Sacrament out of earnest desires to receive the blessings of Christ's death and of his intercession, these are the welcome guests: for so saith God, Luk. 1.53 Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it, for he hath filled the hungry with good things: said the holy Virgin Mother, for Christ is food and refreshment to none else: for the full he hath sent empty away. If therefore you understand your danger, and deeply resent the evil of your infirmities and sinful state; if you confess yourselves miserable and have all corresponding apprehensions; if ye long for remedy and would have it upon any terms; if you be hungry at your very heart, and would fain have food and Physic, health and spiritual advantages: if you understand what you need, and desire what you understand; if these desires be as great as they are reasonable, and as lasting as they are great; if they be as inquisitive as they are lasting, and as operative as they are inquisitive; that is, if they be just and reasonable pursuances of the means of grace; if they carry you by fresh and active appetites to the communion; and that this may be to purpose; if they fix you upon such methods as will make the Communion effect that which God designed and which we need, than we shall perceive the blessings and fruits of our holy desires: according to those words of David (as it is rendered in the vulgar Latin) the Lord hath heard the desire of the poor; Psa. 10. 1● and his ear hath harkened to the preparation of their heart. An earnest desire is a good preparation, and God will attend unto it. Concerning this therefore we are first to examine ourselves. Upon the account of our earnest desires, it is seasonable to inquire, whether to communicate frequently be an instance of that holy desire which we ought to have to these sacred Mysteries? and whether all men be bound to communicate frequently, and what measure is the safest and best in this inquiry? But because the answer to this depends upon some other propositions of differing matter; I reserve it to its proper place, Chap. 5. Sect. 4. where it will be a consequent of those propositions. SECT. III. Of our Examination concerning Remanent Affections to Sin. HE that desires communicate worthily, must examine himself whether there be not in him any affection to sin remaining. This examination is not any part of repentance, but a trial of it; for of preparatory repentance I shall give larger accounts in its own place: but now we are to try whether that duty be done, that if it be we may come; if not, we may be remanded, and go away till we have performed it: For he that comes must have repent first; but now he is to be examined whether he have or no done that work so materially, that it is also prosperously; that is, whether he have done it not only solemnly and ritually, but effectively; whether he have so washed, that he is indeed clean from any soul and polluting principle. When the Heathens offered a Sacrifice to their false gods, they would make a severe search to see if there were any crookedness or spot, any uncleanness or deformity in their Sacrifice. The Priest was wont to handle the liver, Et fibras pecorum & spirantia consulit exta. Virg. and search the throbbing heart; he inquires if the blood springs right, and if the lungs be sound; he thrusts his hand into the region of the lower belly, and looks i●●here be an ulcer, or a schirrus, a stone, or a bed of gravel: Now the observation which Tertullian makes upon these Sacrifical Rites is pertinent to this rule. Miror com hostiae probantur penes vos à vitiosissimis Sacerdotibus, cur praecordia potius victimarum, quam ipsorum sacrificantium examinantur: Apolog. c. 30. When your impure Priest's look after a pure Sacrifice, why do they not rather inquire into their own heart, than into the lambs appurtenance? why do they not ask after the lust of the Sacrifice●s, more than the little spot upon the bulls liver? The rites of Sacrifices were but the monitions of duty; Submonentur in his Symbolis ut quoties accedunt ad altaria, vel nuncupaturi vota, vel reddituri nullum vitium, nullumque morbum asserant in animâ. Ph●lo. and the Priest's inquiry into the puri●y of the beast was but a precept represented in ceremony and hieroglyphic, commanding us to take care that the man be not less pure and perfect than the beast. For if an unclean man brings a clean Sacrifice, the sacrifice shall not cleanse the man, but the man will pollute the Sacrifice; let them bring to God a soul pure and spotless, Conentur omnino nitidam & immaculatam [animam] in conspectu Dei producere ne visam aversetur. Philo. Si mortale corpus, multo magis immortalem animam. Idem. lest when God espying a soul humbly lying before the Altar, and finding it to be polluted with a remaining filthiness, or the reproaches of a sin, he turns away his head and hates the Sacrifice. And God who taught the Sons of Israel in figures and shadows, and required of the Levitical Priests to come to God clean and whole, strait, and with perfect bodies, meant to tell us, that this bodily precept in a carnal Law, does in a spiritual Religion signify a spiritual purity. For God is never called a lover of bodies, but the great lover of souls; and he that comes to redeem our souls from sin and death, from shame and reproach, would have our souls brought to him as he loves them; An unclean soul is a deformity in the eyes of God; it is indeed spiritually discerned, but God hath no other eyes but what are spirits and flames of fire. Here therefore it concerns us to examine ourselves strictly and severely, always remembering, that to examine ourselves (as it is here intended) is not a duty completed by examining; Salvatorem nostrum (fratres charissimi) suscepturi, totis viribus debemus nos cum ipsius adjutorio praeparare, & omnes latebras animae nostrae diligenter aspicere, ne fortè sit in nobis aliquod peccatum absconditum, quod & conscientiam nostram confundat & mordeat, & oculos Divinae Majestatis offendat. S. Ambros. de Sacram. for this carries us on to the Sacrament, or returns us to the mortifications of repentance. But sometimes our sins are so notorious, that they go before unto judgement and condemnation, and they need no examining: and whatsoever is not done against our wills, cannot be besides our knowledge, and so cannot need examination, but remembering only; and therefore I do not call upon the drunkard to examine himself concerning temperance, or the wanton concerning his uncleanness, or the oppressor concerning his cruel covetousness, or the customary swearer concerning his profaneness. No man needs much inquiry to know whether a man be alive or dead when he hath lost a vital part. But this caution is given to the returning sinner, to the repenting man, to him that weeps for his sins, and leaves what was the shame of his face and the reproach of his heart. For we are quickly apt to think we are washed enough; and having remembered our shameful falls, we groan in method, and weep at certain times; we bid ourselves be sorrowful, and tune our heartstrings to the accent and key of the present solemnity; and as sorrow enters in dress and imagery when we bid her, so she goes away when the scene is done. Here, here it is that we are to examine whether shows do make a real change; whether shadows can be substances, and whether to begin a good work splendidly can effect all the purposes of its designation. Have you wept for your sin so that you were indeed sorrowful and afflicted in your spirit? Are you so sorrowful that you hate it? Do you so hate it that you have left it? And have you so left it that you have left it all, and will you do so for ever? These are particulars worth the enquiring after. How then shall we know? Signs by which we may examine and tell whether our affections to sin remain. 1. Because in examining ourselves concerning this, we can never be sure but by the event of things, and the heart being deceitful above all things, we secretly love what we profess to hate, we deny our lovers, and desire they should still press us, we command away the sin from our presence, for which we die if it stays away; therefore while we are in this prepartaory duty of examination, the best sign whereby we can reasonably suppose all affection to sin to be gone away, is if we really believe that we shall never any more commit that sin to which we are most tempted, and most inclined, and by which we most frequently fall. Here is a copious matter for examination. 2. When thou dost examine thyself, thou canst not but remember how often thou hast sinned by wantonness, perhaps, or by intemperance; but now thou sayest thou wilt do so no more. If thou hadst never said so and failed, it might have been likely enough; but the Sun does not rise and set so often as thou hast sinned and broken all thy holy vows: and thy resolution to put away thy sin is but like Amnon thrusting out his sister after he had enjoyed her and was weary: Sin looks ugly after it hath been handled; and thou having lost thy innocence and thy peace for nothing but the exchange of shame and indignation, thou art vexed, peevish, and unsatisfied, and then thou resolvest thou wilt sin no more. But thou wilt find this to be no great matter, but a great deception; for thou only desirest it not, because for the present the appetite is gone; thou hast no fondness for it, because the pleasure is gone; and like him who having scratched the skin till the blood comes, to satisfy a disease of pleasure and uncleanness, feeling the smart thou resolvest to scratch no more. 3. But consider I pray and examine better; is the disease cured because the skin is broken? will the appetite return no more? and canst not thou again be tempted? is it not likely that the sin will look prettily, and talk flattering words, and entice thee with softnesses and easy fallacies? and wilt not thou then lay thy foolish head upon the lap of the Philistian damsel, and sleep till thy locks be cut, and all thy strength is gone? wilt not thou forget thy shame and thy repentance, thy sick stomach and thy aking-head, thy troubled conscience and thy holy vows, when thy friend calls thee to go and sin with him, to walk aside with him into the regions of foolish mirth and an unperceived death? Place thyself by consideration and imaginative representment in the circumstances of thy former temptation; and consider when thou canst be made to desire, and art invited to desire, and naturally dost desire, can thy resolution hold out against such a battery: 4. In order to this; examine whether there be in thee any good principle stronger than all the Arguments and flatteries of thy sin? but above all things, examine whether there be not in thee this principle, that if thou dost sin again in great temptation, that thou wilt and mayest repent again? Take heed of that: for it is certain, no man lives in the regions of temptation, to whom sin can seem pleasant, but he will fall when the temptation comes strongly, if he have this principle within him, that though he do commit that sin, he may and will repent: for then sin hath got a Paranymph and a solicitor, a warrant and an advocate; if you think that you can so order it, that you shall be as sure of heaven, though you do this sin as though you do it not, you can have no security; your resolutions are but glass; they may look like diamonds to an undiscerning eye, but they will last no longer then till the next rude temptation falls upon them. 5. Examine yet further: is your case so, that you have no reserves of cases in which your sin shall prevail? you resolve to leave the partner of your follies, and you go from her lest you be tempted? It is well; it is very well: but is not your heart false as water; and if you should see her again, do you not perceive that your resolution hath brought you to a little shame, because it will upbraid thy falsehood and inconstancy? you resolve against all intemperate anger, and you deny the importunity of many trifling occurrencies: but consider; if you be provoked, and if you be despised, can your flesh and blood endure it then? It may be Calpurnius or Tocca shall not persuade thee to go to the baths of Lucrinus; but if Maecenas calls thee, or the Consul desires thy company, thou canst resist no longer. Thou didst play the fool with poor Calenia, and thou art troubled at thy folly; and art ashamed when thou dost remember how often thou goest into the Summoenium and peeped into the titles of those unhappy women whose bodies were the price of a Roman penny: but art thou so severe and chaste that thou wilt die rather than serve the imperious lust of Julia? or wilt thou never be scorched with the flames of Corinna's beauty? It is nothing to despise a cheap sin and a common temptation; but art thou strong enough to overcome the strongest argument that thy sin hath? Examine thyself here wisely and severely. It is not thy part saying, I will sin no more. He that hath new dined can easily resolve to fast at night: but when thou art hungry, and invited, and there is rare meat on the table, and thy company stays for thee and importunes thee, canst thou then go on with thy fasting day? if thou canst, it is as it should be: but let not thy resolution be judged by short sayings: but first by great considerations, and then by proportionable events. If neither the biggest temptation, nor thy trifling hopes, nor thy foolish principles, nor weak propositions can betray thee, than thou mayest with reason say that you have no affection so strong as the love of God, no passion so great as thy repentance, no pleasure equal to that of an holy conscience, and then thou mayest reasonably believe that there is in thee no affection to sin remaining. But something more is to be added. 6. In the examination of this particular; take no accounts of yourself by the present circumstances, and by your thoughts and resolutions in the days of Religion and solemnity: but examine how it is with you in the days of ordinary conversation, and in the circumstances of secular employments. For it is with us in our preparations to the holy Communion, as it is with women that sit to have their pictures drawn: they make themselves brave and adorned and put on circumstances of beauty to represent themselves to their friends and to their posterity with all the advantages of art and dressing. But he that loves his friend's picture because it is like her, and desires to see in image what he had in daily conversation, would willingly see her in picture as he sees her every day; and that is most like her, not which resembles her in extraordinary, and by the sophistry of dressing, but as she looked when she went about in the government of her family. So must we look upon ourselves in the dresses of every day in the week; and not take accounts of ourselves as we trick up our souls against a communion day. For he that puts on fine clothes for one day or two, must not suppose himself to be that Prince which he only personates. We dress ourselves upon a day of Religion; and then we cannot endure to think of sin; and if we do we sigh, and when we sigh, we pray, and suppose that if we might die upon that day, it would be a good day's work; for we could not die in a better time. But let us not deceive ourselves. That is our picture that is like us every day in the week: and if you are as just in your buying and selling, as you are when you are saying your prayers; if you are as chaste in your conversation, as you are in your religious retirement; if your temperance be the same every day, as it is in your thoughts upon a fasting day; if you wear the same habits of virtue every day in the week, as you put on upon a Communion day, you have more reason to think yourselves prepared, than by all the extempore piety and solemn Religion that rises at the sound of a Bell, and keeps her time by the Calendar of the Church, more than by the laws of God. This is not so to be understood as if it were not fit that against a solemn time and against a communion day, our souls should be more adorned, and our lamps better dressed, and our lights snuffed, and our Religion more active, and the habits of grace should exercise more acts: But this is meant only; that though the acts of virtue are not so frequent on ordinary days, yet there must be no act of vice upon them at all; and the habits of grace must be the same, and the inclinations regular, and the disposition ready, and the desires pressed: and you shall better know the estate of your soul by examining how you converse with your Merchant, than by considering how cautiously you converse with your Priest. He that talks to a Prince will talk as wisely as he can, but if you will know what the man is, inquire after him in his house, and how he is with all his relations. For no man stands upon his Guard always, as he does sometimes. If therefore, upon examining you would understand what you are, examine yourself; not by your clothes, but by your body; not by the extraordinaries of a solemn religion, but by the ordinaries of a daily conversation. These are the best Signs I can tell of; but they are to be made use of, with the following cautions. 1. Although in trying whether your resolutions are likely to hold, and your affections to sin are gone, you must not rely upon words, but place yourself in the scene and circumstances of your temptation, and try whether you be likely to hold out when sin comes with all the offers of advantage; yet be careful that this examination of your own strength against temptation become not a temptation to you, and this is especially to be attended to in the matter of lust and fear. For the very imaginations of a lustful object are of themselves a direct temptation; and he that dresses his fancy with remembrances of this vanity, opens a door to let the sin in. Murenia's little boy being afraid of the wolf at the door, opened the door to see if he were gone, and let the beast in: and since the fancy is the proper scene of lust, he that brings the temptation there, brings it where it can best prevail. Therefore in our examination concerning this evil, and whether we be likely to stand in this war, we are to examine ourselves only, whether we are perfectly resolved to fly and not to fight, that is, whether we will secure ourselves by the proper arts of the spirit of prudence: for if any thing can make us come near this Devil, we are lost without remedy. The temptations in the matter of fear are something like it, if you will examine whether you love God so well that you would die for him, inquire as well and wisely as you can, but be not too particular. Satisfy yourself with a general answer, and rest in this, if you find that the apprehension of death is not so great as the apprehension of sin; if you pray against fear, and heap up arguments to confirm your courage and your hope, if you find that you despise those instances of persecution that you meet with; for the rest, believe in God, who it may be will not give strengths before you need them; and therefore be satisfied with thus much, that your present strength is sufficient for any present trial; and when a greater comes, God hath promised to give you more strength when you shall have need of more. But examine yourself by what is likely to fall upon you actually. It may be you have cause to fear that you shall be made poor for a good conscience, or imprisoned for your duty, or banished for religion, consider if you love God so well that you are likely to suffer that, which is likely to happen to you; but do not dress your examination with rare contingencies and unlikely accidents, and impossible cases. Do not ask yourself whether you would endure the rack for God, or the application of burning Basins to your eyes, or the torment of a slow fire, or whether you had rather go to hell than commit a sin; this is too fantastic a trial; and when God (it may be) knowing your weakness, will never put you to it really, do not you tempt yourself by fancy, and an afflictive representment. Domitian was a cruel man, false and bloody; and to be near him was a perpetual danger: enough to try the constancy of the bravest Roman. But once that he might be wanton in his cruelty; he invited the chiefest of the Patricii to Supper; who coming in obedience and fear enough, entered into a Court all hanged with blacks, and from thence were conducted into dining rooms by the Pollinctors, who used to dress the bodies unto Funerals: the lights of heaven (we may suppose) were quite shut out by the approaching night and arts of obscurity; when they were in those charnel houses (for so they seemed) every one was placed in order, a black Pillar or Coffin set by him, and in it a dim taper besmeared with brimstone that it might burn faint, and blue, and solemn; where when they had stood a while like designed sacrifices, or as if the Prince were sending them on solemn Embassy to his brother the Prince of Darkness; on a sudden entered so many naked Black-Moors, or Children besmeared with the horrid juice of the sepia, who having danced a little in fantastic and Devils postures, retired a while, and then returned serving up a banquet as at solemn funerals; and Wine brought to them in Urns instead of Goblets; with deepest silence, now and then interrupted with fearful groans and shriekings. Here the Senators, who possibly could have struggled with the abstracted thoughts of death, seeing it dressed in all the fearful imagery and Ceremonies of the grave; had no powers of Philosophy or Roman courage; but falling into a lipothymy or deep swooning, made up this pageantry of death with a representing of it unto the life. This scene of sorrows was overacted, and it was a witty cruelty to kill a wise man, by making him too imaginative and fantastical. It is not good to break a staff by too much trying the strength of it, or to undo a man's soul by a useless and so fantastic a temptation. For he that tries himself further than he hath need of, is like Palaemon's shepherd, who fearing the footbridge was not strong enough to try it, loaded it so long, till by his unequal trial he broke that which would have born a bigger burden than he had to carry over it. Some things will better suffer a long usage, than an unequal trial. 2. When any man hath by the former measures examined himself, how his affections do stand to sin and folly, by whatsoever signs he is usually made confident; let him be sure to make abatements of his confidence, if he have found that he hath failed already in despite of all his Arts, and all his purposes. If we have often fallen back from our resolutions, there is then no sign left for us but the thing signified: nothing can tell us how our affections are, but by observing what they do. For he that hath broken his word with me, when it was in his power to keep it; hath destroyed my confidence in him: but if he hath deceived me twice or thrice in the same thing; for shame and prudence sake I will venture no more, if I can be disobliged. If we therefore have failed of our promises to God so many times, that we can speak nothing reasonably of our proceedings, nor imagine what thoughts God hath concerning us, but the hardest and the worst; though we have great reason to rejoice in Gods long suffering and infinite patience, yet by any signs which can be given we have no reason to trust ourselves. ●or if we shall now examine; we can tell no more than we could do before, we were always deceived in our conjectures and pretences; and it is more likely now; because sin hath so long prevailed; and by our frequent relapses we must at least learn this truth, that our hearts are false, and our promises are not to be trusted. In this case, no testimony is credible but an eye witness. Therefore let us leave all artificial examinations and betake ourselves to the solid and material practices of a religious life. We must do something really, before we can by enquiring tell how it is with us. When we have resolved, and in some measure performed our resolution; when we have stood the shock of a temptation and found our heart firm as in a day of religion; when we perceive sin to be weaker, and the kingdom of grace to grow in power; when we feel that all our holy vows are more than words, and that we are not the same easy fools, always giving God good words but never performing them; but that now we have set our foot upon the enemy, and are not infallibly carried away when our temptation comes; then we may inquire further, and look after the former signs and indications of spiritual life, and the just measures of preparation. Till then let us not trouble ourselves with the particulars of spiritual arts and the artificial methods of religion; for things are not so well with us as we suppose. SECT. IV. Of Examination of ourselves in the matter of our Prayers in order to a Holy Communion. THe Holy Sacrament is in its nature and design a solemn prayer, and the imitation of the intercession which our glorious High Priest continually makes for us in heaven; and as it is our ministry, See Chap. 1. Sect. 4. N. 4. and contains our duty, it is nothing else but the solemnity and great oeconomy of prayer, for the whole, and for every member, and for all and every particular necessity of the Church; and all the whole conjugation of Offices, and union of hearts, and conjunction of Ministers, is nothing but the advantages, and solemnity, and sanctification of Prayer; and therefore in order to do this work in solemnity as we ought, it were fit that we examine ourselves how we do it in ordinary and daily offices. For since there are so many excellent promises made to Prayer, and that nothing more disposes us to receive the grace of the Sacraments, and the blessings of Communion, than holy Prayer; since Prayer can obtain every thing, it can open the windows of heaven, and shut the gates of hell; it can put a holy constraint upon God, and detain an Angel till he leave a blessing; it can open the treasures of rain, and soften the iron ribs of rocks, till they melt into tears and a flowing river: Prayer can unclasp the girdles of the North, saying to a Mountain of Ice, Be thou removed hence, and cast into the bottom of the Sea; it can arrest the Sun in the midst of his course, and send the swift winged winds upon our errand; and all those strange things, and secret decrees, and unrevealed transactions which are above the clouds, and far beyond the regions of the stars, shall combine in ministry and advantages for the praying man: It cannot be but we should feel less evil, and much more good than we do, if our Prayers were right. But the state of things is thus: It is an easy duty, and there are many promises, and we do it often, and yet we prevail but little. Is it not a strange thing, that our friends die round about us, and in every family some great evil often happens, and a Church shall suffer persecution for many years together without remedy, and a poor man groans under his oppressor, who is still prosperous, and we cannot rescue the life of a servant from his fatal grave; and still we pray, and do not change the course of providence in a single instance many times, whether the instance be of little or of great concernment: what is the matter? we patiently suffer our prayers to be rejected, and comfort ourselves by saying, that it may be the thing is not fit for us, it is against the decree of God, or against our good, or to be denied is better; and there is a secret order of things and events, to which a denial does better minister than a concession. This is very true, but not always when we are denied; for it is not always in mercy, but in anger very often we are denied, because our duty is ill performed: For if our Prayers were right, the Providence of God would often find out ways to reconcile his great ends with our great desires; and we might be saved hereafter, and yet delivered here besides; and sometimes we should have heaven and prosperity too, and the cross should be sweetened, and the days of affliction should for our sakes be shortened, and death would not come so hastily, and yet we should be preserved innocent in the midst of an evil generation, though it waited for the periods and usual determinations of nature: Let us rectify our Prayers, and try what the event will be; it is worth so much at least; but however, as to the present case, if we perform this duty pitifully and culpably, it is not to be expected we should communicate holily. The gradation and correspondencies of this holy ministry will demonstrate this truth. For what Christ did once upon the Cross in real Sacrifice, that he always does in heaven by perpetual representment and intercession; what Christ does by his supreme Priesthood, that the Church doth by her ministerial; what he does in heaven, we do upon earth; what is performed at the right hand of God, is also represented and in one manner exhibited upon the holy Table of the Lord: and what is done on Altars upon solemn days, is done in our Closets in our daily offices; that is, God is invocated, and God is appeased, and God is reconciled, and God gives us blessings and the fruits of Christ's passion in the virtue of the sacrificed Lamb; that is, we believing and praying, are blessed and sanctified and saved through Jesus Christ. So that as we pray so we communicate: if we pray well, we may communicate well, else at no hand. Now in this, besides that we are to take account of our Prayers by all those measures of the Spirit which we have learned in the holy Scriptures, there are two great lines of duty by which we can well examine ourselves in this particular. 1. That our Prayers must be the work of our hearts, not of our lips; that is, that we heartily desire what we so carefully pray for: and God knows this is not very ordinary. For besides that we are not in love with the things of God, and have no worthy value for Religion, there are many things in our Prayer which we ask for, and do not know what to do with if we had them, and we do not feel any want of them, and we care not whether we have them or no. We ask for the Spirit of God, for Wisdom, and for a right Judgement in all things; and yet there are not many in our Christian Assemblies who use to trouble themselves at all with judging concerning the Mysteries of Godliness. Men pray for humility, and yet at the same time think that all that which is indeed humility, is a pitiful poorness of spirit, pusilanimity, and want of good breeding. We pray for contrition and a broken heart; and yet if we chance to be melancholy we long to be comforted, and think that the Lectures of the Cross bring Death, and therefore are not the way of Eternal Life. We pray sometimes that God may be first and last in all our thoughts; and yet we conceive it no great matter whether he be or no; but we are sure that he is not, but the things of the world do take up the place of God; and yet we hope to be saved for all that, and consequently are very indifferent concerning the return of that Prayer. We frequently call upon God for his grace, that we may never fall into sin; now in this, besides that we have no hopes to be heard, and think it impossible to arrive to a state of life in which we shall not commit sins, yet if we do sin, we know there is a remedy so ready, that we believe we are not much the worse if we do. Here are prayers enough, but where are the desires all this while? We pray against covetousness, and pride, and gluttony; but nothing that we do but is either covetousness or pride; so that our Prayers are terminated upon a word, not upon a thing. We do covetous actions, and speak proud words, and have high thoughts, and do not passionately desire to have affections contrary to them, but only to such notions of the sin as we have entertained, which are such as will do no real prejudice or mortification to the sin: and whatever our Prayers are, yet it is certain our desires are so little, and so content with any thing of this nature, that for very many spiritual petitions we are indifferent whether they be granted or not. But if we are poor or persecuted, if we be in fear or danger, if we be heartsick or afflicted with an uncertain soul, than we are true desirers of relief and mercy; we long for health, and desire earnestly to be safe; our hearts are pinched with the desire, and the sharpness of the appetite is a pain; then we pray, and mind what we do. * He that is in fear of death, does not when he prays for life think upon his money and his sheep; the entering of a fair woman into the room does not bend his neck, and make him look off from the Prince's face of whom he sues for pardon. And if we had desires as strong as our needs, and apprehensions answerable to our duty, it were not possible that a man should say his prayers and never think of what he speaks: but as our attention is, so is our desire, trifling and impertinent; it is frighted away like a bird, which fears as much when you come to give it meat, as if you came with a design of death. When therefore you are to give sentence concerning your Prayers, your prayer-book is the least thing that is to be examined; your Desires are the principal, for they are fountains both of action and passion. Desire what you pray for; for certain it is, you will pray passionately if you desire fervently. Prayers are but the body of the bird; Desires are its Angels wings. 2. If you will know how it is with you in the matter of your Prayers, examine whether or no the form of your Prayer be the rule of your life. Every Petition to God is a Precept to man; and when in your Litanies you pray to be delivered from malice and hypocrisy, from pride and envy, from fornication and every deadly sin; all this is but a line of duty, and tells us that we must never consent to an act of pride, or a thought of envy, to a temptation of uncleanness, or the besmearing and evil paintings of hypocrisy. * But we when we pray against a sin think we have done enough; and if we ask for a grace, suppose there is no more required. Now Prayer is an instrument of help, a procuring auxiliaries of God, that we may do our duty; and why should we ask for help, if we be not ourselves bound to do the thing? Look not therefore upon your prayers as a short method of ease and salvation, but as a perpetual monition of duty; and by what we require of God, we see what he requires of us; and if you want a system or collective body of holy precepts, you need no more but your prayer book; and if you look upon them first as duties, then as prayers, that is things fit to be desired, and fit to be laboured for, your prayers will be much more useful; not so often vain, nor so subject to illusion, not so destitute of effect, or so failing of the promises. The prayers of a Christian must be like the devotions of the husbandman. God speed the plough, that is, labour and prayer together; a prayer to bless our labour. Thus than we must examine. Is desire the measure of our prayer? and is labour the fruit of our desire? if so; than what we ask we shall receive as the gift of God and the reward of our labour; but unless this be the state of o●r prayer, we shall find that the receiving of the Sacrament will be as ineffective because it will be as imperfect as our prayer. For prayer and Communion differ but as great and little in the same kind of duty. Communion is but a great, public and solemn address and prayer to God through Jesus Christ: and if we be not faithful in a little we shall not be entrusted in a greater; he that does not pray holily and prosperously, can never communicate acceptably. This therefore must be severely and prudently examined. But let us remember this; that there is nothing fit to be presented to God but what is great and excellent; for nothing comes from him but what is great and best; and nothing should be returned to him that is little and contemptible in its kind. It is a mysterious elegancy that is in the Hebrew of the Old Testament; Gen. 35.15. when the Spirit of God would call any thing very great, or very excellent, he calls it [of the Lord]; so the affrightment of the Lord; that is, a great affrightment fell upon them; and the fearful fire that fell upon the shepherds and sheep of Job is called the fire of God: Job 1.16. and when David took the spear and waterpot from the head of Saul while he and his guards were sleeping, it is said, that the sleep of the Lord, that is, a very great sleep was fallen upon them. Thus we read of the flames of God, and a land of the darkness of God, that is, vehement flames, Cant. 8.6. Jerem. and a land of exceeding darkness: and the reason is, because when God strikes, he strikes vehemently, so that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God: And on the other side, when he blesses he blesses excellently; and therefore when Naomie blessed Boaz, she said, Let him be blessed of the Lord, that is, according to the Hebrew manner of speaking, Let him be exceedingly blessed. In proportion to all this, whatsoever is offered to God should be of the best; it should be a devout Prayer, a fervent, humble, passionate supplication. He that prays otherwise, must expect the curses and contempt of his lukewarmness, and will be infinitely unworthy to come to the holy Communion, whether they that come intend to present their Prayers to God in the union of Christ's intercession, which is then solemnly imitated and represented. An indevout Prayer can never be joined with Christ's Prayers. Fire will easily combine with fire, and flame marries flame; but a cold devotion and the fire of this Altar can never be friendly and unite in one pyramid to ascend together to the regions of God and the Element of love. If it be a prayer of God, that is, fit to be entitled, fit to be presented unto him, it must be most vehement and holy. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, only can be confident to prevail; nothing else can ever be sanctified by a conjunction with this sacrifice of prayer, which must be consumed by a heavenly fire. There is not indeed any greater indication of our worthiness or unworthiness to receive the holy Communion than to examine and understand the state of our daily prayer. SECT. V. Of preparatory examination of ourselves in some other instances. HE that comes to the holy Communion must examine himself concerning his passions; whether that which usually transports him to undecency and shame, to sin and folly, be brought under the dominion of grace, under the command of reason, under the Empire of the spirit. For the passions of the soul are the violences and storms of reason, neither reason nor grace can be heard to speak when they are loud; and in vain it is that you tell a passionate person of the interests of wisdom and Religion. We see it in fools who have no allay of reason; their anger is rage, their jealousy is madness, their desires are ravenous, their loves are troublesome and unseasonable, their hopes are groundless but ever confident, their fears are by chance, but always without measure: and a fool when his belly is full may as soon be persuaded into temperate discourses, as he that is passionate, to be obedient to God and to the rules of his own felicity. A great fear and a constant virtue are seldom found in one man; and a coward is virtuous by chance, and so song as he is let alone; but unless the fear of God be greater than the fear of man, it is in the power of his enemy whether that man shall be happy or wise. And so it is in a great or easy anger; every man and every thing can put a peevish person out of his Religion. It cannot in these and all the like cases be well, unless by examining we find that our spirit is more meek, our passion easier overcome, and the paroxysms or fits return less frequently, and the symptoms be less malignant. In this instance we must be quick and severe; and begin betimes to take a course with these vermin and vipers of the soul. Suetonius tells, that when the witty flatterers of Cesar had observed that no frogs did breed in his Grandfather's Villa which was in the suburbs of Rome, they set themselves to invent a reason which should flatter the Prince, and boldly told abroad that when young Octavius was a child he once in sport forbade them to make a noise, and for ever after they were silent and left those pools; ever since Octavius began to speak, they left off to make their noises and their dwellings there. If we suppress our passions that make inarticulate noises in the soul, if betimes and in their infancy we make them silent, we shall find peace in all our days. But an old passion, an inveterate peevishness, an habitual impotency of lust and vile desires are like an old Lion; he will by no means be made tame and taught to eat the meat of peace and gentleness. If thy passion be lasting and violent, thou art in a state of evil: if it be sudden and frequent, transient and volatile, thou wilt often fall into sin; and though every passion be not a sin, yet every excess of passion is a diminution of reason and Religion; and when the acts are so frequent that none can number them, what effects they leave behind, and how much they disorder the state of grace, none can tell. Either therefore suffer no passion to transport and govern you, or no examination can signify any thing. For no man can say that a very passionate man is a very good man; or how much he is beloved of God who plays the fool so frequently; nor how long God will love him who is at the mercy of his imperious passion, Dolori si fraena remiseris nulla meteria non est maxima. which gives him laws and can every day change his state from good to bad. It was well said of one; If you give the reins to grief, every thing that crosses thee can produce the biggest grief; and the causes of passions are as they are made within. He that checks at every word, and is jealous of every look, and disturbed at every accident, and takes all things by the wrong handle, and reflects upon all disturbances, switches and spurs his passion, and strives to overtake sin and to be tied to infelicity: but nothing can secure our Religion, but binding our passions in chains, and doubling our guards upon them, lest like mad-folks they break their locks and bolts and do all the mischief for which they can have instruments and opportunity. Concerning some sorts of passionate persons, it may be truly said, that they are very unfit to communicate, but that th●y are fit, it can be confidently said of none. Here therefore let us thus examine ourselves. Are your desires unreasonable, passionate, impotent and transporting? If God refuses to give you what you desire, can you lay your head softly down upon the lap of providence and rest content without it? Do you thankfully receive what he gives, and when he gives you not what you covet, can you still confess his goodness and glorify his will and wisdom, without any amazement, dissatisfaction, or secret murmurs? Can you be at peace within when your purposes are defeated; and at peace abroad with him that stands in the way between you and your desires? And how is it with you in your angers? Does it last so long, or return so frequently as before? Have you the same malice, or have you the same peevishness? Haec brevis est illa perennis aqua. For one long anger and twenty short ones have no very great difference, save only that in short and sudden angers we are surprised; and not so in the other: but it is an intolerable thing always to be surprised, and a thousand times to say, I was not aware, or I was mistaken. But let us without excuses examine ourselves in this matter, for this is the great Magazine of virtue or vice; here dwells obedience or licentiousness, a close knot, — hic habitat constricta licentia nodo Et flecti faciles irae vinoque madentes Excubiae Jocundique metus, & non secura voluptas Et lasciva volant levibus perjuria pennis. Claudian. de nuptiis Honorii. or an open liberty, little pleasures, and great disturbances, loss of time, and breach of vows. But if that we may come to Christ we have stopped so many avenues of sin and fountains of temptation, it may be very well; but without it, it can never. 2. He that comes to the Holy Communion must examine himself whether his lusts be mortified, or whether they be only changed. For many times we have a seeming peace when our open enemies are changed into false friends; and we think ourselves holy persons because we are quit of carnal crimes, and yet in exchange for them, we are dying with spiritual. It is an easy thing to reprove a murderer, and to chide a foolish drunkard, to make a liar blush, and a thief to run away. But you may be secretly proud when no man shall dare to tell you so; and to have a secret envy and yet to keep company with the best and most religious persons. A little examination will serve your turn to know whether you have committed adultery, or be a swearer; but to know whether your intentions be holy, whether you love the praise of men more than the praise of God, whether religious or secular interest be the dearer, whether there be any hypocrisy or secret malice in your heart, hath something of more secret consideration. Do not you sometimes secretly rejoice in the diminution or disparagement of your brother? Do not you tell his sad and shameful story with some pleasure? Are you not quick in telling it, and willing enough it should be believed? Would you not fain have him less than yourself; not so eminent, not so well esteemed, and therefore do not you love to tell a true story of him that is not so very much for his commendation? These things must be examined, not that it can be thought that a man must be without fault when he comes, but that he must cherish none, he must leave none unexamined; he must discover as much as he can and crucify all that he can discover. He that hath mortified his carnal appetite, and is proud of his conquest; or prays often & reproaches him that does not; and giveth alms, and secretly undervalues him that cannot; or is of a right opinion, but curses him that is in the wrong; or leaves his ambitious pursuits and vain glorious purposes, but sits at home and is idle, is like a man who stands by a fire in a wide and a cold room; he scorches on one side and freezes on the other: whereas the habits of virtue are like a great mantle, and the man is warm and well all over. But it is an ill cure for the ague to fall into a fever, or to be eased of sore eyes by a diversion of the rheum upon the lungs: and that soul that turns her back upon one sin and her face to another is (it may be) weary of the instance, but not of the iniquity: and rolling upon an uneasy bed of thorns, chooses only to be tormented in another part: but finding the same sense there because the part is informed by the same spirit, and no difference between the thorn in the side and the thorn in the hand, perceives herself miserable and incirled with calamity. But when from carnal crimes which bring shame, a man falls into spiritual crimes which most men let alone; from those sins which every thing can reprove to a secret venom and an undiscerned ulcer; a man may come to the Communion, and the holy man that Ministers cannot reject him; but he causes no joy before the Angels; and because he does not examine wisely and judge severely, he is discerned by God, and shall be judged, when to be judged, means all one with being condemned. 3. When we examine ourselves in order to receiving of the blessed Sacrament, we must be careful that we do not limit our examination; and confine it to the time since our last receiving. For some persons who think themselves spiritual, usually examine how they have comported themselves since the last communion only, and accordingly make judgement upon themselves; and these men possibly may do well enough; if they be of the number of them of whom our blessed Saviour affirms, that they need no repentance, that is, no change of life, no inquiry but into the measures of progression. But there are but few who live at that rate, and they that do, it may be have not that confidence. But to them and all men else, it were safe advice, that the inquiry how they have lived since the last communion should be but one part of their examination. 1. Because they who so limit their inquiries must needs suppose that till then all was well, and that they communicated worthily; and consequently that all the whole work and Oeconomy of salvation was then performed; every one of which supposals hath an uncertain truth, but a very certain danger. 2. They who so limit their examination suppose that at every Communion they begin the world anew; whereas our future life is to be a progression upon the old stock, and judgement is to be made of this that comes after by that which went before; and therefore these limited examinations must needs be of less use and purpose. True it is, that at every Communion we are to begin a new life; and so we ought every day; that is, we ought to be as zealous, and as penitent, and resolute and affectionate, as if we never had begun before; we ought so to suspect the imperfection of what is past, that we are to look upon ourselves but as new beginners; that by apprehending the same necessity we may have the same passion, the same fervour and holy fires. But in the matter of examining we must consider how much hath been pardoned, that we may examine how thankful we have been, and what returns we have made: we must observe all our usual failings, that we may now set our guards accordingly: we must remember in what weak part we were smitten, that we may still pray against it; and we must renew our sad remembrances that we may continue our sad repentances, and we must look upon our whole life that we may be truly humbled. He that only examines how it is with him since the last Communion, will think too well of himself if he spies his bills of accusation to be small, but every man will find cause enough to hide his face in the dust, and to come with fear and trembling when he views the sum total of his life, which certainly will appear to be full of shame and of dishonour. 3. We are not to limit our examinations to the interval since the last Communion, because much of our present duty is relative to the first parts of our life. For all the former vows of obedience though we have broken them a thousand times, yet have still an obliging power; and there are many contingencies of our life which require peculiar usages and treatments of ourselves, and there are many follies which we leave by degrees, and many obligations which are of continual duty; and it may be that our passion did once carry us to so extreme to intolerable a violence; perhaps twenty years ago, that we are still to keep our fears and tremble about us, lest the same principle produce the same evil event. When Horatius Cocles had won that glorious victory over the three Sabine Brothers, and entering gloriously into Rome espied his sister wetting his Laurel with her unseasonable tears for the death of one of them whom she love with the honour of a wife and the passion of a lover; and being mad with rage and pride, because her sorrow allayed his joys and glory, killed her with that sword by which her servant died: Sometimes passion makes a prodigious excursion and passes on to the greatest violence, and the most prodigious follies; and though it be usually so restrained by reason and Religion that such transvolations are not frequent; yet one such act is an eternal testimony how weak we are, and how mischievous a passion can be. It is a miracle of providence that in the midst of all the rudenesses and accidents of the world, a man preserves his eyes, which every thing can extinguish and put out: and it is no less a miracle of grace, that in the midst so many dishonourable loves there are no more horrid tragoedies: and so many brutish angers do not produce more cruel sudden murders; and that so much envy does not oftener break out into open hostilities; it is indeed a mighty grace that pares the nails of these wild beasts, and makes them more innocent in their effects, than they are in their nature; but still the principle remains: there is in us the same evil nature, and the same unruly passion, and therefore as there ought to be continual guards upon them, so there must be continual inquiries made concerning them; and every thing is to be examined, lest all be lost upon a sudden. 4. We must not limit our examination to the interval of the last Communion, because our first repentances must still proceed and must never be at an end. For no man was so pardoned at the last Communion but that he is still obliged to beg pardon for those sins he then repent of. He must always repent, & always pray and never be at peace with the first sins of his youth; and the sorrows of the first day must be the duty of every day; and that examination must come into this account; and when we inquire after our own state we must not view the little finger, but the whole man. For in all the forest the ape is the handsomest beast so long as he shows nothing but his hand; but when the enquiring and envious beasts looked round about him, they quickly espied a foul deformity. There are in the state of a man's soul some good proportions, and some well days, and some fortunate periods, but he that is contented with beholding them alone, cares more to please himself than to please God, and thinks him to be happy whom man, not whom God approves. By this way twenty deceptions and impostures may abuse a man. See therefore what you are from head to foot, from the beginning to the end, from the first entry to your last progression; and although it be not necessary that we always actually consider all; yet it will be necessary that we always truly know it all, that our relative duties, and our imperfect actions, and our collateral obligations, and the direct measures of the increase of grace may be justly discerned and understood. 4. He that examines himself and would make right judgement of his state and of his duty must not do it by single actions, but by states of life and habits of Religion. If we can say truly that neither prosperity nor adversity, neither cross nor crown, employment nor retirement, public offices nor houshold-cares do disorder us in our duty to God and our relations; that is, if we safely and wisely passed through, or converse in any one of these states of life, it is very likely that things are well with us. But the consideration of single actions will do but little. Some acts of charity, and many prayers, and the doing one noble action, or being once or twice very bountiful, or the struggling with one danger, and the speaking for God in one contestation; these are excellent things, and good significations of life, but not always of health and strength, not of a state of grace. Now because in the holy Communion we are growing up to the measures of the fullness of Christ, we can no otherwise be fitted to it, but by the progressions and increase of a man, that is, by habits of grace and states and permanencies of Religion; and therefore our examinations must be accordingly. SECT. VI Devotions to be used upon the days of our Examination, relative to that duty. The Hymn. THe Lord is in his holy temple, the Lords throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eye lids try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness: his countenance doth behold the upright. The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou hast proved mine heart, thou hast visited me in the night, thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing: I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Hold up my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps slip not. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried; he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the Lord? and who is our rock save our God? Judge me O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: but I trust in the Lord, therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart: for thy loving-kindness is before mine ey●s, and I will walk in thy truth I will not sit with vain persons: neither will I go in with dissemblers. I hate the Congregation of evil doers: and will not sit with the wicked. I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine Altar O ●ord. That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving: and tell of all thy wondrous works But as for me, I will walk in my integrity: redeem me and be merciful unto me. So shall my foot stand in an even place: and in the congregations will I bless the Lord. Glory be to the Father, etc. As it was in the beginning, etc. The Prayers. O Eternal and most Glorious God, who sittest in heaven ruling over all things from the beginning; thou dwellest on high, and yet humblest thyself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth; thou hast searched me, O Lord, and known me; thou understandest my thoughts afar off, and art acquainted with all my ways; for there is not a word in my tongue but thou O Lord knowest it altogether: Be pleased to impart unto thy servant a ray of thy heavenly light, a beam of the Sun of righteousness; open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law, that I may walk in them all my days: Set all my sins before my face, that I may speedily and earnestly and perfectly repent and forsake them all: Give me a sight of my infirmities, that I may watch against them; discover to me all my evil and weak principles, that I may reform them; and whatsoever is wanting in me towards the understanding of any thing whereby I may please thee and perfect my duty, I beg of thee to reveal that also unto me, that my duty may not be undiscerned, and my faith may not be reproved, and my affections may not be perverse, and hardened in their foolish pursuance, and a secret sin may not lie undiscovered and corrupting my soul. II. GIve me an ingenuous and a severe spirit, that whatever judgement of charity I make concerning others, I may give a right judgement concerning my own state and actions, condemning the criminal, censuring the suspicious, suspecting what seems allowable, and watchful even over the best, that I may in the spirit of repentance and mortification correct all my irregularities, and reform my errors, and improve the good things which thou hast given me; that endeavouring to approve my actions to my conscience, and my conscience to thy law, I may not be a reprobate, but approved by thee in the great day of examination of all the world, and be reckoned amongst thy Elect, thy secret ones, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A short form of Humiliation, after our Examination. I. THY Judgements O Lord God are declared in thunder, and with fear and dread thou shakest all my bones, and my soul trembles when I consider that great day in which thou shalt judge all the world, and that infinite justice which will not spare the mighty for his greatness, nor the poor for his poverty; and thy unlimited power, which can mightily destroy all them that will not have thee to reign over them. II. O most dreadful Judge. I stand in amazement when I consider that the heavens are not pure in thine eyes: and if thou foundest perverseness in thy Angels, and didst not spare them, what shall become of me? The stars fell from heaven; and what can I presume, who am but dust and ashes? They whose life that seemed holy are fallen into an evil portion; and after they have eaten the bread of Angels, they have been delighted with Carobe-nuts, with husks and draff of Swine. III. There is no holiness, O God, if thou withdrawest thy hand; no wisdom profits if thy government does cease. No courage can abide, no chastity can remain pure; no watchfulness keep us safe, unless thou dost continue to strengthen us, to purify us, to make us stand. When thou leavest us, we drown and perish; when thy grace and mercy visits us, we are lifted up and stand upright. We are unstable, and unsecure, unless we be confirmed by thee; but we seek to thee for thy help; and yet depart from the ways of thy commandments. IV. O how meanly and contemptibly do I deserve to be thought of! how little and inconsiderable is the good which I do? and how vast, how innumerable, how intolerable are the evils which I have done? I submit O God, I submit to the abysses of thy righteous and unsearchable judgements; for I have been searching for a little some little good in me; but I find nothing. Much indeed of good I have received; but I have abused it; thou hast given me thy grace; but I have turned it into wantonness: thou hast enabled me to serve thee; but I have served myself; but never but when I was thy enemy: so that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. V. I am a deep abyss, O God, of folly and calamity; I have been searching my heart, and can find no good thing; I have been searching, and I cannot find out all the evil. Thou didst create in me a hope of glory, but I have lost my confidence; and men have sometimes spoken good things of me, but I know not where they are; and who shall raise me up when I fall down before thy face in thy eternal judgement? VI I will no more desire, I will no more suffer, I will no more seek, I will no more be moved by the praises of men; for behold they speak, but they know nothing: Thou art silent, but thou knowest all things, and I increase the number of my sins. What shall I do, O thou preserver of men! I will lay my face in the dust, and confess myself to be nothing. VII. Pity my shame O God: bind up my wounds; lift me from the dust; raise me up from this nothing, and make me something; what thou wilt, what thou wilt delight in. Take away the partition wall, the hindrance, the sin that so easily besets me; and bring me unto Jesus, to my sweetest Saviour Jesus; unite me unto him; and than although in myself I am nothing, yet in him I shall be what I ought to be, and what thou canst not choose but love. Amen, Amen. A Prayer for holy and fervent desires of Religion, and particularly of the Blessed Sacrament. O Most Blessed, most glorious Lord and Saviour Jesus; thou that waterest the furrows of the earth, and refreshest her weariness, and makest it very plenteous, behold O God my desert and unfruitful soul; I have already a parched ground, give me a land of Rivers of Waters; my Soul is dry but not thirsty; it hath no water, nor it desires none; I have been like a dead man to all the desires of heaven. I am earnest and concerned in the things of the world; but very indifferent, or rather not well enduring the severities and excellencies of Religion. I have not been greedy of thy Word, or longed for thy Sacraments. The worst of thy followers came running after thee for loaves, though they cared not for the miracle; but thou offerest me loaves and miracles together, and I have cared for neither: Thou offerest me thyself, and all thy infinite sweetnesses; I have needed even the compulsion of laws to drive me to thee; and then indeed I lost the sweetness of thy presence, and reaped no fruit. These things O God are not well, they are infinitely amiss. But thou that providest meat, thou also givest appetite; for the desire and the meat, the necessity and the relief are all from thee. II. Be pleased therefore, O my dearest Lord, to create in thy servant a great hunger and thirst after the things of thy kingdom and the righteousness of it, all thy holy graces, and all the holy ministeries of grace; that I may long for the bread of heaven, thirst after the fountains of salvation, and as the Hart panteth after the brooks of water, so my soul may desire thee O Lord. O kindle such a holy flame in my soul, that it may consume all that is set before me; that it may be meat and drink to me to do thy will. III. Grant O blessed Jesus that I may omit no opportunity of serving thee, of conversing with thee, of receiving thee; let me not rest in the least and lowest measures of necessity, but pass on to the excellencies of love, and the transportations of an excellent Religion, that there may remain in me no appetite for any thing but what thou lovest; that I may have no satisfaction but in a holy Conscience, no pleasure but in Religion, no joy but in God, and with sincerity and zeal heartinesses and ingenuity, I may follow after righteousness, and the things that belong unto my peace, until I shall arrive in the land of eternal peace and praises, where thou livest and reignest for ever world without end. Amen. CHAP. III. Of Faith, as it is a necessary disposition to the Blessed Sacrament. EXamination of ourselves is an inquiry whether we have those dispostions which are necessary to a worthy Communion. Our next inquiry is after the dispositions themselves, what they ought to be, and what they ought to effect; that we may really be that which we desire to be found when we are examined. I have yet only described the ways of examining; now I am to set down those things whereby we can approved, and without which we can never approach to these divine Mysteries with worthiness, or depart with joy. These are three; 1. Faith, 2. Charity, 3. Repentance. SECT. I. Of Catechumen, or unbaptised persons. THE Blessed Sacrament before him that hath no faith is like messes of meat set upon the graves of the dead * The sine dulce nihil, Domine, Nec juvat ore quid appetere, Pocula ni prius atque cibos Christ tuus favor imbuerit, Omnia sanctificante fide. Prudentius hymno 3. ante cibum. , they smell not that nidour which quickens the hungry belly; they feel not the warmth, and taste not the juice; for these are provided for them that are alive, and the dead have no portion in them. This is the first great line of introduction, and necessarily to be examined: we have the rule from the Apostle; 2 Cor. 13.5. Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Ch●ist is in you except ye be reprobates? As if he had said, ye are reprobates, and Jesus Christ shall never dwell in you, except by faith; without this you can never receive him; and therefore examine strictly yourselves concerning your faith. But the necessity of this preparation by faith hath a double sense, and a proportionable necessity. 1. It means that no unbaptised person can come to the holy Communion. 2. It means that those that are baptised have an actual and an operative faith, properly relative to these divine Mysteries, and really effective of all the works of faith. Of this we have the most ancient and indubitable records of the Primitive Church: For in the Apology which Justin Martyr made for the Christians, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. he gives this account of the manner of dispensing the holy Eucharist. It is lawful for none to participate of this Eucharistical bread and wine, but to him who believes those things to be true which are taught by us, and to him that is washed in the laver of regeneration, which is to the remission of sins, and who live as Christ hath commanded Shut the profane and the unhallowed people out of doors. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So. Orpheus sang. None comes to this holy feast but they whose sins are cleansed in Baptism, who are sanctified in ●hose holy waters of regeneration, who have obedient Souls, ea●s attentive to the Sermons of the Gospel, and hearts open to the words of Christ. These are they who see by a brighter light, and walk in the warmth of a more refreshing Sun; they live in a better air, and are irradiated with a purer beam, — purior illos Solis fervor alit, pretiosaque pabula libant. the glories of the Sun of righteousness; and they only are to eat the precious food of the sacrificed lamb: For by Baptism we are admitted to the spiritual life, and by the holy Communion we nourish and preserve it. But although Baptism be always necessary, yet alone it is not a sufficient qualification to the holy Communion; but there must be an actual faith also in every Communicant. Neither faith alone, nor baptism alone can suffice; but it must be the actual faith of baptised persons which disposes us to this sacred Feast: For the Church gives the Communion neither to Catechumen, nor to Infants, nor to mad men, nor to natural fools. Catechumen not admitted to the holy Communion. Of this, besides the testimony of Justin Martyr, St. Cyril of Alexandria gives this full acoount. [We refuse to give the Sacraments to Catechumen, although they already know the truth, and with a loud voice confess the faith of Christ, because they are not yet enriched with the holy Ghost, who dwells in them who are consummated and perfected by Baptism: But when they have been baptised, because it is believed that the holy Ghost does dwell within them, they are not prohibited from the contact and communion of the body of Christ. And therefore to them who come to the mystical benediction, the Ministers of the Mystery cry with a loud voice, Sancta sanctis, Let holy things be given to sanctified persons: signifying, that the contact and sanctification of Christ's body does agree with them only who in their spirits are sanctified by the holy Ghost.] And this was the certain and perpetual Doctrine and Custom of the Church; insomuch that in the primitive Churches they would not suffer unbaptised persons so much as to see the Consecration of the holy Mysteries, as is to be seen in many Ecclesiastical Records. * Dionys. Eccles. hierarch. Microlog. observ. Eccles. cap. 51. in biblioth. PP. Cabas. exposit. liturg. cap. 15.16. Germanus Patr. C. P. in rerum Ecclesiast. theoria. Durandus. ration. Divin. offic. l. 4. & l. 6. Albe●tus Magnus de officio Missae tract. 3. c. 23. Alcuinus de divin. offic. Aquinas Summ. 3. q. 80. art. 4. The reason of this is nothing but the nature and analogy of the thing itself. For we first come to Christ by faith, and we first come to Christ by Baptism; they are the two doors of the Tabernacle, which our Lord hath pi●ched and not man. By faith we desire to go in, and by baptism we are admitted. Faith knocks at the door, and baptism sets it open: but until we are in the house, we cannot be entertained at the Master's Table: they that are in the high ways and hedges must be called in, and come in at the doors, and then they shall be feasted. The one is the moral entrance, and the other is the ritual. Faith is the door of the soul, and baptism is the door of the man. Faith is the spiritual address to God, and baptism is the Sacramental. Baptism is like the pool of Siloam appointed for healing; it is salutary and medicinal: but the Spirit of God is that great Angel that descends thither and makes them virtual; and faith is the hand that puts us in. So that faith alone does not do it; and therefore the unbaptized must not Communicate: So neither will baptism alone admit us; and therefore Infants and Innocents' are yet uncapable. But that's the next inquiry. SECT. II. Of Communicating Infants. Question. Whether Infants are to be admitted to the Holy Communion? WHether the holy Communion may be given to Infants, hath been a great question in the Church of God; which in this instance hath not been as in others, divided by parties and single persons, but by whole ages: for from some of the earliest ages of the Church, St. Cyprianus lib. de lapsis. down to the time of Charles the Great, that is, for above six hundred years, the Church of God did give the holy Communion to newly baptised Infants. St. Cyprian recounts a miracle of an Infant, into whose mouth (when the parents had ignorantly and carelessly left the babe) the Gentile Priests had forced some of their Idol Sacrifice: But when the Minister of the Church came to pour into the mouth the Calais of our Lord, it resisted, and being overpowered grew sick, and fell into convulsions. By which narrative the practice of the Church of that age is sufficiently declared. Of the matter of fact there is no question; but they went further. The Primitive Church did believe it necessary to the salvation of Infants: St. Austin believed that this Doctrine and practice descended from the Apostles; that without both the Sacraments no person could come to life, or partake of the Kingdom of heaven; which when he had endeavoured to prove largely, he infers this conclusion: It is in vain to promise salvation and life eternal to little children, Si ergo, ut tot & tanta Divina testimonia concinunt, nec salus nec vita aeterna sine baptismo & corpore & sanguine Domini cuiquam expectanda sunt, frustra sine his promittitur parvulis. lib. 1. de peccat. merit. & remiss. cap. 20. etc. 24. vide eundem de verbis Apostoli ad Bonifac. Epist. 23. ad vitalem epist. 106. cont. duas epistol. Pelagian. l. 1. c. 22. & lib. 4. c. 4. lib. contr. Julian c. 2. & S. Cyprian. lib. 3. Test. ad Quirin. c. 25. Author Hypognost. in operibus S. August. idem ait express S. Paulinus Epist. Nolanus epist. 12. ad Severum. S. Cyril. Hieros'. Catech. 3. c. 1. Idem dixit P. Innocentius. Capit. Caroli Mag. lib. 1. cap. 161. Alcuin. lib. de divinis offic. Idem videre est in Ordine Romano quem edidit Michael Hittorpius. unless they be baptised, and receive the body and blood of Christ since the necessity of them both is attested by so many, so great, and so divine Testimonies. And that this practice continued to the time of Charlemagne, appears by a Constitution in his Capitular, saying [That the Priest should always have the Eucharist ready, that when any one is sick, or when a child is weak, he may presently give him the Communion, lest he die without it.] And Alcuinus recites a Canon expressly charging, that as soon as ever the Infants are baptised, they should receive the holy Communion before they suck, or receive any other nourishment. The same also is used by the Greeks, by the Aethiopians, by the Bohemians and Moravians: and it is confessed by Maldonate * Maldonatus in Johan. 6. num. 116. , that the opinion of St. Austin and Innocentius, that the Eucharist is necessary even to Infants, prevailed in the Church for six hundred years together. But since the time of Charles the Great, that is, for above eight hundred years, Vide Hierem. Patr. C. P. doctr. exhor. ad Germanos Alvarez in it in. Aethiop. Joachimum Vadianum in notat. lib. 1. fol. 14. de Sacram. Eucharistae council. Trid. Sess. 21. can. 4. this practice hath been omitted in the Western Churches generally; and in the Council of Trent it was condemned as unfit, and all men commanded to believe, that though the ancient Churches did do it upon some probable reasons, yet they did not believe it necessary. Concerning which I shall not interrupt the usefulness which I intent in this discourse, by confuting the Canon; though it be intolerable to command men to believe in a matter of fact contrary to their evidence, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, dixit Agatho apud Aristot. and to say that the Fathers did not believe it to be necessary, when they say it is, and used it accordingly: yet because it relates to the use of this divine Sacrament, I shall give this short account of it. The Church of Rome, and some few others, are the only refusers and condemners of this ancient and Catholic practice: But upon their grounds they cannot reasonably deny it. 1. Because Infants are by them affirmed to be capable of the grace and benefits of the Eucharist: for to them who put no bar (as Infants put none) the Sacraments by their inherent virtue confer grace, and therefore particularly it is affirmed, * Franc. à victor. de Euchar. n. 75. that if Infants did now receive the Eucharist, they should also receive grace with it: and therefore it is not unreasonable to give it to them, who therefore are capable of it, because it will do them benefit; and it is consequently (upon these grounds) uncharitable to deny it. For, 2. They allow the ground upon the supposition of which the Fathers did most reasonably proceed; and they only deny the conclusion. For by the words of Christ, it is, absolutely necessary to eat his flesh and drink his blood: John 6.53. John 3.5. and if those words be understood of Sacramental manducation (in which interpretation both the ancients and the Church of Rome do consent) than it is absolutely necessary to communicate. For although there are other ways of eating his flesh and drinking of his blood, besides the Sacramental manducation, yet Christ in this place meant no other; and if of this he spoke when he said [Without doing this we have no life in us,] than it will not be sufficient to baptise them, though it baptism they should receive the same grace as in the Eucharist; because abstracting from the benefit and grace of it, it is made necessary by the Commandment, and by the will of God it is become a means indispensibly necessary to salvation. It is necessary by a necessity of the means, and a necessity of precept. True it is, that in each of the Sacraments there is a proportion of the same effect, as I have already discoursed Chap. 1. Sect. 3. ; yet this cannot lessen the necessity that is upon them both; for so Pharaohs dream was doubled, not to signify divers events, but a double certainty; and therefore although children even in baptism are partakers of the death of Christ, and are incorporated into and made partakers of his body; yet because Christ hath made one as necessary as the other, and both for several proportions of the same reason, the Church of Rome must either quit the Principle, or retain the consequent; for they have digged a ditch on both sides, and on either hand they are fallen into inconvenience. But it will be more material to consider the question as it is in itself, and without relation to any Schools of learning. Therefore, 3. It is certain that in Scripture there is nothing which directly forbids the giving the Holy Communion to Infants. For though we are commanded to examine, and so to eat; yet this precept is not of itself necessary, but by reason of an introduced cause; just as they are commanded to believe and repent who are to be baptised; that is, persons that need it, and that can do it, they must: and Infants without examination can as well receive the effect of the Eucharist, as without repentance they can have the effect of Baptism. For if they be communicated, they and the whole Assembly do declare the Lords death; for that is done by virtue of the whole solemnity, and it is done by the conjunct devotion of the whole Community; it is done by the Prayers and Offices of the Priest, and it is done by the action of every one that communicates: it is done in Baptism; and yet they are baptised who cannot with their voices publish the Confession. Infant's indeed cannot discern the Lord's body, so neither can they discern truth from falsehood, an Article of Faith from an heretical Doctrine; and yet to discern the one, is as much required as to discern the other: but in both the case is equal; for they must discern when they can confound or dishonour; but till they can do evil, they cannot be tied to do good. And it were hard to suppose the whole Church of God in her best and earliest times to have continued for above six hundred years in a practical error; it will not well become our modesty to judge them without further inquiry and greater evidence. 4. But as there is no prohibition of it, so no command for it. For as for the words of our blessed Lord recited by St. John, John 6.53. upon which the holy Fathers did principally rely, they were spoken before the Institution of both the Sacraments, and indifferently relate to either; that is, indeed to them both, as they are the ministries of faith; but to neither in themselves directly, or in any other proportion, or for any other cause; for faith is the principal that is there intended; for the whole analogy of the discourse drawn forth of its cloud and allegory, infers only the necessity of being Christ's Disciples, of living the life of grace, of feeding in our hearts on Christ, of living in him, and by him, and for him, and to him; which is the work of faith, See Chap. 1. Sect. 2. & 3. and believing in Christ, as faith signifies the being of Christ's Disciple. 5. The thing itself then being left in the midst, and undetermined, it is in the power of the Church to give it or to deny it: ●or in all things where Christ hath made no Law, the Church hath liberty to do that which is most for the glory of God, and the edification of all Christian people. And therefore although the Primitive Church did confirm newly baptised persons, and communicate them; yet as with great reason she did change the time of Confirmation from their first Baptism, till they could give an account of their faith; so with equal authority, when she hath an equal reason, she may change and limit the time of ministering the Communion. The Church is tied to nothing but to the Laws of the Sacrament, and the Laws of Reason, and the Laws of Charity. But that either of them is reasonable enough, may appear in the following considerations. For the Primitive Church had all this to justify their practice: That the Sacraments of the Gospel are the great channels of the grace of God: * That this grace always descends upon them that do not hinder it, and therefore certainly to Infants; And some do expressly affirm it, and none can with certainty deny, but that Infants if they did receive Communion, should also in so doing receive the fruits of it: * That to Baptism there are many acts of predisposition required, as well as to the Communion; and yet the Church, who very well understands the obligation of these precepts, supposes to children to be obliged to those predispositions to either Sacrament, but fits every Commandment to a capable subject: * That there is something done on God's part, and something on ours; that what belongs to us, obliges us then when we can hear and understand, but not before; but that what is on God's part is always ready to them that can receive it: * That Infants although they cannot alone come to Christ, yet the Church their Mother can bring them in her arms: * That they who are capable of the grace of the Sacrament, may also receive the sign; and therefore the same grace being conveyed to them in one Sacrament, may also be imparted to them in the other: * That as they can be born again without their own consent, so they can be said by the hands of others; and what begins without their own actual choice, may be renewed without their own actual desire: * and that therefore it may be feared lest, if upon the pretence of figurative speeches, allegories and allusions, and the injunction of certain dispositions, the holy Communion be denied them, a gap be opened upon equal pretences to deny them Baptism. * That since the Jewish Infants being circumcised, is used as an argument that they might be baptised their eating of the Paschal Lamb may also be a competent warrant to eat of that Sacrament, in which also, as in the other, the sacrificed Lamb is represented as offered and slain for them. Now The Church having such fair probabilities and prudential motives, and no prohibition, is she shall use her power to the purposes of kindnesses and charity, she is not easily to be reproved, lest without necessity we condemn all the Primitive Catholic Church, and all the Modern Churches of the East and South to this day; especially since without all dispositions Infants are baptised; there is less reason why they may not be communicated, having already received some real dispositions towards this, even all the grace of the Sacrament of Baptism, which is certainly something towards the other: And after all, the refusing to communicate Infants entered into the Church, upon an unwarrantable ground. For though it was confessed that the Communion would do them benefit, yet it was denied to them then when the Doctrine of Transubstantiation entered, Victoria. Relect. de Eucharist. ubi supr●. upon pretence lest by puking up the holy Symbols the Sacrament should be dishonoured; which indeed, though that Doctrine were true, were infinitely unreasonable; as supposing that Christ, who suffered his body to be broken upon the Cross that he might convey grace to them and us, would refuse to expose the symbols to the accidents of a child's stomach, and rather deny them that grace than endure that sight; who yet does daily suffer mice and mouldiness to do worse unto it. But on the other side, they that without interest and partiality deny to communicate Infants, can consider that Infants being in Baptism admitted to the Promises of the Gospel, and their portion in the Kingdom of Christ, can have upon them no necessity to be communicated. For by their first Sacrament they are drawn from their mere natural state, and lifted up to the adoption of Sons; and by the second Sacrament alone they can go no further: * That although the first grace which is given in Baptism be given them as their first being, yet the second graces are given to us upon other accounts, even for well using the first free grace: * That in Baptism there were promises made, which are to be personally accepted and verified before any new grace can be Sacramentally imparted: * That it was necessity which gave them Baptism before their Reason; and that necessity being served, there can be no profit in proceeding upon the same method without the same reason: * That Baptism is the Sacrament of the new born, the beginning, the gate of the Church, the entry of the Kingdom, the birth of a Christian; but the holy Eucharist is the Sacrament of them that grow in grace, of them that are perfect in Christ Jesus: * And lastly, to him that lists to be contentious, we are to say as St. Paul did, We have no such custom, nor the Churches of God. Now these probabilities on both sides may both of them be heard, and both of them prevail in the sense of the former determination: For by the first it may appear that to communicate Infants is lawful; but the second proves that it is not necessary: for having in baptism received sufficient title to the Kingdom of Heaven, they who before the use of reason cannot sin and cannot fall from the grace they have received, cannot be obliged to the use of that Sacrament which is for their reparation and security: and therefore in this case the present practice of the Church is to be our rule and measure of peace, and determination of the Article. SECT. III. Whether Innocents', Fools, and Madmen may be admitted to the Holy Communion? TO this I answer, That if fools can desire it, and can be kept innocent, the Church did never deny it to them; but unless they be capable of love and obedience in some degree, they must in no case be admitted. A vicious fool is intolerable; and he that knows nothing of it, nor can be taught any thing, must be permitted to the mercies of God and the prayers of the Church; but he that is not capable of Laws, can be no part of a Society, and therefore hath nothing to do with Communion. If he can but learn so much that it is good for his soul, if he can desire to go to God, and if he can in any degree believe in Christ, he will be judged according to what he hath, and not according to what he hath not; but if he cannot discern between good and evil, but indifferently likes and does one and the other, though mercy is to be hoped for him in the last account, yet because he does that which is materially evil, and cannot discern what is spiritually good, he must not be admitted so much as to the Symbols of the divine Mysteries. But concerning Mad men the case is otherwise; and therefore I am to answer with a distinction. If from a state of sin and debauchery they entered into their madness, their case is sad and infinitely to be deplored; but their debt-books are sealed up, they are like dead men, until they be restored to reason they cannot be restored to grace, and therefore not admitted to the Sacrament. But if they were men of a good life, they may in their intervals, that is, when they can desire it, and when they will not use the Sacrament irreverently, be communicated. For the seed of God abides within them, and no accident of nature can destroy the work of God, and the impresses of the spirit; nothing but their own wills can do that. For in these cases it is a good rule, and of great use in the practice of the Sacrament: Whoever can communicate spiritually, may be admitted to communicate Sacramenttally; that is, they who are in a state of grace, and can desire it, must not be rejected: And therefore good men falling into this calamity, when they have any ease from their sadness, and that they can return to words of order, and composed thoughts, though but for a while, though but in order to that ministry, are not to be rejected. But on the other side, whoever can hinder the effect of the Sacrament, they are not to be admitted to it, unless they do not only not hinder it, but actually dispose themselves to it: For if they can do evil, they can and aught to do good; and therefore vicious madmen having been and still remaining in a state of evil, cannot be admitted till they do good; and therefore never while their madness remains. The godly man that is so afflicted may; but yet not till the fire that was hidden makes some actual and bright emissions. But than lastly, For others who are of a probable life, concerning whom no man can tell whether they be in the state of grace or no; because no man can tell whether he that comes with that sadness be capable or no, no man can tell whether he does well or ill; and therefore he must determine himself by accidents and circumstances, and prudential considerations, having one eye upon the designs and compliances of charity, and the other upon the reverence of the Sacrament. And the case is in all things alike with dying persons, past the use of speech and reason. SECT. IV. Of actual faith as it is a necessary disposition to the Sacrament. BEsides the faith that is previous to Baptism, or is wrapped up in the offices of that Sacrament, the Church of God admitted only such persons to the Sacrament whom she called Fideles or Faithful, by a propriety or singularity and eminency of appellation. They accounted it not enough barely to believe or to be professors; for the penitents, and the lapsed and the Catechumen were so; but they meant, such persons whose faith was operative and alive and justifying; such men whose faith had overcome the world, and overcome their lusts, and conquered their spiritual enemy; such who by faith were real servants of Christ, disciples of his doctrine, subjects of his Kingdom and obedient to his institution. Such a faith as this is indeed necessary to every worthy communicant; because without such a faith a Christian is no more but a name; but the man is dead; and dead men eat not. Of this therefore we are to take strict and severe accounts: which we shall best do by the following measures. 1. Every true Christian believer must consent to the Articles of his belief by an assent firmer than can be naturally produced from the ordinary arguments of his persuasion. Men believe the resurrection; but it is because they are taught it in their childhood, and they inquire no further in their age: their Parents and their Priests, the laws of the Church and the Religion of the Country make up the demonstration; but because their faith is no stronger than to be the daughter of such arguments, we find they commonly live at such a rate, as if they did neither believe nor care whether it were so or no. The confidence of the article makes them not to leave off violently to pursue the interests of this world, and to love and labour for the other. Before this faith can enable them to resist a temptation they must derive their assent from principles of another nature; and therefore because few men can dispute it with arguments invincible and demonstrative and such as are naturally apt to produce the most perfect assent, it is necessary that these men of all other should believe it because it is said to come from God, and rely upon it because it brings to God, trust it because it is good, acknowledge it certain because it is excellent; that there may be an act of the will in it, as well as of the understanding, and as much love in it as discourse. For he that only consents to an article because it is evident, is indeed convinced, but hath no excellency in his faith but what is natural, nothing that is gracious and moral: true Christian faith must have in it something of obscurity, something that must be made up by duty and by obedience: but it is nothing but this; we must trust the evidence of God in the obscurity of the thing. God's testimony must be clear to him, and the thing in all other senses not clear; and then to trust the article because God hath said it, must have in it an excellency which God loves and that he will reward. In order to this, it is highly considerable that the greatest argument to prove our Religion, is the goodness and the holiness of it: it is that which makes peace and friendships, content and comfort, which unites all relations and endears the relatives, it relieves the needy and defends the widow, it ends strife and makes love endless; all other arguments can be opposed and tempted by wit and malice, but against the goodness of the Religion no man can speak, by which it appears that the greatest argument is that which moves love intending by love to convince the understanding. But then for others who can inquire better; their inquiries also must be modest and humble, according to the nature of the things, and to the designs of God: they must not disbelieve an article in Christianity which is not proved like a conclusion in Geometry; they must not be witty to object, and curious to inquire beyond their limit: for some are so ingeniously miserable, that they will never believe a proposition in Divinity if any thing can be said against it; they will be credulous enough in all the affairs of their life, but impenetrable by a Sermon of the Gospel; they will believe the word of a man and the promise of their neighbour; but a promise of Scripture signifies nothing unless it can be proved like a proposition in the Metaphysics. If Sempronius tell them a story, it is sufficient if he be a just man, and the narrative be probable: but though Religion be taught by many excellent men who gave their lives for a testimony, this shall not pass for truth till there is no objection left to stand against it. The reason of these things is plain: they do not love the thing; their interest is against it: they have no joy in Religion; they are not willing and desirous that the things shall appear true. When love is the principle, the thing is easy to the understanding, the objections are nothing, the arguments are good, and the Preachers are in the right. Faith assents to the revelations of the Gospel, not only because they are well proved, but because they are excellent things; not only because my reason is convinced; but my reason yields upon the fairer terms because my affections are gained. For if faith were an assent to an article but just so far as it is demonstrated, than faith were no virtue, and infidelity were no sin; because in this there is no choice, and no refusal: but where that which is probable is also naturally indemonstrable, and yet the conclusion is that in which we must rejoice, and that for which we must earnestly contend, and that in the belief of which we serve God, and that for which we must be ready to die. It is certain that the understanding observing the credibility, and the will being pleased with the excellency, they produce a zeal of belief, because they together make up the demonstration. For a reason can be opposed by a reason, and an argument by an argument; but if I love my Religion, nothing can take me from it, unless it can pretend to be more useful and more amiable, more perfective and more excellent than heaven and immortality, and a kingdom and a crown of peace, and all the things and all glories of the Eternal God. 2. That faith which disposes to the holy Communion must have in it a fullness of confidence and relying upon God, a trusting in, and a real expectation of the event of all the promises of the Gospel. God hath promised sufficient for the things of this life to them that serve him. They who have great revenues and full bags can easily trust this promise: but if thou hast neither money nor friends, if the labour of thy hands, and the success of thy labour fails thee, how is it then? Can you then rely upon the promise? What means your melancholy and your fear, your frequent sighs and the calling of yourself miserable and undone? Can God only help with means? or cannot he also make the means, or help without them; or see them when you see them not? or is it that you fear whether he will or no? He that hath promised, if he be just, is always willing, whether he be able or no; and therefore, if you do not doubt of his power, why should you at all doubt of his willingness? For if he were not able, he were not Almighty; if he were not willing to perform his promise, than he were not just: and he that suspects that, hath neither faith nor love for God, of all things in the world, faith never distrusts the good will of God, in which he most glories to communicate himself to mankind. If yet your fear objects and says that all is well on God's part; but you have provoked him by your sins, and have lost all title to the promise; I can say nothing against that, but that you must speedily repent and amend your fault, and then all will be quickly well on your part also, and your faith will have no objection, and your fears will have no excuse. When the glutton Apicius had spent a vast revenue in his prodigious feast, he killed himself for fear of starving: but if Caesar had promised to give him all Sicily or the revenues of Egypt, the beast would have lived and eaten. But the promises of God give to many of us no security, not so much as the promise of our rich friend, who yet may be disabled, or may break his word, or die. * But let us try again. * Good hath promised that all things shall work together for good to them that fear him. Do we believe that our present affliction will do so? Will the loss of our goods, the diminution of our revenue, the amission of our honour, the death of our eldest son, the unkindness of a husband, the frown of our Prince, the defeating of our secular hopes, the unprosperous event of our employment? Do we find that our faith is right enough really to be satisfied in these things so much as to be pleased with God's order and method of doing good to us by these unpleasing instruments? Can we rejoice under the mercy by the joys of believing at the same time when we groan under the affliction by the passions of sense? Do we observe the design of cure, when we feel the pain and the smart? Are we patient under the evil, Quaeque latent meliora puta. being supported by the expectation of the good which is promised to follow? This is the proper work of faith, and its best indication. Plutarch tells that when the cowards of Lacedaemon depicted upon their shields the most terrible beasts they could imagine, their design was to affright their enemies that they might not come to a close fight; they would fain have made their enemies afraid; because themselves were so. Which when Lacon espied, he painted upon a great shield nothing but a little fly for his device; and to them who said he did it that he might not be noted in the battle, he answered; yea but I mean to come so near the enemy, that he shall see the little fly. This is our case, our afflictions seem to us like Gorgon's heads, Lions and Tigers, things terrible in picture, but intolerable in their fury; but if we come near and consider them in all the circumstances; they are nothing but a fly upon a shield, they cannot hurt us, and they ought not to affright us, if we remember that they are conducted by God, that they are the effect of his care and the impress of his love, that they are the method and order of a blessing, that they are sanctified and eased by a promise; poenam Phaethon pro munere poscis. and that a present ease it may be would prove a future infelicity. If our faith did rely upon the promise, all this were nothing; but our want of faith does cause all the excess of trouble. For the question is not whether or no we be afflicted, whether we be sick, or crossed in our designs, or deprived of our children, this we feel and mourn for: but the question is, whether all this may not, or be not intended to bring good to us? Not whether God smiles or no, but to what purposes he smiles? Not whether this be not evil, but whether this evil will not bring good to us? If we do believe, why are we without comfort and without patience? If we do not believe it, where is our faith? And why does any of us come to the holy Communion if we do not believe it will be for our good? but if we do think it will, why do we not think so of our cross? for the promise is that every thing shall. Cannot the rod of God do good as well as the bread of God? and is not he as good in his discipline as in his provision? Is not he the same in his School as at his Table? Is not his physic as wholesome as his food? It is not reason, but plainly our want of faith that makes us think otherwise. Faith is the great magazine of all the graces and all the comforts of a Christian: and therefore the Devil endeavours to corrupt the truth of it by intermingling errors, the sincerity of it by hypocrisy, the ingenuity of it by interest, the comforts of it by doubting, the confidences of it by objections and secular experiences and present considerations; by adherence to humane confidences, and little sanctuaries, and the pleasures of the world and the fallibilities of men. * When Xerxes had a great army to conduct, and great successes to desire, and various contingencies to expect, he left off to sacrifice to his Country gods, forsook Jupiter and the Sun, and in Lydia espying a goodly Platan tree, tall and straight and spread, he encamped all his army in the fields about it, hung up bracelets and coronets upon the branches, and with costly offerings made his petitions to the beauteous tree; and when he marched away he left a guard upon his God, lest any thing should do injury to the plant of which he begged to be defended from all injury. By such follies as these does the Devil endeavour to deflower our holy faith and confidences in God: we trust in man who cannot trust himself; we rely upon riches, that rely upon nothing; for they have no stabiliment, and they have no foundation; but are like atoms in the air; the things themselves can bear no weight, a●d the foundation cannot bear them. In our afflictions we look for comfort from wine or company, from a friend that talks well, or from any thing that brings us present ease, but in the mean time we look not into the promises of God which are the store houses of comfort; and like the dogs at Hippocrene, we lick the water drops that fall upon the ground and take no notice of the fountain and the full vessels. These things are so necessary to be considered in order to our preparation to the Communion, as they are necessary to be reduced to practice in order to a Christian Conversation: for the holy Communion is the summary and compendium of the Religion and duty of a whole life; and as faith cannot be holy, material and acceptable without it contain in it a real trust in the promises of God; so neither can it be a sufficient disposition to the receiving the divine mysteries unless upon this ground it be holy, acceptable and material. 3. That faith which is a worthy preparatory to the holy Communion must be the actual principle and effective of a good life: a faith in the threatenings and in the Commandments of God. Who can pretend to be a Christian and yet not believe those words of St. Paul [Fellow after peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see God? Heb. 12.14. ] and yet if we do believe it, what do we think will become of us, who neither follow peace nor holiness, but follow our anger and pursue our lust? If we do believe this, we had need look about us and live at another rate than men commonly do. But we still remain peevish and angry, malicious and unplacable, apt to quarrel and hard to be reconciled, lovers of money and lovers of pleasures, but careless of holiness and Religion; as if they were things fit only to be talked on, and to be the subject of Theological discourses, but not the rule of our lives and the matter of our care. 1 Cor. 11.28. It is expressly said by St. Paul; He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. Now if we observe what crowds of people in great Cities come to the holy Communion, good and bad, penitent and impenitent, the covetous and the proud, the crafty Merchant from yesterday fraud, and the wanton fool from his last night's lust, we may easily perceive that not many men believe these words. He that says to me, drink not this for it is poison, hath given me a law and an affrightment, and I dare not disobey him, if I believe him; and if we did believe St. Paul, I suppose we should as little dare to be damned as to be poisoned. Mat. 7.2. Our Blessed Saviour told us, that with what measure we meet to others, it shall be measured to us again; but who almost believes this, and considers what it means? Will you be content that God should despise you as you despise your brother? that he should be as soon angry with you, as you are with him? that he should strike you as hastily, and as seldom pardon you, and never bore with your infirmities, and as seldom interpret fairly what you say or do, and be revenged as frequently as you would be? And what think we of these sayings [Into the heavenly Jerusalem there shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth, Revel. 21.27. or profaneth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie?] Do men believe God, and yet doing these things hope to be saved for all these terrible sayings? [Now the works of the flesh are manifest, Galat. 5.21. adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, etc. of which I tell you before, that they which do such th●ngs shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.] Certainly if we did believe that these things are spoken in earnest, we should not account fornication such a decent crime, so fashionable and harmless; or make such a maygame of the fearful lectures of damnation. For if these words be true; will men leave their sins, or are they resolved to suffer damnation, as being less troublesome than to quit their vain Mistresses? surely that's not it; but they have some little subterfuges and illusions to trust to. They say they will rely upon God's mercy. Well they may; if in well doing they commit their souls to him as to a faithful Creator: but will they make God their enemy, and then trust in him while he remains so? That will prove an intolerable experiment; for so said God, when he caused his name to be proclaimed to the host of Israel; The Lord God merciful and gracious: he caused to be added; and that will by no means quit the guilty. By no means? No, by no means, let us believe that as well as the other. For the passion of our Redeemer, the intercession of our high Priest, the Sacraments of the Church, the body and blood of Christ, the mercies of God, the saying Lord, Lord, the privileges of Christians, and the absolution of the Priest, none of all this, and all this together shall do him no good that remains guilty, that is, who is impenitent, and does not forsake his sin. If we had faith we should believe this, and should not dare to come to the holy Communion with an actual guiltiness of many crimes, and in confidence of pardon, against all the truth of Divine relations, and therefore without faith. But then here we may consider, that no man in this case can hope to be excused from the necessities of a holy life upon pretence of being saved by his faith. For if the case be thus; these men have it not. For he that believes in God, believes his words; and they are very terrible to all evil persons: For in Christ Jesus nothing can avail, but a new creature, nothing but keeping the Commandments of God, nothing but faith working by charity: they are the words of God. Wicked men therefore can never hope to be saved by their faith, or by their faith to be worthy Communicants, for they have it not. Who then can? He only by his faith is worthily disposed to the Communion, and by his faith can be saved, who by his faith lives a life of grace; whose faith is to him a magazine of holy principles, whose faith endears obedience, and is the nurse of a holy hope, and the mother of a never failing charity. He shall be saved by his faith who by his faith is more than conqueror; who resists the Devil and makes him fly, and giveth laws to his passions, and makes them obedient; who by his faith overcomes the world and removes mountains, the mountains of pride and vanity, ambition and secular designs; and whose faith casteth out Devils, the Devil of lust and the Devil of intemperance, the spirit that appears like a goat, and the spirit that comes in the shape of a swine: he whose faith opens the blind man's eyes and makes him to see the things of God, and cures the lame hypocrite and makes him to walk uprightly. For these signs shall follow them that believe (said our blessed Saviour; Mark 16.17.18. ) and by these as by the wedding garment we are fitted to this heavenly Supper of the King. In short, for what ever end faith is designed, whatever propositions it intends to persuade, to what duties soever it does engage, to what state of things soever it ought to efform us, and whithersoever the nature and intention of the grace does drive us, thither we must go, that we must do, all those things we must believe, and to that end we must direct all our actions and designs. For ●he nature of faith discovers itself in the affairs of our Religion as in all things; if we believe any thing to be good we shall labour for it; if we think so, we shall do so; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Just. Mart. and if we run after the vanities of the world and neglect our interest of heaven, there is no other account to be given of it, but because we do not believe the threatenings and the Laws of God, or that heaven is not so considerable as those sottish pleasures and trifling regards for which all pains is too much, though we think all labour and all passion is too little. * Isid. & Osir. Plutar●h tells that when poverty desired to have a child she lay with the God Porus their God of plenty, and she proved with child and brought forth Love, by which they intended to represent the nature of the Divine love; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is born of a rich Father and a poor mother; that is, it proceeds from a contempt of the world and a value of God; an emptiness of secular affections and a great estimate of wisdom and Religion. But therefore it is that God and the fruits of his garden, and the wealth of his treasure, and the meat of his Table, and the graces of his spirit are not gustful and delicious, because we dote upon mushrooms and colliquintida. But as Manna was given in the desert and it became pleasant when they had nothing else to eat: So it is in ●he sweetnesses of Religion; we cannot live by faith, and rejoice in the banquets of our Saviour, unless our souls dwell in the wilderness; that is, where the pleasures and appetites of ●he world may not prepossess our palates and debauch our reasonings. Delicata est Divina consolatio quae non datur admit tentibus alienam. S. Bernard. And this was mysteriously spoken by the Psalmist, The broad places of the wilderness shall wax fat, and the hills shall be encircled with joy; that is, whatsoever ●s barren and desolate, not full of the things and affections of the world shall be inebriated with the pleasures of Religion and rejoice in Sacraments, in faith and holy expectations. But the love of money and the love of pleasures are the intrigues and fetters to the understanding; but he only is a faithful man who * Fraenetur ergo corporum cupidines Detersa ut intus emicet prudentia, Sic excitato perspicax acumine Liberque flatu laxiore Spiritus Reum parentem rectius precabitur. Prudent. in Cathemerin. restrains his passions and despises the world and rectifies his love, that he may believe a right, and put that value upon Religion as that it become the satisfaction of our spirit and the great object of all our passionate desires; pride and prejudice are the Parents of misbelief, but humility and contempt of the world first bear faith upon their knees, and then upon their hands. SECT. V. Of the proper and Specific work of Faith in the reception of the holy Communion. HEre I am to inquire into two practical questions. 1. What stress is to be put upon faith in this Mystery: that is, how much is every one bound to believe in the article of this Sacrament before he can be accounted competently prepared in his understanding, and by his faith? 2. What is the use of faith in the reception of the Blessed Sacrament? and in what sense, and to what purposes, and with what truth it is said that in the holy Sacrament we receive Christ by faith? How much every man is bound to believe of this mystery. If I should follow the usual opinions, I should say that to this preparatory faith it is necessary to believe all the niceties and mysteriousness of the blessed Sacrament. Men have introduced new opinions and turned the key in this lock so often till it cannot be either opened or shut, and they have unravelled the clue so long till they have entangled it; and not only reason is made blind by staring at what she never can perceive, but the whole article of the Sacrament is made an objection and temptation even to faith itself; and such things are taught by some Churches and some Schools of learning, which no Philosophy did ever teach, no Religion ever did reveal, no prophet ever preach, and which no faith ever can receive: I mean it in the prodigious article of Transubstantiation; vide Real presence per totum. which I am not here to confute, but to reprove upon practical considerations; and to consider those things that may make us better, and not strive to prevail in disputation. That therefore we may know the proper offices of faith in the believing what relates to the holy Sacrament, I shall describe it in several propositions. 1. It cannot be the duty of faith to believe any thing against our sense; what we see and taste to be bread, what we see and taste and smell to be wine, no faith can engage us to believe the contrary. For by our senses Christianity itself, and some of the greatest Articles of our belief were known by them who from that evidence conveyed them to us by their testimony; and if the perception of sense were not finally to be relied upon, 1 John 1.1, 2, 3. Miracles could never be a demonstration, nor any strange event prove an unknown proposition: for the Miracle can never prove the Article, unless our eyes or hands approve the miracle; and the Divinity of Christ's person, and his mission and his power could never have been proved by the Resurrection, but that the resurrection was certain and evident to the eyes and hands of so many witnesses. Thus Christ to his Apostles proved himself to be no spirit, by exposing his flesh and bones to be felt; and he wrought faith in St. Thomas by his finger's ends; the wounds that he saw and felt were the demonstrations of his faith: and in the Primitive Church the Valentinians and Marcionites, who said Christ's body was fantastical, were confused by no other argument but of sense: For sense is the evidence of the simple, and the confirmation of the wise; it can confute all pretences, and reprove all deceitful subtleties; it turns opinion into knowledge, and doubts into certainty; it is the first endearment of love, and the supply of all understanding: from what we see without, we know what to believe within; and no demonstration in the world can be greater than the evidence of sense. Our senses are the great arguments of virtue and vice; and if it be not safe to rely upon that evidence, we cannot tell what pleasure and pain is; and a man that is born blind may as well have the true idea of colours, as we could have of pain, if our senses could not tell us certainly: and all those arguments from heaven by which God prevails upon all the world, as Oracles, and Vrim and Thummim, and still voices, and loud thunders, and the daughter of a voice, and messages from above, and Prophets on earth, and lights and Angels, all were nothing; for faith could not come by hearing, if our hearing might be illusion. That therefore which all the world relies upon for their whole Religion, that which to all the world is the great means and instrument of the glorification of God, even our seeing of the works of God, and eating his provisions, and beholding his light; that which is the great ministry of life, and the conduit of good and evil to us, we may rely upon for this article of the Sacrament: what our faith relies upon in the whole, she may not contradict in this. Tertullian said, that [It is (not only unreasonable, but) unlawful to contradict the testimony of our sense, lest the same question be made of Christ himself, lest it be suspected that he also might be deceived when he heard his Father's voice from heaven] That therefore which we see upon our Altars and Tables, that which the Priest handles, that which the Communicant does taste, is bread and wine; our senses tell us that it is so, See Real Presence, Sect. 10. and therefore faith cannot be enjoined to believe it not to be so. Faith gives a new light to the soul, but it does not put our eyes out; and what God hath given us in our nature, could never be intended as a snare to Religion, or to engage us to believe a lie. Faith sees more in the Sacrament than the eye does, and tastes more than the tongue does, but nothing against it: and as God hath not two wills contradictory to each other, so neither hath he given us two notices and perceptions of objects, whereof the one is affirmative and the other negative of the same thing. 2. Whatsoever is against right reason, that no faith can oblige us to believe. For although reason is not the positive and affirmative measures of our faith, and God can do more than we can understand, and our faith ought to be larger than our reason, and take something into her heart that reason can never take into her eye; yet in all our Creed there can be nothing against reason. If true reason justly contradicts an article, it is not of the household of faith. See this largely discoursed of in the Rule of Conscience, lib. 1. chap. 2. Rule 3. In this there is no difficulty, but that in practice we take care that we do not call that reason which is not so: for although a man's reason is a right Judge, yet it ought not to pass sentence in an inquiry of faith, until all the information be brought in; all that is within, and all that is without; all that is above, and all that is below; all that concerns it in experience, and all that concerns it in act; whatsoever is of pertinent observation, and whatsoever is revealed: for else reason may argue very well, and yet conclude falsely; it may conclude well in Logic, and yet infer a false Proposition in Theology: but when our Judge is fully and truly informed in all that where she is to make her judgement, we may safely follow it, whithersoever she invites us. If therefore any society of men calls upon us to believe in our Religion what is false in our experience; to affirm that to be done, which we know is impossible it ever can be done; to wink hard that we may see the better; to be unreasonable men, that we may off●r to God a reasonable sacrifice; they make Religion so to be seated in the will, that our understanding will be useless, and can never minister to it. But as he that shuts the ●ye hard, and with violence curls the eye lid, forces a fantastic fire from the crystalline humour, and espies a light that never shines, and sees thousands of little fires that never burn: So is he that blinds the eye of his reason, and pretends to see by an eye of faith; he makes little images of notion, and some atoms dance before him; but he is not guided by the light, nor instructed by the proposition, but sees like a man in his sleep, and grows as much the wiser as the man that dreamt of a Lycanthropy, and was for ever after wisely wary not to come near a River. He that speaks against his own reason, speaks against his own conscience; and therefore it is certain, no man serves God with a good conscience that serves him against his reason. For though in many cases reason must submit to faith, that is, natural reason must submit to supernatural, and the imperfect informations of art to the perfect revelations of God; yet in no case can a true reason and a right faith oppose each other: and therefore in the article of the Sacrament, the impossible affirmatives concerning Transubstantiation, because they are against all the reason of the world, can never be any part of the faith of God. 3. Whatsoever is m●tter of curiosity that our faith is not obliged to believe or confess. Ubi ad profunditatem Sacramentorum perventum est, om●i● Platonicorum caligavit subtilitas. S. Cyprian. de Spir. S. For the faith of a Christian is pure as light, plain as a Commandment, easy as children's Lessons: it is not given to puzzle the understanding, but to instruct it; it brings clarity to it, not darkness and obscurity. Our faith in this Sacrament is not obliged to inquire or to tell how the ho●y bread can feed the soul, or the chalice purify our spirits; how Christ is united to us and yet we remain imperfect even then when we are all one with him that is perfect: there is no want of faith though we do not understand the secret manner how Christ is really present, and yet this reality be no other but a reality of event and positive effect; though we know not that Sacramental is more than figurative, and yet not so much as natural, but greater in another kind. It is not a duty of our faith to discern how Christ's body is broken into ten thousand pieces and yet remains whole at the same time; or how a body is present by faith only, when it is naturally absent, and yet faith ought to believe things to be as they are, and not to make them what of themselves they are not. We need not to be amazed concerning our faith, when our overbusy reason is amazed in the article; and our faith is not defective though we confess we do not understand how Christ's body is there incorporeally, that is, a body after the manner of a Spirit; or though we cannot apprehend how the Symbols should make the grace presential, and yet that the grace of God in the receiver can make the Symbols operative and energetical. The faith that is required of those who come to the holy Communion is of what is revealed plainly, and taught usually; what sets devotion forward, not what ministers to curiosity; that which the Good and the plain, the easy and the simple man can understand. For if thou canst not understand the reciprocations and pulses of thy own arteries, the motion of thy blood, the feat of thy memory, the rule of thy dreams, the manner of digestion, the disease of thy bowels, and the distempers of thy spleen, things that thou bearest about thee, that cause to thee pain & sorrow; it is not to be expected that thou shouldest understand the secrets of God, the causes of his will, the impulses of his grace, the manner of his Sacraments, and the Oeconomy of his spirit. God's works are secret, and his words are deep, and his dispensations mysterious, — exigua est vis Humani ingenii, tantóque angusta labori. Quip minor natura aciem si intendere tentet Acrius ac penetrare Dei secreta supremi, Quis dubitet victo fragilem lacessere visu. Vimque fatigatae mentis sub pectore parvo Turbari, invalidisque hebetem succumbere curis? Prudent. in Symmach. l. 2. and therefore too high for thy understanding. St. Gregory Nazianzen * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Orat. 1. says of God; the more you think you comprehend of him in your understanding, the less he is comprehended; like the sand of the glass which the harder you grasp the less you can retain; or like the sand of the sea which you can never number; but by going about it, you are confounded, and by doing something of it, you make it impossible to do the rest. Curious inquiries are like the contentions of Protogenes and Apelles who should draw the smallest line; and after two or three essays they left this monument of their art, that they drew three lines so curiously that they were scarcely to be discerned. And therefore since faith is not concerned in intrigues and hard questions, it were very well if the Sacrament itself were not disguised, and charity disordered by that which is not a help but a temptation to Faith itself. In the holy Communion we must retain an undoubted Oportet igitur nos in sumptionibus Divinorum mysteriorum indubitatam retinere fidem & non quaerere quo pacto. S. Bernardus. An sit, fidei est inquirere: quid sit, Philosophi: quomodo sit, Curiosi. faith, but not inquire after what manner the secrets of God are appointed. Whether it be or no; that is the object of faith to inquire, and to accept accordingly. What it is, he that is to teach others and speak mysteries may modestly dispute: but how it is, nothing but curiosity will look after. The Egyptians used to say, that unknown darkness is the first principle of the world; not meaning that darkness was before light; but by Darkness they mean God, as Damascius the Platonist rightly observes; saying, This darkness or obscurity is the beginning of every intellectual being, and every Sacramental action: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and therefore in their ceremonies they usually made three acclamations to the unknown Darkness; that is, to God, whose secrets are pervious to no eye, whose dwelling is in a light that is not to be discerned, whose mysteries are not to be understood by us, and whose Sacraments are objects of faith and wonder, but not to be disordered by the mistaking, undiscerning eye of people that are curious to ask after what they shall never understand. Faith is oftentimes safer in her ignorance than in busy questions; and to inquire after the manner of what God hath plainly and simply told, Multa etenim benè tecta latent, nescitaque prosunt Dum mansueta fides quaedam dilata modestè Sustinet, & nullo ignorat non edita damno. Prosper advers. ingrat, c. 35. may be an effect of infidelity, but never an act of faith. If concerning the things of God we once ask Why or How, we argue our doubt and want of confidence: and therefore it was an excellent Counsel of S. Cyril: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Just. Mart. Firmam fidem mysteriis adhibentes, nunquam in t●m sublimibus rebus illud Quomodo aut cogitemus aut proferamus. lib. 4. in Johan. c. 13. Believe firmly in the mysteries, and consent to the words of Christ: but never so much as speak or think, How is this done? In your faith be as particular and minute, as Christ was in his expressions of it, * Non patiar me quicquam nescire de eo quemamem. Plin. but no more. He hath told us, This is his body This is his blood: believe it and so receive it: but he hath not told us how it is so; it is behind a cloud, and tied up with a knot of secrecy; therefore let us lay our finger on our mouth, and worship humbly. But he that looks into the eye of the Sun shall be blind; and he that searches into the secrets of Majesty shall be confounded with the glory. The next enquiry is, What is the use of faith in this Sacrament? It is tied but to little duty, and a few plain articles; what then is the use and advantages of it? To what graces does it minister, and what effect does it produce? To this the answer is easy, but yet such as introduces a further enquiry. Faith indeed is not curious but material: and therefore in the contemplation of this mysterious Sacrament and its Symbols, we are more to regard their signification than their matter; their holy employment than their natural usuage, what they are by grace than what they are by nature; what they signify rather than what they are defined. Faith considers not how they nourish the body, but how they support and exalt the soul: that they are Sacramental not that they are also nutritive; that they are made holy to purposes of Religion, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chrysost. homil. 2. in 2 Tim. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Idem & S. Cyril. in defence. anathem. idem asserit. In Johan. hom. 46. vide etiam August. in Psal. 98. not that they are salutary to offices of nature; that is, what they are to the spirit, not what they are to sense and disputation. For to faith Christ is present; by faith we eat his flesh, and by faith we drink his blood; that is, we communicate not as men, but as faithful and believers; the meaning, and the duty, and the effect of which are now to be inquired. 1. It signifies that Christ is not present in the Sacrament corporally; or naturally, but spiritually; for thus the carnal and spiritual sense are opposed. So St. Chrysostom upon those words of Christ; the flesh profiteth nothing: what is it to understand carnally? To understand them simply and plainly as they are spoken. For they are not to be judged as they seem, but all mysteries are to be considered with internal eyes, that is, spiritually. For the carnal sense does not penetrate to the understanding of so great a secret, saith St. Cyprian. For therefore we are not devourers of flesh, because we understand these things spiritually. So Theophilaect. 2. Since the spiritual sense excludes the natural and proper, it remains that the expression which is natural be in the sense figurative and improper; and if the holy Sacrament were not a figure, it could neither be a sign nor a Sacrament. But therefore it is called the body and blood of Christ because it is the figure of them; as St. Austin largely discourses; Epist. 23. add Bonifac. vide eundem contr. Adimantum cap. 12. Non dubitavit dicere Dominus hoc est corpus meum, cum signum daret corporis sui. Dicitur item ab origen & Chrysostomo; in cap. 26. Mat. homil. 83. Typus & Symbolum: ab eodem origen, S. Basilio, & S. Ambrosio, & aliis; exemplum exemplar, & imago. [●or so when good Friday draws near, we say to morrow or the next day is the passion of our Lord; although that passion was but once, and that many ages since: and upon the Lord's day, we say, to day our blessed Lord arose from the dead although so many years be passed since; and why is no man so foolish as to reprove us of falsehood, but because on these days is the similitude of those things which were done so long since. Was not Christ once sacrificed? and yet he is sacrificed still on the solemnities of Easter, and every day in the Communions of the people; neither does he say false, who being asked, shall say that he is sacrificed; for if the Sacraments had not a similitude of those things whereof they are Sacraments, they would be no Sacraments at all. But most commonly, by their similitudes things receive their names. Contr. Martion. lib. 4. ] Thus Tertullian expresses this mystery. This is, my body, that is, the figure of my body; and St. Gregory Nazianzen calls the Passeover, because it antedated the Lords Supper, a figure of a figure. 3. But St. Austin added well; The body of Christ is truth and figure too. The holy Sacrament is not only called the Lords body and blood, for the figure, similitude and Sacramentality; but for the real exhibition and ministration of it. For it is truly called the body of Christ, because there is joined with it the vital power, virtue and efficacy of the body; and therefore it is called by St. Austin, Laus fidei est crederequod non vides. Aug. the intelligible, the invisible, the spiritual body; by St. Hierom▪ the Divine and spiritual flesh; the celestial thing, by St. Irenaeus; the spiritual food: and the body of the divine Spirit, Immortalitatis alimonia datur, à communibus cibis differens, corporalis substantiae retinens speciem, sed virtutis Divinae invisibili efficientiaâ probans adesse praesentiam. S. Cyprian de coena Dom. by St. Ambrose: for by this means it can very properly be called the body and blood of Christ; since it hath not only the figure of his death externally, but internally it hath hidden and secret the proper and divine effect, the lifegiving power of his body; so that though it be a figure, yet it is not merely so; not only the sign and memorial of him that is absent, but it bears along with it the very body of the Lord, that is, the efficacy and divine virtue of it. Thus our blessed Saviour said of John the Baptist, that Elias is already come, because he came in the power and spirit of Elias. As John was Elias, so is the holy Sacrament the body and blood of Christ, because it hath the power and spirit of the body of Christ. And therefore the ancient Doctors of the Church in their Sermons of these divine Mysteries, use the word Nature and Substance, not understanding these words in the natural or Philosophical, but a Theological, in a sense proper to the Schools of Christians; by Substance meaning the power of the substance; by Nature, the gracious effect of his natural body: the nature and use and mysteriousness of Sacraments so allowing them to speak, and so requiring us to understand. 4. And now to this spiritual food must be sitted a spiritual manner of reception; and this is the work of faith; that spiritual blessings may invest the spirit, and be conveyed by proportioned instruments, lest the Sacrament be like a treasure in a dead hand, or music in the grave. But this I choose rather to represent in the words of the Fathers of the Church than mine own. [We see (saith St. Epiphanius) what our Saviour took into his hands, as the Gospel says, In Anchorato. he arose at supper and took this, an● when he had given thanks, he said, This is my body; and we see it is not equal, nor like to it, neither to the invisible Deity, nor to the flesh: for this is of a round form, without sense: but by grace he would say, This is mine; and every one hath faith in this saying: For he that doth not believe this to be true as he hath said, he is fallen from grace and salvation. But that which we have heard, that we believe; that it is his.] And again, [The bread indeed is our food; but the virtue which is in it, is that which gives us life: by faith and efficacy, by hope and the perfection of the Mysteries, and by the title of sanctification, it should be made to us the perfection of salvation. Author lib. de coenâ Dom. Fides non habet meritum, cui humana ratio praebet experimentum. St. Gregor. ] For these words are spirit and life; and the flesh pierces not into the understanding of this depth, unless faith come.] * Arcanum coeli Dominus pro tempore celat Ut sic nostra fides ad justitiam doceatur, Et fidei major merces exinde sequatur. Petr. Blesens. But then, [The bread is food, the blood is life, the flesh is substance, the body is the Church] For the body is indeed shown, it is slain, and given for the nourishment of the world, that it may be spiritually distributed to every one, and be made to every one the conservatory of them to the resurrection of eternal life, de peccat. in Spir. S. ] saith St. Athanasius. Therefore because Christ said, This is my body, let us not at all doubt, but believe, and receive it with the eye of the soul; for nothing sensible is delivered us; but by sensible things he gives us insensible or spiritual,] so St. Chrysostom: S. Chrysost. ubi suprà in Mat. 26. [For Christ would not that they who partake of the divine Mysteries should attend to the nature of the things which are seen, but let them (by faith) believe the change that is made by grace. Theodoret. dial. 1. [For according to the substance of the creatures, it remains after consecration the same it did before: But it is changed inwardly by the powerful virtue of the holy Spirit; and faith sees it, Bertram de corp. & sang. Domini. it feeds the soul, and ministers the substance of eternal life: for now faith sees it all whatsoever it is. From these excellent words we are confirmed in these two things. 1. That the divine Mysteries are of very great efficacy and benefit to our souls. 2. That Faith is the great instrument in conveying these blessings to us. ubi supra. For as St. Cyprian affirms, the Sacraments of themselves cannot be without their own virtue; and the divine Majesty does at no hand absent itself from the Mysteries.] But then unless by faith we believe all this that Christ said, there is nothing remaining but the outward Symbols, and the sense of flesh and blood, which profits nothing. But to believe in Christ, is to eat the flesh of Christ. John 6.35. I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall not hunger; that is, he shall be filled with Christ: and he that believeth in me shall not thirst: coming to Christ, and believing in him, is the same thing: that is, he that believes Christ's Words and obeys his Commandments; he that owns Christ for his Lawgiver and his Master, for his Lord and his Redeemer; he who lays down his sins in the grave of Jesus, and lays down himself at the foot of the Cross, and his cares at the door of the Temple, and his sorrows at the Throne of Grace; he who comes to Christ to be instructed, to be commanded, to be relieved, and to be comforted; to this person Christ gives his body and blood, that is food from heaven. And then the bread of life, and the body of Christ, and eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, are nothing else but mysterious and Sacramental expressions of this great excellency; that whoever does this, shall partake of all the benefits of the Cross of Christ, where his body was broken, and his blood was poured forth for the remission of our sins, and the salvation of the world. But still that I may use the expression of St. Ambrose, in Lucam lib. 6. c. 8. Christ is handled by faith, he is seen by faith, he is not touched by the body, he is not comprehended by the eyes. 5. But all the inquiry is not yet past: For thus we rightly understand the mysterious Propositions; but thus we do not fully understand the mysterious Sacrament. For since coming to Christ in all the addresses of Christian Religion, that is, in all the ministeries of faith, is eating of the body and drinking the blood of Christ, what does faith in the reception of the blessed Sacrament that it does not do without it? Of this I have already given an account * Chap. 1. Sect. 2. : But here I am to add, That in the holy Communion all the graces of a Christian, all the mysteries of the Religion are summed up as in a divine compendium; and whatsoever moral or mysterious is done without, is by a worthy Communicant done more excellently in this divine Sacrament: for here we continue the confession of our faith which we made in Baptism; here we perform in our own persons what then was undertaken for us by another; here that is made explicit which was but implicit before; what then was in the root, is now come to a full year; what was at first done in mystery alone, is now done in mystery and moral actions and virtuous excellencies together: here we do not only here the words of Christ, but we obey them; we believe with the heart, and here we confess with the mouth, and we act with the hand, and incline the head, and bow the knee, and give our heart in sacrifice: here we come to Christ, and Christ comes to us; here we represent the death of Christ as he would have us represent it, and remember him as he commanded us to remember him; here we give him thanks, and here we give him ourselves; here we defy all the works of darkness, and hither we come to be invested with a robe of light, by being joined to the Son of Righteousness, to live in his eyes; and to walk by his brightness, and to be refreshed with his warmth, and directed by his spirit, and united to his glories. So that if we can receive Christ's body and drink his blood out of the Sacrament, much more can we do it in the Sacrament: For this is the chief of all the Christian Mysteries, and the union of all Christian Blessings, and the investiture of all Christian Rights, and the exhibition of the Charter of all Christian Promises, and the exercise of all Christian Duties. Here is the exercise of our faith, and acts of obedience, and the confirmation of our hope, and the increase of our charity. So that although God be gracious in every dispensation, yet he is bountiful in this: although we serve God in every virtue, yet in the worthy reception of this divine Sacrament there must be a conjugation of virtues, and therefore we serve him more: we drink deep of his loving kindness in every effusion of it; but in this we are inebriated: he always fills our cup, but here it runs over. The effects of these Considerations are these. 1. That by [Faith] in our dispositions and preparations to the holy Communion, is not understood only the act of faith, but the body of faith; not only believing the articles, but the dedication of our persons; not only a yielding up of our understanding, but the engaging of our services; not the hallowing of one faculty, but the sanctification of the whole man. That faith which is necessary to the worthy receiving this divine Sacrament, is all that which is necessary to the susception of Baptism, and all that which is produced by hearing the word of God, and all that which is exercised in every single grace; all that by which we live the life of grace, and all that which works by charity, and makes a new creature, and justifies a sinner, and is a keeping the Commandments of God. 2. If the manducation of Christ's flesh and drinking his blood be spiritual, and done by faith, and is effected by the spirit, and that this faith signifies an entire dedition of ourselves to Christ, and sanctification of the whole man to the service of Christ, than it follows, Panis qui de coelo descend it non nisi ab eo accipitur qui Dominum habet & Christi membrum est. S. Hilar. de. Trinit. l. 8. that the wicked do not Communicate with Christ, they eat not his flesh, and they drink not his blood: They eat and drink indeed; but it is gravel in their teeth, and death in their belly; they eat and drink damnation to themselves. For unless a man be a member of Christ, unless Christ dwells in him by a living faith, he does not eat the bread that came down from heaven. They lick the rock, saith St. Cyprian, but drink not the waters of its emanation: They receive the skin of the Sacrament, and the bran of the flesh, saith St. Bernard. But it is in this divine nutriment as it is in some fruits; the skin is bitterness, and the inward juice is salutary and pleasant: the outward Symbols never bring life, but they can bring death; Non manducant spiritualiter, sed premunt dentibus signum corporis & sanguinis. and they of whom it can be said (according to the expression of St. Austin) they eat no spiritual meat, but they eat the sign of Christ, must also remember what old Simeon said in his prophecy of Christ, He is a sign set for the fall of many; but his flesh and blood spiritually eaten, is resurrection from the dead. SECT. VI Meditations and Devotions relative to this Preparatory Grace; to be used in the days of Preparation, or at any time of spiritual Communion. St. Bernard's Meditation and Prayer. THE Calais which thou (O sweetest Saviour Jesus) didst drink, hath made thee infinitely amiable; it was the work of my redemption. Certainly nothing does more pleasingly invite, or more profitably require, or more vehemently affect me than this love: for by how much lower thou didst for me descend in the declinations of humility, by so much art thou dearer to me in the exaltations of thy charity and thy glory. * Learn, O my soul, how thou oughtest to love Christ, who hath given us his flesh for meat, his blood for drink, the water of his side for our lavatory, and his own life for the price of our redemption. He is stark and dead cold who is not set on fire by the burning and shining flames of such a charity. I. Blessed Saviour Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the fountain of life and salvation; by thee let us have access to thy Heavenly Father, that by thee he may accept us, who by thee is revealed to us. Let thy innocence and purity procure pardon for our uncleanness and disobedience; let thy humility extinguish our pride and vanity; thy meekness extinguish our anger, and thy charity cover the multitude of our sins. II. O blessed Advocate and Mediator, intercede for us with thy Father and ours, with thy God and ours; and grant that by the grace which thou hast found, by the prerogative which thou hast deserved, by the mercy which thou hast purchased for us, that as thou wert partaker of our sufferings and infirmities, so we by thy death and resurrection, and by thy infinite gracious intercession, may be made partakers of thy holiness and thy glory. III. Let the brightness of the divine grace for ever shine upon thy servants, that we being purified from all error and infidelity, from weak fancies and curious inquiries, may perceive and adore the wisdom and the love of God in the truth and mysteriousness of this Divine Sacrament: And be pleased to lighten in our spirits such a burning love, and such a shining devotion, that we may truly receive thee, and be united unto thee; that we may feed on thee the celestial Manna, and may with an eye of faith see thee under the cloud and in the vail; and at last may see thee in the brightest effusions of thy glory. Amen. A Confession of Faith in order to the Mysteries of the Holy Sacrament; taken out of the Liturgy of St. Clement; to be used in the days of Preparation or Communion. HOly, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth; Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory. Blessed art thou, O God, and blessed is thy Name for ever and ever, Amen. For thou art holy, and in all things thou art sanctified and most exalted, and sittest on high above all for ever and ever. Holy is thy only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who in all things did minister to thee his God and Father, both in the creation of the world, and in the excellent providence and conservation of it. He suffered not mankind to perish; but gave to him the Law of nature, and a Law written in Tables of stone, and reproved them by his Prophets, and sent his Angel to be their guards: And when men had violated the natural Law, and broken that which was written; when they had forgotten the Divine Judgement manifested in the deluge upon the old world, in fire from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, in many plagues upon the Egyptians, in the slaughters of the Philistines, and when the wrath of God did hang over all the world for for their iniquity, according to thy will he who made man resolved to become a man; he who is the Lawgiver would be subject to Laws; he that is the High Priest would be made a Sacrifice, and the great Shepherd of our souls would be a Lamb and be slain for us. Thee his God and Father he appeased, and reconciled unto the world, and freed all men from the instant anger: He was born of a Virgin, born in flesh; He is God, and the Word, the beloved Son, the first born of every creature; according to the Prophecies which went before him, of the seed of of Abraham and David, and of the Tribe of Judah. He who is the maker of all that are born, was conceived in the womb of a Virgin; and he that is void of all flesh, was incarnate and made flesh: He was born in time who was begotten from eternity: He conversed piously with men and instructed them with his holy Laws and doctrine: He cured every disease and every infirmity: He did signs and wonders among the people: He slept and eat and drank, who feeds all the living with food, and fills them with his blessing: He declared thy Name to them who knew it not: He enlightened our ignorances': He enkindled Godliness, and fulfilled thy will, and finished all that which thou gavest him to do. All this when he had done, he was taken by the hands of wicked men, by the treachery of false Priests and an ungodly people, he suffered many things of them, and by thy permission suffered all shame and reproach. He was delivered to Pilate the Precedent, who judged him that is the Judge of the quick and dead, and condemned him who is the Saviour of all others. He who is impassable was crucified; and He died who is of an immortal nature; and they buried him by whom others are made alive; that by his death and passion he might free them for whom he came, and might dissolve the bands of the Devil, and deliver men from all his crafty malices. But then he rose again from the dead, he conversed with his Disciples forty days together, and then was received up into heaven, and there sits at the right hand of God his Father. We therefore being mindful of these things which he did and suffered for us, give thanks to thee Almighty God, not as much as we should, but as much as we can: and here fulfil his Ordinance [and believe all that he said, and know and confess that he hath given us his body to be the food, and his blood to be the drink of our souls; that in him we live and move and have our being; that by him we are taught, by his strength enabled, by his graces prevented, by his spirit conducted, by his death pardoned, by his resurrection justified, and by his intercession defended from all our enemies, and set forward in the way of holiness and life eternal.] O grant that we and all thy servants, who by faith and Sacramental participation communicate with the Lord Jesus, may obtain remission of our sins, and be confirmed in piety, and may be delivered from the power and illusions of the Devil; and being filled with thy Spirit, may become worthy members of Christ, and at last may inherit eternal Life; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. CHAP. IU. Of Charity, preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament. SECT. I. THE second great Instrument of preparation to the blessed Sacrament, is Charity: for though this be involved in faith, as in its cause and moral principle, yet we are to consider it in the proper effects also of it, in its exercise and operations relative to the Mysteries. For they that speak distinctly, and give proprieties of employment to the two Sacraments, by that which is most signal and eminent in them both respectively, call Baptism the Sacrament of Faith, and the Eucharist the Sacrament of Charity; that is, Faith in Baptism enters upon the work of a good life; and in the holy Eucharist it is actually productive of that Charity, which at first was designed and undertaken. For Charity is that fire from heaven, which unless it does enkindle the Sacrifice, God will never accept it for an atonement. This God declared to us by his Laws given to the sons of Israel and Aaron. The Sacrifice that was God's portion was to be eaten and consumed by himself, and therefore to be devoured by the holy fire that came down from heaven: And this was imitated by the Persians, who worshipped the fire, and thought what the fire devoured, their god had plainly eaten. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So Maximus Tyrius tells of them, that bringing their Sacrifices, they were wont to say, O Fire our Lord, eat this meat. And Pindar * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Od. 7. in his Olympiaes tells of the Rhodians, that when they brought a Sacrifice to Jupiter, and had by chance forgotten to bring their fire, he accepting of their good intentions, and pitying their forgetfulness, reigned down upon them a golden shower from a yellow cloud; that is, a shower of fire came and consumed their sacrifice. Now this is the great emblem of Charity: Epulantes adludit flamma. the flame consumes the feasters Sacrifice, and makes it a divine nutriment; our Charity it purifies the Oblation, and makes their Prayers accepted, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diaconi solebant enunciare in Synaxi. The Tables of the Lord, like the Delian Altars, must not be defiled with blood and death, with anger and revenge, with wrath and indignation: and this is to be in all senses of duty and ministration an unbloody Sacrifice. The blood of the Cross was ●he last that was to have been shed. The Laws can shed more, but nothing else. For by remembering and representing the effusion of blood, not by shedding it, our expiation is now perfected and complete: but nothing hinders it more than the spirit of war and death; not only by the emissions of the hand, or the apertures of a wound, but by the murder of the tongue, and the cruelties of the heart, or by an unpeaceable disposition. It was love that first made Societies, and love that must continue our Communions: and God who made all things by his power, does preserve them by his love; and by union and society of parts every creature is preserved. When a little w●ter is spilt from a full Vessel, and falls into its enemy dust, it curls itself into a drop, and so stands equally armed in every point of the circle, dividing the Forces of the enemy, that by that little union it may stand as long as it can; but if it be dissolved into flatness, it is changed into the nature and possession of the dust. Scelera dissident. Seneca. War is one of God's greatest plagues; and therefore when God in this holy Sacrament pours forth the greatest effusion of his love, peace in all capacities, and in all dimensions, and to all purposes, he will not endure that they should come to these love-feasts * Facinus saevum & atrox inter pocula atque epulas, ubi libare Diis dapes, ubi benè precari mos esset, ad spectaculum scorti procacis in sinu Consulis rec●bantis, mactatam humanam victimam esse, & cruore mensam respersam. Sic Valerius Antiates apud Livium, lib. 39 who are unkind to their brethren, quarrelsome with their neighbours, implacable to their enemies, apt to contentions, hard to be reconciled, soon angry, scarcely appeased. These are dogs, and must not come within the holy place, where God who is the Congregating Father, and Christ the great minister of peace, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Dionys. Areop. and the holy spirit of love are present in mysterious Symbols and most gracious Communications. For although it be true that God loves us first, yet he will not continue to love us, or proceed in the methods of his kindness, unless we become like unto him and love. For by our love and charity he will pardon us, and he will comfort us, and he will judge us, and he will save us; and it can never be well with us till love that governs heaven itself be the Prince of all our actions and our passions. * Cum nostros animos amor quo coelum regitur, regit. Both. consol. Philos. By this we know we are translated from death to life, by our love unto our brethren: That's the testimonial of our comfort. I was hungry and ye fed me: I was hungry and ye fed me not: These are the Tables of our fi●al judgement. If ye love me, keep my Commandments: That's the measure of our obedience. In that ye have done kindness to one of these little ones, ye have done it unto me: That is the installing of the Saints in their Thrones of Glory. If thou bringest a gift to the altar, leave it there; go and be reconciled to thy brother: That's the great instrument of our being accepted. No man can love God and hate his brother: That's the rule of our examination in this particular. This is a new Commandment, that ye love one another: There's th● great precept of the Gospel. This is an old Commandment, that ye love one another: There is the very Law of Nature. And to sum up all; Love is the fulfilling of the Law; that's the excellency and perfection of a man; and there is the expectation of all reward, and the doing all our du●y, and the sanctification of every action, and the spirit of life: It is the heart and the fire and the salt of every Sacrifice; it is the crown of every Communion. And all this mysterious excellency is perfectly represented by that divine exhortation made by Saint Paul; Purge out therefore the old leaven, 1 Cor. 5.7, 8. that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of MALICE and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now concerning this grace, if we will inquire after it in order to a worthy receiving the holy Communion, we must inquire after the effects and offices of Charity; and by the good we do, or are ready to do, take an account of ourselves in this particular. The offices and general duties are three. 1. Doing good. 2. Speaking good, and, 3. forgiving evil. SECT. II. Of doing good to our Neighbours. HE that loves me does me good; for until love be beneficial, it is not my good, but his fancy and pleasure that delights in me. I do not examine this duty by our alms alone; for although they are an excellent instrument of life (for alms deliver from death, Tobit 12.9. said the Angel to old Tobit) yet there are some who are bountiful to the poor, and yet not charitable to their neighbour. You can best tell whether you have charity to your brother, by your willingness to oblige him, and do him real benefit, and keeping him from all harm we can. Do you do good to all you can? Will you willingly give friendly counsel? Do you readily excuse your neighbour's faults? Do you rejoice when he is made glad? Do you delight in his honour and prosperity? Do you stop his entry into folly and shame? Do not you laugh at his miscarriages? Do you stand ready in mind to do all good offices to all you can converse with? For nothing makes Societies so fair and lasting, as the mutual endearment of each other by good offices; and never any man did a good turn to his brother, but one time or other himself did eat the fruit of it. The good man in the Greek Epigram that found a dead man's skull unburied, in kindness digging a grave for it, opened the enclosures of a Treasure: And we read in the Annals of France, that when Goutran King of Burgundy was sleeping by the murmurs of a little brook, his Servant espied a Lizard coming from his Master's head, and essayed to pass the water; but seeming troubled because it could not, he laid his sword over the brook, and made an iron bridge for the little beast, who passing entered into the earth, and speedily returned back to the King, and disturbed him (as it is supposed) into a dream, in which he saw an iron bridge which landed him at the foot of the mountain, where if he did dig he should find a great heap of gold. The servant expounded his Master's dream, and showed him the iron bridge; and they digged where the Lizard had entered, where they found indeed a Treasure; and that the Servants piety was rewarded upon his Lord's head, and procured wealth to one and honour to the other. There is in humane nature a strange kind of nobleness and love to return and exchange good offices: but because there are some dogs who by't your hand when you reach them bread, God by the ministry of his little creatures tells, that if we will not, yet he will certainly recompense every act of piety and charity we do one to another. * This the egyptians did well signify in one of the new names of their Constellations: For when the wife of Ptolomaeus Euergetes had vowed her hair to the Temple upon condition her husband might return in safety, and she did consecrate the beauty of her head to the ornaments of Religion, Comonus the Astronomer told her that the Gods had placed her hair among the Stars; and to this day they call one knot of Stars by the name of Berenice's hair. For every such worthiness like this will have an immortal name in some Record, — Ille capillos coelo infert, inopes qui miseratus alit. Billii antholog. and it shall be written above the Stars, and set by the names of the Sons of God, who by doing worthy things have endeared Communions and Societies of mankind. In all the Sacrifices of the Ancients they were hugely kind to one another; they invited their friends to partake the Sacrifice, and called them to a portion of the pardon, that they might eat of that mercy and that forgiveness which they expected from their God. Then they sent portions to the absent; then they renewed Leagues, and reestablished Peace, and made marriages, and joined Families, and united hearts, and knitted Interests by a thread and chain of mutual acts of kindness and endearment: And so should we, when we come to this holy Sacrifice; we must keep our hearts entire to God, and divide them amongst our Brethren, and heartily love all them who feed upon the same Christ, who live by the same faith, who are entertained by the same hope, and are confederate by the laws, and the events and the causes, by the acts and emanation of the same Charity. * But this thing is plain; no discourse here is useful, but an exhortation; all that can be said is this; that it is decent and it is useful, and it is necessary that we be very kind and very charitable to all the members of Christ; with whom we are joined by the ligatures of the same body, and supported by the strength of the same nourishment, and blessed by influences from the same Divine head, the Lord Jesus Christ. SECT. III. Of speaking good of our neighbours. IF it be not in our hands to do well, it must be in our hearts; and the contrary must never be upon our tongues; we are sure we can speak well, or we can abstain from speaking ill. If it be otherwise with us, we can not be welcome here; we shall not worthily communicate. God opens his mouth and his heart and his bowels, his bosom and his treasures to us in this holy Sacrament, and calls to us to draw water as from a river; and can we come to drink of the pleasant streams that we may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. have only moisture enough to talk much and long against the honour of our brother or our sister? * Inter epulas, ubi benè precari mos erat. Livius. lib. 39 Can it be imagined that Christ who never spoke an ill word, should take thee into his arms, — gravior terras infestat Echidna Cum sua vipereae jaculantur toxica linguae Atque homini fit homo serpens, O prodiga culpae Germina, natur●eque utero fatalia monstra! Queis nimis innocuo volupe est in sanguine rictus. Tingere, fraternasque sibras, cognataque pasci Viscera, & arrosae deglubere funera famae Quae morum ista lues? and feast thee at his table, and dwell in thy heart, and lodge thee in his bosom, who makest thyself all one with the Devil; whose office and work it is to be an accuser of the Brethren? No, Christ never will feast serpents at his Table *, persons who have stings instead of tongues, and venom in all the moisture of their mouth, and reproach is their language. We should easily consent that he ●hat ki●●●d a man yesterday and is likely to kill another to morrow were not this day worthy to Communicate: now some persons had rather lose their lives than lose their honour; what then think we of their preparation to the holy communion, that make nothing of murdering their brothers or their sisters same? that either invent evil stories falsely and maliciously, or believing them easily, report them quickly, and aggravate them spitefully, and scatter them diligently? He that delights to report evil things of me, that will not endure so much as to have me well spoken of, hath certainly but little kindness to me: he would very hardly die for me, or lay out great sums of money for me, that will not afford me the cheapest charity of a good word. The Jews have a saying; that it were better that a man were put into a flame of fire, than he should publicly disgrace his Neighbour. But in this there are two great considerations that declare the unworthiness of it. 1. They who readily speak reproachfully of others, destroy all the love and combinations of charity in the world; they ruin the excellency and peculiar privilege of mankind, whose nature it is to delight in society, and whose needs and nature make it necessary. Now slander and reproach and speaking evil one of another poison's love, and brings in hatred, and corrupts friendship, and tempts the biggest virtue by anger to pass unto revenge. For an evil tongue is a perpetual storm; it is a daily temptation and no virtue can without a miracle withstand its temptation. If you strike a lamprey but once with a rod (saith the Greek proverb) you make him gentle; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but if often you provoke him. A single injury is entertained by Christian patience like a stone into a pocket of wool; it rests soft in the embraces of a meek spirit, which delights to see itself overcome a wrong by a worthy sufferance; but he that loves to do injury by talk, does it in all companies, and takes all occasions, and brings it in by violence, and urges it rudely, till patience being weary goes away, and is waited upon by Charity, which never forsakes or goes away from patience. A wound with the tongue is like a bruise, it cannot be cured in four and twenty hours. Sed miserere tui rabido nec perditus ore Fumantem nasum vivi tentaveris ursi. Sit placidus licet & lambat digitosque manusque Si dolour et bilis, si justa coegerit ira, Ursus erit. Martial. 2. No man sins singly in such instances as these. Some men commit one murder and never do another; some men are surprised and fall into uncleanness or drunkenness; but repent of it speedily and never again return to folly: but an evil and an uncharitable tongue is an accursed principle; it is in its very nature and original equal to an evil habit, and it enters without temptation, and dwells in every part of our conversation, and injures every man, and every woman: and is like the evil spirit that was in love with Tobias his wife; if you drive him from Nineve, he will run to the utmost parts of Egypt, there also unless an Angel bind him, he will do all the mischief in the world, for there is not in the world a worse Devil than a devilish tongue * Cede Hircana Tigris, Fremanthi Bellua, cede Tuque genas obnube tuas natura pudori, Laeviu● ingenium est homini; gravioraque fata Lingua cruenta serens, non uno in funere ludit. But I am not now to speak of it as it is injurious to our neighbour, Nefas enim est per os quo profertur Nomen illud sanctissimum, quicquam turpe progredi. but as it is an hindrance to our worthy communicating, The mouth that speaketh lies, or stings his neighbour, or boasteth proud things, is not fit to drink the blood of the sacrificed Lamb. Christ enters not into those lips from whence slander and evil talk do proceed, and the tongue that loves to dispraise his brother, can not worthily celebrate the praises and talk of the glorious things of God; and let no man deceive himself, an injurious talker is an habitual sinner; and he that does not learn the discipline of the tongue, can never have the charity of Christ, or the blessings of the peaceful Sacrament. * De Catone dixit Plutarch, Mensam inprimis putabat esse amicitiae conciliandae aptam; ac frequens illic laudatio egregiorum virorum introducebatur; frequens etiam malorum & improborum oblivio, nec vituperationi eorum, vel commendationi permittebat in convivium suum Cato accessum. Persons that slander or disgrace their brother are bound to make restitution; It is as if they had stolen a jewel, they must give it back again, or not come hither. But they that will neither do nor speakwell of others * De Catone dixit Plutarch, Mensam inprimis putabat esse amicitiae conciliandae aptam; ac frequens illic laudatio egregiorum virorum introducebatur; frequens etiam malorum & improborum oblivio, nec vituperationi eorum, vel commendationi permittebat in convivium suum Cato accessum. are very far from charity, and they that are so, aught to be as far from the Sacrament, or they will not be very far from condemnation. But a good man will be as careful of the reputation, as of the life of his brother; and to be apt to speak well of all men is a sign of a charitable and a good man; and that goes a great way in our preparation to a worthy Communion. SECT. IV. Forgiveness of injuries a necessary part of preparation to the holy Sacrament. THis duty is expressed not only as obligatory to us, but as relative to the Holy Sacrament, in the words of our blessed Saviour, When thou bringest thy gift to the Altar, Mat. 5.23, 24. and there remember'st that thy Brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift and go, be first reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer. This Precept was indeed instanced in the Levitical Sacrifices and Jewish Altars; but because, as St. Irenaeus observes, the Precepts of Christ, however expressed, relate to Moses Law but less principally, and chiefly design an Evangeli all duty * See this discoursed and proved. Rule of Conscience, Book 2. Chap. 3. Rule 15. Irenae. lib. 4. c. 34. ; therefore he refers these words to the celebration of the Christian Eucharistical Sacrifice and Oblation; concerning which he hath these excellent words: From the beginning God respected Abel's offering because he offered in righteousness and singleness of heart. But God regarded not the Sacrifice of Cain, because he had a heart divided from his Brother, full of zeal and malice, and therefore God who knoweth all secrets thus reproves him. If thou dost rightly offer, but not rightly divide, be quiet, God will not be appeased with thy sacrifice. For if any one in outward appearance offers a clean, a right, and a pure sacrifice, but in his soul does not truly apportion his communion to his neighbour, he hath sin within, and by his external sacrifice does not bring God unto him, neither will the oblation profit him at all, unless the malice that he hath conceived within does cease, but that sin will make him every day more and more a murderer.] In pursuance of this; St. Cyril tells, St. Cyril. Hier. mystag. Cat. 5. that the Ancient Christians were wont before the Communion to kiss each other as a Symbol of reconciled minds, and forgotten injuries; and in confirmation of this practice brings the preceptive words of our Lord now cited. And our blessed Saviour himself adds a parallel to the first precept, which gives light and explication to it: [When you stand praying, if you have any thing against any man forgive him, Mar. 11.25. that your Father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses] and so Christ taught us to pray [Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.] Let us consider what we do, and consider what we say. Do we desire to be forgiven no otherwise? Do not we exact every little ignorance, and grow warm at every mistake? And are not we angry at an unavoidable chance? Would we have God do so to us, and forgive us in no other manner than as we do, that is, turn his anger into every shape, and smite us in every part? Or would we have God pardon us only for little things, for a rash word, or an idle hour spent less severely? If we do so to our Brother, it is a great matter, but if he reviles us to our head, if he blasphemes, and dishonours us, if he rob us, if he smite us on the face, what then? We rob God of his honour, his Priests of their reverence, his houses of their beauty, his Churches of their maintenance: we talk vile things of his holy Name, we despise Religion, we oppose his Honour, and care not for his Service. It is certain we do not usually forgive things of this nature to our brother; what then will become of our prayer? And what will be the effect of our Communion? And yet it is certain, there is nothing in the world easier than to forgive an injury. It costs us nothing, after it is once suffered; and if our passions and foolish principles would give us leave to understand it; the precise duty of forgiveness is a perfect negative; it is a letting things alone as they are, and making no more evils in the world, in which already there was one too many, even that which thou didst suffer. And indeed, that forgiveness is the best which is the most perfect negative; that is▪ in malice be children; whose pretty quarrels though they be fierce as a sudden spark, yet they are as innocent as the softest part of their own flesh, Ignoramus sine pace Communionem. S. Hieron Epist. 62. ad Theophilum. and as soon out as that sudden spark, and forgotten perfectly as their first dream: and that's true forgiveness: and without this we can never pray with just and perfect confidence and expectations. 1 Pet. 3.7. St. Peter gives this precept in a considerable instance; Give honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel that your prayers be not hindered; that is, consider that they are weak and tender, easily moved, and soon disordered; their understanding is less, and their passions more; and if it happens to be so, bear their burdens, comply with their innocent passions, pity their infirmities, supply the breaches made by their indiscretions, take no notice of little inconveniences: Counsel sweetly, reprove tenderly, strike no fires, and enkindle no flames; that is, do all that you can for peace, without peevish quarrels and little commencements of a Domestic War: for if you give way to any thing of this nature, it will hinder your prayers; for how shall the husband and the wife pray together if they be angry at each other? For without love and without peace it is to no purpose to pray. The devotion of a man that is not in actual peace and kindness with his wife, is like a hot dead coal, it will burn his fingers that touches it; but it is wholly useless: but he that lives in peace with her, in love and prudent conduct, his devotion is a flaming fire; it kindles all that is round about it, it warms and shines, it is beauteous in itself, and it is useful to others; it is fit for the house, and fit for the Altar; it will set the Incense on smoking, and put the sacrifice on fire. And so it is in every instance of society and conversation; but I instanced in this the rather, because charity at home and a peaceable society in a Family is the first of all public unions. When Philip of Macedon persuaded the Greek Ambassadors that they should invite their Cities to peace and concord, Demaratus of Corinth began to laugh at him for his counsel, and thought it a thing ridiculous for him to speak of peace among the Greek Republics, who was always wrangling at home with his wise Olympias, But as to the present matter, The fourth Council of Carthage refused to accept the oblations of quarrelling and angry persons; Cap. 93: Concil. Carth. 4. Oblationes dissidentium fratrum, neque in Sacrario, neque in Gazophylacio Episcopi recipiant. Nunquam mihi contingat turbatum ad pacis accedere sacrificium; cum ira & disceptatione accedere ad sacramentum, in quo Deus indubitanter est, reconcilians mundum sibi. Certe non recipitur munus quodcunque meum quod defero ad Altar, nisi ante placato fratre, quem me forte laesisse meminero, quanto minus si meipsum non pacavero prius? S. Bernard, de precept: & dispens. Quam sibi pacem promittunt inimici fratrum? it is like that of the High Priests in the case of Judas his restitution of the money, they would not put it into the Treasury because it was the price of blood. Now because our blessed Master in his Law hath handled all great angers and uncharitableness under the title of murder; The Church thought it reasonable not to receive the offerings, that is to reject from the Communion all those persons that were in mutual feuds, enmities and fierce angers. I wonder (saith St. Cyprian) what peace they can look for that are at war with their brethren? Possunt tales acerrimis inediis macerari donec reconcilientur. Fabian. dist. 90. cap. si quis. These men may be compelled by the injunction of severe fastings to be reconciled: said Fabianus the Martyr. And in the decree of P. Victor it was expressly commanded, Epist. 2. ad Afros. that they should be driven from the communion of all faithful people, who are not in peace, and have no charity to all their Brethren. This decree was renewed and earnestly pressed in the Council of Agatho. Placuit ut (sicut plerunque fit) quicunque odio aut longinqua inter se lite dissenserint & ad pacem revocari divina intentione nequiverint, a Sacerdotibus civitatis primitus arguantur, Quod si inimicitias deponere perniciosa intentione noluerint, de Ecclesiae coetu justissima excommunicatione pellantur. Concil. Agath. can. 31. They that will not by the grace of God working within them lay aside the hat●ed and long suits and dissensions, first let them be reproved by the Priests of the City. But if they will not at their reproof lay aside their enmities, let them by a most just excommumunication be driven from the Congregations of the Church. Det ille veniam facile, cui venia est opus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Libanius. ] Which Decree the Church of England hath inserted into the second Rubric before her office of Communion; of which I shall afterwards give account. But for the present we may consider that it is infinitely reasonable, that he that needs and comes for a great pardon, should not stick at the giving of a little, and he that desires to be like God, and comes to be united to him, should do like him, that is rejoice in remitting offences rather than in punishing them. In this as in all other things we must follow God's example; for in this alone he else will follow ours. In imitating him it is certain we are innocent; and if in this he follows us, though we be wicked, yet he is holy, because revenge is his, and he alone is to pay it. If therefore we will forgive, he will; if we will not, Si repetes, repetet, si durus es, ille rogantem Abjiciet, fusas conteret atque preces. In reliquis exempla tibi, namque omnibus ille Praebet, at hic sequitus quod prior ipse facis: Utque solet speculum quas cepit reddere formas. Aequa ita lanx lanci dia futura tua est. Antholog. Billii. neither will he: for he makes his spear as long, and his angers as lasting as we do ours. But this duty, and the great reasonableness and necessity I shall represent in the excellent words of the Talmudists, recorded also by the famous Bensirach * Ecclus. 28.1, 2.3. [He that revengeth shall find vengeance of the Lord, and he will surely keep his sins in remembrance. Forgive thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done unto thee, so shall thy sins also be forgiven when thou prayest. One man keepeth anger against another, and doth he seek healing from the Lord? He showeth no mercy to a man that is like himself, and doth he ask forgiveness for his own sins? If he that is but flesh nourish hatred, who will entreat for pardon of his sins?] The duty is plain, and the reason urgent, and the Commandment express, and the threatening terrible, and the promise excellent. There is in this no more to be said; but that we consider concerning the manner of reducing it to practice, in order to our preparation to a worthy Communion: and consider the special cases of conscience relating to this great duty. 1. Therefore we are bound to forgive every man that offends us. For concerning every one of our Brethren it is equally true, that he is an excellent creation, that he is thy brother, that he is heir of the same hopes, born to the same inheritance, descended of the same Father, nursed by the Church which is his Mother and thine; that there is in him God's Image drawn by the same hand, described in the same lines; that there are in him many good things for which he can be loved, and many reasons in him for which he ought to be pardoned; God hath made many decrees for him, and the Angels minister to him, and Christ died for him, and his soul is very precious in the eyes of God, and in Heaven itself the man whom thou hatest is very considerable; and there, there are great desires for his temporal and eternal happiness, and why shouldest thou despise, and why shouldest thou stand out against all this? 2. Not only every man, but every offence must be forgiven. The Wise man says, [That for some things there will be no returning again: a blow indeed, or an evil word may be pardoned; but for upbraiding and pride, and disclosing secrets, and a treacherous wound every friend will depart, Ecclus. 22.22. and never return again.] But he only tells how it will be, not what ought to be; what it is likely to be in matter of fact; not how it should be in case of conscience: and he means this of societies and civil friendships; but in Religion, we go higher, and even these also, and greater than these must be pardoned; unless we would prescribe a limit to God's mercy in the remission of our sins. He will pardon every sin of ours, for the pardon of which we can rightly pray; but yet we must pray for it, and hope it upon no measures but those of our, forgiveness; Jupiter omnipotens precibus si flecteris ullis, Aspice nos, hoc tantum, ut si pietate meremur, Da deinde auxilium. Aeneid. 2. O Jupiter (said the distressed Prince) hear our prayers according to our piety, look upon us, and as we do, so give us help, and there is no instance that can be considerable to the lessening or excusing of this duty. Dimittenda sunt debita, non pecuniae solum, sed omnium causarum, culparum, criminum, quicquid homo incurrere poterit; in his tibi quum incurrerit alter, ignosce. We must forgive not only injuries in the matter of money; but in all errors and crimes whatsoever in which any man can sin, and thou canst be offended. 3. Although in these things there is no difficulty; yet in the intention and expressions of this duty there is some. For if it be inquired what is meant by forgiving; many men suppose it is nothing but saying, I forgive him with all my heart, and I pray God forgive him; But this is but words, and we must have more material significations of it then so, because nothing can commute for the omission of the necessary parts of this duty. It is therefore necessary that we observe these measures. 1. Every man that hath received injuries be they never so great, must have a mind perfectly free from all intentions of revenge in any instance whatsoever. For when the question is concerning forgiving him that did the wrong, every man can best answer his question by placing himself in the seat of him that did the offence, and considering to what purposes, and by what significations, and in what degrees, and to what event of things himself would fain be pardoned, if he were in his case and did repent the injury and did desire pardon. That's the measure and the rule; and we learn it from * Homo sine peccato esse non potes, & vis semper tibi dimitti. Dimitte semper. Quantum vis tibi dimitti, tantum dimitte. Quoties vis dimitti tibi toties dimitte imo quia vis totum dimitti tibi, totum dimitte. Chrysologus. Chrysologus. Qui ne tuberibus propriis offendat amicum Postulat, ignoscat verrucis illius; aequum est Peccatis veniam poscentem reddere rurfus. Horat. 1. Serm. 3. Thou art a sinful man, and thou wouldst that God and man should always forgive thee. Do thou forgive always; so much, so often, so entirely as thou wouldst be pardoned thyself; so much, so often, and so entirely give pardon to thy enemy: and this together with the reason of it is well expressed in the Gospel of the nazarenes. If thy Brother sins against thee in words, and offers thee satisfaction seven times in a day, receive him. Simon his Disciple saith unto him, seven times in a day? The Lord answers, yea, I say unto you, seventy times seven times. For even amongst the Prophets also, after they were anointed with the Holy Ghost, there was found the word of sin, that is, they also offended in their tongues. Against this there is no objection, but what is made by the foolish discourses of young men, fighters and malicious, who by the evil manners of the world are taught to call revenge gallantry, and the pardoning of injuries to be pusillanimity and cowardice: for this Devil that dwells in tombs and and cannot be bound with chains, prevails infinitely upon this account amongst the more glorious part of mankind; but (as all other things are, which oppose the wisdom of God) is infinitely unreasonable; there being nothing in the world a greater testimony of impotency and effiminacy of spirit than a desire of revenge. Who are so cruel as Cowards, and who so revengeful as the weakest and the most passionate women? Wise Crysippus, and gentle Thales, and the good old man who being to drink his poison refused to give any of it to his persecutor; these men did not think revenge a pleasure, or a worthy satisfaction. — quip minuti Semper & infirmi est animi, exiguique voluptas Ultio, continuo sic collige, quod vindictâ Nemo magis gaudet quam foemina Crysippus non dicet idem, nec mite Thaletis Ingenium. dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto, Qui partem acceptae saeva inter vincla cicutae Accusatori nollet dare. Juvenal. For what man is so barbarous as to recover his leprosy by sucking the life blood from dying infants? a good man would rather endure ten leprosies than one such remedy. Such a thing is revenge; it pretends to cure a wound but does it with an intolerable remedy. It was the song of Cyclops to his sheep; feed you upon the tender herbs, I mean to feed upon the flesh and drink the blood of the Greeks; this is a violence not only to the laws and manners, Pascite vos herbas, sociis ego pascor Achivis. but even to the very nature of men. Lion's indeed and Tigers do with a strange curiosity eye and observe him that struck them, and they fight with him above all the hunters; to strike again is the return of beasts; but to pardon him that smote me, is the bravest amends and the noblest way of doing right unto ourselves; whilst in the ways of a man and by the methods of God, we have conquered our enemy into a friend. But revenge is the disease of honour, and is as contrary to the wisdom and bravery of men as dwelling in rivers and wallowing in fires is to their natural manner of living, and he who out of pretence of valour pursues revenge is like to him, who because fire is a glorious thing, is willing to have a St. Anthony's fire in his face. 2. He that is injured must so pardon, as that he must not pray to God to take revenge of his enemy. It was noted as a pitiful thing of Brutus, that when his army was broken and himself exposed to the insolences of his enemies, and that he could not revenge himself, he cried out most passionately in the words of the Greek tragedy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. , to Jupiter to take vengeance of young Octavius. But nothing is more against the nobleness of a Christian spirit, and the interest of a holy communion, than when all meet together to pray for all, and all for every one, that any man should except his enemy; that he who prays for blessings to the whole mystical body of Christ, should secretly desire that one member should perish. If one prays for thee, Quidenim prodest siunus prote oret ad Dominum & alius adversum te Deum interpellet? S. Chrysost. in 5. Matth. and another prays against thee, who knows whether thou shalt be blessed or accursed? 3. He that means to communicate worthily must so forgive his enemy, as never to upbraid his crime any more. For we must so forgive as that we forget it; not in the sense of nature, but perfectly in the sense of charity. For to what good purpose can any man keep a record of a shrewd turn, but to become a spy upon the actions of his enemy, watchful to do him shame, or by that to aggravate every new offence? It was a malicious part of Darius, Herod lib. 5. when the Athenians had plundered Sardis, he resolving to remember the evil turn till he had done them a mischief, commanded one of his servants that every time he waited at supper, he should thrice call upon him, Sr. remember the Athenians. The Devil is apt enough to do this office for any man; and he that keeps in mind an injury, needs no other tempter to uncharitableness but his own memory. He that resolves to remember it, never does forgive it perfectly; but, is the under officer of his own malice. ●or as rivers that run under ground do infallibly fall into the sea and mingle with the salt waters: so is the injury that is remembered; it runs under ground indeed, and the anger is head, but it tends certainly to mischief; and though it be sometimes less deadly for want of opportunity, yet it is never less dangerous. 4. He that would communicate worthily must so pardon his enemy, that though he be certain the man is in the wrong, and sinned against God in the cause, yet he must not under pretence of righting God and Religion and the laws, pursue his own anger and revenge, Quae vindicta prior quam cum formido superbos Flectit, & assuetum spoliis affligit egestas? Claudian de bello Getico. and bring him to evil. Every man is concerned that evil be to him that loves it, but we cozen ourselves by thinking that we have nothing to do to pardon God's enemies, and vile persons. It is true, we have not; but neither hath any private man any thing to do to punish them; but he that cannot pardon God's enemy, can pray to God that he would: and it were better to let it all alone, than to destroy charity upon pretence of justice or Religion. For if this wicked man were thy friend, it may very well be supposed that thou wouldst be very kind to him, though he were God's enemy: and we are easy enough to think well of him that pleases us, let him displease whom he list besides. 5. He may worthily communicate, that so pardons his enemy, as that he endeavour to make him to be his friend. Are you ready to do him good? Can you relieve your enemy, if he were in want? Yes; it may be you can, and you wish it were come to that. And some men will pursue their enemy with implacable prosecutions till they have got them under their feet; and then they delight to lift them up, and to speak kindly to the man, and to forgive him with all the nobleness and bravery in the world. Nostrapte culpâ facimus ut malis expediat esse, Dum nimium dici nos bonos studemus & benignos. Terent. in Phorm. But let us take heed, lest instead of showing mercy we make a triumph. Relieve his need and be troubled that he needs it. Rescue him from the calamity which he hath brought upon himself, or is fallen into by misadventure, but never thrust him down, that thou mayest be honoured and glorious by raising him from that calamity in which thou art secretly delighted, that he is entangled. Lycurgus' of S●arta in a tumult made against him by some Citizens lost an eye: which fact the wiser part of the people infinitely detesting, gave the villain that did it into their Prince's power; and he used it worthily; he kept him in his house a year, he taught him virtue, and brought him forth to the people a worthy Citizen. To pardon thy enemy as David pardoned Absalon, that's true charity; and he that does so pardon, needs no further inquiry into the case of conscience. It was an excellent saying of Seneca. [When thou dost forgive thy enemy, Cum autem ignoscis, ita beneficium tuum tempera, ut non ignoscere videaris sed absolvere: quia gravissimum poenae genus est contumeliosa venia. rather seem to acquit him than to pardon him; rather excuse the fault, than only forbear the punishment: for no punishment is greater, than so to order thy pardon, that it shall glorify thy kindness, and upbraid and reproach his sin. 6. He that would be truly charitable in his forgiveness, and with just measures would communicate, must so pardon his enemy, that he restore him to the same state of love and friendship as before. This is urged by St. Bernard; Tam liberaliter Dominus omnem condonavit injuriam, ut jam nec damnet ulciscendo, nec confundat improperando, nec minus diligat imputando. St. Bernard in Cantic. as the great imitation of the Divine mercy. God hath so freely, so entirely pardoned our sins, that he neither condemns by revenging, nor confounds by upbraiding, nor loves less by imputing. He revenges not at all, he never upbraids, and when he hath once pardoned, he never imputes it to any evil purposes any more, And just so must our reconciliation be; we must love him as we loved him before; for if we love him less, we punish him, if our love was valuable; then he is forgiven indeed when he hath lost nothing. I should be thought severe if I should say that the true forgiveness and reconciliation does imply a greater kindness after than before; but such is the effect of repentance, and so is the nature of love. [There is more joy over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance:] and a broken * Name in hominum aetate multa eveniunt hujusmodi Capiunt voluptates, mox rursum miserias, Irae interveniunt, redeunt rursum in gratiam. Verùm irae si quae fortè eveniunt hujusmodi Inter eos rursum si reventum in gratiam est Bis tanto amici sunt, inter se quam prius. Plaut. in Amp. love is like a broken bone, set it well, and it is the stronger for the fracture. When Nicanor railed upon Philip of Macedon, he slighted him, and he railed still; he than reproved him, but withal forgave him, and still he railed; but when he forgave him, and g●ve him a donative, he sealed Nicanors pardon, he confuted his calumny, and taught him virtue. But this depends not upon the injured person alone, but upon the return and repentance of him that did it. For no man is the better with God for having sinned against him; and no man for having injured his brother can be the better beloved by him: But if the sinner double his care in his repentance, and if the offending man increase his kindness, justice, and endearments in his returns to friendship, than it is the duty of charity so to pardon, so to restore as the man deserves; that is, the sin must not be remembered in anger, to lessen the worthiness of his amends. And this is that which our Blessed Saviour says, [If he shall return and say, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.] But the understanding of this great duty will require a little more exactness: let us therefore inquire more particularly into the practical Questions or Cases of Conscience relating to this duty. 1. How far we are bound to forgive our enemy that does repent, and how far him that does not? 2. How long and how often must we proceed in our pardon to the penitent? 3. What indications and signs of repentance are we to require and accept as sufficient? 4. Whether after every relapse must the conditions of his pardon be harder than before? 5. Whether the injured person be bound to offer peace and seek for reconcilement? or whether may he let it alone, if the offending party does not seek it? 6. Whether the precept of charity and forgiveness obliges us not to go to Law? 7. What charity or forgiveness the offended Husband or Wife is to give to the other in case of adultery repent of? Question I. Whether we are to forgive him that does not repent, and how far if he does, and how far if he does not? If he have done me no wrong, there is nothing to be forgiven; and if he offers to give me satisfaction, he is out of my debt. But if he hath been injurious, and does not repair me, than I have something to pardon. But what reason is there in that Religion that requires me to reward a sinner with a gift, to take my enemy into my bosom, to invite new injuries * Veterem ferendo injuriam invitas novam. by suffering and kindly rewarding the old? For by this means we may have injuries enough, and sin shall live at the charge of the good man's piety, and charity shall be the fuel of malice; what therefore is our duty in this case? I answer, That there is a double sort of pardon or forgiveness: The first and least is that which neither exacts revenge ourselves, nor requires it of God, nor delights in it if it happens: and this is due to all; those very enemies that do not repent, that cease not still to persecute you with evil, must thus be pardoned; whether they care for it or no, whether they ask it or ask it not. For these we must also pray, we must bless them, we must speak as much good of them as occasion and justice do require, and we must love them; that is, do them justice, and do them kindness; and this expressly required of us by our blessed Saviour * Mat. 5.24. . But there is also another forgiveness; that is, a restitution to the first state of trust; to love him as well, to think as well of him; and this is only due to them that repent, and ask pardon and make amends as they can: for then the proper office of thy charity is to pity thy brother's infirmity, to accept his sorrow, to entertain his friendship and his amends, and to put a period to his repentance for having troubled thee. For his satisfaction and restitution hath taken away the material part of the injury; and thou art as well as thou wert before, or at least he would fain have thee so; and then there can be nothing else done but what is done by thy charity; and by this thou must bear a share in his sorrow, believe his affirmation, accept his repentance, cancel his guilt, take off the remanent obligations, remove suspicion from him, entertain no jealousies of him, but in all things trust him where charity is not imprudent. For it is not always safe to employ a person that hath deceived my trust and done me wrong. But if you perceive that he may wisely be trusted and employed, charity must take off the objection of his former sailing. If by repentance he hath cut off the evil that he did thee, and that evil by which he did it, then if you refuse to employ him because he once did you wrong, it is revenge and not prudence. If he offended thee by pride, by anger, by covetousness, it is not enough that he say, Sir, forgive me, I will make you amends: It is enough to make you pardon him, and perfectly to be reconciled to him; but unless his repentance hath destroyed his covetousness, his anger, or his pride, the evil principle remains, and he will injure thee again. Which thing if wisely and without pretences thou canst really perceive, to trust or to employ him in such instances in which he formerly did thee injury, is not prudent nor safe; and no charity ties thee to be a fool, and to suffer thyself to be tempted. Only be careful that you do not mistake jealousy for prudence, and so lose the rewards of charity; lest when we think ourselves wise, we become fools. Question II. How long and how often must we proceed in our forgiveness, and accept of the repentance of injurious persons? To this we need no answer but the words of our Blessed Saviour; Luk. 17.4. If thy Brother trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Now this seven times in a day, and seventy times seven times, is not a determined number, but signifies infinitely. Seven times in a day do I praise thee, said David. From this definite number some Ages of the Church took their pattern for their Canonical hours. It was well enough, though in the truth of the thing he meant, I will praise thee continually: and so must our pardoning be. For if Christ hath forgiven thee but seventy times seven times (saith St. Austin) then do thou also stop there; de verbis Domini. let his measure be thine. If he denied to spare thee for the next fault, do thou so to thy Brother. But St. Hierom observes concerning this number, That Christ required us to forgive our Brother seventy times seven times in a day; that is, four hundred and ninety times; meaning, that we must be ready to forgive him oftener than he can need it. Ut toties peccanti fratri dimitteres in die, quoties ipse peccare non posset. Now though he that sins frequently and reputes frequently, gives great reason to believe that his repentances are but pretended, and that such repentances before God signify nothing; yet that is nothing to us; it may be they are rendered ineffectual by the relapse, and that they were good for the present, as Ahabs was: but whether they be or be not, yet if he be not ashamed to repent so often, we must think it no shame and no imprudence to forgive him, and to forgive him so, that he be restored entirely to his former state of good things; that is, there must be no let in thy charity; if there be in prudence, that's another consideration: But his second repentance must be accepted as well as his first, and his tenth as well as his fifth. And if any man think it hard so often to be tied to accept his repentance, let him understand that it is because himself hath not yet been called to judgement; he hath not heard the voice of the exactor, he hath not yet been delivered to the tormentors, nor summed up his own accounts, nor beheld with amazement the vast number of his sins. He that hath in deepest apprehension placed himself before the dreadful Tribunal of God, or felt the smart of conscience, or hath been affrighted with the fears of hell, or remembers how often he hath been spared from an horrible damnation, will not be ready to strangle his Brother, and afflict him for a trifle, because he considers his own dangers of perishing for a sum which can never be paid, if it never be forgiven. Question III. What indications and signs of repentance are we to require and to accept as sufficient? I answer, that for this circumstance there is as proper an use and exercise of our charity as in the direct forgiveness. We are not to exact securities and demonstrations Mathematical, nor to demand the extremity of things. If thy enemy be willing to make an amends, accept of his very willingness for some part, and his amends for the other. Let every good act be forwardly entertained, and persuade you heartily that all is well within. If you can reasonably think so, you are bound to think so; for after all the signs of repentance in the world he may deceive you; and whether his heart be right or not, you can never know but by the judgement of charity; and that you may better use betimes. For when ever your returning enemy says he does repent (that is, gives humane and probable indications of his repentance;) you cannot tell but that he says true; and therefore you must forgive. The words of Christ are plain; if he returns, saying, I do repent: than it is a duty, and we can stay no longer; for he that confesses his sin, and prays for pardon, hath done great violence and mortification to himself; he hath punished his fault * Poenaeque genus vidisse precantem. ; and then there is nothing left to be done by the offended party but to return to mercy and charity. * Poenaeque genus vidisse precantem. But in this affair it is remarkable what we are commanded by our blessed Lord: Agree with thine adversary quickly, etc. l●ft thou be constrained to pay the utmost farthing. Plainly intimating; that in reconcilements and returns of friendship there is supposed always something to be abated, something clearly forgiven: for if he pay thee to the utmost farthing, thou hast forgiven nothing It is merchandise and not forgiveness to restore him that does as much as you can require. Be not over righteous, saith Solomon; that is, let charity do something of thy work, allow to her, place, and powers, and opportunity. It was an excellent saying of St. Bernard: [God is never called the God of revenges, Serm. 5. de Natali. Recte non pater judiciorum vel ultionum dicitur, sed pater misericordiarum: quod miserendi causam sumat ex proprio, judicandi & ulciscendi magis sumat ex nostro; feil. ex nostris peccatis. but the Father of mercies; because the original of his revenges he takes from us and our sins, but the original and the causes of his forgiveness he takes from himself:] and so should we; that we restore him that did us wrong to our love again; let it not be wholly, because he hath done all that can be required, but something upon our own account; let our mercy have a share in it; that is, let us accept him readily, receive him quickly, believe him easy, expound all things to the better sense, take his word, and receive his repentance; and forgive him at the beginning of it; not to interrupt his repentance, but to encourage it: and that's the proper work of charity in the present Article. Question IU. Whether after every relapse must the conditions of his pardon be harder than before? I answer, that I find no difference in the expression of our blessed Saviour. It is all one after seven times, and after seventy times, and after seventy times seven times; If he shall return saying I repent, that's all is here required. But then because by saying [I repent] is not meant only the speaking it, but also doing it; must at least be probable that he does so, as well as say so; therefore although as soon as he does so, so soon you must forgive him, yet 1. After the first forgiveness, and at the second and third offence, we are not obliged so readily to believe his saying, as after the first offence; at which time although he did violence to justice and charity, yet he had not broken his faith as now he hath; and therefore the oftener he hath relapsed, the more significations he ought to give of the truth of his repentance. Veniam delicti assecutus, si iterum peccat, gravius judicium sibi preparat. Summ. moral. He that is pardoned and sins again cannot expect so easily to be acquitted the third time as at the first, saith S Basil. At the first fault we must believe his saying, because we know nothing to the contrary; but when he hath often said so, and it is seen so often that he did not say true, he that is forgiven and then relapses is obliged to do more the next time he pretends repentance. 2. Although we ●re bound to forgive him entirely even after a thousand injuries, if he does truly repent; yet this person cannot expect to be employed, or to be returned to all his former capacities of good; because it is plain, he hath not cured the evil principle, the malicious heart, or the evil eye, the slanderous tongue, or the unjust hand; his covetous desire, and his peevish anger: and then though we must be ready in heart to receive him to all the degrees of his former condition, when he shall be capable, and is the same man that ought to be employed; yet till he be so, or appears so in prudent and reasonable indications, he must be pardoned heartily, and prayed for charitably, but he must be handled cautiously, It must not be harder for thee to pardon him after ten thousand relapses and returns: but after so much variety of folly and weak instances, it will be much harder for him to say and prove he does repent. But in this our charity must neither be credulous, nor morose; too easy, nor too difficult; but it is secure, if it pardons him, and prays for him whether he reputes or no. 3. There are some significations of repentance, which charity never can refuse; but must accept the offending person as a convert and a penitent. 1. Such is open and plain confession of the fault, with the circumstances of shame and dishonour; for he that does so much rudeness to himself as to endure the shame of his sin, rather than not to return to duty; gives great testimony that he returns in earnest. And this can no ways be abated, unless he have done so before; and that his confession is but formal, and his shame is passed into shamelesness. In this case we may expect some more real argument. 2. Whatsoever are the great usual signs and expresses of repentance before God, those also are to be accepted by us when they are done before men; and though we may be deceived in these things, and God cannot: yet they are the best we can get, and something we must rely upon. And because like God we cannot discern the hearts of men; yet we rightly follow his example, when we do that which is the next best, and expound the action to the best and most favourable sense of charity. 3. An oath if it be not taken lightly is a great presumption of an innocent, a sincere and a repenting soul. It is the sign of an ill mind not to trust him that swears seldom, and always solemnly, Quisquis juranti nihil credit Illemet facile pejerare scit. and for aught we know, justly, said Amphides. For a solemn sacred oath is a double hedge, Apposito juramento caution & diligentior animus fit; à duobus enim sibi tum cavet, & ne laedat amicos, & ne peccet in Deos. Sophocles. and it is guarded by a double fear; lest I abuse my friend, and lest I provoke my God: and the blessed Apostle saith, That an oath is the end of all strife; meaning, amongst persons who can cease to strive, and can cease to be injurious. It is so among them who have Religion, and who can be fit for society. For there is no man whose oath it can be fit to take, but it is also fit, that having sworn, he should be trusted. But it is seldom that our charity can be put to such extremities: and in no conversation can it happen, that a man shall do an injury, and repent, and do it again twenty times, and a hundred times in the revolution of a few days. If such things could be, those men are intolerable upon other accounts, and though charity must refuse no man, and forgiveness must always stand at your door ready to let in all that knock, yet the accidents of the world, caution and prudence, and innocent fears, will dispose of our affairs in other channels of security, and cut off the occasions of such disputes; so certain is that observation of St. Heirom which I mentioned before; that we are tied to forgive oftener than our Brother can sin: but then also so safe are we, whose charity must be bigger than the greatest temptation: and yet no temptation is like to happen but what is less than an ordinary charity. Question V. Whether the injured person be bound to offer peace? Or may he let it alone, and worthily communicate, if the offending party does not seek it? To the Question, whether of the parties must begin the peace? I answer, that both are bound. For although he that did the injury is bound in conscience and justice to go to him whom he hath injured, and he is not a true penitent if he does not; and he must not for his part be accepted to the Communion; of which I am to give account in the Chapter of repentance; yet because we are now upon the title of Charity, I am to add, that if the Criminal does not come; Dissentio ab aliis, à te reconciliatio incipiat. Senec. the offended person must offer peace; he must go or send to him. If others begin the quarrel, do thou begin the peace, said Seneca. For sometimes the offender desires pardon, but dares not ask it: he begs it by interpretation and tacit desire; consult therefore with his modesty, his infirmity, and his shame. He is more bound to do it than thou art, yet thou canst better do it than he can. It is not always safe for him: it is never unsafe for thee. It may be an extreme shame to him; it is ever honourable to thee: it may be sometimes to his loss; it is always thy gain: for this was the resolution of Hesiod's Riddle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Halfpenny is more than the whole; A dinner of herbs with peace is better than a stalled Ox with contention; and therefore upon all accounts it is for thy advantage to make the offer. I add also, it is thy duty. I do not say, that in justice thou art bound; but in charity thou art, and in obedience to thy lord Mat. 18.15. If thy Brother offend thee, go and tell him. Go thou, says Christ. For by so doing we imitate God, whom though we have so often, so infinitely offended, yet he thought thoughts of peace, and sent to us Ambassadors of peace * Cogitans cogitationes pacis Deus prior nos accessit & legatos ministrosque reconciliationis ad nos destinavit. S. Gregor. , and Ministers of reconciliation. When Pompey and Marcus Crassus were to quit their Consulships, Cueius Aurelius, I know not upon what account, ran into the Forum, and cried out, that Jupiter appearing to him in his dream commanded that they should be reconciled before they were discharged by the people: which when the people also required, Pompey stirred not but Crassus did; he reached out his hand to his Colleague, saying, I do nothing unworthy of myself, O Romans, If I first offer peace to Pomp●y, whom you honoured with the title of Great before he was a Man, and with a Triumph before he was a Senator. We cannot want better arguments of peacefulness: It is no shame to thee to offer peace to thy offending Brother, when thy God did so to thee, who was greatly provoked by thee, and could as greatly have been revenged; and it is no disparagement that thou shouldest desire the reconcilement with him for whom Christ became a Sacrifice, and to whom he offers, as he does to thee, the Communion of his body and blood. * Thou art (I say) bound in charity to thy Brother's soul, whose repentance thou canst easily invite by thy kind offer, and thou makest his return easy, thou takest away his objection and temptation, thou securest thy own right better, and art invested in the greatest glory of mankind; thou dost the work of God, and the work of thy own soul; thou carriest pardon, and ease and mercy with thee; and who would not run and strive to be first in carrying a pardon, and bringing messages of peace and joyfulness? Consider therefore that death divides with you every minute; you quarrel in the morning, and it may be you shall die at night; run quickly and be reconciled for fear you anger last longer than your life. It was a pretty victory which Euclid got of his angry Brother, who being highly displeased, cried out, Let me perish if I be not revenged: Dispeream, si non persuasero. But he answered, And let me perish if I do no not make you kind, and quickly to forget your anger. That gentle answer did it, and they were friends presently, and for ever after. It is a shame if we be out done by Heathens, and especially in that grace, which is the ornament and jewel of our Religion, that is, in forgiving our enemies, in appeasing anger, in doing good for evil, in returning prayers for cursings, and gentle usages for rude treatments: this is the glory of Christianity * Christi sanguis de cruse clamans pacem loquitur, & reconciliationem; quin idem sanguis quoniam à nobis bibitur, si mod● dignè bibitur, clamat in corporibus nostris verba pacifica. S. Cyprian. , as Christianity is the glory of the world. I end this with the advice of St. Bernard: let every man who desires to come worthily to the Sacrament of peace, the communion of Christ's body; for the wrong that he does be ready to ask pardon, and for the wrong that he receives be ready to give pardon, and so Christ's members will be in peace. Quest. VI Whether the precept of forgiveness, and the charity of the Communion must of necessity put a period to all Lawsuits? To this I answer; that suits at Law in matters Criminal relating to injuries done or suffered are so often mingled with interests of anger and revenge, they are so often conducted violently and passionately; that he who forbids angers and revenge, does also in effect forbid suits of Law upon the account of injuries received. But this is to be understood only of such repetitions of right, or vindications of wrong as cannot or will not be separated from revenge. Thus if the Law which God gave to Moses in the matter of injuries, were the measure of our judicatories. [An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth] it were not lawful to go to Law to get his eye put out that had extinguished mine: for this does not repair me, but only afflicts him. A Wolf is in nature less hateful than a Viper. He wounds that he may drink the blood, and kills that he may eat: but the Viper smites that he may kill, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysost. homil. 27. in 1 Cor. and gets nothing by it. So is every Lawsuit that vexes one and repairs no man. But the rules and measures of conscience in this particular are briefly these. 1. If the injury be transient and passes away in the Act; it is not lawful for a Christian to go to Law, because he cannot rescind the act, and he cannot repair himself, and that which remains is nothing but revenge, which can never consist with charity. 2. The case is the same if the injury be permanent, but irremediable; for if nothing can be rescinded, if no amends can be made, it is but a fantastic pleasure to delight in the affliction of him that injured me. If cutting off his arm would make mine grow; if striking him upon the face would bring me a new tooth in stead of that which he struck out of mine, than there might be a just cause of going to Law; but when the evil remains after all that the Law can do; it is enough that I lost a limb, I will not lose my charity; which i● left me to make amends to me, and to procure a blessing to make me reparation. If by my arm I got my living, it is fit that he that cut my arm off should give me maintenance; because he can repair my loss of livelihood, though he can never restore my arm; and to cause him to be barely afflicted for my affliction, when I am not relieved by his affliction, is barbarism and a rude uncharitableness. To revenge is but the more excusable way of doing injury. Nay, Inhumanum verbum est & quidem pro injusto receptum ultio, & à contumeliâ non differt nisi ordine. Qui dolorem regerit, tantùm excusatius peccat. Seneca. Maximus Tyrius says, it is worse; the revenging man is worse than the injurious: and therefore to prosecute him in Law who did me wrong, and cannot now amend me, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. is but uncharitableness acted under the visor of authority, so Methridates affirmed that usually men carry arms against a thief * Adversus latronem, si nequeunt pro salute, pro ultione tamen suâ ferrum omnes stringere. , for revenge as much as for their security: it is in many cases nothing else but revenge. 3. He th●t hath received an injury must not avenge himself by going to Law, though with a purpose to prevent another injury that is tolerable and inconsiderable. The reason is, because if he fears an evil that is but little, the smallness of the evil, and the uncertainty of its event are not considerable if compared to the evil of revenge that is included, to the trouble of the suit, to the evil of our Brother's punishment, to his shame and to his smart, to his expense and his disorder: and the charity of forgiveness shall never have a proper season for its exercise, or an opportunity to get a reward, if every excuse and every degree of temptation, or seeming warranty, can legitimate that action which is more like a revenge, than it can be to prudence, and a reasonable caution. All quarrellngs and contentions at Law for little matters are arguments of impatience, of a peevish spirit, and an uncharitable mind. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He is a very miserable man that is unquiet when a mouse runs over his shoe, or a fly does kiss his cheek, Whatsoever is little and tolerable must be let alone, said Aristides; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and Apollonius answered, that wars must not be undertaken for great causes, nor suits at Law for little ones. There is in such persons who run to Courts and complain for every small offence, such a stock of anger and peevishness, and such a spirit of fire within them, that every breath and every motion from without can put it into a flame; and the Devil will never be wanting to minister occasions to such prepared materials. It is told in the Annals of France, that when the Kings of England and France in a deadly war had their armies ready to join b●ttel; the French officers having felt the force of the English valo●r, were not willing to venture the hazard of a battle, and persuaded their King to offer conditions of peace. The treaty was accepted, and the two Kings withdrew into an old Chapel in the field; where when they had dicoursed themselves into kindness, they resolved to part friends and to appoint Commissionners to finish the Treaty. But as they were going out, a great Serpent issued out of the ruinous wall and made toward the Kings, who being affrighted with the danger, drew their swords and in that manner ran out of the Chapel. Their guards who in equal numbers attended at the door, seeing their Princes in a fright and with their swords drawn, supposed they were fight, and without any sign, instantly drew upon each other; which alarm the two armies taking, instantly engaged in a bloody fight, and could not for all the power of their Kings be totally disengaged till the night parted them. Just such is the danger of an angry and quarrelsome spirit. He hath his sword by his side, and his army in the field, his hand is up and his heart is ready; and he wants nothing but an occasion, a Serpent to set him on; and that will never be wanting as long as the old Serpent the Devil hath any malice or any power. But let us not deceive ourselves: we are bound very far by the laws of charity to the soul of our Brother; and we are very much concerned that he be saved, and therefore our Blessed Saviour commanded us, if our brother have sinned against us, to reprove him; Luke 17.3. not presently to hale him up to the Judge, or deliver him up to the Law; but to use means and charitable instruments, not for his vexation but his conversion. And he little regards his brother's soul, who by suits of Law and arts of affliction provokes him to more anger, or hardens him in his sin, or hinders his repentance, or vexes him into impatience. But to return to the particular case. The preventing of every evil is not a sufficient pretence (though it were true) to commence a suit at Law, For when our blessed Saviour commands us to reprove our offending brother; he speaks of such a one as is still in wrong and the state of injustice, a person from whom we are not sure but we may receive another injury, and yet even to this person we are commanded to be charitable in our reproof and private admonition, but are not permitted to be quick and fierce in our complaints at Law. For it is not dishonourable if a wise man be railed at, be smitten, be cheated, be derided by fools and evil persons: but to do any thing of this again, that is inhuman and inglorious. But this case is fully determined even by a heathen: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plato. you must not return evil to your enemy, although we be in danger to suffer a greater mischief▪ and therefore not vex him at Law. For that is the defence of beasts; who cannot keep themselves harmless but by doing a greater mischief: a tooth or a claw, a horn or a heel, these defend the beast; who that he may not receive a wound, defends himself so that he will kill his enemy. And yet this amongst evil men is called prudent. It is not by this discourse intended that we may not take securities of him against future mischiefs, if we can do it without doing him a mischief; but under the colour of securing ourselves for the future, we must not be revenged for what is past; neither must our revenge in small matters be used at all as an instrument of our security. If we can be secured without his affliction, we must take that way to be secured; but if by revenges and direct inflictions of evil, or procurations of punishment, we attempt it, we are not charitable. And this is the perfect meaning of our blessed Saviour, If thine enemy take thy cloak, let him take thy coat also; and if he strike thee on thy right cheek, tu●n thy left to him, and let him strike thee again. These words are not to be understood literally and precisely; not so as to forbid all securities or avoiding of future evils; for Christ himself did not do so when an evil servant smote him; and St. Paul did not so when the High Priest commanded him to be smitten on the face; they neither of them received it silently, nor turned the other cheek. And what if he that smote one cheek will smite no more? or will smite the same? How if we are not able to bear a second blow? Or how if the offering the other cheek provoke thy enemy to scorn thee, and tempt or provoke him to strike thee, who intended no such second blow? And were it not evidently better to withdraw from him that smites? or to sweeten him with gentle language? It is therefore certain these words are to be understood in the sense of prudence, equity, and charity; that is, when you are injured, you may use all that is for your innocent defence and unmingled guards; you may without all peradventure pray him to be quiet, you may give him reasons and arguments to let you alone; you may give good words; you may give blessing for cursing, that's certainly permitted; or you may run away; you may flee from City to City; or you may complain to him; you may reprove him, and expostulate the injury with him, as Christ did, and as did St. Paul. But what is then meant by turning the other cheek? Our blessed Saviour using an idiotism of his own language and a phrase used by the Prophet in the prediction of Christ's meekness and passion, he turned his che●ks to that nippers, means, that we must not resist with doing violence or affliction to him that smites; any innocent guard, but nothing violent; any thing that is harmless, but nothing vexations, but rather than do another evil, suffer another;] and this evidently demonstrates, that the preventing of every injury is no sufficient warrant to legitimate the bringing of our enemy to be punished at Law for what is past. The sum is this. No man is forbidden to lock his doors, to bar his windows, or to run from evil, or to divert it, or to reprove it. But, 1. In this question we speak of evil already done, and against revenges, not against defences; for that which is done cannot be undone; and therefore revenge is foolish and malicious: but that which is not done, may be prevented by all arts of gentleness and innocence; and therefore defences are prudent, and they are lawful. 2. We speak here of little dangers and tolerable evils; and a man must not go to Law because the Musician keeps false time with his foot; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. it is not for a small matter that a man must disquiet his Brother; he must rather suffer two, than do one evil. 4. But if the evil we fear be intolerable, and yet c●rtain, or very probable to happen, we may appeal to the Law for sanctuary or defence, though this appeal do procure affliction to our enemy; always provided that this evil be not directly intended, nor desired secretly, nor delighted in when it happens, and be made as little as it can, prosecuted with as easy circumstances, without vexatious measures, but not without necessity. For in all intercourses with our enemy there are but two things to be considered by us: how we may do him good, how we may keep ourselves from evil. The latter the Law of Charity and collateral duties do permit or enjoin respectively; but of the former our Blessed Saviour hath made special provision. For when our blessed Lord commanded us first to reprove secretly our offending Brother, and then before witness if there be need; the reason he gives is only that we may bring him to repentance, that you may gain him by rescuing his soul from guiltiness, and his actions from injuriousness. If this course will not prevail, then tell it to the Church; complain of him publicly, bring him before the Christian Judicatories; but still that he may repent; for if he reputes, he must be thy brother still, loved as dearly, treated as friendly, caressed as sweetly, handled as tenderly, conversed with as obligingly. But if none of all this will prevail for his good, then look you only to the other part of the permission; that is, that you be secured from his evil: you have done all that you are tied to do for his repentance in this method, but you have not yet done all ●hat you are tied to do in charity; for still you must afford him all those kindnesses which Christ requires of thee for thy enemy; that is, to pray for him, and to love him. But you may secure yourselves by all means which his violence and your case hath m●de necessary. But this I say is in case the evil be intolerable, or that ●o avoid it be a matter of duty, or charity to those to whom you are obliged. Though my old friend and new enemy Ca●bo do me little spites, and kill my Deer, or shoot my Pigeons, or trespass upon my grass, I must not be avenged on him at the Law, or right myself by afflicting him, but strive for the rewards of patience, and labour for the fruits of my charity, and for the rest use all the guards of prudence that I can: yet if he takes away my children's portions, or fires my houses, or exposes me and mine to beggary or destitution, I must do that duty which my charity to my children, and my justice does oblige me; I may defend my children's right, though that defence exposes him to evil that does the evil. I may not let Carbo alone, and suffer my children to be undone. I must provide for my own, according to their condition and states of life; if this provision be but necessary or competent, according to prudent, modest, and wise accounts, and be not a contention for excesses and extravagancies of wealth. He that goes to Law for another, hath greater warrant than he that does it for himself; for it is more likely to be charity in their case, and revenge in my own; and certainly in the disputes of charity our children are to be preferred before our enemies. In short. If the vexation that is brought by the suit of Law upon an injurious person be not revenge, and if the defence be necessary, or greatly charitable, and if the injury be intolerable or greatly afflictive, in all these cases Christ hath left us to the liberties of Nature, and Reason, and the Laws. 5. No man must in his own case prosecute his enemy to death or capital punishment. The reasons are, because no man's temporal evil, his injury, his disgrace, his money, and his wound are not a competent value for the life of a man; and when beyond this, there is no evil that we can do, it can in no sense consist with charity that goes so far. He that prosecutes his enemy to death forgives nothing, forbears nothing of that injury; he means no good to his enemy, desires not his amendment, is not careful of his repentance, is not ambitious to gain a brother, to secure the interest of a soul for God, to get himself the rewards of charity; and it is a sad thing to make thy adversary pay the utmost farthing, even whilst he is in the way, and to send him to make his accounts to God reeking in his sins, and his crimes broad blown about his ears. There are not many cases in which it can consist with the spirit of Christianity for the Laws themselves to put a criminal hastily to death * See Rule of Conscience, Book 3. Chap. 2. page 114. . Whatsoever is necessary that is lawful; and of the necessities of the public, public persons are to judge; only they are to judge according to the analogy and gentleness of the Christian Law, by a Christian spirit, and to take care of souls as well as of bodies and estates. * Nemo dubitabit quin si nocentes mutari in bonam mentem aliquo modo possint, sicut posse interdum conceditur, salvos eos esse magis è repub. sit, quam puniri. Quintil. If the criminal can be amended, as oftentimes he can, it is much better for a Commonwealth that a good Citizen be made, than that he be taken away while he is evil * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. . Strabo tells of some Nations dwelling about Caucasus that never put their greatest malefactors to death: and * Epist. 160. alicui utili operi eorum integra membra deserviant. Diodorus says, that Sabacon, a pious and good King of Egypt, changed capital punishments into slavery and profitable works, and that with excellent success, because it brought more profit to the public, and brought the criminal to repentance and a good mind. Balsamo says the Greek Emperors did so; and St. Augustin advises it as most fitting to be done. But if this in some case be better in the public itself, it is necessary in the private; and it is necessary in our present inquiry, in order to charity preparatory to the holy Communion: and in the Council of Eliberis there is a Canon, [If any Christian accuse another at the Law, and prosecute him to banishment or death, let him not be admitted to the Communion, no not so much as in the article of death.] For he whose malice passed unto the death of his brother, must not in his death receive the Communion of the faithful; and the seal of the Charities of God. But this was severe, and it is to be understood only to be so, unless when we are commanded to prosecute a criminal, by the interest of necessary justice, and public charity, and the command of the Laws: But in other cases, he that hath done so, let him repent greatly, and long, and at last Communicate: That's the best expedient. Question VII. Whether the Laws of Forgiveness, and the Charities of the Communion, oblige the injured person to forgive the adulterous Husband or Wife, if they do repent? There are two cases in which it is so far from being necessary, that it is not lawful to do some things of kindness, which in all other cases are indeed true charity, and highly significative of a soul truly merciful, and worthy to Communicate. See Rule of Conscience. Book 1. chap. 5. rule 8. Concil. ●liber. 2. 1. When to retain the adulterous person is scandalous; (as in the Primitive Church it was esteemed so in Clergy men) then s●ch persons though they be penitent, must no● be suffered to cohabit; they must be pardoned to a●l purposes which are not made unlawful by accident, and to all purposes which may minister unto their repentance and salvation: but charity must not be done to a single person with offence to ●he Church; and a Criminal must not receive advantage by the prejudice of the holy and the innocent. Against this I have nothing to oppose, but t●at those church's which di● forbidden this forgiveness, upon pretence of scandal, should also have considered whether or no that the forgiveness of the Criminal * Uxoris vitium tollas opus est aut sere●: Qui tollit vitium, uxorem commodiusculam ●ibi praestat; qui sert, sese meliorem facit. Varro. , and the charitable toleration of the injury, and the patient labours of love, and the endeavours of repentance, be not only more profitable to them both, but also more exemplar to others. 2. The other is the case of direct d●nger; if the sin of the offending party be promoted by the charity of the injured man or woman, it is made unlawful so far to forgive as to cohabit; if this charity will let her lose to repent of her repentance, it turns to uncharitableness, and can n●ver be a duty. But except it be in these cases, it is not only lawful, but infinitely agreeable to the duty of charity, to restore the repenting person to his first condition of love and society. But this is such a charity, as although it be a counsel of perfection, and a nobleness of forgiveness, yet that the forgiveness shall extend to society, and mutual endearments of cohabitation, is under no Commandment; because the union of Marriage being broken by the adultery, that which only remains of obligation is the charities of a Christian to a Christian, without the relation of Husband and Wife. The first must be kept in the height of Christian dearness and communion; but if the second can minister to the good of Souls, it is an heroic charity to do it; but in this there ought to be no snare, for the●e is no commandment. To the answers given to these Cases of Conscience, I am to add this caution; That although these cases are only the inquiries and concerns of private persons, and do not oblige Princes, Parents, Judges, Lords of Servants, in their public capacity, and they may justly punish the offender though the injury be done against themselves * See Rule of Conscience, Book 4. , yet in these cases the punishment must be no other than * Quomodo scalpellum & abstinentia & alia quae profutura torquent: sic ingentia vitia prava dolore corporis animique corrigimus. Seneca. as the lancet or the cupping-glass, as fasting, or ill-tasting drugs; they are painful, but are also wholly given as ministeries of health. For so sometimes we put crooked sticks into the fire, we bow and beat and twist them, not to break, but to make them straight and useful. So we correct the evil inclinations of our children, and the intolerable manners of our servants, by afflictions of the body and griefs of the mind: all is well so long as it is necessary, and so long as it is charitable. I remember that when Augustus was to give sentence upon a Son that would have killed his Father, he did not according to the severity of the Laws command him to be tied in a Sack with a Cock, a Serpent, and an Ape, and thrown into Tiber, Memor non de quo censeret, sed cui in consilio esset. but only to be banished whither his Father pleased; remembering, that although the Son deserved the worst, yet Fathers loved to inflict the least; and although in Nature none ought to drink but the hungry and the thirsty, yet in Judicatories none ought to punish but they that neither hunger nor thirst; because they that do it against their wills, exceed not the measures of charity and necessity. Imple Christiane Judex pii patris officium. But both Fathers and Princes, Judges and Masters, have their limits and measures before they smite, and other measures to be observed when they do smite. O Christian Judge do the office of a pious Father, said St. Austin to Count Marcellinus. A man should not use a man prodigally (a) Homini non est homine prodigè utendum. but be as sparing of another man's blood as of his own. (b) Duo ista nomina cum dicimus, homo & peccator, non utique frustra dicuntur: quia peccator est, corrige; quia homo miserere. S. August. apud Gratian. Punish the sinner, pity the man. But to conclude these inquiries fully. It is very considerable, that in many cases, even when it is lawful to bring a Criminal to punishment, or to go to Law, and that it is just so to do; yet this whole dispute being a question of charity, we are to go by other measures than in the other; and when in these cases we do nothing but what is just; we must remember that we are Christians, and must never expect to go to heaven, unless we do also what is charitable. Therefore inquire no more into how much is just and lawful in these cases; but what is charitable, and what is best, and what is safest; for then the cases of conscience are best determined, when our reward also shall greatly be secured. For it is in these inquiries of charity in order to the holy Communion, as it is in the Communion itself. Not every one shall perish that does not receive the holy Communion; but yet to receive it is of great advantage to our souls in order to our obtaining the joys of heaven: so is every expression of charity; that very action which in some cases may be safely omitted, may in all cases, where there is not a contradicting duty, be done with great advantages. For he that thinks to have the reward, and the heaven of Christians by the actions of justice and the omissions of charity, is like him who worships the Image of the Sun, while at the same time he turns his back upon the Sun himself. This is so essentially reasonable, that even the Heathens knew it, and urged it as a duty to be observed in all their sacrifices and solemnities. When you pray to God (said one of their own Prophets) and offer a holy cloud of frankincense, come not to the gentle Deity, with ungentle hearts and hands: — justa precari Thure pio, caedumque feros avertite ritus. Mite & cognatum est homini Deus— Silius Ital. 4. for God is of the same cognation or kindred with a good man; gentle as a man, apt to pity, apt to do good; just, as we ought to be, but infinitely more than we are: and therefore he is not good, cannot partake with him who is essentially and unalterably so. Peter Comestor tells of an old opinion and tradition of the Ancients, that forty years before the day of Judgement the Bow which God placed in the clouds shall not be seen at all: meaning, that since the Rainbow was placed there as a sign of mercy and reconcilement, when the Sacrament of mercy and peace shall disappear, than God will come to judge the world in fire and an intolerable tempest, in which all the uncharitable, unforgiving persons shall for ever be confounded. Remember always what the Holy Jesus hath done for thee: I shall represent it in the words of St. Bernard: In Cantica. [O blessed Jesus, we have heard strange things of thee. All the world tells us such things of thee that must needs make us to run after thee. They say, that thou despisest not the poor, nor refusest the returning sinner. We are told, that thou didst pardon the Thief when he confessed his sin, and confessed thee; and Mary Magdalen when she wept; and didst accept the Syrophoenician when she prayed; and wouldst not give sentence of condemnation upon the woman taken in adultery, even because she looked sadly, and was truly ashamed: thou didst not reject him that sat at the receipt of Custom, nor the humble Publican, nor the Disciple that denied thee, nor them that persecuted thy Disciples, no, not them that crucified thee. These are thy precious ointments, apt with their sweetness to allure all the world after thee, and with their virtue to heal them. After thee and thy sweet Odours, O blessed Jesus, we will run.] Happy is he that says so, and does so, enkindling his charity in the blood of Christ (as St. Ignatius his expression is) transcribing his example into our conversation; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ad Ephes. for we can no way please him, but by being like him: and in the blessings of Christ, and the Communion of his body and blood, the uncharitable and revenging man shall never have a portion. SECT. V. Devotions relative to this grace of Charity; to be used by way of exercise and preparation to the Divine Mysteries; in any time or part of our life: but especially before and at the Communion. The Hymn, containing acts of love to God and to our Neighbour. COme behold the works of the Lord: what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh Wars to cease unto the ends of the earth: he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder, he burneth the chariot in the fire. But unto the wicked said God, what hast thou to do to declare my Statutes, or that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee? Thou sittest and speakest against thy Brother; thou slanderest thine own mothers Son. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness O God, thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble, The Lord will deliver him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth; and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. But I said, Lord be merciful to me: heal my soul for I have sinned against thee. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life: O send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy Hill, and to thy Tabernacles. Then will I go unto the Altar of God my exceeding joy: yea upon the harp will I praise thee O God my God. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory. Do good O Lord to them that are true of heart, and evermore mightily defend them: Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion, build thou the walls of Jerusalem. In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word: Thy vows are upon me O God, I will render praises unto thee. For thou hast delivered our souls from death: will't not thou deliver our feet from falling, that we may walk before God in the light of the living? I will love thee O God, and praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy Saints. Glory be to the Father, etc. A Prayer for the grace of Charity, etc. O Most gentle, most merciful and gracious Saviour Jesus, thou didst take upon thee our nature to redeem us from sin and misery; thou wert for us led as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a Sheep before the shearer is dumb, so thou openedst not thy mouth; thou turnedst thy back to the smiters, and thy cheeks to the nippers, thou wert mocked and whipped, crucified and torn, but thou didst nothing but good to thy enemies, and prayedst with loud cries for thy persecutors, and didst heal the wound of one that come to lay violent hands upon thee; O plant in my heart gentleness and patience, a meek and a long suffering spirit; that I may never be transported with violent angers, never be disordered by peevishness, never think thoughts of revenge; but may with meekness receive all injuries that shall be done to me, and patiently bear every cross accident, and with charity may return blessing for cursing, good for evil, kind words for foul reproaches, loving admonitions for scornful upbraid, gentle treatments for all derisions and affronts, that living all my days with meekness and charity, keeping peace with all men, and loving my neighbour as myself, and thee more than myself, and more than all the world, I may at last come into the regions of peace and eternal charity, where thou livest, who lovest all men, and wouldst have none to perish, but all men to be saved through thee, O most merciful Saviour and Redeemer Jesus, Amen. An act of Forgiveness to be said with all earnestness and sincerity before every Communion. O God, my God, I have sinned grievously against thee: I am thy debtor in a vast and an Eternal debt, and if thou shouldest take the forfeiture, I shall be for ever bound in eternal prisons, even till I pay the utmost farthing: But I hope in thy mercies, that thou wilt forgive me my ten thousand Talents; and I also do in thy presence forgive every one that hath offended me; whoever hath taken my goods privately and injuriously, or hurt my person, or contrived any evil against me whether known or unknown; who ever hath lessened my reputation, detracted from my best endeavours, or hath slandered me, or reproached, reviled, or in any word or way done me injury; I do from the bottom of my soul forgive him; praying thee also that thou wilt never impute to him any word, or thought, or action done against me; but forgive him as I desire thou wouldst also forgive me all that I have sinned against thee, or any man in the world. Give him thy grace, and a holy repentance for whatever he hath done amiss; grant he may do so no more: keep me from the evil tongues and injurious actions of all men, and keep all my enemies from all the expresses of thy wrath: and let thy grace prevail finally upon thy servant, that I may never remember any injury to the prejudice of any man, bu● that I may walk towards my enemies as Christ did; who received much evil, but went about seeking to do go●d to every man; and if ever it shall be in my power and my opportunity to return evil, O then grant that the spirit of love and forgiveness may triumph over all anger, and malice, and revenge; that I may be the Son of God, and ma● love God, and prove my love to thee by my love to my Brother, and by obedience to all thy Laws, through the Son of thy love, by whom thou art reconciled to mankind, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus, Amen. Vers. Remember not Lord our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers, neither take thou vengeance of our sins. Resp. Spare us good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever, Amen. CHAP. V. Of Repentance, preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament. SECT. I. WHen Isaac and Abimelech had made a covenant of peace and mutual agreement, they would not confirm it by a Sacramental Oath till the next morning, that they might swear fasting, for the reverence and religious regard of the solemn Oath (saith Lyra.) But Philo says they did it Symbolically, to represent that purity and cleanness of soul which he that swears to God, or comes to pay his vows, aught to preserve with great Religion. He that in a religious and solemn address comes to God, aught to consider whether his body be free from uncleanness, and his soul from vile affections. He that is righteous, Rev. 22.11. let him be righteous still; and he that is justified, let him be justified, yet more, saith the Spirit of God; and than it follows, He that thirsts, let him come and drink of the living waters freely and without money: — 17. meaning, that when our affections to sin are gone, when our hearts are clean, than we may freely partake of the feast of the supper of the Lamb. For as in natural forms, the more noble they are, the more noble dispositions are required to their production; so it is in the spiritual: for when Christ is to be efformed in us, when we are to become the Sons of God, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone, we must be washed in water, and purified by faith, and sanctified by the spirit, and cleansed by an excellent repentance; we must be confirmed by a holy hope, and softened by charity. So God hath ordered in the excellent fabric of humane bodies: First our meat is prepared by fire, then macerated by the teeth, then digested in the stomach, where the first separation is made of the good from the bad, the wholesome juices from the more earthy parts: these being sent down to earth, the other are conveyed to the Liver, where the matter is separated again, and the good is turned into blood, and the better into spirits; and thence the body is supplied with blood; and the spirits repair unto the heart and head, that thence they may be sent on Embassies for the ministeries of the body, and for the work of understanding. So it is in the dispensation of the affairs of the soul: The ear, which is the mouth of the soul, receives all meat, and the senses entertain the fuel for all passions, and all interests of virtue and vice. But the understanding makes the first separation, dividing the clean from the unclean: But when the spirit of God comes and purifies even the separate matter, making that which is morally good to be spiritual and holy, first cleansing us from the sensualities of flesh and blood, and then from spiritual iniquities that usually debauch the soul, than the holy nourishment which we receive passes into divi●e excellencies. But if sensuality be in the palate, and intemperance in the stomach; if lust be in the liver, and anger in the heart, it corrupts the holy food, and makes that to be a savour of death, which was intended for health and holy blessings. But therefore when we have lived in the corrupted air of evil company, and have sucked in the vile juices of coloquintida and the deadly henbane; when that is within the heart which defiles the man, the soul must be purged by repentance, it must be washed by tears, and purified by penitential sorrow. For he that comes to this holy Feast with an unrepenting heart, is like the flies in the Temple upon the day of Sacrifice: the little insect is very busy about the flesh of the slain beasts; ●●ta praegusto Deûm, Moror inter arras, Templa perlustro omnia. she flies to every corner of the Temple; and she tastes the flesh before the portion is laid before the God: but when the nidour and the delicacy hath called such an unwelcome guest, she corrupts the Sacrifice, and therefore dies at the Altar, or is driven away by the officious Priest. So is an unworthy Communicant; he comes it may be with passion and an earnest zeal; he hopes to be fed, and he hopes to be made immortal; he thinks he does a holy action, and shall receive a holy blessing; but what is his portion? It is a glorious thing to be feasted at the Table of God; glorious to him that is invited and prepared, ●st glori●sus sanè convictus Deûm, Sed illi qui invitatur, non qui invisus est. but not to him that is unprepared, hateful, and impenitent. But it is an easy thing to say that a man must repent before he communicates; so he must before he prays, before he dies, before he goes a journey, the whole life of a man is to be a continual repentance * See the doctrine and practice of Repentance, Chap. 1. & 2. ; but if so; then what particular is that which is required before we receive the holy Communion? For if it be an universal duty of infinite, extent, of unlimited comprehension; then every Christian must always be doing some of the offices of repentance: but then, which are the peculiar parts and offices of this grace which have any special and immediate relation to this solemnity? for if there be none; the Sermons of repentance are nothing but the general doctrine of good life, but of no special efficacy in our preparation. The answer to this, will explicate the intricacy, and establish the measures of our duty in this proper relation, in order to this ministry. SECT. II. The necessity of repentance in order to the holy Sacrament. 1. THe holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper does not produce its intended effect upon an unprepared subject. He that gives his body to that which is against the spirit, & his spirit to the affections of the body, cannot receive the body of Christ in a spiritual manner. He that receives Christ, must in great truth be a servant of Christ. It is not lawful (saith Justin * Just. Martyr apol. 2. Martyr) for any one to receive the holy Eucharistical bread and to drink of the sacred Calais, Non per id quod recte foris oblatum est sacrificium ad se ducit Deum, intus habens peccatum. Ire. l. 4. c. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but to him that believes, and to him that lives according to Christ's Commandment. For as St. Paul argues of the infinite undecency of fornication, because it is a making the members of Christ to become the members of an harlot: upon the same account it is infinitely impossible that any such polluted persons should become the members of Christ to the intents of blessing and the spirit. How can Christ's body be communicated to them who are one flesh with an harlot? and so it is in all other sins: we cannot partake of the Lords table, Non bene inaequales veniunt ad aratra juvenci. and the table of Devils. A wicked person and a Communicant are of contrary interests, of differing relations, designed to divers ends, fitted with other dispositions, they work not by the same principles, are not weighed in the same balance, nor meted by like measures: and therefore they that come must be innocent or return to innocence; that is, they must repent, or be such persons as need no repentance: and St. Ambrose gives this account of the practice of the Church in this affair. This is the * Ubique mysterii ordo servatur, ut prius per remissionem peccatorum Vulneribus medicina tribuatur, postea alimonia mensae coelestis exuberet. lib. 6. in Luc. c. 37. order of this mystery which is every where observed, that first by the pardon of our sins our souls be healed, and the wounds cured with the medicine of repentance, and then that our souls be plentifully nourished by this holy Sacrament: and to this purpose he expounds the parable of the prodigal son saying [that no man ought to come to this Sacrament unless he have the wedding ring and the wedding garment; Nemo huc accedere debet nisi qui signaculum justitiae custodierit, aut receperit lib. 7. c. 66. ] unless he have received the seal of the spirit, and is clothed with white garments, the righteousness and justification of the Saints. And to the same purpose it is, that St. Cyprian complains of some in his Church, who not having repent, not being put under discipline by the Bishop and the Clergy, yet had the Sacrament ministered to them: Lib. 3. epist. 14. Nondum poenitentiâ actâ, nondum fact● exomologesi, nondum manu eis ab Episcopo & Clero impositâ Eucharistia eye datur. 1 Cor. 11.28. against whom he presses the severe words of St. Paul; He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself; that is, he that reputes not of his sins before he comes to the Holy Sacrament, comes before he is prepared, and therefore before he should: and St. Basil hath a whole chapter on purpose to prove [that it is not safe for any man that is not purged from all pollution of flesh and spirit to eat the body of the Lord] and that is the title of the chapter: St. Basil. lib. 2. the baptism. cap. 3. The wicked think to appease God with rivers of oil, and hecatombs of oxen, and with flocks of sheep: they think by the ceremony and the gift to make peace with God; Quid juvat hoc, templo nostros immittere mores Et bona Diis ex hac sceleratâ ducere pulpâ? to get pardon for their sin, and to make way for more: but they lose their labour (says the comedy) and throw away their cost: Atque hoc scelesti illi in animum inducunt suum Jovem se placa●e donis hostiis. Et operam & sumptum perdunt; ideò fit because God accepts no breakers of their vows; he loves no man's sacrifice, that does not truly love his service: what if you empty all the Maevanian valleys, and drive the fat lambs in flocks unto the Altars? Quia nihil ei acceptum est à peri juris supplicii. what if you sacrifice a herd of white bulls from Clitumnus? — qua nunc tibi pauper acerrâ Digna litem! nec si vacuet Maevania valles, Aut praestent niveos Clitumnae novalia tautos Sufficiam, sed saepe Diis hos inter honores Cespes, & exiguo placuerunt farra Salino: Statius. One sacrifice of a troubled spirit, one offering of a broken heart is a better oblation than all the wealth which the fields of the wicked can produce. God by the forms and rites of sacrifice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philo. teaches us how to come to the Altars, whether for Prayer or Eucharist; we must be sure to bring no evil passion, no spiritual disease along with us; faith Philo. The sacrament of the Lords Supper is the Christian sacrifice, and though the lamb of God is represented in a pure oblation, yet we must bring something of our own: our lusts must be crucified * Quin horres, vererisque talia committere, ac altaria frequentare? quomodo immaculata sacrorum mysteria aud es attingere? Horror igitur te, ut vel committere hujusmodi desinas, vel à venerandis altaris sacrificiis abstineas, ne quando ignem de coelo capiti a●cersens tuo, turpè meritas poenas, ut optasti, luas. Sic Zosymum Presbyterum arguit St. Isidorus Pelusiota. l. 5. ep. 12. , our passions brought in fetters, bound in chains, and laid down at the foot of the throne of God. We must use our sins as the asses first colt was to be used among the Jews; there is no redeeming of it but only by the breaking of its neck: and when a sinner comes to God groaning under his load, carrying the dead body of his lusts and laying them before the Altar of God, saying [this is my pride that almost ruined me: here is the corpse of my lusts, they are now dead, and as carcases are more heavy than living bodies, so now my sin feels more ponderous because it is mortified: I now feel the intolerable burden, and I cannot bear it.] When a sinner makes this address to God, coming with a penitential soul, with a holy sorrow, and with holy purposes, than no oblation shall be more pleasing, no guest more welcome, no sacrifice more accepted. The Sacrament is like the word of God, Omnia Sacramenta obsunt indignè tractantibus: prosunt tamen dignè sumentibus, sicut & verbum Dei. S. August. contr. epist. Parmen. if you receive it worthily, it will do you good; if unworthily, it will be your death and your destruction. Here the penitent can be cleansed, and here the impenitent are consumed: here they that are justified shall be justified still, and they that are unholy become more unholy and accursed: here they that have not, shall have more abundantly, and they that have not, shall lose what they have already: here the living are made strong and happy, and the dead do die again. He that giveth honour to a fool (saith Solomon) is like him that bindeth a stone in the sling: Pro. 2●. 8. so we read it; but so, it is not easy to tell the meaning. The vulgar Latin reads it: As he that throws a stone into the heap of Mercury: so is he that giveth honour to a fool: and so the Proverb is easy. For the Gentiles did of old worship Mercury by throwing stones at him: now giving honour to a fool is like throwing a stone at Mercury, that is, a strange and unreasonable act: for as the throwing of stones is against all natural and reasonable way of Worship and Religion; and is against the way of honour: so is a fool as strange and unfit a person to receive it. But when Rabbi Manasses threw stones at Mercury in contempt and defiance of the image and th● false god, he was questioned for idolatry, and paid his liberty in exchange for his outward worship of what he secretly hated: but by his external act he was brought to judgement, and condemned for his hypocrisy. This is the case of every one that in a state of sins comes to the holy Sacrament; he comes to receive the bread of God, and throws a stone at him; he pretends worship and secretly hates him; and no man must come hither, but all that is within him, and all that is without, must be symbolical to the nature and holiness of the mysteries, to the designs and purposes of God. In short; The full sense of all this is expressed in the Canon-Law, in a few words. A Sacrament is not to be given but to him that reputes: Cap illud. didst, 95. Non poenitentibus istud infundi non potest quia Sacramenti genus est. for there must no sinful habit, or impure affection remain in that tabernacle where God means to place his holy spirit. It is like bringing of a swine into the Propitiatory: such a presence cannot stand with the presence of the Lord. It is Dagon before the Ark; the Chechinah, the glory of the Lord will depart from that unhallowed place. But because the duty of Repentance, as it is a particular grace, is limited and affirmative, and therefore is determinable by proper relations and accidents, and there is a special necessity of repentance before the receiving of the Sacrament; we must inquire more particularly: 1. What actions or parts of repentance are necessary in our preparation to the receiving these Divine mysteries. 2. How far a penitent must be advanced in a good life, before he may come safely; and how far, before he m●y come with confidence. 3. What significations of repentance are to be accepted by the Church. 4. Whether in case the duty be not performed, may every Minister of the Sacrament refuse to admit the wicked person, or the imperfect penitent that offers himself and persists in the desire of it. SECT. III. What actions of repentance are specially required in our preparations to the Holy Sacrament? THe particular actions of repentance, which are to be performed in their proper seasons, which cannot be always actual because they have variety, and cannot be attended to altogether, all such particulars of repentance are then in their season, they have this for their opportunity. For it is an admirable wisdom of God so to dispose the times and advantages of Religion, that by the solennities of duty our dispersions are gathered up, our wander are united, our indifferencies are kindled, our weariness is recreated, our spirits are made busy, our attention is called upon, our powers are made active, our virtues fermented: we are called upon, and looked after, and engaged. For as it is in motion, and as it is in lines, a long and a strait progression diminishes the strength, and makes languishing and infirmity; but by doubling the point, or making a new Centre the moving body gathers up its parts and powers into a narrower compass, and by union, as by a new beginning, is rescued from weakness and diminution: So it is in the life of a Christian; when he first sets forth, he is zealous and forward, full of appetite, and full of holy fires: but when his little fuel is consumed, and his flame abates, when he goes on & grows weary, when he mingles with the world, and by every conversation is polluted or allayed; when by his very necessary affairs of life he is made secular and interested, apt to tend his civil regards, and to be remiss in the spiritual; by often and long handling of money, beginning too much to love it: then we are interrupted in our declining piety, we are called upon by Religion, and by the sacredness of this holy duty are made to begin again, not to go back, but to be re-enkindled. Every time we receive the holy Sacrament all our duties are summed up; we make new vows, we chastise our negligence, we mend our pace, we actuate our holy purposes, and make them stronger, we enter upon Religion as if we had never done any thing before; we bring again our first penitential heats: and as when we pray, and pray long, our devotion slackens, and our attention becomes trifling, and by wand'ring thoughts we are gone very far from the observation of the offices; the good man that ministers calls out to us, Let us pray: and then the wand'ring thoughts run home, than we are troubled that we have lost so much of our ●rayers, as we have not attended to; then we begin ag●in, and pray the more passionately by how much we observe ourselves to have been more negligent before. If God did not particularly call upon us by these religious necessities, and stop us by the solemn return of the Sacrament, and stir up our fires, and remind us of our duty, and make actual seasons and opportunities for actual and great attendencies on religion, if God did not make some days, and some necessities, and some opportunities for heaven; the soul and her interest would not be at all regarded. For this life is the day for the body, and our needs do indeed require so much attendance, and employ so much of our affections, and spend so much of our time, that it is necessary some abstractions and separations of time and offices be made. Receiving the holy Sacrament is like a Lock upon the waters; which makes them rise higher, and begin a fuller stream as from a new principle of emanation: So that the repentance which is the duty of our life and dispersed over all the parts and periods of it, like the waters in the first Creation upon the face of the whole earth, is gathered together against the day of the Lords Communion as into a bosom and congregation of penitential waters. * Then you are to mourn for your sins, and to resolve against them, than you are to remember what vows you have already made and broken, how often you have prevaricated in your duty, and by what temptations you are used to fall: than you are to renew the strength of your purposes, to fortify your tenderest part, and to cut off all advantages from the enemy: than you must prune your Vine, — enodes trunci resecentur, ut inde Exeat in coelum ramis faelicibus arbour. and make the branches bleed; then the Bridegroom comes, and you must trim your Lamp, and adorn it with the culture of Religion: that is, against the day of Communion, you must sum up all the parts of your repentance; for the Sacrament is a summary of all the mysteries, and all the duty of the whole religion of a Christian. Parum est baptizari, & Eucharistiam accipere, nisi quis factis & opere perficiat. S. Cyprian. But Baptism and the holy Eucharist do nothing for us unless we do good works, and perfect them with a conjugation of holy duties, bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. But our iniquity must be yet a little more particular. There are some actions of repentance which must be finished and made perfect before we receive the holy Communion: and there are some which will be finishing all our life. Concerning the first the question is, which they are, and what must be done concerning them. Concerning the second, we are to inquire how far we must have proceeded in them before we may communicate. Those parts of repentance which must be finished before we approach the blessed Sacrament, are these: 1. We must have renounced, perfectly renounced all affections to sin, and firmly purpose to amend all, to sin no more, to lead a new life in all solid and material practices of virtue. This we learn from Origen: [We eat the bread which is made a holy thing, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Lib. 8. advers. Celsum. and which sanctifies and makes holy all them who use it with holy and salutary purposes] and designs of living holily: not by a solemn and pompous profession only, but with a real and hearty resolution: resolving not to say so, and be a fool; but to say so, because indeed we mean so; not to profess it because it is the custom of Christians, and the expectation of the solemnity, but because we intent really to be quit of the sin for ever. Now concerning our purposes of amendment, these things are to be taken careof: 1. That they be made prudently, attentively, sincerely, and with intuition upon a credible, possible, and designed effect. For there are some that make vows (purposes I cannot call them) which they believe impossible to keep, and no man can wisely purpose such things, of which he hath such belief: but they believe themselves inevitably engaged to commit a sin, and yet as inevitably engaged to say they will not. The Greeks tell of a famous fool among them; her name was Acco, who when she saw herself in a glass, would discourse as wisely as she could to the other woman, and supposed her own shadow to be one of her neighbours; with whom sometimes she had great business, but always huge civilities; only she could never agree which of them should go away first, or take the upper hand. Such wise resolvers are some persons: they take the shadow of it for a substance, and please themselves by the entertainment of the images of things; and think that the outside and the words of a promise are the only thing that God requires; they and their promises do not know which shall go away first; the resolution quickly dies, and the man presently after; but the sin lives and abides there still, and will do so for ever. Cast about and see; you have promised what you are likely to perform; and do you intent it in good earnest never to consent to a sin, in no circumstance, and for no argument, and by no temptation? For he that resolves never to commit that, which he knows he shall commit, is like him who resolves he will never die; his vain resolution sets not his death back one hour. It is hypocrisy and lying to say it before God, and it is folly and madness to pretend that we will do it, to ourselves; but of this I h●ve already spoken * Chap. 2. Sect. 3. 2. He that in his preparation to the holy Communion purposes to live a holy life, must not judge of the goodness of his purposes by the present intendment, but by the consequent performance. He must not think it is well yet, because many good purposes are broken by temptations, disordered by supervening accidents, frustrate by impotency, and laid aside by the purposes to the contrary; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. See Great Exemplar, Part 2. Sect. 12. n. 34. such which Plutarch compares to windy eggs, which though they look fairly, yet produce no birds. Now by this consideration it is not intended that a man must defer his Communion till he hath fully performed all his purposes of a holy life, for than he should never Communicate till he dies: but by this we are advised to make such inquiry, and to use such cautions, and to require such indications of the reality of our purposes, as becomes wise, interested, and considering persons, who are undone if they be deceived, and receive damage by the profane and unholy usages of the Divine Mysteries, if they were cozened and abused themselves in the sincerity and efficacy of their preparatory purposes. Plato tells that Alc●biades did sometimes wish Socrat●s h●d been dead, because he was ashamed to see him, for that he had not kept the promises which he had so often made to him. If we who often have communicated, do find that the purposes of reformation which we have formerly made proved ineffective; if we perceive that we have begged pardon for our lust, and yet still remain under the power of the passion; if we have deplored our pride, and yet cannot endure to have others preferred before us; if we have resolved against our hasty angers, and yet after the Communion find our peevishness to return as often * Talis mensae fuisti particeps, & cum omnibus deberes esse mitior, & clementior, & par Angelis, fuisti omnium curdelissimus. Gustavisti sanguinem Dominicum, & ne sic quidem fratrem agnoscis. St. Chrysost. homil. 27. in Corinth. , and to abide as long, and still to forage and to prevail, we are like those foolish birds who having conceived by the wind, lay their eggs in the sand, and forget the place, and the waters wash them away. In such cases as these something more must be done besides making resolutions. Let every man make some experiment of himself, and give some instances of performance, and get ground of his passion; and make no great haste to pass instantly to the holy Communion; you may more safely stay one day longer, than pass on one minute too soon: but be sure of this, the fierce saying of a few warm and holy words is not a sufficient preparation to these sacred Mysteries; and they who upon such little confidencies as these have hastened hither, — accipimus sacrâ data pocula dextrâ Quae simul arenti fitientes hausimus ore Et pudet & reseram; pro verbis edere coepi Murmur, & in terram, toto procumbere vultu. Metamorph. 15. have afterwards found causes enough to deplore their profane follies and presumptions; for they see when they have eaten the Sop, they go out to sin against the Lord; as soon as the sacred Calais hath refreshed their lips, they dishonour God with their mouths, and retain their affections here below fastened to earth and earthly things. This is it that makes our Communions have so little fruit. Men resolve to be good, and then Communicate; they resolve they will hereafter, but they are not yet, and yet they will Communicate; they resolve, and think no more of it, as if performance were no part of the duty and the obligation. In such cases it is not good to be hasty; Proinde quicquid est, da spatium & tempus tibi, Quod ratio nequit, saepe sanavit mora. for a little stay will do better than twenty arguments to enforce your purposes. You must make new resolutions, and reinforce your old; but if you have already tried, and have sound your purposes to be easily untwisted, and that, like the Scenes at Masques, they were only for that show, to serve at that solemnity, learn to be more wary and more afraid the next time. The first folly was too bad, but to do so often is intolerable. But here are two Cases to be resolved. Question I. But of what nature and extent must our preparatory resolution be? Must we resolve against all sin, or against some kinds only? If only against some sorts, than we are not clean all over. If against all, than we find it impossible for us to perform it: And then either it is not necessary to resolve, or not necessary to perform, or not necessary to Communicate. I answer; It is one thing to say, I shall never fall, I shall never be mistaken, I shall never be surprised, or I shall never slacken my watchfulness and attention; and another thing to resolve against the love and choice of every sin. It is not always in our powers to avoid being surprised, or being deceived, or being dull and sleepy in our carefulness and watches. Every good and well-meaning Christian cannot promise to himself security; but he may be tempted, or over-pressed with a sudden fear when he cannot consider, and be put sometimes to act before he can take counsel: and though there is no one sin we do but we do it voluntarily, and might escape it if we would make use of the grace of God; yet the inference cannot run forth to all: we cannot therefore always escape all; any one we can, but not every one. The reason is, because concerning any one if we make a question, than we can and do deliberate; then we can attend, and we can consider, and summon up the arts and auxiliaries of Reason and Religion, and we can hear both sides speak; and therefore we can choose: for he that can deliberate, can take either side; for if he could not choose when he hath considered which to choose, he were more a fool in considering, than by any inconsideration in the world; for he not only does unreasonably by sinning, but he considers unreasonably and to no purpose, since his consideration cannot alter the case. Certain it is, by him that can consider, every sin can be avoided: But then, this is as certain, that it is not possible always to consider; but surprise and ignorance, haste and dulness, indifference and weariness, are the entries at which some things that are not good will enter; but these things are such, which by how much they are the less voluntary, by so much they are the less imputed. Thus therefore he that means to Communicate worthily, must resolve against every sin, the greatest and the least; that is, 1. He must resolve never to commit any sin concerning which he can deliberate: and, 2. He must resolve so to stand upon his g●ard, that he may not frequently be surprised; he must use prayer against all, and prudent caution in his whole conversation, and all the instruments of grace for the destruction of the whole body of sin: and though in this valley of tears there are but few so happy souls as to triumph over all infirmities, we know of none, and if God hath any such on earth, they are peculiar jewels kept in undiscerned cabinets; yet all that intent to serve God heartily, must aim at a return to that state of innocence, to the possibility of which Christ hath as certainly recovered us, as we lost it by our own follies and the sin of Adam: that is, we must continually strive, and every day get ground of our passions, and grow in understanding and the fear of God, that we be not so often deluded, nor in so many things be ignorant, nor be so easily surprised, nor so much complain of our weakness, nor the imperfection of our actions be in so many instances unavoidable. But in the matters of choice, in voluntary and deliberate actions, we must resolve not to sin at all. In these things we must be more than conquerors. 2. He that intends worthily to Communicate, before his coming must quit all his next and immediate occasions * Invitat autem pauperes, debiles, caecos, ut ostendatur quod nulla debilitas corporis excludit à regno rariusque delinquat cui desit illecebra peccandi. St. Ambrose. of habitual sins, all those states of evil, by which so long as he dwells he cannot stand uprightly. For to resolve against all sin, and yet to retain that temptation, which hath been to this time stronger than all your resolutions, is to abide in the midst of a torrent, against which you cannot swim, and yet resolve never to be drowned * Qui proponit sibi, & dicit habere volo quod vincam: hoc est, vivere desidero, & volo sub ruinâ, August. de singul. Cleric. . There is no dallying in this case: He that will not throw out the bond woman and her son, he that will still retain the concubine, let him resolve what he will, and will what he is commanded, and profess what he purposes; his profession is nothing but words, and his resolutions will prove as unstable as the thinnest air, which is not able to support a fly, unless with her wings she fans it into an accidental thickness. This may seem the hardest commandment of Christianity; and Christ calls it a cutting off the right hand, and plucking out the right eye; as if it were the greatest violence of the world. Indeed it is often times a great inconvenience to our affairs and fortune: For it may be he by whom we live is he by whom we sin, and we cannot eat but we must be in danger. If the case be so, it is indeed harder to leave the sin; Projice quae cunque cortuum laniant, quae si aliter extrahi nequirent, cor ipsum cum illis evellendum erat. but yet the command of pulling out our eye is not the hardness, but is an act of easiness, and an instrument of facilitation: For first it must be remembered, that it is a question of souls, and no interest can be laid in balance against a soul; it is moments against Eternity, money against heaven, life eternal against a little pension; and therefore this precept of pulling out the right eye is very easy, when it is made the price or instrument of avoiding eternal torments: A man had better pull his heart out, than nurse a lust by which he shall die for ever. But than next to this it is considerable, that this precept of putting out the right eye, that is, removing the next occasion of sin, is so far from being an hard commandment, that it is perfectly a complying with our infirmities, and a securing of our greatest interests; by this he conducts us tenderly, because we have no strength. For if Christ had done as Xenocrates in Valerius, and commanded his Disciples to dwell in danger that they might triumph more gloriously, we had reason to suspect ourselves, and to tremble under the load of the imposition; but Christ knew it would never consist with our safety, and never conduce to his Father's glory; therefore Christ bids us to avoid the occasion. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. He would not have weak and amorous persons to converse with fair women, that make weak eyes, and by the eyes wound the heart of a foolish man. For as Trithemius observes, good Angels never appeared in the likeness of women, they are tempters and temptations: and therefore because of the danger Christ would not have us look; unless we can do it with safety, we must not be in their company. And therefore as God gave us legs and hands in great kindness, yet we give money to have them cut off when they endanger the whole body: so must we quite cut off the advantages of our estate, and the pleasures of our life, rather than die eternally. There is no other variety but this; if we be tempted in our state of life or of society, we must do violence to our fortune or our will: But the particulars of the case are these. 1. If it be easy to quit the occasion, do it lest you be tempted; for it is worth some pain to be secured in the question of your soul. When Alcibiades was sent for from Sicily to Athens to be tried for his life, he hid himself, and left this answer to be sent; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. It is better to decline a trial than to escape from under it: And so it is here: It is glorious indeed to escape; but it is the safer way not to put it to the venture; and therefore when you can, decline the trial; for he that resolves to live, and yet will live under the ruins of a falling house, is but little better than a fool. 2. If it be difficult to part with the tempting occasion of your sin, then consider whether you can dwell with it, and yet not sin; if you can, you may; for if you neither love your danger, nor can easily part with it, it is sufficient that by plain force you resist it. 3. But if by sad experience you have learned your own weakness, and that as long as you dwell near the furnace you are scorched with the flames, no interest in this world must make you lose your hopes of the other. It is not good to walk by a bankside, or to play in the hollow seat of an aspe. He that hath escaped often is not secure; Nemo se tuto periculis offerre jam crebro potest, Quem saepe transit casus, aliquando invenit. Tragoed. but he that hath already smarted under the calamity, hath not so much left him to alleviate the evil as the miserable excuse of, I did not think it: for he hath found that it was so dangerous. But therefore he must decline no trouble * Nec quisquam fruitur veris odoribus Hyblaeis apibus aut spoliat favos. Si fronti caveat, si timeat rubos. that he may save his soul; and that estate is well spent that secures such an interest. But if a man be afraid of his forehead, he must not gather honey from a Beehive: and in many cases, if a man stands upon the matter of inconvenience, he must not pretend to be a servant of God. Nunquam periculum sine periculo vincitur. Senec. If you dwell in a temptation you are in danger of Eternal death, and to be secure against such a danger, what danger is it which a wise man will not endure? All the glories of his Father could never have tempted Phaethon to have come near one of the horses of the Sun after they had given him such an horrid fall. Vitaret coelum Phaëthon si viveret, et quos Optavit stultè, tangere nollet equos. When you have seen yourself overpowered by the temptation, come not near it any more: change your dwelling; let not one house hold you both, nor the same stars ever see you meet. But that this must be done before you receive the blessed Sacrament is therefore affirmed; because no man can resolve against all sin, unless he be stronger than his temptation, or fly from it. But he that chooses to dwell with the next and proper opportunity of sin; either he directly loves the sin, or by interpretation he loves not God, who will not for his service suffer the inconvenience of leaving his Mistress, or venture the favour of his Patron, or is afraid to grieve his tempter, or will at no hand suffer the diminution of his fortune. It may be deferred upon the same terms upon which it can be quite omitted: that is, when upon any sure account we are impregnable against it; but if you know not that, than you must fly away directly. If you cannot with water quench your fi●e▪ take the wood from under it. I only add one general advice which will fit all sorts of persons that desire truly to serve God and to arrive at an excellent state of virtue; Although they live in the world and are engaged by their duty and relations to many secular divertisements, yet as they must do what they can to change these into Religion and into some good thing one way or other; so by these difficulties and divertisements they will find it to be impossible that they should do any thing that is greatly good; unless they cut off all superfluous company, and visits and amusements. That which is necessary is too much, and if it were not necessary it would not be tolerable, but that which is more than needs, is a millstone about the neck of Religion, and makes it impossible to be excellently virtuous. Question. II. But is he that intends to communicate bound to quit all those occasions of sin, by which himself was tempted, and did fall, and die? 1. I answer, That it is impossible he should. If you live in delights your chastity is tempted; your humility is assaulted by receiving honour; St. Bernard. your Religion by much business: your truth by much talk; your charity by living in the world; and yet we must not hasten out of it, nor swear eternal silence, nor lay aside all our business, nor quit our preferment and honourable employment, nor refuse all secular comforts and live in pains that we may preserve these respective graces: and yet something we must do; some occasions must be quitted, before we communicate. To that therefore the answer is certain and indisputable; that the occasion that is immediate to the sin, must be quitted in that in which it does minister to sin. A woman is not bound to spoil her face, though by her beauty she hath fallen: because her beauty was not the immediate cause; it was her unguarded conversation, and loser society; the laying her treasure open, or her wanton comportment. For beauty will invite a noble flame, as soon as kindle a smoking brand; and therefore the face may be preserved and the chastity too, if that be removed which brings the danger and stands closer to the sin. 2. When Dionsius of Sicily gave to Aristippus five Attic talents, he and his servant dragged them home upon their backs: but finding himself too glad of his money, he threw it into the sea, as supposing the money to be the tempter, and no safety to be had, as long as it was above the water. If he had thought right, he had done right: if he could not have cured his covetousness and kept the money, he had done well to part with it; but it may be he might have been as safe, and yet wiser too. But the resolution is this. In this question distinguish the next occasion from that which is farther off; and we are bound to quit that not this, because the virtue may be secured without it. A man may very well live in the world, and yet serve God; and if he be hindered by the world, it is not directly that, but something else by which the cure must be effected: but if nothing else will do it, than there is no distinction, no difference between the nearest occasion and that which is farther off: for they must be all quitted: the face must be disordered, the beauty sullied, the money thrown away, the world renounced, rather than God be provoked to anger, and thy soul ruined by thy inevitable sin. 3. He that comes to the holy Sacrament must before his coming so repent of his injury, of his rapine, of his slander, or what ever the instance be, that before he communicates he make actual restitution, perfect amends, entire satisfaction, and be really reconciled to his offended brother. This is to be understood in these cases. 1. If the injury be remaining and incumbent on thy brother: for it is not fit for thee to receive benefit by Christ's death, so long as by thee thy Brother feels an injury. Thou art unjust so long as thou continuest the wrong: and if the evil goes on, the repentance cannot: No man that reputes does injure any man: and this Eucharistical sacrifice will never sanctify any man unless he have the holy spirit of God, Quando nec oblatio sanctificare illic possit ubi spiritus sanctus non sit, nec cuiquam Dominus per ejus orationes & preces profit qui Dominum [vel fratrem] violavit. St. Cyprian Epist. 63. neither will the Lord bring advantages or give him blessing consequent to these solemn prayers, if he hath already injured the Lord, or proceeds to do injury to his brother. There is no repentance unless the penitent as much as he can, make that to be undone which is done amiss; and therefore because the action can never be undone, at least undo the mischief; untie the bands of thy neighbour's arms, do justice and judgement; that's repentance; restore the pledges; Ezek. 18.19. give again that you had robbed, ask pardon for thy injury, return to peace, put thy neighbour if thou canst into the same state of good from whence by thy sin he was removed. That a good repentance that bears fruit, and not that which produces leaves only. When the heathens gods were to choose what trees they would have sacred to them and used in their festivals; Jupiter chose the Oak, Venus the Myrtle, Apollo loved the Laurel, but wise Minerva took the Olive. Oliva nobis propter fructus est gratior. The other trees gave no fruit; an useless apple from the Oak, or little berries from the Laurel and the Myrtle; but besides the show, they were good but for very little: but the Olive gives an excellent fruit, fit for food and Physic, which when Jupiter observed, he kissed his daughter, and called her wise: for all pompousness is vain, and the solemn Religion stands for nothing, unless that which we do, be profitable and good for material uses. Cui bono? To what purpose is our repentance? Why do we say we are sorrowful? What's that? Nollem factum. I wish I had never done it; for I did amiss. If you say as you think, make that it shall be no more; do no new injury, and cut off the old. Restore him to his fame, to his money, to his liberty, and to his lost advantages. 2. But this must suppose that it is in thy power to do it. If it be in thy power to do it, and thou dost it not, thou canst not reasonably pretend that thou art so much as sorrowful. For what repentance is it which enjoys the pleasure and the profit of the sin, Si res aliena propter quam peccatum est, cum reddi possit, non redditur, non agitur poenitentia sed singitur: si autem non veraciter agitur, non remittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatum: sed ut dixi quum restitui potest. S. August. ad Macedon. that reaps the pleasant fruits of it, that eats the revenues, that gathers the grapes from our neighbour's vine, that dwells in the fields of the Fatherless and kneads his bread with the infusion of the widow's tears? The snake in the Apologue crept into the holy Phial of sacred oil. and licked it up till she swelled so big that she could not get forth from the narrow entrance, but she was forced to refund it every drop, or she had there remained a prisoner for ever. And therefore tell me no more thou art sorry for what thou hast done: Quod invenisti & non reddidisti, rapuisti: quantum potuisti, fecisti: qui alienum negat, si potuit, tollit. St. Aug. de verb. Apost. if thou retainest the purchase of thy sin, thou lovest the fruit of it, and therefore canst not curse the tree. Thou didst never love the sin for itself without the profit, and therefore if thou still dost love that, thou lovest the sin as much as ever; neither more nor less; but thou art still the same man. Question III. But can it in no case be lawful to put off our restitution or reconciliation with our brother? Is it not sufficient to resolve to do it afterward, and in the mean time to receive the Sacrament? For if the heart be peaceful, and the mind be just, the outward work may follow in its due time, and all be well enough. I answer: That a man is not tied in that Mathematical instant in which he remembers his injustice to go and make restitution. He is not tied to go out of the Church, or to rise at midnight, or to leave his meat, as Tobit did to go and bury the dead; unless there ●e danger that if he do not do it then it shall never be done at all: For in this case, he must do it, whether it be convenient or inconvenient, whether it be seasonable or not. But every man is bound to do it as soon as he morally can, and he must go about it, as he does about other actions in which he is mightily concerned. If a man d●d diligently examine himself, and yet thought not of the obligation (though that can hardly be supposed; yet if it be so, and he did not think of it) till he were kneeling before the holy Table, than it were sufficient to resolve to do it speedily after, because he cannot without scandal remove and go forth, but without prejudice to his brother he can stay till next day. If he inquired diligently, and had a mind ready to do every thing which he could learn to be his duty, there was no unworthiness in him to hinder him from coming; and this cannot be prejudiced by a new and sudden discovery, if it be entertained with the same justice and readiness of mind. But else; what you can learn in these cases ought to be done at all, must be done before the Communion, if we can: that is, there must be no let in the will, no imperfect resolution, no indifference of affections to it. If it can be done before, it must. For so said our blessed Saviour, If at the Altar thou remember'st, go and be reconciled. That is, if thou art not reconciled, if thou art not in charity, or if thou be'st in thy heart still injurious, and hast not a just and a righteous soul, go even from before the Altar; but if thou hast a real charity, and hast done the duties of these graces by a moral diligence; you may come; and a sudden remembrance of an undiscovered obligation need not to expose thee to the reproach of a sudden departure: provided I say always that thou wert indeed truly reconciled, and truly charitable. For by our Lords express command you must at no hand offer till thou be'st in charity: till thou hast forgiven, or till thou dost cease to hate, till thou be'st reconciled, that's our Saviour's word; for it is the inward grace which thou art tied to in all circumstances, and therefore in that; but to the outward, something else may be necessary and fit to be considered. Nothing can hinder thee from charity, in any circumstances whatsoever; from present or actual restitution, many things may, and yet thou be innocent. But if thou be'st an angry person, or an unjust, or malice be upon thy heart, or injustice upon thy hand, let not thy hand be upon the Altar, nor thy heart upon the Sacrament. If thy Brother hath aught against thee, I know not why thou shouldest make haste to receive the Sacrament, make haste to be reconciled: There is haste of this; there is no such haste of the other, but that thou mayest stay, till thou hast done thy duty. Only remember this: Every deferring of it, is some degree of unwillingness to do it; and therefore it is not good to trust thy own word, till thou hast served thy own end. After thou hast received, thou wilt think that there is less need than before, and therefore thou wilt make less haste. For what a religious man said in the case of a dying person, is also in proportion true of him who is to Communicate. He that will not restore presently if he can, is not to be absolved, is not to be communicated, although he promise restitution. Because it cannot be likely that he intends it heartily, that puts it off longer than the day of its extreme, or the day of its positive necessity. Qui tardè vult. diu noluit. Let us not deceive ourselves: of all the things in the world the holy Sacrament was never intended to give countenance to sinners, or palliation to a sin; warranty or colour, excuse, or perpetuity. * There is a hard expression in the Prophet, Ezek. 8.17. They have filled the Land with violence; and have returned to provoke me to anger, and lo, they put the branch to their nose] and behold they are as mockers; So the LXX. read it; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but make no mention of putting the branch to their nose. Theodotion puts them both together: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. they hold out the branch like mockers; and to this Symmachus gives yet a little more light; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. They lifted up the branch, making a noise like them that mock with their noses. But this interpretation is something hard; there is yet an easier, and that which makes these words pertinent to our present duty, and a severe reproof to them who come to this holy service of God, not with the love of sons and duty of servants, but with the disaffection of enemies. The carrying of branches in the superstition of the Gentiles and the custom of the Jews was a sign of honour. Thus they carried the Pinetree before the shepherd's God; they gave the Cypress to Sylvanus, and the Abricot-tree to Isis; and th● branches of Palms the Jews did carry before our blessed Saviour: and this is it that God complains of; They carried branches as if they did him honour; but they held them to their noses like mockers: that is, they mocked him secretly when they worshipped him publicly; they came with fair pretences and foul hearts; their ceremony was religious all over, but their lives were not answerable. The difficulty came from the homonymy of the Hebrew word, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signified a Branch and a noise: and it will be as difficult to distinguish an hypocrite from a Communicant, unless we really purpose to live better, and do so; unless we leave the next occasions to sin, and do justice and judgement, and cease to do evil, and cause that my brother shall no longer feel the evils of my injustice, and of my foolish crimes. SECT. IV. How far we must have proceeded in our General repentance and emendation of our lives before we Communicate? TO this I answer, that No man is fit to Communicate, but he that is fit to die: that is, he must be in the state of grace; and he must have trimmed his lamp: he must stand readily prepared by a state of repentance; and against the solemn time, he must make that state more actual, and his graces operative. Now in order to this, it is to be considered; that preparation to death hath great latitude; and not only he is fit to die who hath attained to the fullness of the stature of Christ, to a perfect man in Christ Jesus; but every one who hath renounced his sin with heartiness and sincerity, and hath begun to mortify it. But in these cases of beginning, or of Infancy in Christ; though it be certain that every one who is a new Creature, though but newly become so, is born of God, and hath life abiding in him, and therefore shall not pass into condemnation: yet concerning such persons the Rulers of Souls and Ministers of Sacraments have nothing but a judgement of charity, and the sentences of hope relating to the persons; the state is so little and so allayed, and so near to the late state of death from which they are recovering, that God only knows how things are with them; yet because we know that there is a beginning in which new converts are truly reconciled, there is a first period of life, and as we cannot say in many cases that this is it; so in many we cannot say, this is not; therefore the Church hopes well of persons that die in their early progressions of piety; and consequently refuses not to give to them these divine Mysteries. Whoever are reconciled to God, may be reconciled to the Church; whose office it is only to declare the Divine Sentence, and to administer it, and to help towards the verification of it. But because the Church cannot be surer of any person that his sins are pardoned, that he is reconciled to God, that he is in the state of Grace, that if he than dies he shall be saved, than a man himself can be of himself and in his own case, which certainly he knows better than any man else; and that our degrees of hope and confidence of being saved when it is not presumption, but is prudent and reasonable, does increase in proportion to our having well used and improved God's grace, and enlarges itself by our proportions of mortification and spiritual life; and every man that is wise and prudent, abides in fears and uncertain thoughts, till he hath gotten a certain victory over all his sins; and though he dies in hope, yet not without trembling, till he finds that he is more than conqueror; therefore in proportion to this address to death, must also be our address to the holy Sacrament. For no man is fit to die, but he that can be united unto Christ; and ●he only that can be so, must be admitted to a participation of his body and his blood. It is the same case, in both we dwell with Christ; and the two states differ but in degrees; it is but a passing from altar to altar, from that where the Minister of the Church officiates, to that where the head of the Church does intercede. There is this only difference; there may be some proportions of haste to the Sacrament, more than unto death, upon this account; because the reception of the Sacrament in worthy dispositions does increase those excellencies in which death ought to find us; and therefore we may desire to communicate, because we perceive a want of g●ace; and yet for the same reason we may at the same time be afraid to die; because after that, we can receive no more; but as that finds us, we shall abide for ever. But he that fears justly, may yet in many cases die safely; and he shall find that his fears when he was alive were useful to the caution and zeal and hastiness of repentance; but were no certain indication that God was not reconciled unto him. The best and severest persons do in the greatest parts of their spiritual life complain of their imperfect state, and feel the load of their sins, and apprehend with trembling the sad consequents of their sins, and every day contend against them; and forget all that is passed of good actions done, and press forwards still to more grace, and are as hungry as if they had none at all and those men if they die, go to Christ and shall reign with him for ever; and yet many of them go with a trembling heart, and though considering the infinite obliquity of them they cannot over-value their sins, yet considering the infinite goodness of God, and his readiness to accept it, they undervalue their repentance, and are safe in their humility, and in God's goodness, when in many other regards they think themselves very unsafe. Now such men as these must not be as much afraid to communicate as they are afraid to die; but these and all men else must not communicate till they be in that condition, that if they did die▪ it would go well with them: and the reason is plain: because every friend of God dying so, is certainly saved; and he that is no friend of God is unworthy to partake of the Table of the Lord. But for the reducing the Answer of this Question to practice and to particular considerations: I am to advise these things. 1. Because no man of an ordinary life, and a newly begun repentance ought hastily to pronounce himself acquitted, and in the state of grace, and in the state of salvation, in this rule of proportion; we are only to take the judgement of charity, not of certainty, and what is usually by wise and good men supposed to be the certain, though the least measure of hopeful expectations in order to death, that we must suppose also to be our least measure of repentance preparatory to the blessed Sacrament. 2. This measure must not be taken in the days of health and carelessness; but when we are either actually in apprehension, or at least in deep meditation of death; when it is dressed with all such terrors and material considerations, that it looks like the King of terrors, and at least makes our spirits full of fear and of sobriety. 3. This measure must be carefully taken without the allay of foolish principles, or a careless spirit, or extravagant confidences of personal predestination, or of being in any sect; but with the common measures which Christians take when they weigh sadly their sins and their fears of the Divine displeasure; let them take such proportions which considering men rely upon when they indeed come to die; for few sober men die upon such wild accounts as they rely upon in talk and interest when they are alive. He that prepares himself to death, considers how deeply God hath been displeased, and what hath been done towards a reconciliation; and he that can probably hope by the usual measures of the Gospel that he is in probability of pardon, hath by that learned by what measures he must prepare himself to the holy Sacrament. 4. Some persons are of a timorous conscience, and apt to irregular and unreasonable fears, and nothing but a single ray from heaven can give them any portions of comfort, and these men never trust to any thing they do, or to any thing that is done for them; and fear by no other measures but by consideration of the intolerable misery which they should suffer if they did miscarry; and because these men can speak nothing and think nothing comfortable of themselves in that agony, or in that meditation; therefore they can make use of this rule by the proportions of that judgement of charity which themselves make of others; and in what cases, and in what dispositions they conclude others to die in the Lord; if they take those or the like measures for themselves, and accordingly in those dispositions address themselves to the holy Sacrament, they will make that use of this rule which is intended, and which may do them benefit. 5. As there are great varieties and degrees of fitness to death; so also to the holy Sacrament; he that hath lived best, hath enough to deplore when he dies, and causes enough to beg for pardon of what is past, and for aids in the present need; and when he does communicate, he hath in some proportion the same too; he hath causes enough to come humbly, to come as did the Publican, and to say, as did the Centurion, Lord, I am not worthy: but he that may die with most confidence because he is in the best dispositions, he also may communicate with most comfort, because he does it with most holiness. 6. But the least measures of repentance; less than which cannot dispose us to the worthy reception of the holy Mysteries are these: 1. As soon as we are smitten with the terrors of an afflicted conscience, and apprehend the evil of sin, or fear the Divine Judgements, and upon that account resolve to leave our sin, we are not instantly worthy and fit to communicate. Attrition is not a competent disposition to the blessed Sacrament; because although it may be the gate and entrance of a spiritual life, yet it can be no more, unless there be love in it; unless it be contrition, it is not a state of favour and grace, but a disposition to it. He that does not yet love God, cannot communicate with Christ; and he that resolves against sin out of fear only, or temporal regards, hath given too great testimony that he loves the sin still, and will return to it, when that which hinders him shall be removed. Faith working by charity is the wedding garment; and he that comes hither not vested with this, shall be cast into outer darkness. But the words of St. Paul are express as to this particular. Gal. 5.6. In Christ Jesus nothing can avail but faith working by love; and therefore without this, the Sacrament itself will do no good; and if it does no good, it cannot be but it will do harm. Our repentance disposing us to this Divine feast, must at least be contrition, or a sorrow for sins, and purposes to leave them, by reason of the love of God working in our hearts. 2. But because no man can tell whether he hath the love of God in him, but by the proper effects of love, which is keeping the Commandments; no man must approach to the holy Sacrament upon the account of his mere resolution to leave sin: until he hath broken the habit, until he hath cast away his fetters, until he be at liberty from sin, and hath shaken off its laws and dominion; so that he can see his love to God entering upon the ruins of sin, and perceives that God's Spirit hath advanced his Sceptre, by the declension of the sin that dwelled within; till than he may do well to stand in the outward Courts; lest by a too hasty entrance into the Sanctuary he carry along with him the abominable thing, and bring away from thence the intolerable sentence of condemnation. A man cannot rightly judge of his love to God, by his acts and transports of fancy, or the emanations of a warm passion; but by real events and changes of the heart. The reason is plain, because every man hath first loved sin, and obeyed it, and until that obedience be changed, that first love remains, and that is absolutely inconsistent with the love of God: an act of love, that is, a loving ejaculation, a short prayer affirming and professing love, is a very unsure warrant for any man to conclude that his repentance is indeed contrition: for wicked persons may in their good intervals have such sudden fires; and all men that are taught to understand contrition to be a sorrow for sins proceeding from the love of God, and that love of God to be sufficiently signified by single acts of loving prayer, can easily by such forms and ready exercises fancy, and conclude themselves in a very good condition at an easy rate. But contrition is therefore necessary, because attrition can be but the one half of repentance; it can turn us away from sin, but it cannot convert us unto God; that must be done by love, and that love, especially in this case, is manifestly nothing else but obedience: and until that obedience be evident and discernible, we cannot pronounce any comfort concerning our state of love; without which no man can see God, and no man can taste him or feel him without it. 3. A single act of obedience in the instance of any kind where the scene of repentance lies, is not a sufficient preparation to the holy Sacrament, nor demonstration of our contrition: unless it be in the case of repentance only for single acts of sin. In this case, to oppose a good to an evil, an act of proportionable abstinence to a single act of intemperance, for which we are really sorrowful▪ and (as we suppose) heartily troubled, and confess it, and pray for pardon, may be admitted as a competent testimonial that this sorrow is real, and this repentance is contrition; because it does as much for virtue, as in the instance it did for vice: always provided that whatsoever aggravations or accidental grandeurs were in the sin, as scandal, deliberation, malice, mischief, hardness, delight, or obstinacy, be also proportionably accounted for in the reckonings of the repentance. But if the penitent return from a habit or state of sin, he will find it a harder work to quit all his old affection to sin, and to place it upon God entirely; and therefore he must stay for more arguments than one or a few single acts of grace: not only because a few may proceed from many causes accidentally, and not from the love of God; but also because his love and habitual desires of sin must be naturally extinguished by many contrary acts of virtue; and till these do enter, the old love does naturally abide. It is true, that sin is extinguished not only by the natural force of the contrary actions of virtue, but by the Spirit of God, by aids from heaven, and powers supernatural; and God's love hastens ou● pardon and acceptation; yet still, this is done by parts and methods of natural progression; after the manner of nature, though by the aids of God; and therefore it is fit that we expect the changes, and make our judgement by material events, and discerned mutations, before we communicate in these mysteries, in which whoever unworthily does communicate, enters into death. 4. He that hath resolved against all sin, and yet falls into it regularly at the next temptation, is yet in a state of evil, and unworthiness to communicate; because he is under the dominion of sin, he obeys it, though unwillingly; that is he grumbles at his fetters, but still he is in slavery and bondage. But if having resolved against all sin, he delights in none, deliberately chooses none, is not so often surprised, grows stronger in grace, and is mistaken but seldom, and reputes when he is, and arms himself better, and watches more carefully against all, and increases still in knowledge; whatever imperfection is still adherent to the man unwillingly, does indeed allay his condition, and is fit to humble and cast him down; but it does not make him unworthy to communicate, because he is in the state of grace; he is in the Christian warfare, and is on God's side; and the holy Sacrament, if it have any effect at all, is certainly an instrument or a sign in the hands of God to help his servants, to enlarge his grace, to give more strengths, and to promote them to perfection. 5. But the sum of all is this; He that is not freed from the dominion of sin, he that is not really a subject of the Kingdom of grace; he in whose mortal body sin does reign, and the Spirit of God does not reign, must at no hand present himself before the holy Table of the Lord; because, whatever dispositions and alterations he may begin to have in order to pardon and holiness, he as yet hath neither, but is God's enemy, and therefore cannot receive his holy Son. 6. But because the change is made by parts and effected by the measures of other intellectual and spiritual changes, that is, after the manner of men, from imperfection to perfection by all the intermedial steps of moral degrees, and good and evil in some periods have but a little distance though they should have a great deal; and it is at first very hard to know whether it be life or death; and after that, it is still very difficult to know whether it be health or sickness; and dead men cannot eat, and sick men scarce can eat with benefit, at least are to have the weakest and the lowest diet: and after all this, it is of a consequence infinitely evil, if men eat this Supper indisposed and unfit: It is all the reason of the world that returning sinners should be busy in their repentances, and do their work in the field (as it is in the parable of the Gospel) and in their due time come home, and gird themselves and wait upon their Lord, and when they are bidden and warranted, then to sit down in the Supper of their Lord. But in this case it is good to be as sure as we can; as sure as the analogy of these divine Mysteries require, and as our needs permit. 7. He that hath committed a single act of sin a little before the Communion, aught for the reverence of the holy Sacrament to abstain till he hath made proportionable amends; and not only so, but if the sin was inconsistent with the state of grace, and destroyed or interrupted the divine favour, as in cases of fornication, murder, perjury, any malicious or deliberate known great crime, he must comport himself as a person returning from a habit or state of sin; and the reason is, because he that hath lost the divine favour cannot tell how long he shall be before he recovers it, and therefore would do well not to snatch at the portion and food of Sons, whilst he hath reason to fear that he hath the state and calamity of Dogs, who are caressed well, if they feed on fragments and crumbs that are thrown away. Now this Doctrine and these cautions, besides that they are consonant to Scripture and the analogy of this divine Sacrament, are nothing else but what was directly the sentiment of all the best, most severe, religious and devoutest ages of the Primitive Church. For true it is, the Apostles did indefinitely admit the faithful to the holy Communion; but they were persons wholly inflamed with those holy fires which Jesus Christ sent from heaven to make them burning and shining lights; such which our dearest Lord, with his blood still warm and fresh, filled with his holy love; such whose spirits were so separate from the affections of the world, that they laid their estates at the Apostles feet, and took with joy the spoiling of their goods; such who by improving the graces they had received, did come to receive more abundantly; and therefore these were fit to receive the bread of the strong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . But this is no invitation for them to come who feel such a lukewarmness and indifference of spirit and devotion, that they have more reason to suspect it to be an effect of evil life, rather than of infirmity: for them who feel no heats of love but of themselves; for them who are wholly immerged in secular affections and interests; for them who are full of passions, and void of grace; these from the example of the others may derive caution, but no confidence: So long as they persevered in the Doctrine of the Apostles, Act. 2.48. so long they also did continue in the breaking of bread and solemn conventions for prayer: for to persevere in the Doctrine of the Apostles signified a life most exactly Christian; for that was the Doctrine Apostolical, according to the words of our Lord, teaching to observe all things which I have commanded you. Mat. 28. And by this method the Apostolical Churches and their descendants did administer these holy Mysteries; a full and an excellent testimony whereof we have in that excellent Book of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy commonly attributed to St. Dionys. Cap. 3. The Church drives from the Sacrifice of the Temple [meaning the divine Sacrament] such persons for whom it is too sublime and elevated: First, those who are not yet instructed and taught concerning the participation of the Mysteries: Next, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. those who are fallen from the holy and Christian state, [meaning Apostates, and such as have renounced their Baptism, or fallen from the grace of it, by a state of deadly sin, or foulest crimes.] Thirdly, they who are possessed with evil spirits: And lastly, those who indeed have begun to retire from sin to a good life, but they are not yet purified from the phantasms and images of their past inordinations, by a divine habitude and love, with purity and without mixture. And to conclude, they who are not yet perfectly united to God alone, and to speak according to the style of Scripture, they who are not entirely inculpable and without reproach. And when St. Soter exhorted all persons to receive upon the day of the Institution, or the vespers of the Passion, he excepted those who were forbidden because they had committed any grievous sin. But what was the Doctrine and what were the usages of the Primitive Church in the ministry of the Blessed Sacrament, appears plainly in the two Epistles of St. Basil to Amphilochius in the Canons of Ancyra, those of Peter of Alexandria, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Nyss●en, which make up the Penitential of the Greek Church, and are explicated by Balsamo; in which we find sometimes the penance of two years imposed for a single theft; four years, and seven years, for an act of uncleanness, eleven years for perjury, fifteen years for adultery and incest; that is, such persons were for so many years sep●rate from the Communion, and by a holy life and strict observances of penitential impositions, were to give testimony of their contrition and amends. The like to which are to be seen in the Penitentials of the Western Church; that of Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury, that of venerable Bede, the old Roman, and that of Rabanus Maurus Archbishop of Mentz: The reason of which severity we find thus accounted in St. Basil; [All this is done that they may try the fruits of their repentance: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉· cap. 2. ad Amphiloch, For we do not judge of these things by the time, but by the manner of their repentance.] For the Bishop had power to shorten the days of their separation and abstention; and he that was an excellent penitent was much sooner admitted; but by the injunction of so long a trial, they declared that much purification was necessary for such an address. And if after, or in these penitential years of abstention, they did not mend their lives, though they did perform their penances, they were not admitted. These were but the Church's signs; by other accidents and manifestations if it happened that a great contrition was signified, or a secret incorrigibility became public, the Church would admit the first sooner, and the latter not at all. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ibid. For it was purity and holiness that the Church required of all her Communicants; and what measure of it she required, we find thus testified: [The faithful which hath been regenerated by baptism ought to be nourished by the participation of the divine Mysteries; and being clothed with Jesus Christ, Lib. 1. de bapt. cap. 3. and having the quality of a child of God, he ought to receive the nutriment of life eternal, which the Son of God himself hath given us: and this nutriment is obedience to the word of God, and execution of his will, of which Jesus Christ hath said, Man lives not by bread alone; but my meat is to do my Father's will] and a little after he affirms [that whereas St. Paul saith that Jesus Christ hath appointed us to eat his body in memory of his death, the true remembrance which we ought to have of his death, is to place before our eyes that which the Apostle saith, that we were wholly dead, and Jesus Christ died for us, to the end that we should no more live unto ourselves, but to him alone, and that so we should do him honour, and give him thanks for his death by the purity of our life, without which we engage ourselves in a terrible damnation if we receive the Eucharist.] And again: [He that, not having this charity which presses us, and causes us to live for him who died for us, dares approach to the Eucharist, grieves the holy Spirit. For it is necessary that he who comes to the memorial of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for us, should not only be clean from all impurity of flesh and spirit; but that he should demonstrate the death of him who died and rose for us, by being dead unto sin, to the world, and to himself, and that he lives no more but only to God through Jesus Christ] And therefore St. Cyprian complains as of a new and worse persecution, Vide etiam S. Cyprian. lib. de lapsis & epist. 28. that lapsed persons are admitted to the Communion before they have brought forth fruits of a worthy repentance; and affirms, that such an admission of sinners is to them as hail to the young fruits, as a blasting wind to the trees, as the murrain to the cattle, as a tempest to the ships: The ships are overturned and broken, the fruits fall, the trees are blasted, the cattle die, and the poor sinner by being admitted too soon to the ministeries of eternal life, falls into eternal death. And if we put together some words of S●. Ambrose, S. Ambr. lib. 5. de Sacram. c. 2. they clearly declare this Doctrine, and are an excellent Sermon: Thou comest to the Altar, the Lord Jesus calls thee; he sees thee to be clean from all sin, because thy sins are washed away, therefore he judges thee worthy of the celestial Sacraments, and therefore he invites thee to the heavenly banquet: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth] But some desire to be admitted to penance, Lib. 2. de poenit. c. 9 that presently they may receive the Communion: These men do not so much desire themselves to be absolved, as that the Priest be bound; for they do not put off their own evil conscience. Lib. 1. de poenit. c. 16. ] But I would that the guilty man should hope for pardon; let him require it with tears, seek it with sighs, beg to obtain it by the weep of all the people, and if he be denied the Communion again and again, let him consider that his prayer was not sufficiently earnest; let him weep more and pray more] To which I shall add some like words of St. Austin, Serm. 252. de tempore. [Therefore my dearest Brethren, let every one consider his conscience, and when he finds himself wounded with any crime, first let him take care with prayers and fastings and alms to cleanse his conscience, and so let him receive the Eucharist .... for he that knowing his guilt, shall humbly remove himself from the Altar for the amendment of his life, shall not fear to be wholly ex-communicate from that eternal and celestial banquet: For this Divine Sacrament is not to be eaten with confidence and boldness, Homil. 24. in 1 Corinth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but with fear and all manner of purity, saith St. chrysostom; for impudence in these approaches will certainly slay the souls.] For th●s is the body whither none but Eagles are to gather; because they ought to be sublime and elevated souls, such which have nothing of earthliness in them, that do not sit and prey upon the ground, that are not immerged in the love of Creatures; but such whose flight is towards heaven, whose spirit does behold the Sun of Righteousness with a penetrating contemplation, and piercing eyes: for this is the Table of Eagles, and not of Owls] And therefore this Saint complains of some [who did approach to the Eucharist as it were by chance, or rather by custom and constraint of Laws, rather than by argument and choice. In whatsoever estate their souls are, they will partake of these Mysteries because it is Lent, or because it i● the feast of the Epiphany: but certain it is, that it is not the time which puts us into a capacity of doing this action. For it is not Lent nor the Epiphany which makes us worthy to approach to the Son of God; * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Homil. 3. in 1. cap. Epist. Ephes. But the sincerity and purity of the soul: with this come at any time; but without this, never. In fine, it is the general doctrine of the holy Fathers, and the public practice of the Primitive Church, that no impenitent person should come to these divine Mysteries: and they that are truly penitent should practise deep humility, and undergo many humiliationns, and live in a state of repentance, till by little and little they have recovered the holiness they had lost, and must for a long time live upon the word of God, before they approach to the holy Table to be nourished by his body. For so should every prodigal child cry unto his Lord, Homil. de prodigo. [Drive me not O Lord out of thy doors, lest the enemy espying a wanderer and a vagabond, take me for a slave. I do not yet desire to approach to thy holy Table, thy mystical and terrible Table; for I have not confidence with my impure eyes to behold the holy of holies. Only suffer me to enter into thy Church amongst the Catechumen, that by beholding what is there celebrated, I may by little and little enter again into the participation of them; to the end that the Divine Waters of thy Word running upon me, may purify my ears from the impressions which have been made upon them by ungodly songs, and from the filthiness they have left behind; and seeing how the righteous people partake by a holy violence of thy precious jewels, I may conceive a burning desire to have hands worthy to receive the same excellencies. I end this collection of the ancient Doctrine of the Church with recitation of the words of Gennadius, De dogmat. Eccles. c. 53. [I persuade and exhort Christians to receive the Communion every Lord's day; but so that if their mind be free from all affection of sinning: For he who still hath will or desires of sin, he is burdened and not purified by receiving the Eucharist. And therefore although he be bitten [or grieved] with sin, let him for the future renounce all will to sin, and before he communicate let him satisfy with prayers and tears; and being confident of the mercy of our Lord, who uses to pardon sins upon a pious confession, let him come to the Eucharist without doubting. But this I say of him who is not pressed with capital and deadly sins; for such a person, if he will not receive the Eucharist to judgement and condemnation, let him make amends by public penance, and being reconciled by the Bishop or Priest, let him communicate. I doubt not also but such grievous sins may be extinguished by private satisfactions; but this must be done by changing the course of his life, by a professed study of Religion, by a daily and perpetual mourning or contrition, that through the mercy of God he may do things contrary to these whereof he does repent; and then humbly and suppliant let him every Lord's day communicate to the end of his life. This advice of Gennadius declares the sentiment of the Church, that none must communicate till they have worthily repent, and in the way of piety and contrition made amends for their faults as well as they may; and have put themselves into a state of virtue contrary to their state of sin, that is, have made progression in the reformation of their lives; that they are really changed and become new men, not in purpose only, but actually and in the commencement of holy habits. And therefore it is remarkable that he advises that these persons who do not stand in the place of public penitents, should upon the commission of grievous faults enter into Religion; he means into solitude, and retirement, and renunciation of the world, that by attending wholly to the severities and purities of a religious life, they may by such strictnesses and constant piety be fitted for the communion. Now whatever ends besides this, the Divine Providence might have, yet it is not to be neglected, that when the ancient discipline of the Church, of penances and satisfactions was gone into desuetude, the Spirit of Religion entered more fully into the world, and many religious orders and houses were instituted, that at least there, the world might practise that severity in private which the change of affairs in the face of the Church had taken from the public ministeries; Penance went from the Churches into deserts and into Monasteries; but when these were corrupted, and the manners of men were worse corrupted, it is hard to say whither it is gone now. It may be yet done in private, and under the hand of a spiritual guide; or by the spirit of penance in the heart of a good man, and by the conduct of a wise counsellor; but besides that the manners of men are corrupted, the doctrines also are made so easy, and the Communion given to sects and opinions, or indifferently to all; that it is very rare to see them who have sinned grievously repent worthily; who therefore can never be worthy communicants, for no impenitents can partake of Christ, S. Hierom in Isai. c. 3. Princeps poenitentiae & caput eorum qui salvantur per poenitentiam Christus est. who as S. Hierom calls him, is the prince of penance, and the head of them who by repentance come unto salvation. But this was his advice to them that commit grievous sins, such which lay the conscience waist, and whose every single action destroys our being in the state of grace. But as for them whose sins are but those of daily incursion, and of infirmity, or imperfection, such which a great diligence and a perpetual watchfulness might have prevented, but an ordinary care would not; these must be protested against, they must not join with our consent, our will must be against them, and they must be confessed and deplored, and prayed against before we may communicate. * Non saturantur ergo nisi famelici: qui à vitiis perfectè jejunantes divina Sacramenta percipiunt in plenitudine virtutis. Et quia sine peccato electi etiam viri esse non possunt, quid restat, nisi ut à peccatis quibus eos humana fragilitas maculare non desinit, evacuari quotidiè conentur? Nam qui quotidie non exhaurit quod delinquit, et si minima sint peccata quae congerit, paulatim anima repletur, atque ei auferunt fructum internae Saturitatis. Gregor. lib. 2. in Reg. cap. 1. This is the sense of the Church of God. Having established this great general measure of preparation, it will not be very difficult to answer that great question often disputed amongst spiritual persons: viz. Question. I. Whether is it better to communicate seldom or frequently? To this I answer; That it is without peradventure very much better to receive it every day, than every week; and better every week, than every month: Christiani omni die carnes agni comedunt, said Origen, Christians every day eat of the flesh of the sacrificed lamb. Ad Caesaream patriciam. And St. Basil expressly affirms, that to communicate every day and to partake of the body and blood of Christ, is excellent and very profitable; Christ himself having manifestly said it, he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, hath life eternal. For if the Sacrament does no benefit to souls, and produces no blessings, than a man can institute a Sacrament; for he may appoint any thing that shall be good for nothing. But if it be an instrument in the hand of God to procure blessings to us, and spiritual emolument, if it be a means of union with Christ; who would not willingly live with him and converse with him for ever? It is good to be with Christ: and S. Hierom said; I would to God that we could always receive with a pure conscience and without self-condemnation. It is without dispute, that it is better to be with Christ in all the ways of being with him * Quocunque loco fuero Jesum meum desidero: Quam laetus si invenero! Quam felix si tenuero! than to be away from him one hour, this therefore aught to be no part of the question. But because there is more required to the receiving Christ, than eating the Symbols, and a man may eat to his condemnation, and increase his sins, and swell his sad accounts and be guilty of Christ's body and blood, if he does not take heed; therefore first men must be prepared, and be in the state of holiness; or else they may not receive at all, and they that are so, may receive it frequently; Contr. Jovin. & epist. ad Lucin. the oftener the better. So Hierom and St. Austin tell that even till their days the custom of receiving every day remained in the Churches of Rome and Spain; and all the Ancient Fathers exhort to a frequent communion; but just as Physicians exhort men to eat the best and heartiest meats; not the sickly and the infant, but the strong man and the healthful. And this we find thus determined by S. Chrysostom: Homil. 17. in ep. ad Heb. [There are some living in deserts who receive but once in a year, or it may be once in two years: what then? whom shall we account best of? them that receive but once, or that receive but seldom, or that receive frequently? Neither one, nor the other: But them that communicate with a sincere conscience, with a pure heart, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and an unreprovable life. They that are such, let them always communicate: and they that are not so, let them not approach so much as once; because they do nothing but draw upon themselves the judgements of God, and make themselves worthy of condemnation.] To which if we add the excellent discourse of S. Austin in this question, the consequents of it may suffice to determine the whole inquiry. [Some will say, that the Eucharist is not to be received every day. If you ask why? he tells you; because some days are to be chosen in which a man may live more purely and continently, that so he may come to so great a Sacrament more worthily, because he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself. On the other side, another says; if thou hast received so great a wound, and contracted so violent a disease, that such remedies are to be deferred; every such man ought by the authority of the Bishop to be removed f●om the Altar and put to penance, and by the same authority be reconciled. For this is to receive unworthily, then to receive when a man should be doing penance, and not according to his own pleasure offer himself to, or withdraw himself from the Communion. But if his sins be not so great, as to deserve excommunication, he ought not to separate himself from the daily medicine of the Lords Body. Between these, possibly a man may determine the question better; if he admonishes that men should abide in the peace of Christ. But let every one do what according to his faith he piously believes aught to be done. For neither of them dishonours the body and blood of the Lord, if they in their several ways contend who shall most honour the most holy Sacrament. For Zachaeus and the Centurion did not prefer themselves before one another, when the one received Christ into his house, and the other said he was not worthy to receive him under his roof; both of them honouring our Blessed Saviour by a divers, and almost a contrary way, both of them were miserable by sins, and both of them obtained mercy.] Now from the words of these two Saints put together, we may collect these resolutions. 1. The question does no way concern evil men, desperately or greatly wicked; for they so remaining, or committing such sins, quae non committit omnis bonae fidei speique Christianus * S. Aug. de verbis Apost. ser. 29. c. 6. ; which exclude men from the Kingdom of heaven, and cannot stand with the hopes of a good man, are separate from the Spirit of the Lord, and ought not to touch the body of our Lord. 2. Neither does it concern such imperfect persons and half Christians, who endeavour to accord the rules of the Gospel with their irregular and ruling passions; who would enter into heaven, and yet keep their affections for earth and earthly interests; who part stakes between God and the world, and resolve to serve two Masters; who commit oftentimes deliberate and great sins, and repent, and yet sin again when the temptation comes▪ for they are yet very far from the Kingdom of God, and therefore ought not to be admitted to the portion of sons, and the bread of children. 3. It concerns only such whose life does not dishonour their profession; who pretend to be servants of Christ, and indeed are so in great truth; whose faith is strengthened with hope, and their hope animated with charity; who cannot pretend to be more perfect than men, yet really contend to avoid all sin, like the children of God, who have right to be nourished by the body of the Lord, Corpus Christi quod ipsi sunt, S. August. de civet. Dei. li. 22. cap. 10. because they are indeed members of his body, and joined in the same Spirit. The question is not between the Publican and the Pharisee; but between the converted Publican and the proselyte Centurion; between two persons, who are both true honour ours of Christ. and penitent sinners, and humbled persons, and have no affection for sin remaining: the question than is, which is more to be commended, he that out of love receives Christ, or he who out of humility and reverence abstains because he thinks himself not worthy enough. To this St. chrysostom answers, 4. They that are such have a right to receive every day; and because they are rightly disposed it is certain that a frequent Communion is of great advantage to them, and therefore they that frequent it not are like to be losers: For this is the daily bread, Eucharistia medicina est aegrotis, peregrinantibus diaeta, debiles confortat, valentes delectat, languorem sanat, sanitatem firmat: fit homo mansue●ior ad correptionem, pati●ntior ad laborem, ardentior ad amorem, sagacior ad cautelam, ad obediendum promptior, ad gratiarum actiones devotior. S. Bernard. the heavenly supersubstantial bread, by which our souls are nourished to life eternal. This is the medicine against our daily imperfections and intrudings of lesser crimes and sudden emigration of passions: it is the great consignation of pardon; and St. Ambrose argues well; [If Christ's blood is poured forth for the remission of sins; then I ought, as often * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes. as I can, receive it when it is poured forth to me, that because I sin often, I may perpetually have my remedy.] Which discourse of his, is only to be understood of those imperfections of our life which perpetually haunt those good men who are growing in grace, until they come to perfection and consummation in grace. 5. They that in conscience of their past sins, and apprehension of their repentance do abstain for fear of irreverence and the sentence of condemnation; do very well as long as they find that their sin returns often, or tempts strongly, or prevails dangerously; and because our returns to God and the mortifications of sin are divisible, and done by parts and many steps of progression; they that delay their Communion that they may be surer, do very well, provided that they do not stay too long; th●t is, that their fear do not t●rn to timorousness, their religion do not change into superstition; their distrust of themselves into a jealousy of God; their apprehension of the greatness of their sin into a secret diffidence of the greatness of the Divine mercy. And therefore in the first conversions of a sinner, this reverence may be longer allowed to a good man, than afterwards. But it must be no longer allowed than till he hath once communicated. For if he hath once been partaker of the Divine mysteries since his repentance; he must no longer forbear; for in this case it is true, that he who is not fit to receive every day, is fit to receive no day. If he thinks that he ought wholly to abstain, let him use his caution and his fear to the advantages of his repentance, and the heightening of his longings; but if he may safely come once, he may piously come often. He ca●not long stand at this distance, if he be the man he is supposed: But for the time of his total abstention let him be conducted by a spiritual guide whom he may safely trust. For if he cannot by the usual methods of repentance, and the known Sermons of the Gospel be reduced to peace, and a quiet conscience; let him declare his estate to a spiritual Guide, and if he thinks it fit to absolve him, that is, See the second exhortation in the office of the Communion. to declare him to be in the state of grace and pardon; it is all the warrant which with the testimony of God's Spirit bearing witness to our spirit we can expect in this world. I remember what a religious person said to Petrus Celestinus, Apud Surium. who was a great Saint, but of a timorous conscience in this particular, Thou abstainest from the blessed Sacrament because it is a thing so sacred and formidable that thou canst not think thyself worthy of it. Well, suppose that. But I pray who is worthy? Is an Angel worthy enough? No certainly, if we consider the greatness of the mystery. But consider the goodness of God, and the usual measures of good men, and the commands of Christ inviting us to come, and commanding us, and then, Cum timore & reverentiâ frequenter operare; Receive it often with fear and reverence. To which purpose these two things are fit to be considered. 1. Supposing this fear and reverence to be good and commendable in his case who really is fit to communicate, but does not think so; yet if we compare it with that grace which prompts a good man to take it often, we may quickly perceive which is best. Certainly that act is in its own nature best which proceeds from the best and the most perfect grace; but to abstain, proceeds from fear; and to come frequently, being worthily disposed, is certainly the product of love and holy hunger, the effect of the good Spirit, who by his holy fires makes us to thirst after the waters of salvation. S. Bonavent. de profectu relig. lib. 2. cap. 77. As much then as love is better than fear; so much it is to be preferred that true penitents and well-grown Christians should frequently address themselves to these Sacramental Unions with their Lord. 2. The frequent use of this Divine Sacrament proceeds from more, as well as from more noble virtues. For here is obedience and zeal, worship and love, thanksgiving and oblation, devotion and joy, holy hunger and holy thirst, an approach to God in the ways of God, union and adherence, confidence in the Divine goodness, and not only hope of pardon, but a going to receive it; and the omission of all these excellencies, cannot in the present case, be recompensed by an act of religious fear: For this can but by accident and upon supposition of something that is amiss, Stultus est timor & reverentia minus prudens illius, qui ad Dominum se vocantem & invitantem non accedit, sed procrastinat. Gerson in Magnificat. be at all accounted good, and therefore aught to give place to that which supposing all things to be as they ought, is directly good, and an obedience to a Divine Commandment. For we may not deceive ourselves: the matter is not so indifferent, as to be excused by every fair pretence: It is unlawful for any man unprepared by repentance and its fruits, to communicate; but it is necessary that we should be prepared that we may come. For plague and death threaten them that do not communicate in this mysterious banquet; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Homil. 24. in 1 Cor. 10. as certainly as danger is to them who come unduly and as it happens.] For the Sacrament of the Lords body is commanded to all men, saith Tertullian; Tertul. de coron. mil. c. 3. and it is very remarkable what St. Austin said in this affair. Lib. 19 c. 11. ad Faustum. [The force of the Sacraments is of an unspeakable value, and therefore it is sacrilege to despise it. For that is impiously despised without which we cannot come to the perfection of piety.] So that although it is not in all cases the mere not receiving that is to be blamed, but the despising it; yet when we consider that by this means we arrive at perfection, all causeless recusancy, is next to contempt by interpretation. One thing more I am to add, whereas some persons abstain from a frequent Communion for fear lest by frequency of receiving they should less esteem the Divine mysteries, and fall into lukewarmness and indevotion; the consideration is good: and such persons indeed may not receive it often, but not for that reason; but because they are not fit to receive it at all. For whoever grows worse by the Sacrament, as Judas after the Sop, hath an evil spirit within him; for this being by the design of God a savour of life; it is the fault of the receiver if it passes into death, and diminution of the spiritual life. He therefore that grows less devout, and less holy, and less reverend, must start back and take physic and throw out the evil spirit that is within him; for there is a worm in the heart of the tree, a peccant humour in the stomach, it could not be else, that this Divine nutriment should make him sick. Question II. But is every man bound to communicate that is present, or that comes into a Church where the Communion is prepared, though but by accident, and without design; and may no man that is fit, omit to communicate in every opportunity? To this I answer: That in the Primitive Church it was accounted scandalous and criminal to be present at the holy Offices, and to go out at the celebration of the Mysteries. [What cause is there, O Hearers, De verb. Domini secund. Joh. Serm. 2. that ye see the Table and come not to the Banquet?] said St. Austin. [If thou stand by, and do not communicate, thou art wicked, thou art shameless, thou art impudent. So St. chrysostom: Homil. 3. ad cap. 1. Ephes. and to him that objects, he is not worthy to communicate, he answers, that then neither is he fit to pray. And the Council of Antioch * Apud Zonaram. and of Bracara commanded that those who did not communicate should be driven from the Churches. And Palladius tells, Hist. SS. patrum. c. 19 that when St. Macarius had by his prayers cured a poor miserable woman that was bewitched, and fancied herself to be a horse; he advised her, Never to depart from the Church of God, or to abstain from the Communion of the Sacraments of Christ. For this misfortune hath prevailed upon you because for these five weeks you have not communicated.] Now this was but a relative crime; and because their custom was such * S. Cyprian. l. 4. ep. 7. S. Ambros. l. 5. de sacram. c. 4. S. Aug. Epist. 118. Euseb. l. 1. de demonstr. evang. c. 10. (which is always to be understood according to their acknowledged measures, viz. that only pious persons were to be meant, and required in that expectation; this will not conclude that of itself, and abstracting from the scandal, it was in all cases unlawful to recede from the mysteries at sometimes. ●or sometimes a man may be called off by the necessities of his calling, or the duties of charity or piety. A General of an Army, a Prince, a Privy Counsellor, a Judge, a Merchant may be very fit to communicate, even then when they cannot, or it may be ought not to stay. But if he can stay, and be a good man, and rightly disposed by the habits of a good life, he ought to stay and communicate; and so much the rather, if it be in any degree scandalous to go away. The reason is; because if he be a good man, he can no more be surprised by an unexpected Communion, than by a sudden death; which although it may find him in better circumstances, yet can never find him Unprovided. But in this case, St. Augustine's moderate determination of the case is very useful, Let every one do as he is persuaded in his mind; for a man may with a laudable fear and reverence abstain; if he shall be persuaded that he ought not to communicate unless besides his habitual grace, he hath kindled the fires of an actual devotion and preparation special: and so much the rather, because he may communicate very frequently, and to great purposes and degrees of a spiritual life, though he omit that single opportunity in which he is surprised; and though it be very useful for a good man to communicate often, yet it is not necessary that he communicate always; only let every pious soul consider, that it is argument of the Divine love to us, that these fountains are always open; that the Angel frequently moves these waters, and that Christ says to every prepared heart as to the multitudes that followed him into the wilderness, I will not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way. And if ●hrist be ever ready offering his holy body and blood, it were very fit we should entertain him: for he never comes but he brings a blessing. Question III. But how often is it advisable that a good man should Communicate? Once in a year, or thrice, or every month, or every fortnigbt; every sunday, or every day? This question hath troubled very many; but to little purpose. For it is all one as if it were asked, How often should a healthful man eat; or he that hath infirmities, take Physic? And if any man should say that a good man should do well to pray three times a day; he said true; and yet it were better to pray five times, and better yet to pray seven times; but if he does, yet he must leave spaces for other duties. But his best measures for public and solemn prayer, is the custom of the Church in which he lives; and for private, he can take no measures but his own needs, and his own leisure, and his own desires, and the examples of the best and devoutest persons, in the same circumstances. And so it is in the frequenting the holy Communion. The laws of the Church must be his least measure. The custom of the Church may be his usual measure; Metuebat Maria, ne amor Magistri sui in corpore suo refrigesceret, si corpus ejus non inveniret, quo viso recalescebat. Origen. homil. 1. ex variis. But if he be a devout person; the spirit of devotion will be his certain measure; and although that will consult with prudence and reasonable opportunities, yet it consults with nothing else; but communicates by its own heights and degrees of excellency. Ad Eustoc. Virg. c. 9 St. Hierom advises Eustochium, a noble Virgin, and other religious persons to communicate twice every month; some did every Sunday; and this was so general a custom in the Ancient Church, that the Sunday was called, The day of bread; Hom. 5. the resurrect. as we find in St. chrysostom: and in consonancy to this the Church of England commands that the Priests resident in Collegiate or Cathedral Churches should do so: and they whose work and daily employment is to Minister to religion, cannot in such circumstances pretend a reasonable excuse to the contrary. But I desire these things may be observed: 1. That when the Fathers make a question concerning a frequent Communion, they do not dispute whether it be adviseable that good people should communicate every month, or every fortnight, or whether the more devout and less employed may communicate every week; for of this they make no question; but whether every days Communion be fit to be advised, that they question: and I find, that as they are not earnest in that, so they indefinitely give answer, that a frequent Communion is not to be neglected at any hand, if persons be worthily prepared. 2. The frequency of Communion is to be estimated by the measures of devout people in every Church respectively. And although in the Apostolical Ages they who Communicated but once a fortnight were not esteemed to do it frequently; yet now they who communicate every month, and upon the great Festivals of the year besides, and upon other solemn or contingent occasions, and at marriages, and at visitations of the sick, may be said to communicate frequently, in such Churches where the Laws enjoin but three or four times every year, as in the Church of England, and the Lutheran Churches. But this way of estimating the frequency of Communion is only when the causes of inquiry are for the avoiding of scandal, or the preventing of scruples; but else, the inward hunger and thirst, and the spirit of devotion married to opportunity, can give the truest measures. 3. They that communicate frequently, if they do it worthily, are charitable and spiritual persons, and therefore cannot judge or undervalue others that do not. For no man knows concerning others by what secret principles and imperfect propositions they are guided. For although these measures we meet with in Antiquity are very reasonable, yet few do know them; and all of them do not rely upon them; and their own customs, or the private word of their own guides, or their fears, or the usages of the Church in which they live, or some leading example, or some secret impediment which ought not, but is thought sufficient; any of these, or many other things, may retard even good persons from such a frequency as may please others; and that which one calls opportunity, others do not; but however, no man ought to be prejudiced in the opinion of others: For besides all this now reckoned, The receiving of the holy Sacrament is of that nature of good things which can be supplied by internal actions alone, or sometimes by other external actions in conjunction; and it hath a suppletory of its own, viz. Spiritual Communion, (of which I am to give account in its proper place.) And when we consider that some men are of strict consciences, and some Churches are of strict Communions, and will not admit Communicants but upon such terms which some men cannot admit, it will follow that as S. Augustine's expression is, Men should live in the peace of Christ, and do according to their Faith: but in these things no man should judge his Brother. In this no man can directly be said to do amiss, but he that loathes Manna, and despises the food of Angels, or neglects the Supper of the Lamb, or will not quit his sin, or contend towards perfection, or hath not the spirit of devotion, or does any way by implication say, That the Table of the Lord is contemptible. 4. These rules and measures now given, are such as relate to those who by themselves or others are discernably in, or discernably out of the state of grace. But there are some which are in the confines of both states, and neither themselves nor their guides can tell to what dominion they do belong. Concerning such, they are by all means to be thrust or invited forward, and told of the danger of a real or seeming neutrality in the service of God; of the hatefulness of tepidity, of the uncomfortableness of such an indifference: and for the Communions of any such person, I can give no other advice, but that he take his measures of frequency by the Laws of his Church, and add what he please to his numbers by the advice of a spiritual guide, who may consider whether his Penitent, by his conjugation of preparatory actions, and heaps of holy duties at that time usually conjoined, do or is likely to receive any spiritual progress: For this will be his best indication of life, and declare his uncertain state, if he thrive upon his spiritual nourishment. If it prove otherwise, all that can be said of such persons is, that they are members of the visible Church, they are in that net where there are fishes good and bad, they stand amongst the wheat and the tares, they are part of the lump, but whether leavened or unleavened, God only knows; and therefore they are such to whom the Church denies not the bread of Children; but whether it does them good or hurt, the day only will declare: for to such persons as these the Church hath made Laws for the set time of their Communion. An. Christi 236. ut Sabellicus & Volaterranus referunt. Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide were appointed for all Christians that were not scandalous and openly criminal, by P. Fabianus; and this Constitution is imitated by the best constituted Church in the world, our dear Mo●her the Church of England: and they who do not at these times, or so frequently communicate, are censured by the Council of Agathon * Can. 18. as unfit to be reckoned among Christians, or Members of the Catholic Church. Now by these Laws of the Church, it is intended indeed that all men should be called upon to discuss and shake off the yoke of their sins, and enter into the salutary state of repentance; and next to the perpetual Sermons of the Church, she had no better means to engage them into returns of piety; hoping that by the grace of God and the blessings of the Sacrament, the repentance which at these times solemnly begins, may at one time or other fix and abide; these little institutions and disciplines being like the sudden heats in the body, which sometimes fix into a burning, though most commonly they go away without any further change. But the Church in this case does the best she can, but does not presume that things are well; and indeed as yet they are not: and therefore such persons must pass further, or else their hopes may become illusions, and make the men ashamed. 5. I find that amongst the holy Primitives they who contended for the best things, and loved God greatly, were curious even of little things; and if they were surprised with any sudden undecency, or a storm of passion, they did not dare that day to communicate. [When I am angry, or when I think any evil thought, or am abused with any illusion or foul fancy of the night, intrare non audeo, I dare not enter, said St. Jerome, Advers. Vigilant. I am so full of horror and dread, both in my body and my mind.] This was also the case of St. Chrysostom, who when Eusebius had unreasonably troubled him with an unseasonable demand of justice against Antonine, just as he was going to consecrate the blessed Sacrament, departed out of the Church, and desired one of the Bishops, who by chance was present, Palladius in vitâ S. Chrysost. to do the office for him; for he would not offer the Sacrifice at that time, having some trouble in his Spirit. 2. To this are to be reduced all such great actions which in their whole constitution are great and lawful; but because so many things are involved in their transaction, whereof some avoidable will be amiss, or may reasonably be supposed so, may have something in the whole and at the last to be deplored: In such cases as these, some great examples have been of advices to abstain from the Communion, till by a general but a profound repentance for what hath been amiss, God is deprecated, and the causes of Christian hope and confidence do return. In the Ecclesiastical History we read, that when Theodosius had fought prosperously against Eug●nius the Usurper of the Empire, when his cause was just and approved by God, not only giving testimony by the prediction and warranty of a religious Hermit, but also by prodigious events, by winds and tempests fight for him, and by which he restored peace to the Church, and tranquillity to the Empire: yet he by the advice of S. Ambrose abstained a while from the holy Sacrament, and would not carry blood upon his hands * Tu genitor cape sacra manu, patriosque penates Me bello è tanto digressum, & caede recenti Attrectare nefas: donec me flumine vivo Abluero— Aeneid. 1. , though justly shed, unto the Altar; not only following the precedent of David, who because he was a man of blood might not build a Temple, but for fear lest some unfit appendage should stick to the management of a just employment. 3. Of the same consideration it is, if a person whose life should be very exemplar, is guilty of such a single folly which it may be would not dishonour a meaner man, but is a great vanity and reproach to him; a little abstention, and a penitential separation (when it is quit from scandal) was sometimes practised in the Ancient Church, and is adviseable also now in fitting circumstances. Thus when Gerontius the Deacon had vainly talked that the Devil appeared to him one night, and that he had bound him with a chain, St. Ambrose commanded him to abide in his house, and not to come to the Church, till by penances and sorrow he had expiated such an indiscretion, which to a man had in reputation for wisdom, is as a fly in a box of ointment, not only useless, but mischievous. And S. Bernard commends S. Malachi because he reproved a Deacon for attending at the Altar the day after he had suffered an illusion in the night. In vitâ S. Malachiae, Cui injungens poenitentiam, non debueras, inquit, hodiè ministrasse, sed verecundè te subtrahere sacris, & defer tantis tamque Divinis mysteriis, ut hâc humilitate purgatus, dignius exinde ministrares. It had been better he had abstained from the Altar one day, and by that intermediate expiation and humility have the next day returned to a more worthy ministry. 4. One degree of curious caution I find beyond all this, in an instance of St. Gregory the Great, in whose life we find, that he abstained some days from the holy Communion, because there was found in a Village near to Rome a poor man dead, no man could tell how; but because the good Bishop feared he might have been starved, and that he died for want of provision; he supposing it might reflect upon him as a defect in his Government, or of his personal Charity, thought it fit to deplore the accident, and to abstain from the Communion, till he might hope for pardon, in case he had done amiss. If these things proceed from the sincerity of a well disposed spirit, that can suffer any trouble rather than that of sin, the product is well enough, and in all likelihood would always be well, if the case were conducted by a prudent spiritual guide; for than it would not change into scruples and superstition. But these are but the fears and cautions and securities of a tender spirit; but are not an answer to the Question, Whether it be lawful for such persons to Communicate? For certainly they may, if all things else be right; and they may be right in the midst of such little accidents. But these belong to the questions of perfection and excellencies of grace; these are the extraordinaries of them who never think they do well enough: and therefore they extended no further than to a single abstention, or some little proportionable retirement; and may be useful when they are in the hands of prudent and excellent persons. SECT. V. What significations of Repentance are to be accepted by the Church in admission of Penitents to the Communion. THis inquiry will quickly be answered, when we consider that the end why the Church enjoins public or private amends respectively to any convict or confessed Criminal, she only does it as a Mother and a Physician to souls, and a Minister of the Divine Pardon, and the Conductress of penitential Processes: she does it that the man may be recovered from the snare of the enemy, that she may destroy the work of the Devil, that the sinner may become a good Christian: and therefore the Church, when she conducts any man's repentance, is bound to enjoin so many external Ministeries, that if they be really joined with the external contrition and reformation, will do the work of reconcilement in the Court of heaven. The Church can exact none but what she can see or some way take external notice of; but by these externals intends to minister to the internal repentance; which when it is sufficiently signified by any ways that she may prudently rely upon as testimonies and ministeries of a sufficient internal contrition and real amends, she can require no more, and she ought not to be content with less. It is therefore infinitely unsafe and imprudent to receive the Confessions of Criminals, and after the injunction of certain cursory penances, Si cito rediret homo ad pristinam beatitudinem, ludus illi esset cadere in mortem. S. Aug. Serm. 34. de diversis. to admit them to the Blessed Sacrament without any further emendation, without any trial of the sincerity of their conversion, before it is probable that God hath pardoned them, In ipsâ Ecclesia ubi maximè misereri decet, quam maximè decet forma justitiae, nequis à communionis consortio abstentus, brevi lachrymulâ atque ad tempus paratâ, vel etiam uberioribus fletibus Communionem, quam plurimis debet postulare temporibus, facilitate sacerdotis extorqueat. S. Ambros. in Psal. 118. in haec verba. Miserere mei secundum eloquium tuum. before their affections to sin are dead, before the spirit of mortification is entered, before any vice is exterminated, or any virtue acquired: Such a looseness of discipline is but the image of repentance (whether we look upon it as it is described in Scripture, or as it was practised by the Primitive Church) which at least is a whole change of life, a conversion of the whole man to God. And it is as bad when a notorious criminal is put to shame one day, for such a sin which could not have obtained the peace of the Church under the severity and strictness of fifteen years, amongst the holy Primitives. Such public Ecclesiastical penances may suffice to remove the scandal from the Church, when the Church will be content upon so easy terms; for she only can tell what will please herself. But then such discipline must not be esteemed a sufficient ministry of repentance, nor a just disposition to pardon. For the Church ought not to give pardon, or to promise the peace of God upon terms easier than God himself requires; and therefore when repentance comes to be conducted by her, she must require so much as will extinguish the sin, and reform the man, and make him and represent him good. All the liberty that the Church hath in this, is what is given her by the latitude of the judgement of charity; and yet oftentimes a too easy judgement is the greatest uncharitableness in the world, and makes men confident and careless and deceived: and therefore although gentle sentences are useful when there is danger of despair or contumacy, yet that is rather a palliation of a disease than a cure; and therefore the method must be changed as soon as it can, and the severe and true Sermons of the Gospel must be either proclaimed aloud, or insinuated prudently and secretly, and men be taught to rely upon them and their consequents, and upon nothing else; for they will not deceive us. But the corrupt manners of men, and the corrupt doctrines of some Schools, have made it almost impossible to govern souls as they need to be governed. The Church may indeed choose whether she will impose on Criminals any exterior significations of repentance, but accept them to the Communion upon their own accounts of a sincere conversion and inward contrition; but then she ought to do this upon such accounts as are indeed real and sufficient, and effective and allowed; that is, when she can understand that such an emendation is made, and the man is really reform, she can pronounce him pardoned; or which is all one, she may communicate him. And farther yet; she can by Sermons declare all the necessary parts of repentance, and the conditions of pardon, and can pronounce limited and hypothetical or conditional pardons; concerning which the penitent must take care that they do belong to him. But if she does undertake to conduct any repentances exteriously, it is to very little purpose to do it any way that is not commensurate to that true internal repentance which is effective of pardon. Indeed every single act of penance does something towards it; but why something should be enjoined that is not sufficient, and that falls infinitely short of the end of its designation, though the Church may use her liberty, yet it is not easy to understand the reason. But I leave this to the consideration of those who are concerned in Governments public, or in the private conduct of souls, to whom I earnestly and humbly recommend it; and I add this only, that when the Ancient Churches did absolve and communicate dying penitents, though but newly returned from sin, they did it de benè esse, or with a hope it might do some good, and because they thought it a case of necessity, and because there was no time left to do better: but when they did as well as they could, they could not tell what God would do; and though the Church did well, it may be it was very ill with the souls departed. But because that is left to God, it is certain some things were done upon pious confidence and venture, for which there was no promise in the Gospel. That which the Church is to take care of is, that all her children be sufficiently taught what are the just measures of preparation and worthy disposition to these Divine mysteries; and that she admits none, of whom she can tell that they are not worthy; such as are notorious adulterers, homicides, incestuous, perjurers, habitually peevish to evil effects, and permanently angry (for this I find reckoned amongst the Primitive Catalogues of persons to be excluded from the Communion) rapines, theft, sacrilege, Si permansissemus illâ in munditiâ quae nobis per baptismum data est, verè faelices essemus, sed non permansimus. Cecidimus enim per nostram culpam, non solum in peccata, sed etiam in crimina, propter quae peccatores ab Ecclesiâ separantur: qualia sunt, Homicidia, adulteria, fo●nicationes, sacrilegia, rapinae, furta, falsa testimonia, superbia, invidia, avaritia, diutina iracundia, Ebrietas assidua. Fulbert. Carnot. Ser. 2. ad Populum. false witness, pride, covetousness and envy. It would be hard to reduce this rule to practice in all these instances, unless it be by consent and voluntary submission of penitent persons. But that which I remark is this: that Proud persons and the Covetous, the Envious and the Angry were esteemed fit to be excommunicate; that is, infinitely unfit to be admitted to the blessed Sacrament; and that by the rules of their discipline they were to do many actions of public and severe penance and mortifications before they would admit them. Now than the case is this. They did esteem more things to be required to the integrity of repentance, and God not to be so soon reconciled, and the Devil not soon dispossessed, and men's resolutions not so fit to be trusted, and more to be required to pardon than confession and the pronouncing absolution; all this otherwise than we do, and therefore so long as they did conduct repentances; they required it as it should be; being sure that no repentance that was joined with hope and charity could be too much, but it might quickly be too little; and therefore although the Church may take as little as she please for a testimonial of repentance, and suppose the rest is right though it be not signified; yet when she either in public or in private is to manage repentances she must use no measure, but that which will procure pardon, and extinguish both the guilt and dominion of sin. The first may be of some use in government; but of little avail to souls, and to their eternal interest: therefore in the first she may use her liberty and give herself measures, in the latter she hath no other but what are given her by the nature of repentance, and its efficacy and order to pardon, and the designs of God, for the reformation of our souls and the extermination of sin. SECT. VI Whether may every Minister of the Church and Curate of Souls reject impenitent persons, or any criminals from the holy Sacrament, until themselves be satisfied of their repentance and amends? SEparation of sinners from the Blessed Sacrament was either done upon confession and voluntary submission of the penitent; or by public conviction and notoreity. Every Minister of religion can do the first, for he that submits to my judgement, does choose my sentence; and if he makes me Judge, he is become my subject in a voluntary Government: and therefore I am to judge for him when it is fit that he should communicate: only, if when he hath made me Judge, he refuses to obey my counsel, he hath dissolved my Government, and therefore will receive no further benefit by me. * But concerning the latter of these; a separation upon public conviction or notoreity; that requires an authority that is not precarious and changeable. Now this is done two ways; either by authority forbidding, or by authority restraining and compelling; that is, by the word of our proper ministry, dissuading him that is unworthy from coming, and threatening him with Divine judgements if he does come; or else rejecting of him, in case that he fears not those threatenings, but persists in his desires of having it. Now of the first of these, every Minister of the Word and Sacraments is a competent Minister; for all that minister to souls are to tell them of their dangers, and by all the effects of their office to present them pure and spotless unto God; the Seers must take care that the people may see; lest by their blindness they fall into the bottomless pit. And when the Curates of souls have declared the will of God in this instance, and denounced his judgements to unworthy Communicants, and told to all that present themselves who are worthy, and who are not, they have delivered their own souls; all that remains is, that every person take care concerning his own affairs. For the second, viz denying to minister to Criminals though demanding it with importunity; that is an act of prudence and caution in some cases, and of authority in others. When it is matter of caution, it is not a punishment but a medicine; according to those excellent words of S. Cyprian; To be cast out (viz.; for a time, from the Communion) is a remedy and a degree towards the recovery of our spiritual health: Nam ejici remedium est & gradus ad recuperandam sanitatem. lib. de dupl. Martyr. and because it is no more; it cannot be pretended to be any man's right to do it; but it may be in his duty when he can; but therefore this must depend upon the consent of the penitent. For a Physician must not in despite of a man cut off his leg to save his life: the sick man may choose whether he shall or no. But sometimes it is an act of authority; as when the people have consented to such a discipline, or when the secular arm by assisting the Ecclesiastical, hath given to it a power of mixed jurisdiction; that is, when the spiritual power of paternal regiment which Christ hath given to his Ministers the supreme Curates, is made operative upon the persons and external societies of men. Now of this power the Bishops are the prime and immediate subjects, partly under Christ, and partly under Kings; and of this power, inferior Ministers are capable by delegation, See Rule of conscience, l. 3. c. 3. & 4. but no otherwise; they being but Deputies and Vicars in the cure of souls under their superiors, from whom they have received their order and their charge. And thus I suppose we are to understand the Rubric before our Communion office; which warrants ●he Curate not to suffer open and notorious evil livers by whom the Congregation is offended, and those between whom he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign, to be partakers of the Lords Table. In the first, the case is of notorious Criminals, and is to be understood of a notoreity of Law; and in this the Curate is but a publisher of the Judge's sentence: In the second, the Criminal is ipso facto excommunicate; and therefore in this the Curate is but the Minister of the Sentence of the Law, or at least hath a delegate authority to pass the Church's Sentence in a matter that is evident. But this is seldom practised otherwise than by rejecting such persons by way of denunciation of the divine Judgements; and if it be so understood, the Curate hath done his duty which God requires; and I believe the Laws of England will suffer him to do no more by his own authority. But this is to be reduced to practise by the following measures. 1. Every man is to be presumed fit, that is not known to be unfit; and he that is not a public Criminal, is not to be supposed unworthy to Communicate. It may be he is; but that himself only knows, and he can only take care; but no man is to be prejudiced by imperfect and disputable principles, by conjectures and other men's measures, by the rules of Sects and separate Communities: Omnibus Episcopis & Presbyteris interdicimus segregare aliquem à sacrâ communione, antequam causa monstretur propter quam sanctae regulae hoc fieri jubent. Collat. 9 tit. 15. c. 11. de Sanctissimis Ep●scopis. And if a man may belong to God and himself not know it, he may do so when his Curate knows it not. 2. No man may be separated from the Communion for any private sin, vehemently or lightly suspected. This censure must not pass but when the crime is manifest and notorious; that is, when it is delated and convict in any public Assembly, Civil or Ecclesiastical, or is evident to a Multitude, or confessed. This is the express Doctrine of the Church in St. Austin's time, Nos à communione quenquam prohibere non possumus, nisi aut sponte confessum, aut in aliquo judicio Ecclesiastico vel saeculari nominatum atque convictum. Homil. 50. & de Medicine poenit. super illud 1 Cor. 5. si quis frater. who affirms that the ecclesiastics have no power to make separations of sinners not confessed nor convict. And besides many others it relies upon this prudential consideration which Linwood hath well observed; [Every Christian hath a right in the receiving the Eucharist, De celebrat. Missar. unless he loses it by deadly sin: Therefore when it does not appear in the face of the Church that such an one hath lost his right, it ought not in the face of the Church to be denied to him; otherwise a licence would be given to evil Priests, according to their pleasure with this punishment to afflict whom they list.] 3. Every sinner that hath been convict, or hath confessed, and affirms himself to be truly penitent, is to be believed, where by the Laws of the Church he is not bound to pass under any public discipline: For no man can tell but that he says true; and because every degree of repentance is accepted to some dispositions and proportions of pardon, and God hath not told us the just period of his being reconciled, and his mercy is divisible as our return, and unknown to us; he that knows that without repentance he eats damnation, and professes upon that very account that he is penitent, may be taught as many more things as the Curate please, or as he is supposed to need; but must not be rejected from the Holy Communion, if he cannot be persuaded. ●or this judgement is secret, and is to pass between God and the soul alone; for because no man can tell, no man can judge; and the Curate who knows not how it is, cannot give a definite sentence. 4. But if there come any accidental obligation upon Criminals; as if by the Laws of a Church to which they are subjected, it be appointed they shall give public evidence and amends, they are to be judged by those measures, and are not to be restored ordinarily, See Rul● of Conscience, l. 3. c. 1. etc. 4. till they have by public measures proved their repentance. This relies upon all those grounds upon which obedience to Ecclesiastical Rulers is built. 5. It is lawful for the Guides of souls to admit to the Communion such persons whom they believe not to be fit and worthily prepared, if they will not be persuaded to retire: It is evident in the case of Kings and all Supreme Powers, and great Communities, and such who being rejected will be provoked into malice and persecution. S. Cyprian, sive quicunque sit Author libri d● duplici Martyrio. [Such indeed the Church sometimes tolerates, lest being provoked they disturb the people of God: but what does it profit them not to be cast out of the Assemblies of the godly, if they deserve to be cast out? To deserve ejection is the highest evil; and to no purpose is he mingled in the Congregations of the faithful, who is excluded from the society of God, and the mystical body of Christ.] And it is also evident in the Societies of the Church, which we know by the words of Christ and by experience are a mixed multitude: And since the Scripture does not exempt a secret sinner from the Communion, why wilt thou endeavour to except him? It is St. Augustine's argument. And who shall reject every man that he believes to be proud, Ad hoc enim altare quod nunc in Ecclesiâ est, in terrâ positum, ad Mysteriorum Divinorum signacula celebranda, multi etiam scelerati possunt accedere: quoniam Deus commendat in hoc tempore patientiam suam, ut in futuro exerat severitatem suam. Ad illud autem altare quo praecursor pro nobis introivit Jesus, quo caput Ecclesiae praecessit, membris caeteris secuturis, nullus eorum accedere poterit, de quibus dixit Apostolus, Quoniam qui talia agunt regnum Dei non possidebunt. S. Aug. homil. 50. c. 9 or covetous, or envious? Who shall define pride, or convince a single person of a proud heart, or of his latent envy? and who shall give rules by which every single man that is to blame can be convinced of covetousness? If it be permitted to the discretion of the Parish Priest, you erect a gibbet and a rack by which he shall be enabled to torment any man; and you give him power to slander or reproach all his neighbours; if you go about to give him measures you shall never do it wisely or piously; for no rules can be sufficient to convince any proud man; and if you make the Parish Curate judge of these rules, you had as good leave it to his discretion; for he will use them as he please: and after all, you shall never have all the people good; and if not, you shall certainly have them hypocrites; and therefore it cannot be avoided, but unfit persons will be admitted: for since the Kingdom of Grace is within us. and Gods chosen ones are his secret ones, and he only knows who are his, it will be strange that visible Sacraments should be given only to an invisible Society: and after all, if to communicate evil men be unavoidable, it cannot be unlawful. I do not say that persons unprepared may come; for they ought not, and if they do, they die for it: but I say, if they will come it is at their peril, and to no man's prejudice but their own, if they be plainly and severely admonished of their duty and their danger; and therefore that every man must judge of his own case with very great severity and ●ear, even then when the Guides of souls must judge with more gentleness and an easier charity; when we must suspect our little faults to be worse than they seem, and our n●gligences more inexcusable, and sear a sin when there is none, and are ready to accuse ourselves for every indiscretion, an● think no repentance great enough for the foulness of 〈◊〉 sin●, and at the same time when we judge for othoes, we ought to esteem their certain good th●ng● better than they do, and their certain evils less●, and their disputable good things certain, and ●h●ir uncertain evils none at all, or very excusable. And ●herefore it was to very great purpose that th● Apost●e gave command, that every man should examine himself and so let him ea● * In hâc ergo poenitentiâ majorem quisque in se severit●tem debet exercere ut à seipso judicatus non judicetur à Deo, sicut idem Apostolus ait. Si enim nos judicaremus, à Domino non judicaremur. Ascendat itaque homo adversum se tribunal mentis suae, si timet illud quod oportet nos exhiberi ante tribunal Christi, ut illud recipiat Unusquisque quod per corpus gessit, sive bonum, sive malum; constituat se ante faciem suam ne hoc ei postea fiat. Nam minatur hoc Deus peccatori, dicens, arguam te, & statuam te ante faciem tuam. Atque ita constituto in cord judicio, adsit accusatrix cogitatio, testis conscientia, carnifex timor. Ind quidam sanguis animi consitentis per lachrymas profluat. Postremò ab ipsa ment talis sententia proferatur, ut se indignum homo judicet participatione corporis & sanguinis Domini: ut qui separari à regno coelorum timet per ultimam sententiam summi Judicis, per Ecclesiasticam disciplinam à Sacramento coelestis panis interim separetur. Versetur ante oculos imago futuri judicii, ut cum alii accedunt ad altare Dei, quo ipse non accedit, cogitet quam sit contremiscenda illa poena, quâ percipientibus aliis vitam aeternam, alii in mortem praecipitantur aeternam. S. August. homil. 50. c. 9 , that is, let it be done as it may be done thoroughly; l●t him do it whose case it is, and who is most concerned that it be done well; let it be done so that it may not be allayed and lessened by the judgement of charity; and therefore let a man do it himself: For when the Curate comes to do it, he cannot do it well, unless he do it with mercy; for he must make abatements, which the sinner's case does not often need in order to his reconciliation and returns to God, where severity is much better than gentle sentences. But the Minister of Religion must receive in some cases such persons who ought not to come, and who should abstain when themselves give righteous judgement upon themselves. For if it be lawful for Christian people to communicate with evil persons, it is lawful for Christian Priests to minister it; it being commanded to the people in some cases to withdraw themselves from a Brother that walks inordinately; but no where commanded, that a Minister of Religion shall refuse to give it to him that requires it, and is within the Communion of the Church, and is not yet as an heathen and a publican: and it is evident, that in the Churches of Corinth the Communion was given to persons who for unworthiness fell under the divine anger; and yet no man was reproved but the unworthy Communicants, and themselves only commanded to take care of it. For he that says the people may not communicate with wicked persons, falls into the error of the Donatists, which St. Austin and others have infinitely confuted; but he that says the people may, ought not to deny but that the Priest may; and if he may communicate with him, it cannot be denied but he may minister to him. But this was the case of the Sons of Israel, who did eat Manna, and drank of the rock * Quemadmodum tu comedis Christi corpus, sic illi Manna; & quomodo tu bibis sanguinem sic illi aquam ex petrâ. S. Chrysost. homil. 18. in 2 Corinth. ; and yet that rock was Christ, and that Manna was also his Sacrament, and yet with many of these God was angry, and they fell in the wilderness. And if Baptism was given as soon as ever men were converted, in the very day of their change, and that by the Apostles themselves, and yet the same Christ is there consigned and exhibited; we may remember that in Scripture we find no difference in the two Sacraments as to this particular. But in this there needs not much to be said; they that think things can be otherwise, and have tried, have declared to all the world by the event of things, that although the guides of souls may by wise and seasonable discourses persuade and prevail with some few persons, yet no man can reform the world; and if all were rejected whose life does not please the Curate, some will not care, and will let it quite alone; and others that do care, will never the more be mended, but turn hypocrites; and they are the worst of men, but most readily communicated: Some other evils do also follow; and when we have reckoned schisms, partialities, reproaches, Ne dum purgatissimam Ecclesiam volunt instituere, brevi nullam habeant. Bullinger ad Bezam. animosities and immortal hatreds between Priest and People, we have not reckoned the one half. 6. When to separate Criminals can be prudent and useful, and is orderly, limited, and legal, it ought not to be omitted * Quantum ruboris civitari turpiter se gorendo incusserunt, tantum laudis gravitèr puniti adferant. Valer. Max. upon any consideration, because it is the sinews and whole strength of Ecclesiastical discipline, and is a most charitable ministry to souls, and brings great regard to the holy Sacrament, and produces reverence in the Communicants, and is a deletery to sin, and was the perpetual practice of the best Ages of the Church, and was blest with an excellent corresponding piety in their Congregations; Ezek. 13.18. upon which account, and of other consideraons, S. Cyprian (a) De lapsis & lib. 3. ep. 15. , S. Basil (b) Epist. ad Amphil. c. 2.84.85. , S. Chrysostom (c) Non parva vobis imminet ultio, si quem cujuspiam conscium nequitiae, hujus mensae participem concedatis, sanguis ejus de vestris manibus exquiretur. S. Chrysost. homil. 60. ad pop. Antioch. , and divers others, call upon Prelates and people to exercise and undergo respectively this Ecclesiastical discipline. See Rule of conscience, l. 3. c. 4. rule 9 p. 257. But this hath in it some variety 1. For if the person be a notorious, a great and incorrigible Criminal, refusing to hear, the Church proceeding against him upon complaint, confession or notoreity, and consequently to be esteemed as a Heathen and a Publican; then comes in the Apostolical rules; 1 Cor. 5.11. 2 Thess. 3.6. with such a one not to eat; and withdraw from such a one, for there is no accord between Christ and Belial, between a Christian and a Heathen or an Unbeliever; that is, one who is thrust into the place and condition of an Infidel, and give n●t th●t which is holy unto Dogs. 2. But if he be within the Communion of the Church, and yet a Criminal, not delated, not convict, not legally condemned; and yet privately known to be such, or publicly suspected and scandalous; the Minister of Religion must separate him by the word of his ministry, and tell him his danger, and use all the means he can to bring him to repentance and amends before he admits him; if the Minister of Religion omits this duty, he falls under the curse threatened by God in the Prophet, Ezek. 3.18. If he does not warn him, if he does not speak to the wicked to give him warning to save his life; his blood shall be upon him. 3. If there be a regular jurisdiction established, and this spiritual authority be backed with the secular, it must be used according to the measures of its establishment, and for the good of the Church in general, and of the sinner in particular; that is, although the person be not as a heathen, and excommunicate by the Church's sentence, yet he must be rejected for a time, and thrust into repentance and measures of satisfaction, and as he must not refuse, so must not the Minister of the Sacrament otherwise admit him; and in this sense it was that S. Chrysostom said, he would rather lose his life, Homil. 83. in Matth. than admit unworthy men to the Lords Table. 7. But because piety hath suffered shipwreck; and all discipline h●th been lost in t●e storm, and good manne●s have been thrown over board; the best remedy in the world that yet remains and is in use amongst the most pious sons and daughters of the Church, is that they would conduct their repentance by the continual advices and ministry of a spiritual guide; for by this alone or principally, was the primitive piety a●d repentances advanced to the excellency which we often admire but seldom imitate, and the event will be, that besides we shall be guided in the ways of holiness in general, we shall be at peace as to the times and manner of receiving the holy Sacrament, our penitential abstentions and seasonable returns: and we sh●ll not so frequently feel the effects of the Divine anger upon our persons as a reproach of our folly, a●d the punishment of our unworthy receiving the Divine mysteries. And this was earnestly advised and pressed upon their people by the holy Fathers, who had as great experience in their conduct, as they had zeal for the good of souls [Let no man say; I repent in private; I repent before God in secret. God who alone does pardon, does know that I am contrite in heart. For was it in vain, was it said to no purpose; whatsoever ye shall lose in earth shall be loosed in heaven? we evacuate the Gospel of God, we frustrate the words of Christ] so S. Austin. [And therefore when a man hath spoken the sentence of the most severe medicine, Homil. 49. let him come to the Precedents of the Church, who are to minister in the power of the Keys to him; and beginning now to be a good son, keeping the order of his Mother, let him receive the measure and manner of his repentances from the Precedents of the Sacraments. Ibid. ] Concerning this thing, I shall never think it fit to dispute, for there is nothing to enforce it, but enough to persuade it, but he that tries, will find the benefit of it himself, and will be best able to tell it to all the world. SECT. VII. Penitential Soliloquies, Ejaculations, Exercises, and preparatory Prayers to be used in all the days of preparation to the Holy Sacrament. I. ALmighty and eternal God, the fountain of all virtue, the support of all holy hope, the Author of pardon, of life, and of salvation; thou art the comforter of all that call upon thee; thou hast concluded all under sin, that thou mightest have mercy upon all: Look upon me O God, and have pity on me lying in my blood and misery, in my shame and in my sins, in the fear and guilt of thy wrath, in the shadow of death, and in the gates of hell. I confess to thee O God what thou knowest already; but I confess it to manifest thy justice, and to glorify thy mercy who hast spared me so long, ●hat I am guilty of the vilest and basest follies which usually dishonour the fools and the worst of the sons of men. II. I have been proud and covetous, envious and lustful, angry and greedy, indevout and irreligious; restless in my passions, sensual and secular, but hating wise counsels, and soon weary of the Offices of a holy Religion. I cannot give an account of my time, and I cannot reckon the sins of my tongue. My crimes are intolerable, and my imperfections shameful, and my omissions innumerable; and what shall I do O thou preserver of men? I am so vile that I cannot express it, so sinful that I am hateful to myself, and much more abominable must I needs be in thy eyes. I have sinned against thee without necessity, sometimes without temptation, only because I would sin, and would not delight in the ways of peace: I have been so ingrateful, so foolish, so unreasonable, that I have put my own eyes out, that I might with confidence and without fear sin against so good a God, so gracious a Father, so infinite a Power, so glorious a Majesty, so bountiful a Patron, and so mighty a Redeemer, that my sin is grown shameful and aggravated even to amazement. I can say no more, I am ashamed, O God, I am amazed, I am confounded in thy presence. III. But yet O God thou art the healer of our breaches, and the lifter up of our head; and I must not despair; and I am sure thy goodness is infinite, and thou dost not delight in the death of a sinner; and my sins, though very great, are infinitely less than thy mercies, which thou hast revealed to all penitent and returning sinners in Jesus Christ. I am not worthy to look up to heaven; but be thou pleased to look down into the dust, and lift up a sinner from the dunghill; let me not perish in my folly, or be consumed in thy heavy displeasure. Give me time and space to repent; and give me powers of Grace and aids of thy spirit; that as by thy gift and mercy I intent to amend whatsoever is amiss, so I may indeed have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same. Inspire me with the spirit of repentance and mortification, that I may always fight against my sins till I be more than conqueror. Support me with a holy hope, confirm me with an excellent, operative, and unreprovable faith, and enkindle a bright and a burning charity in my soul: Give me patience in suffering, severity in judging and condemning my sin, and in punishing the sinner, that judging myself, I may not be condemned by thee; that mourning for my sins, may rejoice in thy pardon; that killing my sin, I may live in righteousness; that denying my own will, I may always perform thine; and by the methods of thy Spirit I may overcome all carnal and spiritual wickednesses, and walk in thy light, and delight in thy service, and perfect my obedience, and be wholly delivered from my sin, and for ever preserved from thy wrath, and at last pass on from a certain expectation to an actual fruition of the glories of thy Kingdom, through Jesus Christ our lord Amen, Amen, Amen. 1. I am in thy sight O Lord a polluted person; sin like a crust of leprosy hath overspread me: I am a scandal to others, a shame to myself, a reproach to my relations, a burden to the earth, a spot in the Church, and deserve to be rejected and scorned by thee. 2. But this O God I cannot bear: It is just in thee to destroy me; but thou delightest not in that: I am guilty of death; but thou lovest rather that I should live. 3. O let the cry of thy Son's blood, who offers an eternal Sacrifice to thee, speak on my behalf, and speak better things than the blood of Abel. 4. My conscience does accuse me, the Devils rejoice in my fall and aggravate my crimes, already too great; and thy holy Spirit is grieved by me: But my Saviour Jesus died for me, and thou pitiest me, and thy holy Spirit still calls upon me, and I am willing to come; but I cannot come unless thou drawest me with the cords of love. 5. O draw me unto thee by the Arguments of charity, by the endearments of thy mercies, by the order of thy providence, by the hope of thy promises, by the sense of thy comforts, by the conviction of my understanding, by the zeal and passion of holy affections, by an unreprovable faith and an humble hope, by a religious fear and an increasing love, by the obedience of precepts and efficacy of holy example, by thy power and thy wisdom, by the love of thy Son and the grace of thy Spirit: Draw me O God, and I will run after thee, and the sweetnesses of thy precious ointments. 6. I am not worthy O Lord, I am not worthy to come into thy presence, much less to eat the flesh of the Sacrificed Lamb: For my sins, O Blessed Saviour Jesus, went along in confederation with the High Priests, in treachery with Judas, in injustice with Pilate, in malice with the people. 7. My sins and the Jews crucified thee; my hypocrisy was the kiss that betrayed thee; my covetous and ambitious desires were the thorns that pricked thy sacred head; my vanity was the knee that mocked thee; my lusts disrobed thee, and made thee naked to shame and cruel scourge; my anger and malice, my peevishness and revenge, were the bitter gall which thou didst taste; my bitter words and cursed speaking were the vinegar which thou didst drink; and my scarlet sins made for thee a purple robe of mockery and derision; and where shall I vile wretch appear, who have put my Lord to death, and exposed him to an open shame, and crucified the Lord of Life? 8. Where should I appear but before my Saviour, who died for them that have murdered him, who hath loved them that hated him, who is the Saviour of his enemies, and the life of the dead, and the redemption of captives, and the advocate for sinners, and all that we do need, and all that we can desire? 9 Grant that in thy wounds I may find my safety, in thy stripes my cure, in thy pain my peace, in thy cross my victory, in thy resurrection my triumph, and a crown of righteousness in the glories of thy eternal Kingdom. Amen, Amen. S. Augustine's penitential Prayer. Before thy eyes, O gracious Lord, we bring our crimes; before thee we expose the wounds of our bleeding souls. That which we suffer is but little; but that which we deserve is intolerable: We fear the punishment of our sins, but cease not pertinaciously to proceed in sinning: Our weakness is sometimes smitten with thy rod, but our iniquity is not changed; our grieved mind is troubled, but our stiff neck is not bended with the flexures of a holy obedience; our life spends in vanity and trouble, but amends itself in nothing: When thou smitest us, than we confess our sin; but when thy visitation is past, than we forget that we have wept: When thou stretchest forth thy hand, than we promise to do our duty; but when thou takest off thy hand, we perform no promises: If thou strikest, we cry to thee to spare us; but when thou sparest, we again provoke thee to strike us. Thus O God the guilty confess before thee; and unless thou givest us pardon, it is but just that we perish: But O Almighty God our Father, grant to us what we ask, even though we deserve it not; for thou madest us out of nothing, else we had not any power to ask.] Pardon us, O gracious Father, and take away all our sin, and destroy the work of the Devil; and let the enemy have no part nor portion in us; but acknowledge the work of thy own hands, the price of thy own blood, the sheep of thy own fold, the members of thy own body, the purchase of thine own inheritance; and make us to be what thou hast commanded; give unto us what thou hast designed for us; enable us for the work thou hast enjoined us, and bring us to the place which thou hast prepared for us by the blood of the everlasting Covenant, and by the pains of the Cross, and the glories of thy Resurrection, O blessed and most glorious Saviour and Redeemer Jesus. Amen. CHAP. IU. Of our Actual and Ornamental Preparation to the Reception of the Blessed Sacrament. SECT. I. HE that is dressed by the former measures is always worthy to communicate; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but he that is always well vested, will against a wedding day be more adorned; and the five wise Virgins that stood ready for the coming of the Bridegroom, with oil in their lamps and fire on their oil, yet at the notice of his coming trimmed their lamps, and made them to burn brighter. The receiving of the Blessed Sacrament is a receiving of Christ; and here the soul is united to her Lord; and this Feast is the Supper of the Lamb, and the Lamb is the Bridegroom, and every faithful soul is the Bride; and all this is but the image of the state of blessedness in heaven, where we shall see him without a vail, whom here we receive under the vail of Sacraments; and there we shall live upon him without a figure, Panem Angelorum sub Sacramento manducamus in terris, eundem sine Sacramento manifestius edemus in coelis, non ministerio corporali saepe repetitis actionibus ad eundem revertentes: Sed consummato Sacerdotio nostro erit & permanebit perpetua & stabilis, implens & reficiens nos sufficientiâ, quâ proferet se palam absque ullis integumentis, omnibus conspicabilis summi praesentia sacerdotis. S. Cyprian. de coenâ Dom. cap. 2. to whom we are now brought by significations and representments corporal. But then as we here receive the same thing as there, though after a less perfect manner; it is also very fit we should have here the same, that is, a heavenly conversation, though after the manner of men living upon the earth. It is true, that the blessed souls receive Christ always, and they live accordingly, in perpetual uninterrupted glorifications of his name, and conformities to his excellencies. Ecce panis Angelorum Factus cibus viatorum. Qui nos pascis hic mortales, Tuos ibi commensales Cohaeredes & Sodales Fac Sanctorum civium. Hymn. Eccles. Here we receive him at certain times, and at such times we should make our conversation celestial, and our holiness actual, when our addresses are so; so that in our actual addresses to the reception of these divine Mysteries, there is nothing else to be done, but that what in our whole life is done habitually, at that time be done actually▪ No man is fit to die, but he who is safe if he dies suddenly; and yet he that is so fitted, if he hears the noise of the Bridegrooms coming, will snuff his lamp, and stir up the fire, and apply the oil; and so must he that hath warning of his Communion. He that communicates every day, must live a life of a continual Religion; and so must he who in any sense communicates frequently, if he does it at all worthily; but he that lives carelessly, and dresses his soul with the beginnings of virtues against a Communion day, is like him that reputes not till the day of his death; if it succeeds well, it is happy for him; but if it does not, he may blame himself for being confident without a promise. Every worthy Communicant must prepare himself by a holy life, by mortification of all his sins, by the acquisition of all Christian graces; and this is not the work of a day, or a week; but by how much the more these things are done, by so much the better we are prepared. So that the actual address and proper preparation to the Blessed Sacrament is indeed an inquiry whether we are habitually prepared; that is, whether we be in the state of grace; whether we belong to Christ, whether we have faith and charity, whether we have repent truly. If we be to communicate next week, or it may be to morrow, these things cannot be gotten to day, and therefore we must stay till we be ready. And if by our want of preparation we be compelled for the saving of our souls, and lest we die, to abstain from this holy feast, let us consider what our case would be if this should be the last coming of the Bridegroom. This is but the warning of that; this is but his last coming a little antedated; and God graciously calls us now to be prepared here, that we may not be unprepared then; but it is a formidable thing to be thrust out when we see others enter. And therefore when the Masters of spiritual life call upon us to set apart a day, or two, or three, for preparation to this holy Feast, they do not mean that any man who on the Thursday is unfit and unworthy, should be fitted to communicate on Sunday; but that he should on those days try whether he be or no, and pass from one degree of perfection to a greater, from the less perfect to the more; for let us think of it as we please, there is no other preparation; and it might otherwise seem a wonder to us, why St. Paul who particularly speaks of it, and indeed the whole New Testament, should say nothing of any particular preparation to this holy ●east; but only gives us caution that we do not receive it unworthily, but gives us no particular rule or precept but this one, that a man should examine himself, and so let him eat: I say, this might seem very strange, but that we find there is and there can be no worthy preparation to it but a life of holiness, and that every one who names the Lord Jesus should depart from iniquity; and therefore, that against the day of Communion there is nothing peculiarly and signally required, but to examine ourselves, to see if all be right in the whole; and what is wanting towards our proportion of perfection and ornament, to supply it. So that the immediate preparation to the holy Communion can have in it but three parts and conjugations of duty. 1. An examination of our conscience. 2. An actual supply of such actions as are wanting. 3. Actual devotion, and the exercise of special graces by way of prayer, so to adorn our present state and dispositions. SECT. II. Rules for Examination of our Consciences against the day of our Communion. HOw we are to examine ourselves concerning such states of life and conjugations of duty as are properly relative to the great and essential preparation and worthiness to communicate, I have already largely considered * Cap. 2. : Now I shall add such practical advices which may with advantage minister to the actual reception, such which concern the immediate preparatory and ornamental address; that we may reduce the former Doctrine to action and exercise against that time; and this will serve as an appendix, and for the completing the former measures. 1. In the days of your address consider the greatness of the work you go about; that it is the highest mystery of the whole Religion you handle; that it is no less than Christ himself in Sacrament that you take; that as sure as any Christian does ever receive the Spirit of God, so sure every good man receives Christ in the Sacrament; that to receive Christ in Sacrament is not a diminution or lessening of the blessing; it is a real communion with him, to all material events of blessing and holiness; that now every Communicant does an act that will contribute very much to an happy or unhappy eternity; that by this act and its appendages a man may live or die for ever; that a man cannot at all be supposed in any state, that this thing will be indifferent to him in that state, but will set him forward to some very great event; that this is the greatest thing that God gives us in the world, and if we do it well, it is the greatest thing we can do in the world; and therefore when we have considered these things in general, let us examine whether we be persons in any sense fitted to such glorious communications, and prepared by such dispositions which the greatness of the Mystery may in its appearance seem to require. Some may perceive their disproportion at the first sight, and need to examine no farther. It is as if a Jew in Rome with his basket and bottle of hay should be advised to stand Candidate for the Consulship; you mock him if you speak of it: and therefore if you find your case like this, start back and come not near. It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, there's Divinity in it; and to the wicked it brings brimstone and fire. 2. Next to this general consideration, examine yourself concerning those things in which you are or may be offensive to others: For although every man is to begin at home, yet that which is first to be changed is that which is not only evil in itself, but afflictive to others; that which is sin and shame, that which offends God and my neighbour too; that is, it is criminal, and it is scandalous. Examine therefore thyself about injuriousness, robbery, detraction, obloquy, scolding, much prating, peevish conversation, ungentle nature, aptness to quarrel, and the like: For thus if like Zachary and Elizabeth we walk unblamably, and unreprovable before all the world, certain it is, the Church will not reject us from the Communion; and we have purchased a good degree in the faith, and shall think our condition worth preserving and worth improving. 3. Examine thyself concerning all intercourses in the matter of men, whether any unhandsome contract was made, any fraudulent bargain, any surprise or out-witting of thy weaker, thy confident, or unwary Brother; and whatever you do, place that right: For money is a snare; and in contracts we are of all things soon deceived, and are very often wrong, and yet never think so, and we do every thing before we part with this. But when every thing is set right here, we may better hope of other things; for either they are right, or will with less difficulty be made so. 4. Like to this, for the matter of the inquiry, is that we examine ourselves in the matter of our debts, whether we detain them otherwise than in justice we are obliged? Here we must examine whether we be able to pay them? If so, whether presently or afterwards? By what we are disabled? Whether we can and aught to alter the state of our expenses? What probability we have to pay them at all? How we can secure that they shall be paid? and if they cannot, how much can we do towards it? And what amends can we make to our Creditors? And how we mean to end that intercourse? For this aught to be so far at least stated, that we may be sure we do no injustice, and do no injury that we can avoid. This is a material consideration, and of great effect unto the peace of conscience, and a worthy disposition to the holy Communion. 5. Let us examine ourselves how we spend our time. Is it employed in an honest calling, in worthy studies, in useful business, in affairs of government, in something that is charitable, in any thing that is useful? But if we throw away great portions of it, of which we can give no sober account; although the Laws chastise us not, and appoint no guardians to conduct our estates, as it does to fools and mad men; yet we are like to fall into severer hands; and God will be angry. But they are very unfit to entertain Christ, who when they have received his Sacrament resolve to dwell in idleness and foolish divertisements, and have no business but recreation. At the best, it is but a suspicious state of life, that can give no wise account to God and the Commonwealth. 6. Examine thyself in the particulars of thy relation; especially where thou governest and takest accounts of others, and exactest their faults, and art not so obnoxious to them as they to thee. Princes, and Generals, and Parents, and Husbands, and Masters think more things are lawful to them towards their inferiors, than indeed there are; and as they may easily transgress in discipline and reproof, so they very often fail in making provisions for the souls and bodies of their inferiors; and proceed with more confidence and to greater progressions in evil because they pass without animadversion, or the notice of laws. These persons are not often responsible to their subordinate's, but always for them; and therefore it were good that we took great notice of it ourselves, because few else do. 7. Let us examine ourselves concerning the great and little accidents of our private intercourse and conversation in our family; especially between man and wife in the little quarrelings and accidental unkindnesses wherein both think themselves innocent, and it may be both are to blame. If the matter be disputable, then do thou dispute it with thyself, or rather condemn thyself; for if it be fit to be questioned, it is certainly in some measure fit to be repent of. For either in the thing itself, or in the misapprehension of the thing, or in the not expounding it well, or in the not suffering it, or in the not concealing it, or in the not turning it into virtue, or in the not forgiving it, or not conducting it prudently, it is great odds but thou art to blame. These little rencontres between man and wife are great hindrances to prayer, 1 Pet. 3.7. as St. Peter intimates; and by consequence do infinitely indispose us to the greatest solennity of prayer, the holy Sacrament; and therefore aught to be strictly surveyed, and the principles rescinded, and the beginnings stopped, or else we shall communicate without fruit. 8. Be sure against a day of Communion to examine thyself in those things which no law condemns, but yet are of ill report, such as are sumptuous and expensive clothing, great feasts, gaudy dress, going often to Taverns, fantastic following of fashions, inordinate merriments, living beyond our means; in these and the like, we must take our measures by a proportion to the prudence and severity of Christian Religion, and by observation of the customs and usages of the best and wisest persons in every condition of men and women. For that we do things which are of good report is a precept of the Apostle: and as by little illnesses in the body; so by the smallest indispositions in the soul, if they be proceeded in, we may finish ●he method of an eternal death. And these things, although when they are argued, may in many particulars by witty men be represented in themselves as innocent, yet they proceed from an evil and unsafe principle, and not from a spirit fitted to dwell with Christ, and live upon Sacraments and secret participations. 9 Let us with curiosity examine our souls in such actions which are condemned by the Laws of God and man respectively, but are not defined, and the guilty person cannot in many cases be argued and convinced; such as are pride and covetousness. For when external actions can proceed from many principles, as a haughty gate from pride, or an ill habit of body, or imitation, or carelessness, or humour; it will be hard for any man to say, I am proud because I lift up my feet too high; and who can say that a degree of care and thriftiness in my case and in my circumstances is covetousness? Here as we must be gentle to others, so we must be severe to ourselves; and not only condemn the very first entries of an infant sin; but suspect his approaches, and acknowledge a fault before it be certain and evident. In these things we must the rather examine ourselves; because we can be the most certain accusers of ourselves; and the inquiries are of great concernment, because they are that curiosity of piety and security of condition which becomes persons of growth in grace, and such as are properly fitted to the Communion: and indeed they are of things most commonly neglected; men usually living at that rate▪ that if they be not scandalous, they suppose themselves to be Saints and fitted for the nearest intercourse with Christ. These instances of examination do suppose that we have already examined ourselves concerning all habits of sin, and laid aside every discernible weight, and repent of every observed criminal action; and broken every custom of lesser irregularities, and are reform by the measures of Laws and express Commandments, and are changed from death to life; and that we are persons so far advanced that we need not to regard what is behind, but to press forward towards the state of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. For he that is in that state of things, that he is to examine how many actions of uncleanness, or intemperance, or slander he hath committed since the last Communion, is not fit to come to another, but must change his life, and repent greatly before he comes hither. SECT. III. Of an actual supply to be made of such actions and degrees of good as are wanting; against a Communion-day. 1. IF on a Communion-day, we need very much examination, we can make but little supply of those many defects which it is likely a diligent inquiry will discover; and therefore it is highly advisable, that as we ought to repent every day, and not put it all off till the day of our Communion or our death; so we should every day examine ourselves, at the shutting in of the day, or at our going to bed; for so St. Basil, St. chrysostom, Serm. 1. de instit. Monach. Serm. de poenit. in illud Psalmi. In Cubilibus vestris compungimini. lib. 50. homil. 44. St. Anthony and St. Austin, St. Ephrem and St. Dorotheus do advise. Others advise that it be done twice every day: and indeed the oftener we recollect ourselves: 1. The more weaknesses we shall observe, and 2. the more faults correct, and 3. watch the better, and 4. repent the more perfectly, and 5. offend less, and 6. be more prepared for death, and 7. be more humble, and 8. with ease prevent the contracting of evil habits, and 9 interrupt the union of little sins into a chain of death, and 10. more readily prevail upon our passions, and 11. better understand ourselves, and 12. more frequently converse with God, and 13. oftener pray, and 14. have a more heavenly conversation, and in fine, 15. be more fitted for a frequent and holy Communion. 2. The end of examination is, 1. That we grieve for all our sins. 2. That we resolve to amend all. * 3. That we actually watch and pray against all: Therefore it is necessary that when we have examined against a Communion day; 1. We always do actions of contrition for every thing we have observed to be amiss; 2. That we renew our resolutions of better obedienc●, 3. And that we pray for particular strength against our failings. 3. He that would communicate with fruit must so have ordered his examinations, that he must not always be in the same method. He must not always be walking with a candle in his hands, and prying into corners; but they must be swept and garnished, and be kept clean and adorned. His examinations must be made full and throughly and be productive of inferior resolutions, and must pass on to rules and exercises of caution. That is, 1. We must consider where we fail oftenest. 2. From what principle this default comes. 3. What are the best remedies. 4. We must pass on to the real and vigorous use of them: and when the case is thus stated and drawn into rules and resolutions of acting them; we are only to take care we do so; and every day examine whether we have or no. But we must not at all dwell in this relative and preparatory and ministering duty. But if we find that we have reason to do so; let us be sure that something is amiss; we have played the hypocrites, and done the work of the Lord negligently or falsely. 4. If any passion be the daily exercise or temptation of our life, let us be careful to put the greatest distress upon that, and therefore against a Communion-day, do something in defiance and diminution of that; chastise it, if it hath prevailed: reinforce thy resolutions against it, examine all thy aids, see what hath been prosperous, and pursue that point; and if thou hast not at all prevailed, then know, all is not well; for he communicates without fruit, who makes no progressions in his mortifications and conquest over his passions. It may be we shall be long exercised with the remains of the Canaanites; for it is in the matter of Passions as Seneca said of Vices, Pugnamus, non ut penitus vincamus, sed ne vincamur. We fight against them not to conquer them entirely, but that they may not conquer us; not to kill them, but to bring them under command; and unless we do that, we cannot be sure that we are in the state of grace; and therefore cannot tell if we do, or do not worthily communicate. For by all the exterior actions of our life we cannot so well tell how it is with us, as by the observation of our affections and passions, our wills and our desires. For I can command my foot, S. Aug. lib. 8. confess. cap. 9 and it must obey; and my hand, and it cannot resist; but when I bid my appetite obey, or my anger be still, or my will not to desire, I find it very often to rebel against my word, and against God's word] Therefore let us be sure to take some effective course with the appetite, and place our guards upon the inward man; and upon our preparation days do some violence to our lusts and secret desires, by holy resolutions, and severe purposes, and rules of caution, and by designing a course of spiritual arts and exercises for the reducing them to reason and obedience: something that may be remembered; and something that will be done. * But to this let this caution be added; that of all things in the world we be careful of relapses into our old follies or infirmities; for if things do not succeed well afterwards, they were not well ordered at first. 5. Upon our communion days, and days of preparation; let us endeavour to stir up every grace which we are to exercise in our conversation; and thrust ourselves forward in zeal of those graces: that we begin to amend our lukewarmness, and repair our sins of omission. For this is a day of sacrifice; and every sacrifice must be consumed by fire, and therefore, now is the day of improvement, and the proper season for the zeal of duty; and if upon the solemn day of the soul we do not take care of omissions, and repair the great and little forgetfulnesses, and omissions of duty, and pass from the infirmities of a man to the affections of a Saint, we may all our life time abide in a state of lukewarmness, disimprovement and indifference; To this purpose, 6 Compare day with day, week with week, Communion with Communion, time with time, duty with duty, and see if you can observe any advantage, any ground gotten of a passion; any further degree of the spirit of mortificaton, any new permanent fires of devotion; for by volatile, sudden and transient flames we can never guests steadily. But be sure never to think you are at all improved unless you observe your defects to be, 1. fewer: 2. or lighter: or 3. at least not to be the same; but of another kind and instance, against which you had not made particular provisions formerly; but now upon this new observation and experience you must. 7. Upon or against a Communion day endeavour to put your soul into that order and state of good things, as if that day you were to die; and consider that unless you dare die upon that day, if God should call you, there is but little reason you should dare to receive the Sacrament of life, or the ministry of death. He that communicates worthily is justified from sins; and to him death can have no sting, to whom the Sacrament brings life and health; and therefore let every one that is to communicate place himself by meditation in the gates of death, and suppose himself seated before the Tribunal of God's Judgement, and see whether he can reasonably hope that his sins are pardoned, and cured, and extinguished. And then if you judge righteous judgement, you will soon find what pinches most, what makes you most afraid, what was most criminal, or what is least mortified; and so you will learn to make provisions accordingly. 8. If you find any thing yet amiss, or too suspicious, or remaining to evil purposes, the relics of the scattered enemy after a war, resolve to use some general instrument of piety or repentance, that may, by being useful in all the parts of your life and conversation, meet with every straggling irregularity, and by perpetuity and an assiduous force clear the coast. 1. Resolve to have the presence of God frequently in your thought. 2. Or endeavour and resolve to bring it to pass to have so great a dread and reverence of God, that you may be more ashamed and really troubled and confounded to sin in the presence of God than in the sight and observation of the best and severest man. 3. Or else resolve to punish thyself with some proportionable affliction of the body or spirit for every irregularity or return of undecency in that instance in which thou sets thyself to mortify any one special passion or temptation: Or 4. Firmly to purpose in every thing which is not well, not to stay a minute, but to repent instantly of it, severely to condemn it, and to do something at the first opportunity for amends: Or 5. To resolve against an instance of infirmity for some short, sure, and conquerable periods of time: as if you be given to prating, resolve to be silent, or to speak nothing but what is pertinent for a day; or for a day not to be angry; and then sometimes for two days; and so diet your weak soul with little portions of food till it be able to take in and digest a full meal: Or 6. Meditate often every day of death, or the day of judgement. By these and the like instruments it will happen to the remains of sin, as it did to the Egyptians; what is left by the Hail, the Caterpillar will destroy; and what the Caterpillar leaves, the Locusts will eat. These instruments will eat up the remains of sin as the poor gather up the glean after the Carts in harvest. 9 But if at any Communion and in the use of these advices you do not perceive any sensible progression in the spirit of mortification or devotion; then be sure to be ashamed, and to be humbled for thy indisposition and slow progression in the discipline of Christ: and if thou be'st humbled truly for thy want of improvement, it is certain thou hast improved. And if you come with fear and trembling, it is very probable you will come in the spirit of repentance and devotion. These exercises and measures will not seem many, long and tedious * Quisquis amore venit, nescit se ferre laborem Nemo laboret jacet, quisquis amore venit. as the rules of art; if we consider that all are not to be used at all times, nor by every person; but are instruments fitted to several necessities, Ven. Fortunat. lib. 3. epigr. 37. and useful when they can do good, and to be used no longer. ●or he that uses these or any the like advices by way of solemnity, and in periodical returns, will still think fit to use them at every Communion as long as he lives; but he that uses them as he should, that is, to effect the work of reformation upon his soul, may lay them all aside, according to his work is done. But if we would every day do something of this; if we would every day prepare for the day of death, or which is of a like consideration, for the day of our Communion; if we would every night examine our passed day, and set our things in order; if we would have a perpetual intercourse and conversation with God; or, which is better than all examinations in the world, if we would actually attend to what we do, and consider every action, and speak so little that we might consider it, we should find that upon the day of our Communion we should have nothing to do, but the third particular, that is, the offices of Prayer and Eucharist, and to renew our graces by prayer and exercises of devotion. SECT. IV. Devotions to be used upon the morning of the Communion. 1. O Blessed Lord, our gracious Saviour and Redeemer Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords; thou art fairer than the children of men; upon thee the Angels look and behold and wonder; what am I O Lord, that thou who fillest heaven and earth, shouldst descend and desire to dwell with me, who am nothing but folly and infirmity, misery and sin, shame and death? 2. I confess, O God, that when I consider thy greatness and my nothing, thy purity and my uncleanness, thy glory and my shame; I see it to be infinitely unreasonable and presumptuous that I should approach to thy sacred presence, and desire to partake of thy Sacraments, and to enter into thy grace, and to hope for a part of thy glory. But when I consider thy mercy and thy wisdom, thy bounty and thy goodness, thy readiness to forgive, and thy desires to impart thyself unto thy servants; then I am lifted up with hope; then I come with boldness to the throne of grace. Even so O Lord because thou hast commanded it, and because thou lovest it should be so. 3. It was never heard O Lord from the beginning of the world, that thou didst ever despise him that called upon thee, or forsake any man that abides in thy fear, or that any person who trusted in the Lord, was ever confounded. But if I come to thee, I bring an unworthy person to be united unto thee; if I come not, I shall remain unworthy for ever; If I stay away, I fear to lose thee; If I come, I fear to offend thee, and that will lose thee more, and myself too at last. I know O God I know, my sins have separated between me and my God; but thy love and thy passion, thy holiness and thy obedience hath reconciled us: and though my sins deter me, yet they make it necessary for me to come; and though thy greatness amazes me▪ yet it is so full of goodness that it invites me. 4. O therefore blessed Saviour, who didst for our sakes take upon thee our passions and sensibilities, our weaknesses and our sufferings, who wert hungry after the temptation of the Devil, weary and thirsty in thy discourse with the woman of Samaria, who didst weep over Lazarus, wert afflicted in the garden, whipped in the Consistory, nailed on the Cross, pierced with a spear, wrapped in linen, laid in the grave, and so art become a 〈◊〉 High Priest and pitiful to our infi●●●●ie●; be pleased to receive a weary sinner, 〈◊〉 overburd●ne●●●nscience, an afflicted polluted soul into thy c●re and conduct, into thy custody and ●●re. I know that a thousand years of tears and sorrow, the purity of Angels, the love of Saints, and the humiliation of the greatest penitent is not sufficient to make we worthy to dwell with thee, to be united to thy infinity, to be fed with thy body, and refreshed with thy purest blood, to become bone of thy bone, and flesh of thy flesh, and spirit of thy spirit. 5. But what I cannot be of myself, let me be made by thee; I come to thee, wounded and bruised and bleeding; for thou art my Physician, arise then with healing in thy wings; I am thirsty and faint, as the Hart longeth after the water brooks, so longeth my soul after thee O God; thou art the eternal fountain, from whence spring the waters of comfort and salvation; I am hungry and empty and weak, and I come running after thee because thou hast the words of eternal life; O send me not away empty, for I shall faint and die; I cannot live without thee. O let virtue go forth from thee and heal all my sickness; do thou appear to my soul in these mysteries; heal my sores, purify my stains, enlighten my darkness, turn me from all vain imaginations and illusions of the enemy, all perverseness of will, all violence and inordination of passions, sensual desires and devilish angers, lust and malice, gluttony and pride, the spirit of envy and the spirit of detraction; let not sin reign in my members, nor the Devil lead my will captive, nor the world abuse my understanding and debauch my conversation. 6. O Jesus be a Jesus unto me: and let this Sacrament be a savour of life, and thy holy body the bread of life, and thy precious blood the purifier of my sinful life. Grant I may receive these Divine mysteries for the amendment of my life, and the defensative against my sins; for the increase of virtue and the perfection of my spirit; Grant that I may from thee thus Sacramentally communicated derive prevailing grace for the amendment of my life; spiritual wisdom for the discerning the ways of peace; the spirit of love, and the spirit of purity; that in all my life I may walk worthy of thy gracious favours which thou givest to me unworthy; that I may do all my works in holiness and right intention, that I may resist every temptation with a never fainting courage, and a caution never surprised, and a prudence never deceived. 7. Sweetest Saviour, I come to thee upon thy invitation, and thy commandment; I could not come to thee but by thee; O let me never go from thee any more, but enter into my heart; feed me with thy word, sustain me with thy spirit, refresh me with thy comforts, and let me in this divine mystery receive thee my dearest Saviour; and be thou my wisdom and my righteousness,, my sanctification and redemption; let me receive this holy nutriment as the earnest of an eternal inheritance, as a defensative against all spiritual danger, for the eviction of all the powers of the enemy, as an incentive of holy love, and a strengthening of my faith, for the increasing of a holy hope, and the consummation of a heavenly love, that thou being one with me, and I with thee, I may by thee be gracious in the eyes of thy heavenly Father, and may receive my portion amongst the inheritance of Sons, O eternal and most gracious Saviour and Redeemer Jesus. Amen, Amen. CHAP. VII. Of our Comportment in and after our Receiving the Blessed Sacrament. SECT. I. Of the Circumstances and Manner of Reception of the Divine Mysteries. IT is the custom of the Church of great antiquity, and proportionable regard, that every Christian that is in health should receive the Blessed Sacrament fasting. The Apostles and primitive Bishops at first gave it after Supper, or together with it; but that soon passed into inconvenience; and some were drunken, and some were empty and despised, and the Holy Sacrament was dishonoured, and the Lords body was not discerned, and God was provoked to anger, and the sinners were smitten and died in their sin; as appears in the sad narrative which St. Paul makes of the misdemeanours and the misfortunes in the Corinthian Churches. 1 Cor. 11.21, 30. Something like to which, is that which Socrates tells of some Christians in Egypt; they celebrated the Holy Communion at evening, but never till they had filled themselves with varities of choice meat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Socrat. l. 5. epist. 118. ad Januar. Of some also in Africa that communicated at evening St. Austin speaks; and of others who communicated both morning and evening: At evening, because S. Paul called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Lords Supper; and in the morning, from the universal custom of the Church, which in most places from the very days of the Apostles prevailed, that the holy Eucharist should be given to none but to them that were fasting: which thing was also decreed in the third Council of Carthage, and hath been observed ever since. Ut Sacramenta Altaris non nisi à jejunis hominibus celebrentur, excepto uno die anniversario, quo coena Domini celebratur. Vide Zonar. in hunc Canon: & Council Matiscon. 2. & Petrum Abailardum epist. 8. And in this the Church hath not without good reason taken up the custom. For besides that the intemperance of them that feasted before they communicated, did not only give scandal to the Religion, but did infinitely indispose them that came, and dishonour the Divine Mysteries; and such feast would for ever be a temptation and a snare, and therefore could not be cured so well as by taking the occasion away; besides these things, the Church observed, that in the time of the Synagogue, the Servants of God did religiously abstain from meat and drink upon all their solemn feast days, till their great Offices of Religion were finished; and that upon this account the Jews were scandalised at the Disciples for eating the ears of corn early on their Sabbath; and Christ excused them only upon the reason of their hunger, that is, upon necessity or charity: and after all, even by natural reason and experience we find that they pray and worship best who are not loaden with meat and drink; and that therefore this solemnity being the greatest worship of God in the whole Religion, consequently aught to be done with all advantages; it was therefore very reasonable that the Church took up this custom; and therefore they who causelessly do prevaricate it, shall bear their own burden, and are best reproved by St. Paul's words. We have no such custom, nor the Churches of God. But sick people and the weak are as readily to be excused in this thing, as the Apostles were by Christ in the case before mentioned: For necessity and charity are to be preferred before such ceremonies and circumstances of address. 1. When you awake in the morning of your Communion day, give God thanks particularly that he hath blessed thee with so blessed an opportunity of receiving the Symbols of pardon, the ministry of the Spirit, the Sacrament of Christ himself, the seed of immortality, and the Antepast of heaven, and hasten earlier out of your bed: The cock crowing that morning is like the noise that is made of the coming of the Bridegroom; and therefore go out to meet him, but rise that you may trim your lamp. When you are up, presently address yourself to do such things as you would willingly be found doing when the Bridegroom calls, and you are to appear before him to hear your final sentence. 2. Make a general confession of your sins, and be very much humbled in the sense and apprehension of them. Compare the state and union of all your evils, with the state and grandeur of that favour which God intends that day to consign to you; and then think what you are, and what God is; what you have done, and what God intends to do; how ill you have deserved, and yet how graciously you are dealt with. And consider what an infinite distance there is between that state which you have deserved, and that good which you are to have; by considering how intolerable your case would have been, if God had dealt with you as you deserve, and as he hath dealt with very many who sinned no more than you have done; and yet in what felicities you are placed by the mercies of your good God; that you are in the hopes, and in the methods, and in the participations of pardon and eternal life. 3. The effect of this consideration ought to be, that you make acts of general contrition for all your sins known and unknown: That you renew your purposes and vows of better obedience: That you exercise acts of special graces; and that you give God most hearty and superexalted thanks with all the transports and ravishments of spirit, for so unspeakable, so meritable, so unrewardable a loving kindness. 4. Worship Jesus: Love him; dedicate thyself to him; recollect what he hath done for thy soul, what glories he laid aside, with what meanness he was invested, what pains he suffered, what shame he endured, what excellencies he preached what wisdom he taught, what life he lived, what death he died, what Mysteries he hath appointed, by what ministeries he conveys himself to thee, what rare arts he uses to save thee; and after all, that he intercedes for thee perpetually in heaven, presenting to his heavenly Father that great Sacrifice of himself which he finished on the Cross, and commands thee to imitate in this Divine and Mysterious Sacrament; and in the midst of these thoughts and proportionable exercises and devotions, address thyself to the solemnities and blessings of the day. 5. Throw away with great diligence and severity all unholy and all earthly thoughts; and think the thoughts of heaven: for when Christ descends he comes attended with innumerable companies of Angels, who all behold and wonder, who love and worship Jesus; and in this glorious employment and society let thy thoughts be pure, and thy mind celestial, and thy work Angelical, and thy spirit full of love, and thy heart of wonder; thy mouth all praises, investing and encircling thy prayers as a bright cloud is adorned with fringes and margins of light. 6. When thou seest the holy man minister, dispute no more, inquire no more, doubt no more, be divided no more; but believe, and behold with the eyes of faith and of the spirit, that thou seest Christ's body broken upon the Cross, that thou seest him bleeding for thy sins, S. Cyprian de coenâ Dom. sanguinem sugimus, etc. that thou feedest upon the food of elect souls, that thou puttest thy mouth to the hole of the rock that was smitten, to the wound of the side of thy Lord, which being pierced streamed forth Sacraments, and life, and holiness, and pardon, and purity, and immortality upon thee. 7. When the words of Institution are pronounced, all the Christians used to say Amen; giving their consent, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Justin Martyr. confessing that faith, believing that word, rejoicing in that Mystery which is told us when the Minister of the Sacrament in the person of Christ says, This is my body, This is my blood; This body was broken for you, and this blood was poured forth for you; and all this for the remission of your sins. And remember, that the guilt of eternal damnation which we have all incurred, was a great and an intolerable evil, and unavoidable if such miracles of mercy had not been wrought to take it quite away; and that it was a very great love which would work such glorious mercy, rather than leave us in so intolerable a condition. A greater love than this could not be; and a less love than this could not have rescued us. 8. When the holy Man reaches forth his hands upon the Symbols, and prays over them, and intercedes for the sins of the people, and breaks the holy bread, Illud quaeso vir Sapientissime ipsâ re approbes; quis sit iste Deus quem vobis Christiani quasi proprium vendicatis, & in locis abditis praesentem vos videre componitis? dixit Maximus Medaurensis in epist. ad S. Augustinum tom. 2. ep. 43. post medium. and pours forth the sacred chalice, place thyself by faith and meditation in heaven, and see Christ doing in his glorious manner this very thing which thou seest ministered and imitated upon the Table of the Lord; and then remember that it is impossible thou shouldest miss of eternal blessings, which are so powerfully procured for thee by the Lord himself; unless thou wilt despise all this, and neglect so great salvation, and choosest to eat with swine the dirty pleasures of the earth, rather than thus to feast with Saints and Angels, and to eat the body of thy Lord with a clean heart and humble affections. 9 When the consecrating and ministering hand reaches forth to thee the holy Symbols, say within thy heart as did the Centurion, Lord I am not worthy: but entertain thy Lord as the women did the news of the resurrection, with fear and great joy (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Mat. 28.8 ; or as the Apostles, with rejoicing and singleness of heart (b) Act. 2.46. Atque illud etiam scire cupio quo consilio aut quâ ment fueris ut in epulo C. Arcii familiaris mei cum togâ pullâ accumberes? quis unquam coenavit atratus? Cicer. epist. ad Atticum. Qui potuî (dixit Aaron) cum tristis fuerim, offer sacrificium? ; that is, clear, certain and plain believing, and with exultation and delight in the loving kindness of the Lord. 10. But place thyself upon thy knees, in the humblest and devoutest posture of worshippers, and think not much in the lowest manner to worship the King of Men and Angels, the Lord of heaven and earth, the great lover of souls, and the Saviour of the body; him whom all the Angels of God worship; him whom thou confessest worthy of all, and whom all the world shall adore, and before whom they shall tremble at the day of judgement: For if Christ be not there after a peculiar manner, whom or whose body do we receive? But if he be present to us, not in mystery only, but in blessing also, why do we not worship? But all the Christians always did so from time immemorial. No man eats this flesh unless he first adores, In Psal. 99 Vide etiam S. Ambros. carnem Christi in Mysteriis adoramus. de Spir. S. lib. 3. cap. 12. S. Bernard. de coen Domini ad Petrum presbyterum. said S. Austin: [For the wise men and the Barbarians did worship this body in the manger with very much fear and reverence: let us therefore who are Citizens of heaven at least not fall short of the Barbarians. But thou seest him not in the Manger, but on the Altar; and thou beholdest him not in the Virgin's arms, but represented by the Priest, and brought to thee in Sacrifice by the holy Spirit of God] So. St. chrysostom argues: and accordingly this reverence is practised by the Churches of the East, Johannes Petrus Maffeu●, hist. Ind. Orient. lib. 2. circa med. and West, and South; by the Christians of India; by all the Greeks, Resp. ad Quaesi. 6. as appears in their answer to the Cardinal of Guise; by all the Lutheran Churches; by all the world, sa●es Erasmus; only now of late, Vide Erasm. lib. 9 epist. ad Pellicanum cujus initium [Evangelii vigour. some have excepted themselves. But the Church of England chooses to follow the reason and the piety of the thing itself, the example of the Primitive Church, and the consenting voice of Christendom [And if it be irreverent to sit in the sight and before the face of him whom you ought to revere; how much more in the presence of the living God, where the Angel the precedent of prayer does stand, must it needs be a most irreligious thing to sit, unless we shall upbraid to God; that our prayers to him have wearied us?] It is the argument of Tertullian. Lib. de orat. To which many of the Fathers add many other fair inducements, but I think they cannot be necessary to be produced here; because all Christians generally kneel when they say their prayers, and when they bless God, an● I suppose no man communicates but he does both; and therefore needs no o●her inducement to persuade him to kneel, * Ante focos olim scamnis considere longis. Mos erat: at mensae credere adesse Deos. Ovid. 5. ●astor. especially since Christ himself, and St. Stephen, and ●he Apostle St. Paul used that posture in their devotions; that or lower; for St. Paul kneeled upon the shore; and our Lord himself fell prostrate on the earth. But to them that refuse, I shall only use the words of Scripture, which the Fathers of the Council of Turon applied to this particular: Why art thou proud O dust and ashes? And when Christ opens his heart and gives us all that we need or can desire; it looks like an ill return, if we shall dispute with him concerning the humility of a gesture and a circumstance. 11. When thou dost receive thy Lord, do thou also receive thy Brother into thy heart and into thy bowels. Thy Lord relieves thee, do thou relieve him; and never communicate but be sure to give thy alms for one part of thy offering. St. Cyprian does with some vehemency upbraid some wealthy persons in his time who came to the celebration of the Lords Supper, and neglected the Corban, or the ministering to the Saints. Remember that by mercy to the poor the sentence of doomsday shall be declared; because what we do to them we do to Christ; and who would not relieve Christ who hath made himself poor to make us rich? And what time is so seasonable to feed the members of Christ, as that, when he gives his body to feed us, and that, when his members are met together to confess, to celebrate, to remember, and to be joined to their head and to one another? In short, The Church always hath used at that time to be liberal to her poor; and that being so seasonable and blessed an opportunity, and of itself also a proper act of worship and sacrifice, of religion and homage, of thankfulness and charity; it ought not to be omitted; and it can have no measure, but that of your love, and of your power, and the other accidents of your life and your religion. 12. As soon as ever you have taken the holy Elements into your mouth, and stomach; remember that you have taken Christ into you, after a manner indeed which you do not understand, but to all purposes of blessing and holiness, if you have taken him at all. And now consider that he who hath given you his Son, with him will give you all things else: therefore represent to God through Jesus Christ all your needs, and the needs of your relatives; signify to him the condition of your soul; complain of your infirmities; pray for help against your enemies; tell him of your griefs; represent your fears, your hopes, and your desires. But it is also the great sacrifice of the world which you have then assisted in, and represented; and now you being joined to Christ are admitted to intercede for others, even for all mankind, in all necessities, and in all capacities; pray therefore for all for whom Christ d●ed; especially for all that communicate that day, for all that desire it; that their prayers and yours being united to the intercession of your Lord, may be holy and prevail. 13. After you have given thanks, and finished your private and the public devotions, go home, but do not presently forget the solemnity, and sink from the sublimity of devotion and mystery into a secular conversation, like a falling star, from brightness into dirt. The Ethiopians would not spit that day they had communicated, thinking they might d●shonour the Sacrament if before the consumption of the Symbols they should spit: but although they meant reverence, yet they expressed it ill. It was better which is reported of St. Margaret a daughter of the King of Hungary, that the day before she was to communicate she fasted with bread and water: and after the Communion she retired herself till the evening, spending the day in meditations, prayers, and thanksgiving; and at night she eat her meal. Her employment was very well sitted to the day; but for her meal, it is all one when she eat it, so that by eating, or abstaining she did advantage to her spiritual employment. But they that as soon as the office is finished part wi●h Christ, and carry their mind away to other interests, have a suspicious indifferency to the things of God. They have brought their Lord into the house, and themselves slip out at the backdoor, Otherwise does the Spouse entertain her beloved Lord, Cant. 3.4. I found him whom my soul loveth, I held him, and would not let him go. He that considers the advantages of prayer which every faithful soul hath upon a Communion day, will not easily let them sl●p; but tell all his said stories to his Lord, and make all his wants known; and as Jacob to the A●gel, will not let him go till he hath given a blessing. Upon a Communion-day Christ who is the beloved of the soul is gone to rest, and every secular employment that is not necessary and part of duty, and every earthly thought does waken our Beloved before he please, let us take heed of that. 14. But what we do by devotion and solemn religion that day, Tu pane vitae accepto, facis rem mortis, & non horreseis? Nescis quam multa mala proficiscantur & subeant ex deliciis. S. Chrysost. homil. 27. in 1 Cor. we must do every day by the material practice of virtues; we must verify all our holy vows and promises; we must keep our hearts curiously; restrain our passions powerfully; every day proceed in the mortification of our angers and desires; in the love of God and of our neighbour's, and in the patient toleration of all injuries which men offer, Ille crucem, plagas, alapassputa aspera passus, Ostendit tibi quae te tolerare decet. Walafrid. Abbas de Pass. and all the evil by which God will try us. Let not drunkenness enter, or evil words go forth of that mouth through which our Lord himself hath passed. Ora ego servabo puris non sordida sacris. Queis nostrum supero cum Patre, jungo genus. Nazianz. The Heathens used to be drunk at their Sacrifices; but by this sacrifice Eucharistical it is intended we should be filled with the Spirit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. If we have communicated worthily, we have given ourselves to Christ; we have given him all our liberty and our life, our bodies and our souls, our actions and our passions, our affections and our faculties, what we are, and what we have; and in exchange have received him; and we may say with St. Paul, I live: but not I; Gal. 2.20. But Christ liveth in me. So that we must live no more unto the world, but unto God; and having fed upon Manna, let us not long to return to Egypt to feed on Garlic. For as when men have drank wine largely, the mind is free and the heart at liberty from care: so when we have drank ●he blood of Christ, the cup of our salvation, the chains of the old man are untied, Pros●●l●● E●angelium Ab●t in viam ●entium: Q●i sanctae pacis o●●um elegerat, Redit ad ollas carnium: Regale sacerdotium Ad c●●nis impropertium degenerate. Sic Petrus Bl●sensis deplorat recidivationem ad carnis delicias. Post S●. Communionem. and we must forget our secular conversation] So St. Cyprian, a S. Cyprian lib. 2. epist. 3. ad Caecilium. : But the same precept is better given by Saint Paul, b 2 Cor. 5.14, 15. , But the love of Christ constraineth u●, becuase we thus judge— that he died for all, that th●y which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. He that hath communicated; and does not afterwards live by the measures of that day's duty, hath but acted a scene of Religion but himself shall dearly pay the p●ice of the pompous and solemn hypocrisy. Remember that he is sick, who is not the better for the bread he eats; and if thou dost not by the aids of Christ whom thou hast received subdue thy passion and thy sin, thou hast eaten the bread of idleness; S. Hier. in Pro. 31.27. for so (saith St Hierom) does every one, who when he hath taken of the Sacrific● of the Lords body, does not persevere in good works, imitating that in deed which he hath celebrated in mystery. Let us take heed; for the Angels are present in these mysteries to wait upon their Lord and ours: and it is a matter of great caution which was said by Vincentius Ferrerius: Serm. 4. de corpore Christi. The Angels that assist at this Sacrament, would kill every unworthy Communicant; unless the Divine mercy and long sufferance did cause them to forbear a speedy execution, that the blessed Sacrament might acquire its intention, and become a favour of life unto us. SECT. II. Acts of Virtues and Graces relative to the Mystery, to be used before or at the Celebration of the Divine Sacrament. I. The Address. IT is well, O sweetest Saviour Jesus, it is very well that thou art pleased to be a daily Sacrifice for us, and to become our daily supersubstantial bread to feed our souls. Certain it is, that we by our daily failings and the remaining pollution of our sins, frequently sink down to the bottom of thy displeasure. But do thou grant that being refreshed by the Sacrament and recreated by thy grace, strengthened by thy spirit, and comforted with thy miraculous sweetness, my heart and my affections may be lifted up on high. II. O grant that by thee my soul may be lifted up to thee, and from herself may pass into thee, with a pure mind, with an unfeigned Religion, with an unblameable faith and burning devotion, with filial piety and a profound reverence. For thou art the true God, the word of life, the bright Image and splendour of thy Father's Glory, the reward of the Saints and the Lord of Angels, the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror of eternal purity. An Act of Love. Thee alone O Lord my soul desires; thou art eternal sweetness in my soul. If the perfume of thy ointment be sufficient to all the the world, what is the refection of thy Table? If we live by every word proceeding out of thy mouth, what felicity and joy is it to live upon thee the eternal Word, chewing thee by faith, and digesting thee by love, and entertaining thee in our hearts for ever? How shall not my bowels melt into thee the Sun of righteousness? How is it that I do not forget all deliciousness besides thee? A single pleasure, poor and empty, wearying and unsatisfying, hath often made me to forget thee. Now that thou art truly and effectively present with me, how can any other pleasure in the world seem pleasant to me any more? I will forget all the world, I will quit all the world to live on thee, if thou pleasest O dearest Saviour: but do thou open thy ark and repositories of sweetness, and fill my soul and all my desires, that there may be no room for any thing else. Thou hast called unto me to open my hand and thou wouldst fill it: But I would not open it; I held the world fast, and kept my hand shut, and would not let it go. But do thou open it for me; not my hand only, but my mouth; not my mouth, but my heart also. An Act of Desire after Jesus. O blessed Jesus, that hast said, Prov. 8. it is thy delight to be with the sons of men: Thou hast made thyself the companion of our journeys, the light of our ignorance, the remedy of our infirmity. Dwell with me sweetest Saviour, and delight in me. It is no small thing I ask; O my God, can it ever be that my God should delight in me? That's too much O God; Grant that I may delight in thee, and do thou delight to pardon me, to sanctify and to save me. Grant that I may never offend thee, that I may never grieve thy Holy Spirit, that I may not provoke the Angel of the everlasting Covenant to anger. But thou delightest in the works of thy hand, in the graces of the Spirit, in thy own excellencies and glories. Endue me with thy graces; fill me with thy excellencies; let me communicate of thy spirit; and then enjoy these thy delights with thy servant; for thou canst not else delight in me. Thou art thy own essential joy, and everlasting blessedness, and inseparable felicity: But this thou hast said, that thou delightest to be with the Sons of men, because thou truly lovest us. Blessed be thy Name for ever and ever. An Act of Thanksgiving. O Blessed Saviour Jesus, I adore the secrets of thy eternal wisdom, I admire the mysteriousness of our salvation, and I love and praise and give all possible thanks to thee the Author of our spiritual life, the Deliverer that came out of Zion, the Redeemer of thy people, the spoiler of all spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, the conqueror over sin and death, the triumpher over Devils; thou hast taken from our strongest enemies all their armour, and divided the spoil: Grant that I may know nothing but thee, account all things loss in comparison of thee, and endeavour to be made conformable to thee, in the imitation of thy actions and obedience of thy Laws; in the fellowship of thy sufferings, in the communion of thy graces, and participation of thy glories; that beginning here to praise thy Name according as I can, I may hereafter for ever rehearse and adore thy excellencies according to the measures of glory for ever and ever. Amen. Ejaculations and Meditations to be used at any time; but particularly after the Consecration of the Symbols, when the holy Man that ministers is bringing the Sacrament. 1. O holy Jesus, I behold thee stretched upon the Cross, with thy arms spread, ready to embrace and receive all mankind into thy bosom. 2. I come Lord Jesus, I come; O take me to thee in the comprehensions of an unalterable, of an everlasting love: for thou hast opened thy heart as well as thine arms, and hast prepared a lodging place for me in the seat of love. 3. I see the Symbols, the holy bread, and the blessed cup; but I also contemplate thy authority establishing these rites; I adore thy wisdom, who hast made these Mysteries like thy own infancy; I see thyself wrapped up in swaddling clouts, and covered with a vail: I hear thy voice blessing these Symbols, thy mercy reaching out my pardon, thy holy Spirit sanctifying my spirit, thy blessed self making intercession for me at the eternal Altar in the heavens. 4. Thy infinite arm of mercy is reached unto us, and our arm of faith reaches unto thee: Blessed be Jesus, who will be joined unto his servants. 5. This is thy body, O blessed Saviour Jesus, S. Ambr. Serm. 44. de S. Latrone. and this is thy blood; but these are not thy wounds. My Lord had the smart, but we the ease; his were the sufferings, but ours the mercy: he felt the load of stripes, but from thence a holy balm did flow upon us: He felt the thorns, but we shall have the Crown: and after he had paid the price, we got the purchase. Holy Jesus! Blessed be God. 6. I adore thy unspeakable goodness; I delight in thy unmeasurable mercy; I rejoice in thy cross; I desire to know nothing but the Lord Jesus and him crucified. 1 Cor. 1.23, 24. O let the power of thy Cross prevail against all the powers of darkness: Col. 1.20. let the wisdom of thy Cross make me wise unto salvation: let the peace of thy Cross reconcile me to thy eternal Father, 1 Cor. 15.57. and bring to me peace of Conscience: let the victory of thy Cross mortify all my evil and corrupt affections: let the triumph of thy Cross lead me on to a state of holiness, that I may sin no more, but in all things please thee and in all things serve thee, and in all things glorify thee. 7. Great and infinite are thy glories; infinite and glorious are thy mercies; who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high, and yet humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and earth? Heaven itself does wholly minister to our salvation; God takes care of us, God loves us first. God will not suffer us to perish; but employs all his attributes for our good. The Son of God dies for us: the holy Spirit descends upon us and teaches us: the Angels minister to us: the Sacrament is our food; Christ is married to our souls: and heaven itself is offered to us for our portion. 8. O God my God assist me now and ever, graciously and greatly: Grant that I may not receive bread alone; for man cannot live by that; but that I may eat Christ; that I may not search into the secret of nature, but inquire after the miracles of grace. I do admire, I worship, and I love. Thou hast overcome, O Lord, thou hast overcome; Ride on triumphantly because of thy words of truth and peace; load my soul in this triumph as thy own purchase; thy love hath conquered, and I am thy servant for ever. 9 Thou wilt not dwell in a polluted house; make my soul clean, and do thou consecrate it into a Temple, O thou great Bishop of our souls, by the inhabitation of thy holy spirit of purity: Let not these teeth that break the bread of Angels, ever grind the face of the poor; let not the hand of Judas be with thee in the dish; let not the eyes which see the Lord, any more behold vanity; let not the members of Christ ever become the members of a harlot, or the ministers of unrighteousness. 10. I am nothing, I have nothing, I desire nothing but Jesus, and to be in Jerusalem the holy City from above. Make haste O Lord, Behold my heart is ready, my heart is ready: Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. When the holy Man that Ministers reaches the consecrated Bread, suppose thy Lord entering into his Courts, and say, Nempe amor in paruâ te jubet esse casâ. Lord I am not worthy thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word Lord, and thy servant shall be whole. After receiving of the Bread, pray thus: Blessed be the Name of our gracious God: Hosannah to the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of our Lord. Hosannah in the highest: Thou O blessed Saviour Jesus hast given me thy precious body to be the food of my soul; and now O God, I humbly present to thee my body and soul, every member and every faculty, every action and every passion. Do thou make them fit for thy service: Give me an understanding to know thee, and wisdom like as thou didst to thy Apostles; ingenuity and simplicity of heart, like to that of Nathanael; zeal and perfect repentance, like the return of Zacheus. Give me eyes to see thee as thy Martyr Stephen had; an ear to hear thee as Mary, a hand to touch thee as Thomas, a mouth with Peter to confess thee, an arm with Simeon to embrace thee, feet to follow thee with thy Disciples, an heart open like Lydia to entertain thee; that as I have given my members to sin and to uncleanness, so I may henceforth walk in righteousness and holiness before thee all the days of my life. Amen, Amen. If there be any time more between the receiving the holy Body, and the blessed Chalice, then add, O immense goodness, unspeakable mercy; delightful refection, blessed peace-offering, effectual medicine of our souls; Holy Jesus, the food of elect souls, celestial Manna, the bread that came down from heaven, sweetest Saviour; grant that my soul may relish this divine Nutriment with spiritual ravishments and love great as the flames of Cherubims: and grant that what thou hast given me for the remission of my sins, may not ●y my fault become the increase of them. Grant that in my heart I may so digest thee by a holy faith, so convert thee into the unity of my spirit by a holy love, that being conformed to the likeness of thy death and resurrection by the crucifying of the old man, and the newness of a spiritual and a holy life I may be incorporated as a sound and living member into the body of thy holy Church, a member of that body whereof thou art head; that I m●y abide in thee, and bring forth fruit in thee, and in the resurrection of the Just, my body of infirmity being reform by thy power may be configured to the similitude of thy glorious body, and my soul received into a participation of the eternal Supper of the Lamb; that where thou art, there I may be also, beholding thy face in glory O blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus, Amen. When the holy Chalice is offered, attend devoutly to the blessing, and join in heart with the words of the Minister; saying Amen. I will receive the Cup of salvation and call upon the Name of our Lord. After receiving of the holy Cup; pray thus: It is finished: Blessed be the name of our gracious God; Blessing, glory, praise and honour, love and obedience, dominion and thanksgiving be to him that sitteth on the Throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. I bless and praise thy Name, O eternal Father, most merciful God, that thou hast vouchsafed to admit me to a participation of these dreadful and desirable mysteries: unworthy though I am, yet thy love never fails: and though I too often have repent of my repentances and fallen back into sin, yet thou never repentest of thy loving kindness: Be pleased therefore now in this day of mercy, when thou openest the treasures of heaven, and rainest Manna upon our souls to refresh them when they are weary; of thy infinite goodness to grant that this holy Communion may not be to me unto judgement and condemnation; but it may be sweetness to my soul; health and safety in every temptation; joy and peace in every trouble; light and strength in every word and work, comfort and defence in the hour of my death against all the oppositions of the spirits of darkness; and grant that no unclean thing may be in me who have received thee into my heart and soul. II. Thou dwellest in every sanctified soul, she is the habitation of Zion, and thou tamest it for thine own; and thou hast consecrated it to thyself by the operation of glorious mysteries within her. O be pleased to receive my soul presented to thee in this holy Communion for thy dwelling place, make it a house of prayer and holy meditations, the seat of thy Spirit, the repository of graces: reveal to me thy mysteries, and communicate to me thy gifts; and love me with that love thou bearest to the Sons of thy house: Thou hast given me thy Son, with him give me all things else which are needful to my body and soul in order to thy glory, and my salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. III. An act of Love and Eucharist to be added if there be time and opportunity. O Lord Jesus Christ, Fountain of true and holy love, nothing is greater than thy love, nothing is sweeter, nothing more holy: Thy love troubles none; but is entertained by all that feel it with joy and exultation, and it is still more desired, and is ever more desirable: Thy love O dearest Jesus gives liberty, drives away fear, feels no labour, but suffers all; it eases the weary, and strengthens the weak, it comforts them that mourn, and feeds the hungry. Thou art the beginning and the end of thy own love; that thou mayest take occasion to do us good, and by the methods of grace to bring us to glory. Thou givest occasion, and createst good things, and producest affections, and stirrest up the appetite, and dost satisfy all holy desires. Thou hast made me, and fed me, and blessed me, and preserved me, and sanctified me that I might love thee, and thou wouldst have me to love thee, that thou mayest love me for ever. O give me a love to thee that I may love thee as well as ever any of thy servants loved thee; according to that love which thou by the Sacrament of love workest in thy secret ones. Abraham excelled in faith, Job in patience, Isaac in fidelity, Jacob in simplicity, Joseph in chastity, David in religion, Josiah in zeal, and Manasses in repentance; but as yet thou hadst not communicated the Sacrament of love; that grace was reserved till thou thyself shouldst converse with man and teach him love. Thou hast put upon our hearts the sweetest and easiest yoke of love; to enable us to bear the burden of man and the burden of the Lord; give unto thy servant such a love, that whatsoever in thy service may happen contrary to flesh and blood, I may not feel it; that when I labour I may not be weary▪ when I am despised I may not regard it; that adversity may be tolerable, and humility be my sanctuary, and mortification of my passions the exercise of my days, and the service of my God, the joy of my soul; that loss to me may be gain, so I win Christ; and death itself the entrance of an eternal life, when I may live with the Beloved, the joy of my soul, the light of my eyes, My God, and all things, the blessed Saviour of the world, my sweetest Redeemer Jesus. Amen. An Eucharistical Hymn taken from the Prophecies of the Old Testament relating to the blessed Sacrament. Praise ye the Lord; I will praise the Lord with my whole heart; in the Assembly of the upright, and in the Congregation. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion: He hath given meat unto them that fear him, he will ever be mindful of his Covenant. His bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Binding his Foal unto the vine, and his Ass' colt unto the choice vine: he washed his garment in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. And the Lord their God shall save them as the flock of his people, for how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty? Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the virgins. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple, even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in. He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. O Israel return unto the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord▪ saying, Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips: for in thee the Fatherless findeth mercy. The Lord hath said, I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away. They that dwell under his shadow shall return: they shall revive as the corn, and blossom as the Vine; the memorial thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord that seek him; your heart shall live for ever: for he hath placed peace in our borders, and fed us with the flower of wheat. For from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same, the Name of the Lord shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place Incense shall be offered unto his Name and a pure offering: for his Name shall be great among all Nations. Who so is wise, he shall understand these things, and the prudent shall know them: for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. Glory be to the Father, etc. A Prayer to be said after the Communion in behalf of our souls and all Christian people. 1. O most merciful and gracious God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory; thou art the great lover of souls, and thou hast given thy holy Son to die for our salvation, to redeem us from sin, to destroy the work of the Devil, and to present a Church to thee pure and spotless and undefiled; relying upon thy goodness, trusting in thy promises, and having received my dearest Lord into my soul, I humbly represent to thy divine Majesty the glorious sacrifice which our dearest Jesus made of himself upon the Cross, and by a never ceasing intercession now exhibites to thee in heaven in the office of an eternal Priesthood; in behalf of all that have communicated this day in the Divine Mysteries in all the Congregations of the Christian world; and in behalf of all them that desire to communicate, and are hindered by sickness or necessity, by fear or scruple, by censures Ecclesiastical, or the sentence of their own consciences. 2. Give unto me O God and unto them a portion of all the good prayers which are made in heaven and earth; the intercession of our Lord, and the supplications of all thy servants; and unite us in the bands of the common faith and a holy charity; that no interests or partialities, no sects or opinions may keep us any longer in darkness and division. 3. Give thy blessing to all Christian Kings and Princes, all Republics and Christian Governments; grant to them the Spirit of mercy and justice, prudence and diligence; the favour of God and the love of their people; and grace and blessing, that they may live at peace with thee and with one another; remembering the command of their Lord and King, the serene and reconciling Jesus. 4. Give an Apostolical Spirit to all Ecclesiastical Prelates and Priests; grant to them zeal of souls, wisdom to conduct their charges, purity to become exemplar, that their labours and their lives may greatly promote the honour of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. O grant unto thy flock to be fed with wise and holy shepherds; men fearing God and hating covetousness; free from envy, and full of charity; that being burning and shining lights, men beholding ●heir light may rejoice in that light and glorify thee our Father which art in heaven. 5. Have mercy upon all states of men and women in the Christian Church, the Governors and the governed, the rich and the poor, high and low; grant to every of them in their several station to live with so much purity and faith, simplicity and charity, justice and perfection, that thy will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven. 6. Relieve all oppressed Princes, defend and restore their rights, and suppress all violent and warring spirits that unjustly disturb the peace of Christendom: Relieve and comfort all Gentlemen that are fallen into poverty and sad misfortunes: Comfort and support all that are sick, and deliver them from all their sorrows, and all the powers of the enemy, and let the spirit of comfort and patience, of holiness and resignation, descend upon all Christian people whom thou hast in any instance visited with thy rod: And be graciously pleased to pity poor mankind; shorten the days of our trouble, and put an end to the days of our sin, and let the Kingdom of our dearest Lord be set up in every one of our hearts, and prevail mightily and for ever. 7. I humbly present to thy Divine Majesty this glorious Sacrifice which thy servants this day have represented upon earth in behalf of my dearest Relations, [Wife, Children, Husband, Parents, Friends, etc.] Grant unto them whatsoever they want, or wisely and holily desire; keep them for ever in thy fear and favour: grant that they may never sin against thee, never fall into thy displeasure, never be separated from thy love and from thy presence; but let their portion be in the blessing and in the service, in the love and in the Kingdom of God for ever and ever. 8. Have mercy upon all strangers and aliens from the Kingdom of thy Son; let the sweet sound of thy Gospel be heard in all the corners of the earth; let not any soul, the work of thy own hands, the price of thy Son's blood, be any longer reckoned in the portions of thy Enemy; but let them all become Christians; and grant that all Christians may live according to the Laws of the holy Jesus, without scandal and reproach, full of faith and full of charity. 9 Give thy grace speedily to all wicked persons, that they may repent and live well, and be saved: To all good people give an increase of gifts and holiness, and the grace of perseverance and Christian perfection: To all Heretics and Schismatics grant the Spirit of humility and truth, charity and obedience; and suffer none upon whom the Name of Christ is called to throw themselves away, and fall into the portion of the intolerable burning. 10. For all mankind whom I have and whom I have not remembered, I humbly represent the Sacrifice of thy eternal Son, his merits and obedience, his life and death, his resurrection and ascension, his charity and intercession; praying to thee in virtue of our glorious Saviour, to grant unto us all the graces of an excellent and perfect repentance, an irreconcilable hatred of all sin, a great love of God, an exact imitation of the holiness of the ever blessed Jesus, the spirit of devotion, conformable will and religious affections, an Angelical purity and a Seraphical love; thankful hearts, and joy in God; and let all things happen to us all in that order and disposition as may promote thy greatest glory and our duty, our likeness to Christ and the honour of his Kingdom. Even so Father let it be, because it is best, and because thou lovest it should be so; bring it to a real and unalterable event by the miracles of grace and mercy, and by the blood of the everlasting Covenant poured forth in the day of the Lords love; whom I adore, and whom I love, and desire that I may still more and more love, and love for ever. Amen, Amen. SECT. III. An Advice concerning him who only Communicates Spiritually. THere are many persons well disposed by the measures of a holy life to communicate frequently; but it may happen that they are unavoidably hindered. Some have a timorous conscience, a fear, a pious fear, which is indeed sometimes more pitiable than commendable. Others are advised by their spiritual Guides to abstain for a time, that they may proceed in the virtue of repentance further yet, before they partake of the Sacrament of love: and yet if they should want the blessings and graces of the Communion, their remedy which is intended them would be a real impediment. Some are scandalised and offended at irremediable miscarriages in public Doctrines or Government, and cannot readily overcome their prejudice, nor reconcile their consciences to a present actual Communion. Some dare not receive it at the hands of a wicked Priest of notorious evil life. Some can have it at no Priest at all, but are in a long journey, or under a Persecution, or in a Country of a differing persuasion. Some are sick; and some cannot have it every day, but every day desire it. Such persons as these, if they prepare themselves with all the essential and ornamental measures of address, and eanestly desire that they could actually Communicate, they may place themselves upon their knees, and building an Altar in their heart, celebrate the death of Christ, and in holy desire join with all the Congregations of the Christian world, who that day celebrate the holy Communion; and may serve their devotion by the former Prayers and actions Eucharistical, changing only such circumstantial words which relate to the actual participation: And then they may remember and make use of the comfortable Doctrine of S. Austin; Serm. 11. de verbi● Domini. [It is one thing (saith that learned Saint) to be born of the Spirit, and another thing to be fed of the Spirit: As it is one thing to be born of the flesh, which is when we are born of our mother; and another thing to be fed of the flesh, which is done when she suckles her Infant by that nourishment which is changed into food that he might eat and drink with pleasure, by which he was born to life: when this is done without the actual and Sacramental participation, it is called spiritual Manducation.] Concerning which I only add the pious advice of a religious person; Bles. in reg. Tyron. Spirit. sect. 4. n. 3. Let every faithful soul be ready and desirous often to receive the holy Eucharist to the glory of God: But if he cannot so often Communicate Sacramentally as he desires, let him not be afflicted, but remain in perfect resignation to the will of God, and dispose himself to a spiritual Communion: For no man and no thing can hinder a well-disposed soul, but that by holy desires she may, if she please, communicate every day. To this nothing is necessary to be added, but that this way, is to be used never but upon just necessity, and when it cannot be actual: not upon peevishness and spiritual pride; not in the spirit of schism and fond opinions; not in despite of our Brother, and contempt or condemnation of the holy Congregations of the Lord; but with a living faith, and an actual charity, and great humility, and with the Spirit of devotion; and that so much the more intensely and fervently, by how much he is really troubled for the want of actual participation in the Communion of Saints; and then, that is true which S. Austin said, Tract. 25. & 26. in Johan. Crede & manducasti; Believe and thou hast eaten. Adora Jesum. FINIS. A Catalogue of some Books to be sold by Tho. Basset, at his shop under St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet. SCintilla Altaris: Primitive Devotion in the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England. By Edw. Spark D. D. And also Devotions on the three grand Solemnities last added to the Liturgy of the Church of England: viz. The Fifth of November. viz. The Thirtieth of January. viz. The Twenty ninth of May. By the same Author. Officium Quotidianum: or, A Manual of Private Devotions: By the Most Reverend Father in God Dr. William Laud, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. The New Common-Prayer, with choice Cuts in Copper newly engraven; Suited to all the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England throughout the year, in all the Pocket-Volumes. A Collection of all the Statutes in force from the year 1640. to this present time, in a fair Character, Printed by His Majesty's Printers. The Reader is also desired to take notice, That there is another Counterfeit Impression, in a small Character, and very imperfect, wanting ten Acts now in force; said to be Printed by Ja. Flesher, Hen. Twyford, and J. Streater, with Mr. Manbee 's Name of Lincolns-Inn in the Title.